Mantel Decor Inspiration and Styling Tips
Our flex playroom and living room (see moodboard and living room decor ideas here) is coming together with the recent addition of a new piece of art by photographer Luciano Fileti. I hung it over the fireplace, which naturally meant it was time to style the mantel and spruce up that corner of the room.
Mantel Styling Tips
Scanning the internet, the consensus on mantel styling and mantel decor ideas is this: use a balance of heights, textures and stick to an odd number of objects to create the perfect vignette. Or, as style expert Emily Henderson and her team put it here: “remember this phrase: Something tall, something short, something shiny, something dull. Oh yeah, and something ‘organic.”
According to Jackie at School of Decorating here, start with a focal point and add large interesting decor. Then either go for a symmetrical look or go for balanced asymmetry in which the visual weight of objects on either side of the focal point matches each other even though the objects themselves are not an exact match.
With the beautiful print hanging above, I styled the mantel with vintage vessels and plants, and a stack of coffee table books to hide the electrical outlet. I went for the balanced asymmetry look for my mantel decor. How’d I do?
Mantel Decor Ideas
If you’re looking for mantel decor ideas for your own fireplaces – or consoles or entryway tables – here are a few that I think are beautiful.
What I love about these mantel decor options is that they each have a little bit of drama: the bold painted color and pattern, the veined stone, and all those green plants. They also each have a focal point and are using asymmetrical design for their mantel decor.
What’s your favorite?
