Kit Davey, Interior Designer
18 Years in business - Over 2,600 homes transformed!
Tips From Kit - March 2006
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Fireplace and Mantel Ideas
By Kit Davey
A warm, crackling fire in the hearth is the ideal place for family and friends around which to gather. But with warm weather coming up you'll be staring into a dark, ash-filled hole in the wall. Since the fireplace is typically your living room's focal point, it's essential to make it worth looking at when you don't have a fire blazing.
So, how can you dress it up in the warmer months? To start with, you should at least stick a few logs in a pyramid on the andirons. Take it a step further by adding greenery, such as pine boughs, bay or eucalyptus branches. Include a few cones or large seedpods.
Or, try filling your fireplace with:
- Three or four blooming hydrangeas in terra cotta pots.
- A large cement garden statue, or a cluster of smaller statues (Keep the seven dwarfs and skinks out in the yard!). Twine faux ivy tendrils around the feet of the statues(s).
- A large fan. If you still have wallpaper left over from a papering project, glue the remnant to stiff paper and fold into a large fan. Place the fan just inside the fireplace opening. Group a few plants in brass containers in front of it.
- A large basket with a dried flower arrangement that complements your color scheme.
- A collection of fat candles arranged amongst rounded beach rocks.
Or:
- If you have recently pruned a tree in your yard, gather a bundle of twigs and cut into uniform length. Bundle and tie with raffia, three of four inches from each end. Place your tied bundle on the andirons.
- If you have some straight, regularly shaped logs, place them standing on their ends and tie them together with hemp rope. Stand them up on the floor of the fireplace.
Over the Mantel
It's traditional to hang a large piece of art or a mirror over the mantel. If you hang a painting, make sure the piece is not hung too high or too low and that it shares the room's color scheme and theme. Give it drama by adding a light to the top of the frame or by aiming a small spotlight at the picture from below. Or, lean several framed pieces of art in varying sizes to show off a collection. If you'd like to try something a little different, hang one of these over your mantel:
- A collection of masks, plates, puppet, straw hats, purses or fans.
- A collection of mirrors in antique gold frames.
- A tapestry, an antique prayer rug or Mexican blanket.
- A child's kimono hanging from a bamboo branch.
- Folds of shimmery silk draped and looped from a curtain rod with big finials.
- A colorful kite with a long tail.
- A large fabric fan hand-painted to match the room's décor.
On the mantel
Once you've decided what to put over the mantel, pick something fun to decorate the mantelpiece.
- Try repetition: Arrange five matching vases with a blossom in each one, a row of delftware plates on stands, a line of bright red apples or a collection of cobalt blue bottles.
- Try symmetry: Place a matching pair of vases, statues, Japanese dolls, antique fans, candlestick holders or potted topiaries on either side of your mantel.
- Try balance: Place accessories of similar heights on either side of the mantel. They don't have to match; for example, a tall pair of candlesticks on one side and a vase of flowers on the other side. Or, put a plate on a stand to one side and a potted African violet on the other.
- Try asymmetry: Stand a single tall wood carving on one side of your mantel and a grouping of three smaller carvings on the other, or put two miniature chairs to the left and nothing to the right.
- Try simplicity: Don't put anything on the mantelpiece. Your fireplace won't always be warmed by a welcoming fire, so remember to make this focal point pleasing at all times.
(C) Kit Davey 2006
Kit Davey, Allied Member, A.S.I.D., is an interior designer specializing in room re-design, design consulting, staging and professional organizing. Call her at (650)367-7370 or write her KitDavey@aol.com You can visit her website at www.AFreshLook.net.
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