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Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful — especially with a hearth in the bedroom. Those flames crackling nearby keep toes warm.

Or, a fireplace could sit below your flat-screen television, so families can enjoy two focal points in one spot while lounging on the couch and soaking up the comfortable heat.

Whether it’s gas or electric, mounted on the wall or perched on a dining room table, fireplaces are popping up in homes but in new and innovative designs — and even lighting up with the flick of a switch or push of a button, rather than the traditional burning logs.

Watch the video above to see some of the different fireplaces.

“Everybody likes something different. There’s some people that want just something streamlined or ornate. It’s just like buying a car or anything else,” said Irene Borghaus, who owns Fireplaces of America in Englishtown with her husband, Dennis Borghaus.

Heating up with style

Mario Venancio, a Gloria Nilson real estate agent in Monmouth County, has seen homeowners getting more creative with what rooms — and how many — feature a fireplace.

“We’ll see them in family rooms, sometimes in kitchens. Some builders are doing five fireplaces in one home,” Venancio said, adding that master bedroom, foyer and tabletop fireplaces are not uncommon. “Outdoor fireplaces — that’s been a huge trend the last five to seven years.”

More households are putting their TV above the mantel as well. But Smith cautions against mounting it too high, or else it will be a difficult, and eventually painful, to view from the couch.

The designs have streamlined to a more simple, yet classier style than in previous years, experts say.

“They’ve become much more retro — that cosmopolitan vibe,” Venancio said. “People are really changing them up incredibly. Back then, they were doing full marble walls, full stone walls, and now they’re taking those walls down.”

Hearths today include more millwork and molding, with less tile and marble mixed in — an ode to more recent styles of kitchen countertops, Venancio says.

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