Since the mantel and facing of your fireplace is to be a decorative attraction, you can use imagination and ingenuity freely in styling it. The only limitation is that it retain eye-pleasing harmony with the architecture and furnishings of your home. You’ll be happier with the results if it does, for a beautiful fireplace in one setting can be a monstrosity in another.
modern or traditional?
Fireplace designs range from the ornate traditional to the severely modern. However, the "in-between" styles of simplicity and originality have the widest popular appeal. Two present-day trends in fireplace design are. first, toward more friendly charm and less rigid formality, and second, toward extreme simplicity, or an almost barren modernity.
your fireplace decision
In making your decision, the first step is to compare some existing fireplaces with your ideas on the subject. Many examples of different designs are illustrated in this book . . . perhaps one will appeal to you or suggest the basis for an individual style to match the other design features of your home.
