Tips and Ideas for Styling a Fireplace Mantel

Even those who haven’t been lucky enough to find their dream home with a fireplace have found ways around it. Fireplaces provide warmth, ambience, and are usually the focal point of the room they’re in. So for a family who’s got the warmth part covered, they can still have the ambience and focal point with a faux fireplace. Regardless of whether it’s real or fake, you’ll want to make it aesthetically pleasing. With a few tips and ideas for styling a fireplace mantel, you’re sure to enhance it and the entire room.

Decorations

There are many options for décor on your fireplace mantel. In making choices about your ornamentation, you’ll want to start with a blank canvas. The best way to do this is to use floating mantel brackets to firmly place the shelf without obvious mounting pieces. Using Right On Bracket’s floating mantel brackets allows you to get the clean look of a floating shelf with durability and stability regardless of what you place on it. From there you simply have to decide on how to design it.

Framed Pictures

Depending on the look you’re going for, you can either use small pictures of various moments and put them in matching or different frames to create lovely decoration. It’s also an option to create a focal point on your mantel with a large portrait or painting of people, scenery, or nature.

Candlesticks

Candlesticks are a classic and elegant decoration. They never go out of style. Just be sure that the metallic finish, candle color, and quantity tie into the room without being overwhelming or out of place. Many people use elaborate candle holders in the opening—the firebox—of a faux fireplace in lieu of logs and fire.

Statues

When we think of statues, we often think of large pieces of art that perhaps belong outside. However, we can have many kinds of statues, sculptures, or figurines in our houses. Many people use such items for design purposes or to showcase their passion about a topic. This can be seen with people who collect model figurines for displaying.

Vases

Though vases are most obviously used to hold flowers, they can be utilized for other things. Vases can act as candle holders, be filled with rocks or colorful marbles, or even serve as a habitat for fish. Choosing a clear or decorated vase is up to you, and you have plenty of options based on your needs and desired look.

Clocks

Nowadays we have so much technology that getting the time is as easy as calling on Alexa, Siri, or Google. However, there’s something about a traditional clock that adds to décor. And if the clock actually functions, great! Though even when it doesn’t, it doesn’t necessarily deter from the concept. Clocks come in many shapes and sizes, so whether you want to make it your focal point or it’s just an accent piece, you’ve got the option.

Books

Books can be stood upright as if they were on a bookshelf or placed purposefully on their sides and stacked ranging in color, size, and thickness. Depending on the look you’re going for, books may be the perfect decoration items for your mantel.

Decisions

As you decide what works best for your mantel piece, you’ll want to make some thoughtful choices that will reflect your personality and also contribute to the room. Keeping in mind the types of decorations and the options associated with them, you’ll next need to consider best placement.

Variation

Using items that vary in size and shape and that are staggered will give depth to the shelf. You’ll want to place taller items in the back to ensure everything you’re choosing to display can be seen. It’s important to keep in mind that viewers of your mantel will look at it from many different angles. Ensure no items are completely hidden—because if they are, they could either benefit from rearranging, or perhaps they’re not worth having on the mantel in the first place.

Symmetry

For some symmetry is a must. Even if items on the mantelpiece don’t match completely, having a focal piece and surrounding it with similarly size items on either side can give symmetry. For many people, balance is pleasing to the eye. While some items look fine alone, other items are better arranged in pairs. For example, a vase of flowers looks fine as one item, but candlesticks look odd when not together. Finding visual balance will add to your fireplace’s style.

Theme

Determining the theme that you’re going for in the entire room will allow you to make important decisions about your mantel. Knowing whether you want an elegant look, classic, modern, or something else will help you determine how much to put on your mantel and what items would best convey the theme and add to the space.

Meaning

It’s best to add pieces to your mantel that are somehow connected—that have meaning. Understanding your reasoning for the combination of items you’ve chosen is essential. A bunch of completely disconnected random objects won’t be able to tie into each other. Using a large accent piece can create focus and be complemented with smaller surrounding décor.

Clutter

Avoid overcrowding when deciding which decorations to have on your mantel. Clutter not only crowds the individual pieces—making it hard to appreciate what cannot be seen—but it causes confusion or anxiety. Suddenly, your purposefully placed items look like you had nowhere else to store them.

In considering tips and ideas for styling a fireplace mantel, think about mirrors. Good placement of a mirror not only meets decorative and placement needs, but it opens up a room. A proper reflective surface can allow the items you’ve put on your mantel to be better seen, make your mantel look fuller without clutter, and break up the wall to make a larger illusion of space. Only you know what’s best for your mantelpiece, but it’s good to know what your options are. With our floating mantel brackets, you can place as many as necessary to easily and securely hold the heaviest of mantel shelves.