How to Decorate Around a Wood-Burning Stove

Choose fireproof materials for decorating around a wood-burning stove.

A wood-burning stove presents a decorating challenge -- in the winter, it offers a lively focal point to the room, and in the summer, it can be a dead space. Fire safety is a crucial consideration with a wood stove. Some wood-burning stoves have so much character that leaving the area around it as uncluttered as possible offers an effective decorating strategy. By adding practical and decorative elements near your wood-burning stove, you'll brighten up the area year-round.

Things You'll Need

• Teakettle
• Tin vintage or reproduction advertising signs or other wall art
• Metal bucket
• Decorative tools, such as a fireplace set with a shovel and poker
• Potted plants, such as ferns, spider plants, fichus trees or palms

Instructions

1. Center a teakettle on top of the wood stove if your stove is flat on top. Keep water in the teakettle to add humidity to the room. A teakettle adds a homey decorative element to the room. A brightly colored or shiny teakettle will add interest to the stove area.

2. Place wall art behind the wood-burning stove to add year-round visual interest to the area around the stove. Metal advertising signs offer a whimsical and eye-catching approach and come in a wide range of colors and styles. Alternatively, add a painting that picks up the colors of a rug or curtain.

3. Set up a metal bucket for kindling near the wood-burning stove. This provides a practical and decorative element. Choose a galvanized or brass bucket to create contrast with a black or dark-colored stove.

4. Select tools for your wood-burning stove that add visual appeal. A fireplace set makes cleanup convenient. Choose a set that goes with your decorating style, such as one with cast iron, brass handles, figurative handles shaped like animals or another motif.

5. Decorate around the wood stove with potted plants during the summer. This will brighten up the area when the stove isn't in use. Houseplants also help clean indoor air.

Tips & Warnings

• Burn only wood in your wood stove, and make sure that the stove is on an approved stove board or other material that meets your local fire code.

• Keep textiles such as tapestries, curtains and other flammable materials away from the wood-burning stove.

• Don't place dry flower arrangements, pine cones or flammable holiday decorations near the stove.

References

• University of Oklahoma Police Department: 12 Holiday Safety Tips
• Apartment Therapy New York: Why I Bought a Wood Stove
• Apartment Therapy Chicago: Tereasa's Modest Cottage
• University of Minnesota: Houseplants Clean Indoor Air