It seems like Christmas is here so fast this year! By this weekend, we’ll only have three weeks left before Christmas, eeeeeek! I always decorate the house on the first weekend of December and now that we’re living in the country we can go to a Christmas tree farm to get one, so this Friday is the day!
And I’m so excited to have two mantels to decorate this year. Here are some pretty mantels to inspire yours this season!
I love how this one is coordinated with the wreath hanging above it.
Love this decorating idea of just using Christmas balls.
You can’t go wrong with live cedar with pine cones and hanging branches although this would not last a month inside.
White urns filled with sparkly balls and three perfect wreaths is a lovely, clean way to dress up a mantel.
Notice that the best holiday mantels are paired with either a wreath or a mirror. You would have to keep the arrangement simple like this one if you wanted to keep the art you normally hang above the fireplace.
Here the original art remains but the mantel is kept simple with greens + white.
Behind this image is a tutorial for creating Pottery Barn like Christmas garland from Between Naps on the Porch.
When do you decorate for Christmas?
Related posts:
2011 Holiday Tour of Colour me Happy (In my last house)
The Real Reason your Lighting Sucks
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I’m hoping to start decorating this weekend. Autumn is my fave season so I leave my Thanksgiving decor up until the end of November. Love all these mantels! Very inspiring. Lucky you for getting to go to a tree farm. Can’t wait to see your new house all decked out!
Hey Maria, I wish I could join you and your nephews for the trip to the Christmas tree farm! They would love the one over here with the live reindeer and hot cider! Take us some pictures of the day, will ya??
xo, P.
I love mantel decorations…it changes by season and holiday. The harvest theme is coming down this week – faux bis and birch cndles, etc. I even swap out artwork – I have a winter scene oil that wil go up with the Christmas mantel decoration this coming weekend.
I usually begin decorating the first Sunday in Advent.
Hi Maria. We get to decorate for Christmas in our new house too. I know it will be special for both of us. Thanks for your comments re the kitchen. I’m going to update the kitchen progress in the next few days. It has turned out great. I am very interested in seeing how your house is coming along as well. Ciao.
Ah, just the inspiration I needed to get started with my own decor this weekend. I love white and silver with touches of gold. So classic and elegant…
I’ve missed your posts lately Maria!
x
I can’t wait to see what you come up with – I bet it is colourful.
I got my creative juices flowing and came up with something new this year involving bed slats, driftwood, a wicker star, and red, silver, and turquoise baubles. I love it so far. I need to finish decorating either side of the mantel and then find some time when the day is still light to take photos so I can do a post on it.
She thinks…those mantles are just beautiful and wounldn’t be that hard to do…then…looks over at her at her two cats…sighs…and moves on.
Maria they are lovely thanks for sharing them with us.
I cut my own greenery every year to decorate my home – it always holds its color through the entire month of December and even beyond (I have actually kept it up until Feb some years)! The catch to it is that it does dry out and become very brittle so you don’t want to touch it at all until you are ready to take it down. It’s a big crumbly mess but the beauty during the holiday is worth all that trouble! Oh – and you have to make sure that you don’t use any type of lighting around your greenery – it does present somewhat of a fire hazard.
At the moment a white antique ironstone tureen is on my harvest table with a red poinsettia.
It’s foliage in shreds.
Her name is Laura, meow.
Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
Hi Maria. I love your blog. More great helpful info than any blog i have seen. thanks! my family room has two red love seats (on either side of fireplace) and a striped chair with red. any suggestions on how to “cut” the red. over time it is too much for me. i am now more into neutrals!
I actually wrap the art I have (canvas style) with paper that coordinates, instead of removing it, storing it somewhere else, and trying to find something nice to replace it during Christmas. One year I also put a ribbon on it to make it look like a present. Maybe that won’t work for everyone, but I liked it.
Lovely as usual, Maria. One thing that bothers me (I know, there are plenty of worse things to be bothered about) is that so many bloggers misspell mantel. The mantel on a fireplace is like a shelf, so you spell it with an -el. A mantle is something else entirely.