How to Dress Up Your Fireplace

Paint the fireplace bricks one color and the walls around the fireplace a different color. Choose colors that provide dramatic contrasts to each other such as red with yellow. Match the paint colors with the colors of the room's decorating schemes.

Lay down a mantel scarf to add extra color and pattern to the fireplace. Change the scarf as the seasons change to mix up the decorating motif.

Choose some accessories that bring a local flavor to the arrangement. If you live in New England and the fall harvest has rolled around, deck the mantel with mini-pumpkins, gourds and bottles of wine from a local winery. If you live near the coast, choose an assortment shells and interestingly shaped driftwood.

Select a variety of free-standing picture frames for a display of family photos on the mantel. Make a visual statement by choosing some brown frames and showing off some old sepia-toned pictures. Encrust dollar store frames with beads and buttons for a more bohemian look. Think about the rest of your decor when choosing frames for the mantel. Also, choose your pictures so that they tell a visual story; people's eyes will linger on them longer.

Show off your interests by stacking leather books on the mantel, filling it with a collection of shadowboxes or displaying antique dolls on it.

Hang mirrors and sconces above the mantel. Look for a mirror with an ornately carved frame or one with an interesting graphic inlay. These elements add light to a room by reflecting the light that's already there.

Decorate the hearth with items such as twig baskets that you fill with fireplace tools or an assortment of yarn and knitting needles.

Fill up the mouth of the fireplace in the summer with a display of candles. Choose a wrought iron candelabra and white candles for a dramatic display, or place a vanity mirror on the floor of the cleaned fireplace and top it with candles in soft, pastel colors for a more muted look.

Display a collection of pottery on the hearth to add some color to the area. Keep it far enough away from the mouth of the fireplace to prevent it from cracking in the heat of the fire.