Tips on Embellishing a Plain Slab Mantel

Mantel Decorating

• When a mantel has detailed carving or a distinctive shape, its style sets the mood for the fireplace and the surrounding area. A plain mantel provides an asset in your decorating scheme for seasonal or year-round displays. Measuring the mantel before you shop for embellishments saves time and helps you decorate the mantel with confidence. Knowing the depth of the mantel from the front edge to the wall and its length makes it easier to select vases, trays and sculptures, and makes it easier to create three-dimensional mantelscapes such as holidays scenes.

Natural Embellishments

• Natural materials create dynamic and relatively inexpensive embellishments for a plain mantel. Tree branches, curly willow, foliage from your yard, decorative bowls full of seed pods or rocks, mineral specimens or clear vases filled with seashells provide a sense of harmony with the natural world and go well with green, contemporary, country and eclectic decor. Vases that coordinate with your color scheme serve to set off garden or florist flowers to add color to the room. Changing the natural displays on the mantel allows you to celebrate the seasons and keep the room looking fresh.

Candle Embellishments

• Candle embellishments give the mantel an element of fire at any time of year. This decorative strategy makes the fireplace an appealing focal point in the room during warm weather or with a fireplace that's rarely or never used for a fire. Arranging candelabra with matching tapers along the mantel or creating a display of pillar candles in different heights adds interest. Hanging a mirror above the mantel or standing a framed mirror at the back of the mantel reflects the candles and their flames into the room to maximize their glow.

Art Embellishments

• Photographs or artwork in standing frames, sculpture groupings and collections of objets d'art such as pottery work well to embellish a plain slab mantel. The mantel's simplicity makes it suitable for displaying any kind of art, from antique photos to collections of cutting-edge sculpture made from found materials. If the mantel is a slab of wood, displaying chrome or matte metal frames adds the element of metal for a more contemporary look. Colorful paintings or photographs create a warming effect on a mantel made from a slab of marble.