Curved Fireplace Designs & Bowed Marble Fire Surrounds
At Creative Fireplaces we have been manufacturing marble fireplaces in for over 22 years in our Nottinghamshire factory. We frequently get asked about our range of curved fireplace designs and the various options available.What makes curved fireplace designs appealing?
1. From experience almost everyone is drawn to curved fire surrounds & heart (base section of fire surround) options. There is definitely something grand and appealing about having a curved design that appeals to the masses.
2. Curved fireplace hearths (base section of fireplace) inevitably save space by cropping the corners. Although the middle section of the hearth still projects as far into the room as a conventional rectangular hearth, visually the curved effect gives the illusion that there has been space saved and the hearth is less intrusive into the room
3. Curved fireplace designs arguably break up the monotony of straight lines. We often find young modern couples whom would traditionally have proffered ultra chic linear lines opting for curved designs. It is often hard to find the balance between a nice curved design and a horrible over elaborated cathedral looking fire surround, which is why at Creative Fireplaces we spend months designing and prototyping new fireplace designs
Carpets and curved hearths
1. Inevitably if you have a cut out in your wooden floor or carpet then you may not be able to accommodate a standard curved hearth. However, at Creative Fireplaces over 80% of our work is non standard and we regularly make hearths to fit the current cut out in your floor (to avoid having to purchase a new carpet). Over the years we have learned several tricks to make this work & by simply changing the gradient of the curve and making the middle section slightly larger, we are able to cover most conventional carpet cut-outs (certainly sizes such as 54 inches wide x 15 inches deep can be accommodated with a tailor made curved hearth).
2. If you’re planning to fit a new carpet or wood flooring around your new hearth, then we would strongly recommend you fit your hearth first and then have the carpet or flooring laid up to the hearth, as this will achieve the best results (rather than cutting the carpet around the hearth after the carpet has been laid)
Good quality curved fireplace Designs
1. Quality is undoubtedly the most important aspect of having a new fireplace. A cheap fire surround with hopeless quality is worthless, and no one would want to fit something like that in their home
2. Intuitively, it is difficult to work Marble and Granite & certainly only skilled stone masons can attempt to curve the material. The main problem arises from the fact that marble is imported in 20mm thick sheets and fireplace hearths need to be 50mm thick. Conventionally a regular rectangular hearth is made from a 20mm thick top section with a 30mm vertical section called the riser. Hence to achieve the curved illusion using sheets of marble is quite challenging. At Creative Fireplaces we have over 22 years experience doing this and have CNC machinery (each machine costs in excess of £200’000) and for this reason are well placed to manufacture such complex finishes. In actual fact our stone masons prefer to manufacture complex designs as it is a test of their skill and regular linear lines become extremely boring to make on a regular basis. 
Curved fireplace designs
1. Currently the most popular curved fireplace designs we manufacture is the Shelbourne and the Cambridge. The Cambridge is a simpler design with a matching header and hearth (my personal favourite). The Shelbourne is more complex and boasts a series of curved panels which look spectacular. The design is complex, yet minimalistic and elegant at the same time.
2. The main advantage of purchasing these fireplaces direct from us is the quality, flexibility and the price. Similar fireplaces would cost in excess of £1500 in showrooms, and are available from as little as £375 direct from our website. 
