The holidays are fast approaching and you know what that means… LOTS of decorating! One of the most common places for a homeowner to decorate, is their fireplace mantel. It’s usually in the center of a wall, or definitely a major focal point in the room, but what do you do when you’re less than impressed with how your mantel looks in it’s current condition? Give it a makeover! Fireplace and mantel makeovers are a great DIY home improvement project to tackle in the early fall months. Here are a few creative ways to take yours up a notch this year.
Painting your Brick:
Although brick is beautiful and classic in lots of homes, sometimes it doesn’t exactly fit your style. A great way to get a completely different look, without having to spend a lot of time in demolition and materials cost, is to simply paint your brick. White seems to be the trend lately, but any shade of medium or light gray would also look beautiful.
Building-out Around the Brick:
If you’re still not satisfied with a mostly brick fireplace, you can opt to build out around it. Using inexpensive MDF material, you can design a high-end looking fireplace on a small budget. This technique also helps to give your mantel more bulk and space for those fun decor items.
Adding or Changing the Tile Surround:
Updating the tile design or color around your fireplace can also be a great way to add personality to your mantel this fall. Because you only need a very small amount, you can search for discounted tile online or even pick up remnant pieces at your local Habitat or thrift store.
Faux Tile Fireplaces:
If you like the idea of tile, but think it’s a bit out of your budget or skill-set, then try painting over your existing tile instead. It may sound a little crazy, but the results are stunning! Using a Faux tile painting technique or small repeating stencil pattern, you can create lots of different looks around your fireplace, for a fraction of the price.
Now what about those of us who aren’t lucky enough to actually have a fireplace or mantel to decorate in our home? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered too. Try a Faux fireplace or display shelves instead.
Faux Fireplaces:
If you’ve got a large bare wall in your space that you wish had a fireplace on, then try this fun idea of building a fake one. This method gives you complete freedom to choose exactly what you want your fireplace and mantel to look like, and since you don’t actually have to worry about the surrounding materials getting too hot, or being compatible with fire codes, you can pretty much use whatever you want.
Shelves that act as Mantels:
Our house is quite small, so for us, there isn’t a ton of extra room to add much of anything in the way of a full blown OR Faux fireplace, but we really wanted a spot in our home that we could use to change out decor from time to time. After a little brainstorming, we decided to incorporate some free standing decorative shelves into our kitchen nook. You can scatter them in a few different sizes on a wall like we did, or simply find a chunky store-bought one and dress it up for all the different seasons and holidays.
Now that you’ve got your mantel and shelves ready to go, learn how to decorate them! Check out these additional posts:
Creating Beautiful Vignettes
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Example of excellent decorating work. A color change and some very little accessories change has totally given the old look into a brand new gorgeous look . I will try to furnish my house corners like this in coming festive season. Thanks you Shelley for sharing the article.
No doubt that fireplace is very much useful as provides heat but at the same time it should be decorated such that, along with heat it adds beauty to the home. The pictures that you have shared are the perfect examples of decoration. Thanks for the share.
Great ideas here. I especially love the Give Thanks as opposed to having the big flat screen TV there, although if you have a fireplace in the room it’s probably the best place for a flat screen most of the time.