Simple Christmas Mantel

Creating a beautiful and festive holiday mantel can be easy and inexpensive. Here are some tips on how to create a simple Christmas mantel.

This is a sponsored conversation with At Home Stores.  All opinions are 100% my own.

Every year I’m amazed at how quickly the holidays are upon us.  Sometimes it makes me sad that the year has gone by so quickly.  Especially because it means my little kids, won’t be so little.  Even though I’m sad that another year has flown by, I love the spirit of the holidays.  I love the colors, decor, scents and sounds that I find in our home when the holidays come around.

This year my husband and I finally had a mantel and fireplace built in our home.  We’ve always had the fireplace it’s self, but there has never been a real “hearth” or mantel or fireplace surround.  The last couple years in our home, I’ve made due with a nice shelf to act as our mantel for all my Christmas decor.

This was my Christmas mantel a couple years ago.  You can see the fireplace it’s self was nothing fancy, but we made it work.

This year though, I was super excited to finally decorate a real fireplace for Christmas!  I wanted to keep it simple and not spend a lot of money.  That is one of the things I love about At Home.  They don’t just have a ton of products to choose from, they are affordable too.  As I was looking at all the Christmas decor, going up and down every aisle of the store (It was so nice to have a little mommy time to shop), there were so many color themes and decorations, that everyone would be able to find something that went with their style.

I tend to stick to the traditional red, white and green when it comes to my Christmas decor.  I spotted this metal deer and just knew I needed it on my mantel this year.  Since I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on new decorations (my husband would be so proud), I wanted to be able to add to some things I knew I already had.  I remembered that I bought the cute Cut Your Own Christmas Trees sign last year At Home.  And this deer would go perfect with that sign.

Because a good mantel needs varying heights to create interest, I bought 2 different sizes of the reindeer to go on opposite ends of the mantel.  I already had a pine tree with red berries that fit perfectly next to the shorter deer.  But on the other side, where I wanted to put the taller deer I needed a little something.  I found these flameless candles that looked like birch wood and were already tied with holly berries.  A theme was starting to form.  Pine leaves and holly berries and warm rich colors.

When it comes to creating a simple Christmas mantel, add to things you already have to keep costs down.  Start with one of your favorite items and build on that (my Christmas tree sign for example).  Add in some bright color or some warm tones depending on the feeling you want.  Find some tall elements to give the mantel some interest.

Sometimes you find something that is perfect for your mantel that is just the wrong style.  For example, I needed some candlesticks for my new birch wood candles.  At Home has a huge selection of candlesticks.  I loved the shape, style and height of these candlesticks, but they were the wrong color.  So I created these faux stained candlesticks that were now the perfect perch for my candles.  Don’t be afraid to paint something or change the color if you love everything else about it.

And a mantel isn’t complete without stocking holders.  I don’t know what sold me on these cut snowflake stocking holders.  The pine, holly berries or the cute plaid bow. 🙂

I just love how everything came together for this simple Christmas mantel.  I’m all about making life easy, and this mantel came together really easy.  I think the hardest thing was trying not to buy everything in the store!

Happy Decorating!

Liz