Create a Magical Fireplace: Easy Christmas Mantel Ideas
In my last post, I showed you how I decorated our Christmas table with quick and easy ideas. Today, I’m showing you how I styled our living room fireplace with simple mantel decor ideas. I’ll add a source list of products at the end of this post.
As part of our house renovation, we sourced an original Edwardian fireplace for our lounge and it's a beautiful focal point. My aim was to create a magical feel with the Christmas mantel decorations and there are lots of beautiful ways to do this without spending lots of time or money. I didn’t want to remove the framed prints from above the fireplace because a) I have nowhere to store them and b) I didn’t want to spend money on temporary pieces. The larger artwork has quite vibrant colours so I kept the colour scheme for my Christmas decorations simple with classic festive colours of green and red. I also used star shapes as a theme for a cohesive look.
Christmas mantel garland
If you don’t have time for a homemade garland, use faux greenery with a readymade pine garland. My go-to shop for Christmassy decor is TK Maxx - they have lots of different types of garlands and other elegant Christmas fireplace decorations at great prices. This faux garland was already decorated with pine cones and berries but I used garden wire to attach dried fruit to add a bit more interest. I also wound some fairy lights around it.
The black and white framed print was crying out for a festive makeover so I went off to B&M and bought a wire star to hang over it.
3M command hooks are my best friends at Christmas time - they come in so useful for all sorts of things. I attached a hook to the back of the frame and hung the star over the print. The hook can be left on so that it’s still there ready for next year.
Christmas stockings
I love a classic look at Christmas time (in the style of The Night Before Christmas) and every Christmas fireplace mantel needs a stocking or two. I found the traditional green stockings in Matalan a couple of years ago and they’re perfect for adding a traditional Christmas feel. I used my trusted friends, the 3M Command hooks, to hang them from each side of the mantel.
Candle holders
I placed my existing mercurised glass tealight holders in front of the garland and added two black candlestick holders at different heights on the right of the mantel. I also placed my existing glass tealight holders on the hearth, with my standing star lantern to add to the festive atmosphere.
Decorative Lights
Lights4fun is the perfect place to shop for decorative lighting and they have lots of inspirational Christmas decor ideas (I love the eucalyptus garland that they have in stock at the moment). I attached two command hooks to the top of the mantel towards the centre and then hung two paper stars from them for a festive feel.
They contain little wire string lights that glow beautifully through the cut out pattern of the stars.
I also bought a large window star and placed it on the hearth in front of the fireplace for some extra twinkle, with three paper baubles in front of it.
And here's the final look - a lovely festive focal point for cosy nights in! I hope these easy Christmas mantel decor ideas have given you lots of inspiration for your own Christmas fireplace design!
And for a bit of extra inspiration, if you have a small combination fireplace, a great idea is to style it with a simple garland and hang baubles from it like we did in our hallway!
SOURCE LIST
Some of the items I already owned or have been discontinued but I’ve sourced similar ones below:
Green alphabet stocking - Matalan is similar
Paper star trio - Lights4fun
Gold bubble tealight holders - Easy Florist Supplies are similar
Champagne speckled votive (for hearth) - Wedding Mall are similar
60cm Osby star window light - Lights4fun
Pack of 3 maximal folding paper ball hanging decorations - Dunelm
Green pinecone festive garland - TK Maxx is similar
Sanwi standing star - Nkuku
Hanging wire star with eucalyptus detail - Fy is similar
Set of 2 black candlesticks - Etsy
