Fireplace season: make the hearth the heart of your home

There is something about that first wood fire of the season mixed with crisp New England air that feels like fall’s own potpourri. It’s nostalgic. It makes us think of chilly evenings, Sunday dinners, sweaters pulled out of storage and everyone coming inside a little earlier as the days grow shorter.

Even just looking at a fireplace can spark that feeling.

Fireplaces have always had a way of drawing us in. Long before we had televisions hanging above them, the hearth really was the heart of the home — a source of warmth, light, food and gathering. And while we may not depend on our fireplaces in quite the same way today, we still instinctively gravitate toward them.

So, fireplace season is here. Let’s make the most of it.

If you have a working wood-burning fireplace, use it! Once the fireplace has been properly inspected and cleaned as needed, bring in the wood, find a beautiful basket for the logs and put those fireplace tools where you can actually reach them. A fireplace doesn’t need to look pristine. In fact, they are better when they look as though someone actually lights a fire there.

Fall is also a great time to rearrange the room around your fireplace. Angle a favorite chair toward it. Pull an ottoman closer. Bring out the throws and pile them into a basket. Add a little table for a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Suddenly, you have a place that practically begs you to sit down and stay awhile.

Kerri-Lee Mayland

And then, of course, there is the mantel.

We love decorating our mantels in New England, especially as the seasons change. But fall decorating doesn’t have to mean covering every available inch with orange pumpkins.

Start with what you already have. A favorite painting or mirror can be the anchor. Add candlesticks, pottery, a few branches clipped from outside, perhaps some tiny pumpkins or gourds. The best mantels feel collected and slightly imperfect — as though they evolved with the season rather than arrived in one giant shopping bag.

But what if your house doesn’t have a fireplace?

Fake it.

A good trick it to find an old mantel at an antique store, flea market or architectural salvage shop and use it purely as decoration. A beautiful old mantel instantly adds architecture, history and character to a room, even if there isn’t a chimney anywhere in sight.

And don’t forget: The space underneath is just as much of a design opportunity as the mantel itself.

Place a large basket beneath it and fill it with logs. You may never burn a single one, but you’ll still get that wonderful visual warmth and texture.

Or fill the space with an enormous arrangement of dried hydrangeas from summer. By fall, those bright summer blooms have faded into beautiful muted greens, dusty pinks and creams. Pile them generously into an old basket, crock or oversized vessel and suddenly you have this gorgeous, romantic focal point.

You could even turn the space into a tiny library. Tuck a small bookshelf beneath the mantel or stack favorite books inside. Add a chair nearby, and you’ve created a charming little reading corner around a fireplace that doesn’t actually exist.

And if you want more than the illusion of warmth, electric fireplaces have come a long way.

There are beautiful options now that can be inserted into an existing nonworking fireplace or incorporated into a new mantel. You get the glow and movement of flames, plus actual heat, without needing a chimney. For apartments, newer homes or rooms where adding a traditional fireplace simply isn’t practical, they can completely change the atmosphere.

Because fireplace season isn’t really just about fire.

It’s about creating a reason to gather. To turn off a few lights, pull up a chair and settle in. It’s about the glow, the warmth and that unmistakable feeling that fall has arrived.