Top 4 Fireplace Mantel Decorating Tips

Having a fireplace in your home can be a major treat. After all, who doesn’t love getting cozy and warm while sitting with friends around a beautiful fireplace?

But even though fireplaces are great, a lot of people have trouble when it comes to figuring out how to decorate them.

In fact, some people get so overwhelmed that they end up leaving their fireplace mantel completely bare (something you definitely don’t want to do).

Decorating your fireplace mantel doesn’t have to be difficult. If you decorate it the right way, you can easily turn it into the focal point of a room.

So, what do you need to do to create a fireplace mantel that everyone loves gathering around?

Read on to learn the top 4 fireplace mantel decorating tips.

1. Find the Right Balance

People usually make one of two mistakes when they decorate their fireplace mantel: they either overdecorate it, or they underdecorate it.

When it comes to decorating your fireplace mantel, you want to remember that less is usually more. If the whole mantel is jam-packed with candles, vases, and pictures, then the area will just look overcrowded and overwhelming. You don’t need every inch of space covered on your fireplace mantel.

But the less is more rule does not mean you should leave your fireplace mantel bare. As we said earlier, there’s an opportunity to make your fireplace the focal point of your room. Without any decorations, though, you won’t be able to achieve this.

2. Choose a Piece of Artwork for a Focal Point

If you want your fireplace mantel to be the focal point of your room, then you need to make sure the fireplace mantel has its own focal point.

In other words, you need a focal point within a focal point. There are a lot of items that can serve as a focal point, such as a mirror, sculpture, or plant.

However, if you want something that’s really easy to work with, go for a painting. A painting can add both sophistication and uniqueness to a fireplace. And don’t worry, you don’t need to invest in a rare piece of artwork.

You can shop around online, or check out a site like INSTAPAINTING.COM and have your favorite photo painted.

3. Choose the Right Proportions

When decorating your fireplace mantel, you also want to make sure you choose the right proportions.

If you decorate your fireplace mantel with a bunch of really small picture frames, it isn’t going to help draw attention to that area of the room.

Plus, decorations that are small are going to look even smaller on top of a large fireplace. And, you don’t want a ton of free wall space behind the fireplace either.

The solution?

Choose decor items of varying proportions. Make sure to have at least one item (such as a painting) that takes up the width of the mantel (or even wider). Then, you can overlap different smaller pieces in front of this, such as plants or candles.

4. Consider Asymmetrical Placement

Placing your decor items asymmetrically can be a clever way to draw more attention to one side of the room.

For example, let’s say you have some throw pillows on a sofa on the left side of the room that you’d like to draw attention to. By placing your mantel decor items slightly off-center and to the left, you’ll be able to draw attention to these pillows.

As you can see, there are a lot of simple things you can do to make your fireplace mantel look great. Comment below with any questions!