Ways to Transform Your Fireplace Mantel

What can be more welcoming to guests, or even family members for that matter, than a living room with a softly blazing fire to keep them warm and comfortable on a cold winter night. A fireplace mantel goes a long way in defining the overall décor of a room, and hence, it holds special importance in interior designing.

Coming up with good mantel designs, is not that difficult if you come to think of it. All you need is some information on what kind of materials to use for the fireplace surround, and which one will suit the other furniture and look of the house. Read on to know more.

You can have all the bricks painted in a dark brown paint, and outlined with white paint. This will define each brick and the overall effect will be charming!

And if your room is vibrant with colors, then you can go for a lighter shade of wood, which will bring out the contrasting effect magnificently. In designs, you can go for something plain like simple wooden panels around the fireplace, or you can opt for a more fancy one with embellished carvings on it.

You can place a huge clear-glass vase on the mantel, fill it with water, keep some white carnations in it, and add a few drops of red ink to the water. The flower stalks will absorb the ink, and the flowers will get a light pinkish tinge.

The cold stone counters the warmth of the fire beautifully, and displays a warm and tempting comfort, that not many can resist. In stone fireplaces, apart from the given options, another one you can try, is a plain stone one, without any carving or other work adorning the stone. Just keep it plain and simple.

Those were some ideas on how you can transform fireplace mantels and surrounds, using simple and effective ways. Make sure you take fireplace safety very seriously. Take appropriate measures like keeping fire extinguishers close at hand, and enjoy the warmth of your fireplace!