The fireplace still is the focal point of the room, and with a little imagination can be a family canvas every season of the year.

Take a few minutes, and take a fresh look at your fireplace, and make it into an interesting fresh focal point. As the weather warms up, we can lighten up our mantle by taking down heavy dark candle sticks, and putting up vases with flowers, or even “forcing” branches of forsythia.  We can replace our picture with one of bright tulips, or of the seashore.  Think about what you love, what your hobbies are, and display it here.  Gardening, boating, history, grandkids, travel, anything can be used.  You need to have one anchor piece to offset the visual weight of the fireplace opening itself.  It can be a mirror, or group of mirrors.  If you use a picture you can accessorize according to the theme of the picture.  Group your accessories, but don’t over do it, vary heights and shapes, and try to have each piece hold its own. Don’t feel as though you need to hang pictures or mirrors, often it looks nice to simply lean them against the wall for a very casual look. There are no hard and fast rules; 

sometimes nothing is prettier than a simple row of white candles.  

Play with it, its all temporary, so have fun.

Linda M. - Talsma Furniture Hudsonville