5 Unique Options For Fireplace Mantles
Your fireplace mantle can be the focal point of your living room, or it can just be a place to collect dust. Assuming you want to make your mantle look its best, you might want to come up with new objects to use in place of traditional wood. You can design your mantle to truly say something about who you are and what you love. Here are 5 unique options for fireplace mantles that you might want to try in your home.
Salvage Wood Doors And Shelves
Salvage wood can become the perfect accent element for fireplaces, even in modern homes. If you know of a building nearby that's getting torn down, you might see if you can get some old doors, shelves, or countertops from it. As long as the items are long and sturdy enough to sit horizontally, you can have a really neat feature to add to your mantle.
Bricks
If you have a fireplace that isn't covered in bricks, you might use bricks as an accent piece to form a mantle. Jut them out from the sides of your fireplace so that they can form a small shelf. If you want, you can still add stone and other elements around the brick to make it stand out more, but it may contrast just fine with what you already have.
Glass Bottles
Glass bottles can be added to plastered fireplaces to create three dimensional art that still serves a purpose. You can get bottles in a variety of colors, and then all you have to do is attach the top or bottom to the side of the fireplace. When you finally get a fire going, the glow will surely be stunning.
Surf Boards
If you are shooting for a beach theme in your room, an old surf board could be the perfect option for your mantle. You will just need to make sure it is sealed well to stand up to the heat the fire is putting out. Cut the surf board to go around the fireplace, and you will have a funky fireplace in no time.
Art
Rather than having an actual mantle, you might think about hanging some art in a horizontal line on your fireplace. This will create the illusion of a mantle or at least an attention-seeking form without necessarily giving you a shelf to put something on. Think outside the box when you start designing your mantle, and you never know what you're going to get.
Design Ideas for Chimney Refinishing
If you are going to add a chimney to your home or rebuild the one you already have, you might want to think about changing up the design a little bit. You don't have to do anything extreme, but subtle changes to your chimney could make a big difference in your home's overall curb appeal. Make your chimney a focal feature for your home's façade, and people will instantly find it more appealing. Here are some design ideas for chimney refinishing.
Use Stone, Not Brick
If you have a brick home, you might want to contrast it with a stone chimney to add some dimension to your home's exterior. While we can match the brick of your home pretty closely, it is nearly impossible to get the same brick that you currently have because of the sun damage and wear your existing bricks have gone through. You might end up with a chimney that is noticeably newer than the rest of your home. By adding designer stone to the outside instead, you will not have to worry about matching. You can focus on how great your house looks.
Change Up The Patterns And Textures
Rather than using one solid material throughout the chimney, try changing it up a bit. Maybe you decide to use an accent stone within a medley of bricks. Perhaps you could try using different styles of bricks to add depth to the chimney. As long as all of the decisions you make are in line with the rest of your home's design, you should end up with a great looking chimney that is interesting and functional at the same time.
Make Big Changes To The Home
You could take this opportunity to enhance your home's curb appeal all the way around. For instance, you may consider changing the home's color scheme if you are stuck in the burnt orange colors from decades ago. Modern homes are mostly comprised of soft, neutral colors with subtle pops of maroon and white. You could paint or refinish the entire exterior of the home to make it match your fabulous new chimney.
If you're going to spend the money on chimney refinishing, you might as well get the most out of it that you can. Take this chance to make your house look a lot better, and you will be happy about the investment in the end.
