What To Do When You Don't Have A Fireplace Mantel

I don't know about you, but I just love the look of a fireplace in a room. It's not only a focal point, but it usually makes the room look and feel a bit more cozy. The condo we moved into didn't have a fireplace and I really wanted a mantel to decorate for the various seasons.

If you're lucky enough to have a nice console table in your room, or even an upright piano, you could make a vignette on the top of either of these; but we had neither. So I thought of the next best thing, a large floating shelf! I went to several stores and even looked on Etsy (there's tons of them listed on there). I even thought maybe we could make one, but then I found the one we ended up buying. I did find this online, it was on a great sale and it had free shipping (that's the way I love to shop!!). We bought ours in the fall and this was my first vignette on it.

I kept that one up until right after Thanksgiving and proceeded to decorate it for Christmas.

The maximum weight for our 48 inch shelf is 100 pounds. If you go this route, make sure you're aware of how much weight it will be able to support.

The other thing you need to take into consideration is where to hang it. Our entertainment unit is our main focal area, so we decided to hang it just above our television. I didn't want it too high up because I wanted to change things out and to be able to see and enjoy it.

And at the same time, you don't want it down too low. You don't want anyone bumping into it. So take a good look around and decide where and also what length and width you might want.

This is our current look for winter, but I can hardly wait for it to show signs of spring!

Original article and pictures take http://www.hometalk.com/13593049/what-to-do-when-you-don-t-have-a-fireplace-mantel site