Beverly Hills, Michigan | Microcement Fireplace Transformation
This Beverly Hills living room had a fireplace that was perfectly fine — transitional in style, with quartz marble as the main design feature, flanked by clean millwork. It was well-executed for its time. But design moves forward, and what once felt elevated had started to feel expected. The clients wanted something that felt more modern, more organic, and more distinctly theirs.
The brief was clear: strip it back. Create something quiet enough to let the architecture speak — and bold enough to completely transform how the room felt.
The Approach
The design philosophy for this project was deliberate restraint. In a room filled with natural light, warm wide-plank flooring, and carefully chosen objects, the fireplace didn't need to compete. It needed to anchor.
We removed the existing quartz marble surround entirely and rebuilt the fireplace surround from scratch — designing a form that was minimal in detail but intentional in proportion. The key decision was the arch. Rather than a standard square or rectangular firebox opening, we designed a softly curved arch that introduces an organic quality without adding visual weight. The curve becomes the focal point precisely because everything else is stripped away.
No mantel shelf crowding the composition. No decorative molding pulling the eye in multiple directions. Just the wall, the surround, and the arc of the opening.
The Microcement Finish
The entire surround was finished in hand-applied microcement — seamless, matte, and continuous from the firebox surround through the full wall surface above. Microcement was the only finish that could achieve what this design required: a surface with subtle texture and depth that reads as warm rather than cold, without any of the visual noise that tile grout lines, paint sheen, or stone veining would introduce.
The finish we applied here has a particular quality in natural light — soft and almost chalky in the morning, with more depth and warmth as the afternoon light shifts. It changes throughout the day in a way that makes the fireplace feel alive even when it isn't lit.
No two microcement applications are identical. The hand-application process means the finish has subtle variation that a machine-applied surface could never replicate — which is what gives it that unmistakably handcrafted quality.
The Result
The transformation is total. What was a decorative feature in the room is now an architectural statement. The arched opening creates a quiet drama — a shape that draws the eye without demanding it. The microcement surround grounds the room in a way the quartz marble never could, connecting the fireplace to the warmth of the flooring and the organic objects around it rather than contrasting against them.
The antique portrait above the mantel, the ceramic vessel on the floor, the vintage books stacked to the side — none of these details would have read as clearly against the old surround. Against the microcement, every object in the room has space to breathe and be seen.
This is what we mean by letting the curve be the star. The design succeeds because it got out of its own way.
Project Details
Location: Beverly Hills, Michigan
Project Type: Fireplace Remodel, Microcement Finishing
Services: Fireplace Surround Redesign, Custom Microcement Application, Architectural Millwork
Finish: Hand-applied matte microcement
Style: Minimalist / Modern Organic
Photography: Shelby Dubin Photography
About Our Microcement & Fireplace Services
This Beverly Hills fireplace is a good example of what custom microcement can dothat no other finish can — create a surface that is simultaneously minimal and deeplytextural, modern and warm, restrained and completely distinctive.Our microcement and specialty finishing work is done through Costello & Customs,our dedicated finishing division. We apply microcement to fireplaces, range hoods,feature walls, bathroom surfaces, and countertops throughout Oakland County and every application is done by hand, which means every finish is one of a kind.
Ready to Transform Your Fireplace?
If your fireplace feels dated, disconnected, or simply like it's not living up to the room around it — we'd love to help you rethink it. Sometimes the most impactful renovation is the one that does less, not more.
Request a Free Quote or call us at (248) 242-5790. We serve homeowners throughout Beverly Hills, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills,West Bloomfield, Rochester Hills, Royal Oak, Ferndale, Troy, and the greaterOakland County and Metro Detroit area.