HG Openhouse Blog

 I enjoy adding a little bit of summer around the house. One place that gets neglected is the fireplace. Who wants to think about the fireplace in the summer? Well, it’s still a focal point in the room, and attention is drawn to that ugly black  box and hearth.  I was looking around the house to find some inspiration to “summerize” the area, and went out to my garage. There was a stack of old and new clay pots  and saucers in all shapes and sizes. I had to clean up a few of them, but I thought they might be an inexpensive and easy way to add some summer interest.

I used quite a few clay pot pieces, but you can use as many or as few as you like. I stacked a few in different combinations until I got some height variations. Then, collected a bunch of mismatched white, thick candles and placed them on top of the pots or saucers. This seemed to  fill the void nicely. Also has wonderful ambiance lit at night,  and doesn’t produce much heat ( keep the flue open to draw any heat out).  You can leave the pots/saucers as is,  or add some shells, starfish, coral, rocks, driftwood, or anything to accent that summer feel.

(click pictures to enlarge)

I was trying to think of some other things to do, to dress  the fireplace for summer. We’d love to hear any you’ve thought of.  Here’s some more I’ve come up with…

• Set a model sailboat inside or in front of the opening on the hearth.
• Lean a section of an old white picket fence, antique wire fence, or treillage in front of the opening.
• Set up a bubbling water feature for the cool sound of splashing water.
• Set a large round clay planting bowl in the opening. Fill it with sand and add beach grass and shells on top.
• Lean some croquet mallets on the hearth and line up 5-7 croquet balls along the top of the mantel.
• Stack or lean some thick bamboo sections as you would a pile of firewood. Tie with raffia.
• Stack vintage tin or wicker picnic baskets in the opening or on the hearth.
• Display a basket or wood crate full of driftwood.
• Make a 3-4 section, weathered window shutter screen, hinged together to zig-zag in front of the opening.
• Lean and overlap some frameless thriftstore seascapes or summer scenes casually on the hearth and up on the mantel.
• Set a large watering can or tin bucket full of yard flowers or greenery in front of the opening.
• Make a simple flat screen out of white wood lattice. Add a pot of ivy to climp on the screen.

It’s great to add a little summer feel to a well viewed focal point in the room. Think , outside of the “firebox” for some original and creative accents to keep summer burning brightly in your home.