These summer fireplace decorating ideas will give your home a fresh and natural feel thanks to blue hydrangeas and greenery.
Do you like changing up your home’s decor as the seasons change?
Me too!
Now, I don’t go all out with seasonal decorating.
Unless it’s Christmas…
But there are a few spots in my home where I like to make some simple changes that reflect the seasons.
I have a small table in my front entry where I put seasonal flowers or greenery.
My kitchen table will get a little makeover with a fresh centerpiece.
The coffee table and builtin shelves in my family room get some seasonal updates.
But my absolute favorite spot to decorate each season?
My fireplace mantel!
You can see how I’ve decorated it for fall with a bunch of pumpkins.
This was my favorite Christmas mantel display ever.
I shared how to transition your fireplace decor from Christmas to the winter months here.
And recently I gave my fireplace space a little “glow up” with a new mirror.
But since I live in North Carolina where the temperatures feel like spring and summer for most of the year, I typically keep my fireplace decorating very bright with flowers and greenery.
Right after I gave my fireplace a makeover by painting the marble surround, I had so much fun giving the space this simple neutral look.
I loved how my fireplace mantel looked that year, but wanted to give it a fresh look for summer this year.
Be sure to scroll to the end of the post to get AnnMarie’s and my number one tip for decorating your home economically any time of the year!
Let’s take a look at how I put together this summer fireplace mantel and hearth!
Ideas to Decorate Your Fireplace for Summer
Let’s talk about the mirror first.
I love the finish on the frame of this mirror!
The distressed gold accents around the inside of the frame give my home a little bit of a dressier feel that’s perfect for my transitional style.
But my family room has lots of straight lines: coffered ceilings, builtin shelving, a square coffee table, and then this rectangular mirror.
I’ve discovered that hanging a wreath on the mirror is a great way to add some curves to this space.
Then adding some more curves on either side of the mirror gives the mantel a softer look.
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Adding Summer Colors to the Mantel
I have hydrangeas growing along one side of my house, and this year they turned a gorgeous shade of blue with some green mixed in.
It was so easy to clip some of the branches and placed them in a large white pitcher for my fireplace!
I didn’t even add any water to the pitcher.
Did you know that hydrangeas will naturally dry and some varieties retain their color?
I clipped more to sit on my front entry table, but my kitties decided to nibble on the flowers.
Turns out, hydrangeas are toxic for cats.
Don’t worry, they’re all fine!
But the little piles of puked up petals alerted me that there might be an issue.
Now I only place cut hydrangeas in places where the kitties don’t go!
Even though my fireplace mantel is deeper than the typical builder-grade gas fireplace surround, my cats don’t like walking along that edge.
The large boxwood topiary orb adds curved lines to balance the other side of the mantel.
I generally like to arrange items in groups of three.
A black and gold pedestal clock tie in with the mirror, and a moss-covered orb visually connects it with the white bucket.
If you scroll back up, you’ll see that I placed a black and gold architectural accent next to the pitcher of hydrangeas and a small white iron bird to complete the grouping of three.
I went back and added the white iron bird after snapping the picture below!
Something felt off about the mantel when I took this picture.
I realized I hadn’t bothered to stick to my own rule of thumb to group items in odd numbers!
So I moved this little bird from another room to the mantel.
You can see how the addition of the bird completes the look.
And while Bella won’t jump up on the mantel, she loves lying in front of the fireplace in hopes that we turn it on…
Decorating the Fireplace Hearth for Summer
I love AnnMarie’s stone fireplace with the raised hearth!
A raised hearth makes it easy to change up different heights while decorating.
My hearth is flush with the floor, so I have to use other items to vary the height of items at the bottom of my fireplace.
On one side of the fireplace I placed a rope basket with a fringed Turkish towel.
I counted that as two items.
A large orb made of green wood shavings helps to balance the basket and bring your eye down to the surface of the hearth.
On the other side of the hearth, I wanted to raise the height a bit.
The vintage white bird cage is about the same height as the rope basket, so I place the cage on a stool.
To keep the colors balanced throughout the fireplace, I filled the cage with different sizes of moss-covered orbs.
Pulling it All Together
Mom Tip: Don’t forget to shop your home when you decorate! Often you already have something that will look great in your space. It’s amazing to see how different your own things look when you use them in a new space or in a new way.
The hearth is asymmetrical, but the added height helps draw your eye from the mantel up top down to the birdcage and then over to the rope basket.
It’s still balanced, though, because the visual weight of the rope basket is similar to the visual weight of the taller but more airy bird cage.
And honestly, now that I’m looking at the picture below?
I should’ve swapped the taller boxwood orb and the pitcher of hydrangeas!
Because the two taller elements are on the same side of the fireplace.
Fortunately decorating doesn’t have to be perfect to still be pretty!
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