One of the most powerful interior design tools at your fingertips are the mantel decorations of your fireplace. The hearth may have surrendered its role as the center of cooking and heating, but that's all it has lost. The fireplace remains the focal point of the home, no matter the overall design, furniture style, upholstery, or window treatments. It is by far the strongest voice in house design. Use your creativity to make the most of it. It's easier than you realize!

Versatility is perhaps the most marvelous--certainly rewarding--quality of mantel decorations. You can change them as often as you like. Each time you do you're free to entirely recreate the style and character of the room. It's easy, it's refreshing. If your first idea isn't quite right, have fun trying another or change it back!

Design Ideas for Mantel Decorations

Remember, the change might be as simple as taking down the candle grouping and replacing it with a crystal vase filled with polished stones, water, and five stalks of Lucky Bamboo. Switching the beveled mirror and that oil portrait you bought at the estate sale two summers ago is also easy. Design transformations can change with the seasons. You only burn fires for several months anyhow. Dried flowers do well in the autumn. In the summer you might want fresh flowers. Hanging small potted plants from the mantel is another option.

The next time you're at a bookstore, or even a doctor's office, flip through the home decorating magazines. Look hard at the rooms with fireplaces and see all the decorating options. Victorian mantels and country cottages may not be your style. That's okay. If you focus only on the design elements on the mantel, you'll come away with plenty of inspiration. Clear glass bowls of potpourri are only the first of countless ideas for mantel decorations.