1 Easy Way to Increase The Value of Your Home
Wendy Lee Filed under: Home Designs
There’s something about a fireplace that creates a homier atmosphere in one’s living area. Not only does it offer another space for décor, it is also capable of bringing life to any interior. The fireplace can also soften impersonal accents and create a more comfortable living space. For those who are lucky enough to have homes with fireplaces in them, there are all sorts of design possibilities that they can do to bring out the good points of their homes.
Playing up the focal point
Normally, a fireplace serves as the focal point in a room. As such, you will want to dress it up with simplicity, grace and elegance in mind. Your mantel can be made of a wide variety of materials including wood, river rock, slate, plaster or tile. Your choice will, of course, depend on the design them that you’re working on.
Design ideas
Play up your fireplace mantle with different photo frames to complete the homey feel of the area. You can also decorate it depending on the season. On the wall above the fireplace, you can try hanging a mirror or an interesting painting. It doesn’t have to be a portrait of your family although this trend is pretty popular especially in old homes.
For those who don’t have fireplaces in their homes, you don’t have to worry because you still have another option if you want to bring out the same effect that the real one can give on your living room interior. You can try building a fake fireplace and build it up with pretty much the same décor as you would use in a real one.
Faux fireplaces
There are all sorts of ways through which you can build a faux fireplace in your living room without having to spend a lot. You can try using cardboard boxes. Simply cut out two strips of cardboard that are 3 ½ feet tall and two feet wide. Turn each strip into a three-dimensional column by folding about six inches on both sides. These columns will serve as the base and mantle for your fake fireplace. You’re going to install them on the wall after you’ve painted it and stenciled white “bricks” on it.
After installing the columns (and probably putting Styrofoam inside to make them seem more solid), all you need to do is paint the whole cavity and then put the necessary décor on it. You can put an electric candle to create a “soft glow” on your fireplace as well as a couple of logs to make it look real. You will also want to try decorating the mantle, adding accents onto it or propping light photo frames. If you want to have a more stable mantle where you can prop your décor, you will probably want to use wood instead of cardboard for your mantle.
If you don’t have a fireplace, there’s no reason why you can’t have one, or at least a fake one if you don’t have a lot of money to spare. Real fireplaces will probably cost hundreds of dollars to build so you’re better off with a make-believe fireplace that will suit your design purposes.
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A fireplace is definitely one of the primary focal points of a home and whether you are remodeling an existing brick or stone fireplace or creating the effect of one, there are many, many options from DesignTheSpace.com … from inexpensive to some that are more costly.
Many homeowners will give an existing fireplace a simple update, or more appropriately … an upgrade, with a wood mantel custom-sized for their fireplace. You can choose from 35+ traditional wood mantel designs and after you fill out a simple chart dimensionally describing your fireplace, you’ll receive a line drawing of a mantel that will fit for you to approve. Prices start around $400 for some of the simpler designs and go up from there based on the type of wood you purchase (paint grade being the least expensive, with stain grade woods costing more) and whether you purchase the mantel with a professional factory-finish or buy it unfinished for a savings of about $135! In about two weeks, you’ll receive a mantel that will take a practical homeowner about two hours to install.
More extensive upgrades can include resurfacing the existing brick or stone with a new popular granite facing kit, for an additional $400 to $600 or more, depending on the size and type of granite chosen. You put on the granite first, then install the new mantel for a totally new look to your focal point!
Don’t have a fireplace? No problem. Several homeowners and apartment dwellers without fireplaces purchase a full mantel surround asking us to add 3″ to 6″ deep mantel legs, to back up to a wall to create a fireplace where there wasn’t one. Some will paint the interior wall black, or apply a faux finish inside the mantel legs, while others will simply place a dried flower arrangement inside the “opening.” Some have told us they plan to place a freestanding fireplace screen, a fireback or an andiron set on the floor in (front) of the opening, to add to the realism.
Whichever way you go, you can’t go wrong, and you will wonder why you didn’t upgrade years ago! Feel free to give us some feedback, and let us know if you have any questions! (866) 983-3267.
Sincerely,
Rich