Fireplace Decor: Filling that Empty Fireplace with Candelabra and More!

10 Quick and Easy Ways to Decorate
Your Fire-less Fireplace

Everyone loves a fireplace aglow with a roaring fire or flickering embers. But your fireplace need not be a gaping empty hole—like a picture frame without a picture—those times you choose not to have a fire.

As you look over these ideas, you’ll recognize any that might be inappropriate if you have young children or pets.

Ivy Basket: A lovely woven basket or metal
fireside basket filled with a thriving ivy plant adds
a touch of nature to your room. Let the ivy trail
onto the hearth to keep the look informal.
Autumn Vegetables: In the fall, create an arrangement of pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn, and silk leaves in autumn colors. Set some of your vegetables on upturned wooden bowls to vary their heights.
Pine Cones: An arrangement of pine cones of
varying sizes, displayed in a large basket, wooden
bowl, copper firewood container, or even an
old washtub works well for a causal country décor.
Scatter some of the pine cones around the container,
too.
Pottery Jug & Dried Plants: For another country autumn look, display a large pottery jug in your fireplace, and around it make a loose arrangement of intertwined, dried grapevine. Mingle some clusters of dried plants into the grapevine. Dried baby’s breath, for example, keeps the look open and airy.
Poinsettias: Blooming poinsettias, especially ones so large they practically fill the fireplace, look stunning during the winter. Depending on your room, the white ones may be even more dramatic than the red ones. Add smaller potted poinsettias on the hearth.
New Years’ Vignette: When it’s time to ring in New Year, first tape two taut strings inside your fireplace, above where they will be visible. Run each one from a front corner to the opposite back corner, so the strings form an X.

Unroll ¼” wide white, silver, and black party streamers and drape them over the strings so they dangle down into the fireplace. Next, unroll more streamers and casually spread a deep pile onto the fireplace floor.

Now add the appropriate props: champagne bottles and glasses, party hats and horns, a large clock set at almost midnight, or metallic numerals of the New Year.
Tropical Vignette: Let your fireplace provide the frame for a tropical retreat vignette when summer rolls around. Display large seashells and glass fishing balls—some perched on white candle holders to give them height.

The truly venturesome might set these goodies on a base of rippling white sand.
Party Balloons: Party time? Inflate balloons in keeping with your party’s color scheme. Load the fireplace full of the inflated latex balloons (not helium ones!), using the fireplace screen or glass doors to hold the balloons in place.

Tie the ribbons of three helium balloons to a heavy object, such as a wrapped brick wrapped as a “present,” at either side of the fireplace.
Fresh Flowers: There’s no time of year when a large bouquet of fresh flowers set in your fireplace won’t look great. Forget the silk
ones, though. We can’t kid ourselves that our guests will continue to assume that they are real when they’ve seen them time and again.
Fireplace Candelabra: But, if you’re like
many of us who feel that a fireplace just needs the
flicker of fire to look its best, consider a
fireplace candelabra, a candle holder designed
specially for your fireplace. You can have a fireplace
aglow with light without a single stick of firewood in
sight or the expense of gas logs.

Some fireplace candelabra are made slim enough to fit in front of your existing andirons and grate while others are make to fill your empty fireplace.

Select candles for your fireplace candelabra in colors that accent your room or set a holiday’s or party’s color scheme.

Plus, you can even match the fireplace candles’ scents to the season or event! Think, for example, pumpkin and spice for autumn, vanilla or apple spice to elicit a “homey” feel, and lemon for a crisp summer scent.