Mantle Mania.

Perhaps these seems more like a fall or winter themed post, but you must remember, I am writing from San Francisco, and while yesterday was sunny and warm, today it's foggy and cold, and I've lit a fire to sit and blog by. Summers in San Francisco got me thinking about fireplace mantles and how they are very often the focal point of a room. I found some beautiful mantles in my magazine clipping files, as well as on flickr and thought I'd share. After all, no matter where you live, warm climate or not, a mantle is always a special place to display your treasure mementos, family heirlooms, holiday souvenirs and photographs. Here's some mantles to hopefully inspire you to share your personal collections.

Analisa's non-working, but beautiful fireplace; kitschy fun from Bazaar Style.

Clean, white goodness from Golden Paws.

Eclectic and dramatic black mantles from Juli; and Marky1969.

A bit of zen from Good_Egg.

Sophisticated beauty from Loua and;
a very handsome mantle from highdesignfool.

Copper-faced mantel from sfgirlbybay;
and pretty bedroom mantle from Homebug.

Parisian chic from the pages of Cookie.