Frame the
fireplace
Since it's usually the focal point of the
room, said Beth Hovie-Marek, "Think of the fireplace as a picture frame and the
fire is the picture." Hovie-Marek is a buyer and merchandiser with Hawks Florist
in Wauwatosa. "Everything needs to accent it, directing the eye to the
center."The tree is a given - you can have a Christmas tree, but it's the
fireplace that turns it into a Christmas room," she said, adding that a
symmetrical arrangement draws the eye to the fire.She did just such an
arrangement at a New Berlin home, accenting it with glass ornaments hung on
ribbons from the mantel. "It's a great way to showcase a collection of
ornaments," she said. She positioned a wreath at the center of the mantel and
flanked it with two topiary trees of mosses and a display of floating candles in
tall glass cylinders.