Having a fireplace in the kitchen is undeniably charming — it feels like the heart of the home. Even if it isn’t functional, it becomes a useful and cozy niche: a place to tuck a basket of Clara’s toys, stack books, or display seasonal pieces above the mantel. Honestly, I love turning mantel and shelf surfaces into rotating displays. John is happy to leave whatever I put up there for years; I, however, enjoy changing things around. About once a month I get inspired to swap items out, and our mantel has seen quite a few looks since we moved in. Here are some of the iterations over the past fifteen months.
About a week after moving in (mid-December 2010), we wanted to warm up the room full of brick and paneling. I added some holiday touches and called it a day:
Later, after priming and painting the brick and the mantel, I kept the styling simple: two faux topiaries from Crate & Barrel, a round hanging mirror, a mirror tucked into the firebox, and a tray full of candles. That arrangement wasn’t very toddler-friendly — I put it together after Clara went to bed and was just enjoying a bit of grown-up decorating time:
After priming and painting the paneled walls (they look extra green in these photos because we hadn’t installed the new kitchen lighting yet), I decorated for Halloween with a few playful touches, including homemade bleeding candles:
For our second Christmas in the house, I switched the mantel again: a mirror that later moved to the living room, stockings, a basket of wrapped presents, and a few feather trees. The color balance in these photos is off because our updated kitchen lighting wasn’t in place yet:
More recently, the mantel looks like this now (please ignore the one broken light we’ve been meaning to replace for months):
We still need to finish trimming where the cork meets the tile surround, but we’ll share photos when that’s done.
Here’s a side view of the mantel styling:
One of my favorite birthday presents ever sits on that shelf: a small painting of our dog Burger by my thoughtful and talented friend Lesli. It captures him perfectly. The chunky, 9-inch canvas is the kind of piece that makes me emotional — I cried when I opened it. For anyone who’s asked about Burger after that little mishap earlier this year, he’s back to his happy self, and we’re so relieved.
Fresh flowers usually don’t last as long as the Burger portrait, but I loved these tulips in a bright green vase. The vase came with a bouquet a friend sent for my birthday last year and had been waiting in my decor cabinet for its moment. I clipped the stems, refreshed the water frequently, and even dropped an old penny in the vase to help keep the stems upright — they stayed cheerful for several days. I know they’ll only last another week or so, but that gives me the perfect excuse for another mantel refresh.
Do you have a mantel or another surface — the top of a console, dresser, coffee table, or dining table — that you like to tweak from time to time? It’s wild to think we lived with dark paneling and weird neon-looking lighting for so long before making these changes. Refreshing small vignettes makes a room feel new without a major overhaul, and rotating pieces seasonally or whenever inspiration strikes keeps the space feeling personal and alive.