I love a fireplace and mantle - Mum always used to say it made a home cozy. We always had a fireplace with a mantle growing up, but since we were always living in military housing, it was a faux fireplace like the one pictured below in our house in Belgium. I had a revolving bulb under the pieces of coal at the bottom and two electric bars in case it got really cold. The mantle is decorated in the same way it was every holiday season - Santa in his sleigh and the reindeer sitting above a raised platform covered in the white fleece snow stuff you buy at the craft store with a couple of little evergreen trees, one on either side. It made our Christmas complete when these decorations came out and they survived for many years until they were lost in a house fire.
When Sophia was a toddler and we lived in Florida, I bought one of these cardboard cutout fireplaces from Lillian Vernon or Miles Kimball. I'm not sure if either one is still in business. Sophia loved it - two little wooden chairs sat on either side of the fire, each holding a teddy in a Santa hat, and she often sat in one of the chairs with the teddy on her lap.
There are so many Christmas fireplace/mantle design options out there - Pinterest has these two that caught my eye.
Definitely high on the forever home wish list - a fireplace!
Our present house is the first we've ever owned with a fireplace. We don't have a huge need for one here in south Texas. For some reason it is VERY difficult to start a fire in (I won't blame my husband, it has to be the fault of the fireplace right?). It is double sided, so that may be the issue? When we DO get a fire going in it, it is nice to enjoy it from both the living room and the kitchen, and I have a mantle in each room to decorate! :)
ReplyDeleteWe had a faux-fireplace at my parent's house and it was always so fun when it was decorated. We know have one in our home (my husband made it about 4 years ago), it is such fun decorating it!
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to find a home with a fireplace here in Phoenix, but we've managed to live in three. I love decorating the mantle. And I love having a fire going on Christmas Eve/Day. We don't have a fireplace in our current home.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a fireplace but we wish we did. A faux fireplace (one of the type that looks like stone) is probably in our future.
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