It’s winter time. It is a wonderful time to make good use of that fireplace in your living room. Of course, because of its beauty, it naturally becomes the focal point of the room and, sometimes, even with its charm, you just don’t know how to begin decorating around it.

There are so many concerns with regard to the decorative elements that are allowed around a fireplace. Is every collectible okay to be displayed there? Even the fire hazards?

So how should you decorate around this amazing architectural feature?

Reflections and Art

While the fireplace is in itself a kind of architectural art, you can’t just leave it bare. You simply have to balance its charming beauty with some other decorative elements. You can begin with any rectangular or circular mirror which will offer the needed visual counterpoint to the fireplace.

You can highlight also highlight the fireplace sans the mirror by adding a flatscreen TV, an artwork or even an oversized wall clock. Note the size of the artwork or TV that you’re going to place there. A huge one might dwarf the beauty of your fireplace while a small one might just look awkward.

Be sure to add a gap between the fireplace and the television set. This is to ascertain that the TV won’t heat up because of the blazing fires of the fireplace. To fill this gap, add some electronic votive candles or a row of knickknacks.

Vases or Candles

Don’t always resort to perfect symmetry. You can still achieve balance with asymmetry. As soon as you have a huge object atop the fireplace, add some smaller elements that would balance the larger object on either side. Or you can have the large object on the left and the smaller ones grouped together on the right.

Both sides of the mantel can be balanced with visual anchors such as a vase of roses or any interesting flowers that are in season. You can also look for vases that complement the rest of your interior design.

Candles and sconces are also great options for decorative elements. Match two lamps and you have a balanced fireplace. Smaller objects can also be huddled to form one large unit. This can be some scented or colorful candles.

Depending on the season, you can bring in some of Mother Nature’s beauty indoors. Bring in pinecones and twigs during fall or sprigs of holly during winter.

Decorate According to the Fireplace Material

Since there are different kinds of materials that can be used to build a fireplace, then, logically, there are also various means in which you can decorate each. For instance, the brick fireplace will look perfect with a classic mirror reflecting all the other traditional design elements inside the living room.

A black slate type, on the other hand, tends to get dramatic because of its darker shade. Surround this fireplace with wood mantel for a more dramatic statement.

The mosaic tiles tend to look good with some jewel-tone decorative pieces. The whitewashed brick is all that you would need to display a set of candles instead of logs. An ornate fireplace is the perfect home for antique-looking decorative elements. Its appeal could also be heightened as you add stain or lacquer to this fireplace’s mantel.

The stone fireplace is one of the natural-looking fireplaces that are already beautiful even when not dressed up. But you can make this doubly impressive as you turn it to a rustic focal point. To deviate the attention from the stone, you could add a long mirror. Hang this right above the mantel.

You can also use the color of the stone fireplace as the inspiration for the color scheme throughout the room.

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