Homeowner Emily Harnasz knew she was in for a long renovation journey when she moved into a quirky Scottish Victorian villa a few years ago. But there was one thing she didn’t see coming — a discovery that would go viral on social media.
Nestled inside her soon-to-be home office was a boarded-up spot on the wall. Thinking it could be rubble or something even messier behind there, Harnasz decided to ignore it and postpone the stress.
“It was literally a random day a few months later when I was sat at my desk and I was like, ‘I’m going to take that board off and look,'” says Harnasz.
To her surprise, she discovered a fully intact fireplace, painted a cream color. Her Instagram followers were pretty shocked too, commenting that it looked like the creepy door in the animated film Coraline. Some even said it resembled a urinal. Harnasz, on the other hand, saw its potential.
“I just thought I struck gold,” she says. “So I was like, ‘I’m going to need to continue on this journey. This is definitely not the end.’ That’s when I decided I was going to strip all of the paint back and see what was further underneath it.”
Having never renovated before, she turned to Google and social media for answers, which eventually helped her come up with an action plan that involved a peel-it-off paint remover called Kling-Strip and many, many buckets of water. “It was not fun, but it was worth it,” she says.
The fireplace turned out to be cobalt blue, which is surprising enough on its own. But there’s another layer to the fun: Harnasz just happens to be a color consultant.
“I love color. I love paint. I love interiors. So I’d already had a vision for how I wanted the space to feel. I’ve got a bright green ceiling. I’ve got a bright yellow radiator. I very much like to have these pops of color. I feel like this house was made for me,” she says. “Not many other people would have appreciated finding such a bold thing.”
And so she continued on her color journey, painting the surrounding area of the fireplace a similar shade of blue, which not all of her followers approved of. But Harnasz didn’t mind at all. Her office brings her joy, which to her, is all that matters.
“One of my favorite comments that I got was someone saying that it’s ‘endearingly ugly’,” she says. “That almost sums up my personal style. I find the beauty in ugly things. I’m always wanting to find the weird stuff. I really liked that.”
Whether or not you think the fireplace is ugly, there’s no denying that it has personality. Today, creating a home that reflects who you are — rather than sticking to minimalist trends and neutral colors — is becoming more and more popular in interior design. And clearly, other social media users think so too (her original fireplace discovery video garnered almost 200k likes on Instagram).
“Our home shouldn’t be a serious place. It should be a place where you can go and feel joy. I think the space resonates with people’s playful side,” she says. “And people also just love other people doing controversial things, don’t they?”
Laura Millar (she/her) is the assistant lifestyle editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers home design. Prior to joining Good Housekeeping in 2024, she wrote for NBC’s TODAY.com, where she covered everything from entertainment news to pop culture updates.
