Fireplace

“Christmas fireplace decor” is one of the top home searches on Pinterest this month, which is a bit unkind to the many of us who live in apartments without one. A fireplace gives a room a focus: somewhere for stockings, garland and a glow. You can build most of that feeling without a real fireplace. Here are the options, from the biggest to the smallest. An electric fireplace with a mantel The full version. An electric fireplace with a mantel surround (on Amazon) is a piece of furniture with a heater and a fake flame in the middle. It plugs into a normal outlet. You get a real mantel to decorate, a flickering glow, and some heat on cold evenings. ...

A mantel is at eye level and it’s usually where you look first when you walk into the room, so it’s worth getting right. The most common problem is simple: not enough garland. A strand stretched tight across the top looks thin no matter what you add to it. How much garland Buy about two and a half times the width of the mantel. A 48-inch mantel needs around 10 feet (a 9-foot garland (on Amazon) plus a little extra), a 60-inch one about 12 and a half. The extra length is what lets it drape down the sides and dip between hooks instead of sitting flat like a clothesline. ...