Great Room Fireplace: Take 2

I wanted the fireplace in the Great Room to look like this, except with Walker Zanger Duquesa Catarina ceramic tile in Aqua instead of a marble surround.

Courtesy of Southern Living

However the Duquesa Catarina tile is 4-5/8" square and requires four tiles to complete the design. So we would need the surround to be at least 9-1/4" wide with a smidge more for grout.

Walker Zanger Duquesa Catarina ceramic tile in Aqua; courtesy of Walker Zanger

That didn't leave enough room on either side for the wood trim to look in proportion, or "beefy" enough to support a mantle. Instead, we will be eliminating the wood trim and adding a third row of tile, which is the fireplace Zuniga Interiors had proposed all along. I, however, wanted a more traditional look since none of the houses we've owned had a "normal" fireplace.

This is a very bad rendering of what it will look like.

New fireplace design (mantle is too thick) with our mirror we affectionately call "Octopussy" above