How to decorate with a stacked stone fireplace, 6 designer tips for furniture, colors, and fabrics.

Stacked stone fireplaces look great with organic materials such as a linen sofa. People often think they have to limit themselves to all brown leather with a stacked stone fireplace, but variety is much more interesting. Notice from the photos below the variety of colors - cream, taupe, camel, mocha etc....they actually make the warm tones in the rock fireplace make MORE of a statement!!

Here are 4 things to avoid:
1) People often put busy art on the mantle or busy fabrics on the sofa. This "competes with" the beauty of the stone fireplace. The fireplace is already "busy" due to the variety of colors, textures, and shapes of the stones, so keep in mind that you don't want to add too many busy prints.

2) You are not limited to everything being dark brown, nor all leather. Unless of course you are going for the masculine look, like a mountain lodge, keep in mind that you can go with the lighter tones in the rocks, like these photos indicate. We hear comments like "I want my room to feel lighter, I'm tired of all this dark leather everywhere". When we add a little variety it definitely allows the beautiful fireplace to make a statement!

3) You do not have to buy a "matching set"!! We've all seen the 'rooms to go' sets with a matching loveseat, sofa, and chairs. It's much more interesting to have variety. Notice how the brown linen chair (above) looks great with the oatmeal colored sectional. They are a completely different style, one is skirted, one is not, one has a rolled arm, one has a tailored arm, yet they look great together. There is also a lot of variety in the shapes and styles below.

4) You do not have to hang art above the mantle. People often tell us they've been looking for art for above the mantle. I recommend a couple of large accessories instead. After all, why hide the beauty of the rock fireplace?

5) You do not need to fill the mantle with lots of accessories.....two or three large items which are unique will be more impressive than 5 to 10 smaller average items. This can tend to look cluttered.

6) Consider a subtle earth tone paint color for the mantle. A nice taupe, soft brown or gray tone that doesn't compete with the rock. Or, if you have a wood tone, make sure the stain is a warm brown, not an orange stain.

A rock fireplace or stacked stone fireplace can be an amazing way to make a room cozy. It adds personality to a plain room. We'd love to hear from you - if you have questions send an email, or for comments, please send us one!

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