The Age Old Decorating Question: Fireplace Styling...

One of my most captivating girlfriends, has purchased her first home!  While I was so excited to hear about her most recent big news, we both were thrilled at the opportunity to decorate a blank canvas.  As many of you know, styling & decorating a house takes a lot of time & money to turn it into a home.  Lucky for her, she has a beautiful family for inspiration & within no time we will turn her new place into a home with a few intimate touches!

While looking through some pictures of her new house, I came across an interesting layout for what would be their family room- included with a fireplace & mantle.

The age old question- What to put above the fireplace?

The 3 most common items are: Mirrors, Televisions, & Art.  The key to answering this question for yourself is, "What is the main purpose of this room?"

Mirrors are often used to make a space look larger than it actually is...

When placed above a fireplace, rarely are they actually used for looking at yourself...

If you feel the need to make your space look larger or simply find a mirror with a beautiful frame, then I believe a mirror is a perfectly suitable option...

If your fireplace & mantle are more included within a gathering room, sometimes a flat screen television mounted above, fits perfectly in the setting...

While it is intended to be a comfortable gathering room, amenities like a television would be a realistic addition to the space...

The best part about having a television above your fireplace & mantle is that it is a multi-versatile room still.  While it may just be you & your family cuddling up to a movie one night or quite possibly turned off with themed decorations placed around it for an fun event on another night...

Lastly, the third most common attribute place above a fireplace & mantle would be, art.  Sometimes intended to be a large focal point of the overall room...

Or also often decorated with photos of friends & family to keep the room quaint & personalized...

Yet, often the art is simply garnished within the color palette of the overall room...

While mirrors, televisions, & art are all fabulous ideas for sprucing up that hard-to-deco area, here are a few fun new ideas to change it up a bit...

Which style of fireplace/mantle decorating do you guys prefer?