Case study — Laguna Beach

The FireplaceWall

A dated brick surround rebuilt as a floor-to-ceiling walnut wall — shelving, concealed storage, and a limestone hearth composed as one piece.

Completed floor-to-ceiling walnut fireplace wall with shelving and a limestone hearth in a Laguna Beach living room
LocationLaguna Beach
Completed2025
Build time6 weeks
ScopeMillwork + hearth

One wall had to carry the whole room

The living room opened to the coast on one side and the kitchen on the other, but its focal wall was a 1970s brick surround with a worn mantle and no storage. The owners wanted the wall to do three jobs: anchor the room visually, hold books and ceramics, and hide the media equipment that used to sit on a console.

We designed the wall as a single composition rather than a fireplace with things around it. Walnut paneling runs floor to ceiling, shelving is sized to the owners' collection, and the hearth is a single honed limestone ledge that doubles as seating. The old brick came out, the framing was straightened, and every panel was built in the shop before install day.

The result reads as architecture, not furniture — and the equipment, wiring, and firewood storage all disappear into it.

Photographed across two visits — once in afternoon light, once in the evening with the shelf lighting on.

Walnut fireplace wall seen from across the living room with linen sofa and wool rug
The wall from the seating area — shelving, hearth, and paneling read as one composition.
Walnut paneling joinery meeting the limestone hearth with a crisp shadow-gap reveal
A 1/4-inch shadow gap keeps wood and stone from touching — no caulk line, ever.
Honed limestone hearth ledge with stacked firewood and brass fire tools
The hearth ledge is seat height on purpose — it gets used every evening.
Walnut display niche with integrated warm shelf lighting, ceramics, and books
Integrated shelf lighting at 2700K turns the display niches into the room's evening light source.

Six weeks, brick to walnut

  • Original dated brick fireplace surround with layout marks before demolition

    Strip and measure

    The brick surround came out and the framing behind it was straightened. Every measurement for the shop drawings came from the corrected wall, not the plans.

  • Walnut fireplace surround panels dry-fit with clamps in the woodworking shop

    Build in the shop

    Panels, shelves, and the concealed media cabinet were fabricated, dry-fit, and finished in the shop. Grain was matched across the full elevation before finishing.

  • Walnut panels mid-installation on the fireplace wall with levels and drop cloths

    Install in two days

    Because everything arrived finished, site work was scribing, fastening, and setting the stone. The room was livable the same week.

Flat-lay of walnut veneer, limestone, brass hardware, plaster swatch, and the elevation drawing
Four materials, each chosen for how it ages against the others.

The palette

  • Rift white oak & walnut

    Paneling + shelving

    Book-matched walnut on the focal plane, rift oak inside the niches for a quieter grain.

  • Honed limestone

    Hearth ledge

    A single slab, honed and sealed — soft enough to sit on, hard enough for firewood.

  • Unlacquered brass

    Hardware + tools

    Hardware and the fire-tool set will patina together over the years.

  • Lime plaster

    Surrounding walls

    A hand-troweled finish that keeps the wall planes quiet next to the walnut.

“It stopped being the wall with the fireplace and became the reason we use the room.”
The homeowners, Laguna Beach

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