Hello friends. I hope everyone had a great weekend. After spending the end of last week decorating for a client, I was happy to see the weekend come. I did some Christmas decor shopping for a another client, hung out with my brother and got all of my holiday linens pressed. Anyone else out there hate ironing as much as I do? All in all, it was a good weekend and I was able to squeeze in some of my own Christmas decorating.
Speaking of decorating, today’s post is all about decorating your mantel for Christmas. It’s part tips & techniques and part inspiration. Enjoy!
One of the exciting parts of my design business is decorating homes for Christmas. Just about every home I decorate has a mantel or two and even though every one of them has a different style and design, I use the same techniques when decorating them for Christmas.
Here are my tips for decorating your mantel like a pro:
DEVELOP A MANTEL DECORATING PLAN
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The first step is determining the look you want your mantel to have. What colors are you using? Do you want the mantel to be heavily embellished or clean and crisp? Will you be hanging a wreath over the mantel or keeping the everyday decor? Thinking through these questions plus the questions below will help you flush out the best plan for your holiday mantel decor.
Question: Do you want to use ornaments and ribbon, or do you want the decor to be simple with just greenery? Create the vision so you can pull together all the elements you need.
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Question: What is the depth of your mantel? If you have a deep mantel you’ll have more decorating options. If the mantel has a shallow depth you’ll need to think about what elements will work best for the limited surface area.
tip: you can place a wide piece of plywood on the mantel to increase the depth and support more holiday decor.
Question: How is the fireplace being used? If you use your fireplace on a daily basis, you may not want to use natural greenery for the garland because it may become dry and brittle quickly. And daily use of the fireplace may also affect Christmas stockings that hang from the mantel.
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Question: What material is the mantel? With painted mantel surfaces you can use Command Hooks to swag and drape garland and attached your decor in different ways. If the mantel is brick, you’ll have fewer options and may be limited to just placing the garland along the top mantel surface.
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Question: Is the mantel decor child and pet friendly? You want to make sure that the decor you add to your mantel is child and pet friendly. It should be secured so it won’t fall or could be pulled off by the little ones.
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Once you’ve answered the key questions, outlined a design plan for your mantel and gathered all your decor, you can begin decorating.
MANTEL DECORATING STEPS
Step 1: Place your garland! Positioning and securing your garland should be the first thing you do when decorating the mantel. If you’re adding lights or ribbon throughout the garland, do that before you place the garland on the mantel. If you’re just adding bow accents, that can be done later.
tip: if your garland is an ornament garland similar to the one below, you can either attach the ornaments before hanging or after the greenery is hung. Ornament garland will need extra reinforcement to ensure it is securely attached to the mantel.
tip: if you don’t want to place adhesive stripes or nails in the mantle, consider attaching the garland to a painted piece of 2 x 4 cut the length of the mantel. Set the wood piece directly on the mantel where the garland will cover it up.
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Step 2: Add your stocking holders and stocking. Once the garland is in place, position your stocking holders. Again, if you will be using the fireplace often, think about positioning the stockings at the corners of the mantel versus across the center so they won’t absorb as much heat. If your stocking holders are heavy, use Command Velcro strips to secure them in place.
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Step 3: Add ornaments and embellishments. With the garland and stockings in place, it’s now time to wire on bows, ornaments, decorative stems or other embellishments. Layer items to give your garland dimension.
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Step 4: Enhance faux greenery with clippings of real evergreen branches or artificial stems! The goal is to create a mix of greenery elements to give the garland dimension and visual interest.
tip: cut magnolia, boxwood or cedar clippings from the yard to save money
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Step 5: Add decorative elements to the mantel like candle holders or Christmas decor.
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Opps! I should have started this post off with the supplies you’ll need to decorate your mantel like a pro but I forgot so here they are…
YOUR MANTEL SUPPLY KIT
Command Hooks & Command Tape—3M Command Hooks are by far they most essential and useful supply you can have on hand when it comes to putting up Christmas decor. The strips allow you to hang just about any decor you want, where you want it. I suggest you pick up a variety of sizes (each hook size holds a different weight) and extra strips so you can use the hooks again and again. **If you’ve never used these hooks before, make sure to read the instructions so you position the tape correctly.
Floral Wire–floral wire is what I use when I’m attaching ornaments and bows to garland and wreaths. You can buy it in different thicknesses and it can be cut to the size you need with regular scissors. I also keep a stash of cloth-covered floral wire on hand which can be used to hang garland on a staircase and prevent scratches to the wood.
Pipe Cleaners–these can be used to attach lighter weight garland to the staircase or hang wreaths on a door. You can also buy metallic pipe cleaners if you’re decorating with tinsel garland or wreaths.
Scissors–always keep a pair of good quality scissors on hand. You can have a separate pair to cut wire and another pair to cut ribbon so the blades don’t wear out at quick. Fiskars are my scissors of choice.
Super Glue–glue comes in handy if you need to secure a metal ornament top in place. I actually suggest this on ornaments that will be use in ornament garland since ornaments are clustered tightly together and can easily fall off their stem.
So there you have it…all my tips and techniques for decorating mantels at Christmas. I hope these tips are helpful when it comes time to decorate your mantel.
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Come back tomorrow for my first holiday gift guide of the season!
