SECRETS FOR STYLING A SUMMER MANTEL

A mantel is a focal point in your home. So it is not only fun to deck it out for each season it is important to the look of the rest of your decor! Summertime is easy and breezy and laid back and your mantel should look that way too! Here are a few secrets to decorating the best summer mantel!

Today on Decorating Tips And Tricks we are talking about WAYS TO MIX WOOD TONES! What an important discussion! There is a whole lot to say these days about mixing glorious woods well!

Listen to episode  #215 below:

Let’s decorate our mantel for summer!

SHOP YOUR HOUSE

Don’t rush out and buy new things for your mantel or horizontal surfaces every time the season changes… shop your house! If you are like me you can probably find lots of goodies that will give your summer mantel a fresh look!

Over my decades of decorating my home and others, I have learned to pick up things as I see them go on sale and collect decor items that work together. So I have lots of decor pieces that can be interchanged.

I have a stash of burlap covered book and white painted books that are almost a must when I decorate. And for the mantel books work like magical risers!

Shopping my house for things like a mantel or vignette is always fun and I often find forgotten items that I love. 

BRING A LITTLE OF THE SEASON INSIDE

I think it’s important to bring a little bit of the summer season indoors. And my favorite way to do this is with faux flowers. I’ve said it a thousand times, “invest in fabulous faux” and they will not only look gorgeous but last for years!

These geraniums have been kicking around in my basement for over a decade. And every other year or so I bring them back up and use them in my summer decor. 

Years ago I put them in faux aged terracotta pots. They have been so useful to bring a big punch of lipstick red to so many rooms here at StoneGable!

Here are other summery ideas to use on a mantel…

• willow balls
• faux airy topiaries
• large picture of flowers, greens, outdoor, birds, etc.
• stacked terracotta pots
• watering can
• driftwood
• glass cylinder of shells and sand

CREATE A BACKGROUND

This is so important for any mantel, any time of year! The space between the mantel ledge and the ceiling is prime real estate! And needs to be used. Make sure to have a “backdrop” of sorts that other items can be layered in front of. 

I have a large painted clock and some chippy shutters that are a mainstay on my mantel. I’ve used other things on the wall over the years but these items seem to work best and are my personal style.

Creating a background for the rest of the decor on a mantel will be the one best thing you can do for an attractive focal point!

Here are a few other things that might look fabulous as a background on the mantel wall

• large mirror
• big chippy window
• large wreath
• big picture
• large piece of fabric or wallpaper framed
• large square of weathered or chippy painted wood
• saying or subway art
• iron gate

USE A POP OF SUMMERY COLOR

Summer is all about color! Pick a color and add a pop of it to the mantel. A mantel is a focal point so you want to bring attention to it. And our eyes and mind love color! 

Although I don’t have any other red in my family room I used these bright geraniums to call attention to the mantel. How fun for summer, right?

KEEP THINGS LIGHT

 

Don’t overcrowd a mantel. Keep it light and uncluttered. And remember bigger is so much better than lots of small items that don’t show up!

Think… “little vignettes” or groupings! I’m not one to spread the decor from one side of the mantel to the other. I much prefer groupings that incorporate the elements that make a mantel attractive.

Think about these elements when making little vignettes

• height
• texture
• rule of odd’s
• balance
• pattern
• repeated elements
• layer
• natural elements

Especially in the summer, keep things light!

EDIT, EDIT, EDIT

When a mantel is finished, think again. Or should I say look again. I’m a professed overdecorater so I need to take a step back from a finished decorating project and see if taking something away would make it look better.

Or would giving the mantel a little more rearranging work better for my room?  Always give anything you are decorating a second look and a little editing!

 

Now, go shop you house and create a pretty summery vignette!

 

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DECORATING 101- ELEMENTS OF A VIGNETTE

 

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