Antique Mantels: Top Decoration Tips

If you have a marble fireplace or an antique fireplace, you may also have an antique mantel to match. Antique mantels are beautiful pieces of furniture in your living room. Antique mantels provide a focal point and a centerpiece for your room, drawing the eye of everyone who visits. Mantels are also easily decorated for a new look to your living room, whatever the season.

Decoration is simple and there are a few tricks to the trade to make the end result more effective. One trick that designers and decorators use for fireplace mantels is the “three-plus-one” method. The “three-plus-one” scheme is a way of balancing and defining your mantel with a set of related objects shown to best effect. To create the “three-plus-one” look, you first need to select three similar objects. These objects should be of different heights, but they shouldn’t vary too much in height from each other. The objects could be items that reflect your interests or hobbies, like sailboats or decorative rocks. You could choose three framed pictures of your family, in different-sized frames with a matching color scheme. Match the colors of the objects to the colors already in the room. Try three candles of different sizes in a collection, three large sea shells from your last beach trip, or three fossils. You could use clocks, pottery pots, or decorative beer glasses. Choose objects that mean something to you and that are decorative and eye-catching.

Place the three objects on one side of the fireplace mantel. Try not to place them in a straight line as the end result looks a little stiff. Instead, stand one behind the others, or layer the three objects so the smaller ones are in the front. The objects don’t all have to face into the room; some could face into the fireplace or away from the others. Leave some space between the end object and the edge of your fireplace to create a sense of space and safeguard the objects from falling off the mantel.

Then you need to find one larger object to place on the other side of your fireplace, the opposite end to the group of three objects. The one object should be around twice as tall as the group of three objects, or it should have the same visual mass as the three objects. Ideas for the single item include pictures, a large plant or a tall vase with silk flowers, a tall candlestick, or a large ornament or sculpture. The single object should be somehow related to the three other objects, for the best effect.