Fireplace Makeover

When you look at a fireplace, it seems pretty must impervious to change.  After all, a fireplace is a permanent brick, mortar and concrete part of your home.  So if you wanted to give that fireplace a facelift so it will be more in step with a new interior decorating scheme, it seems like that would be a major undertaking.  But there are ways to dress up and alter your fireplace that are not so drastic that you permanently change the structure of the unit.  And if you use simple, inexpensive ways to give your fireplace a good makeover, you wont feel bad if you change it again in six months or if you hate it and want to start all over right away.

On a nonstructural level, there is a lot you can do with the mantel and the hearth area of your fireplace to change the personality of the unit.  The great thing about a mantel is it is a blank page that you can paint a new picture on each month.  You can use lights similar to Christmas lights to turn it into a Mexican celebration or to create romance and mystery to fit in with a night of romance you might be planning.  If the event is a festive one, balloons, crepe paper and candles can change a simple fireplace with no personality into something youthful and fun loving and all without changing the fireplace itself at all.

If you do feel like making some minor enhancements to the structure of your fireplace, you can start with some simple hooks that you can put into the mantle or even into the mortar of the fireplace itself.  With a small brick drill bit, you can create the holes and put hooks directly into the wall of the fireplace to stay there permanently.  Once you have a half dozen or so hooks strategically scattered around the fireplace wall and mantel, they can be used to hang pictures, decorative items or just about any kind of wild item you can think of to give your fireplace new life and personality.

That area of your fireplace that extends into the room where you usually just keep the fireplace implements and the screen also scream out to be used more creatively.  If you are going to decorate your fireplace for an event where there will be no fire, just think of what it would look like to fill the base with stuffed animals, balloons or wrapped boxes to make that other wise dull part of your fireplace become an explosion of fun and creativity.

For a more permanent change, you can always paint your existing fireplace.  You will need to use heat resistant paint but if you coordinate the fireplace color with the new decorating scheme of the room where the fireplace is, that tie in can be the finishing touch that is just what you were looking for. 

So don’t overlook the humble fireplace when you are considering makeover ideas to give your home new life and energy.  You can dress it up and give it a new life just as much as any other part of the house and change a boring fireplace to a conversation piece that will entertain and fascinate your guests.