Whimsical Christmas Mantel Tutorial
Before I even pulled my tree out this year, I decided that I wanted to tackle my fireplace mantel first, so I am sharing this Whimsical Christmas Mantle Tutorial with you! This is always one of my favorite projects of the year – I get to flex my creative muscle for arguably the biggest focal point in the room! It’s so much fun to create something fresh and new every year!
To start, I take everything off of the mantel, with the exception of my big mirror. I ordered another antique looking mirror for this, so then I layered the smaller, round mirror in front of the big one. The look of the two together is so dramatic but still warm and inviting. I love it and am for sure going to do this for other mantles in the future!
I always start with my foundational pieces, which for me is greenery. My two favorite faux garlands that I use every single year are a faux cedar garland and a mixed green one that has pine cones and little berries on it.
The mixed green one has little lights on it and it comes as a plug in or as battery operated. This makes it super convenient and now you have one less thing to think about! For a complete roundup of my holiday decor favorites, click HERE to read my blog post.
When it comes to putting together any of my Christmas mantles, I always start with my cedar one because I like to swag it. I do this with Command hooks. They work great! And, I actually left the base of them on from last year, so all I had to do was click the hook into place. After the cedar one was on, I draped the mixed green garland across the top of the mantel. If you like a very simple, traditional green mantle, then that’s all you need. But, if you’re like me and like a lot of spice and layers, stay with me.
If you followed along on my Instagram stories, I did an easy DIY craft and made some trees to go up here. See the tutorial on that below or watch my Instagram highlight HERE.
Once they were completely dry, I added my DIY watercolor trees and some other tree decor pieces I had.
Next for this whimsical Christmas mantle tutorial, I took 2 strands of bead garland and linked them together to make it one long one. I wanted mine to swag so I used floral wire to attach it to the greenery where I wanted it to go. Then I had one more garland to add: my tried and true mercury glass ornament garland.
From here, attach a few regular ornaments using floral wire and some whimsical touches like glitter snowflakes and simple homemade bows. I switched out my bells this year for these ones from the Rachel Parcell collection! And for an extra added touch, I ordered some pampas grass twigs to put some pieces here and there throughout.
Tip: Cut satin ribbon ends at a diagonal for a clean cut!
I use these really simple stocking holder clips that just hook to the mantel. And for the final cherry on top (literally) I hung a pink star above my tall mirror! Watch this whole mantel look come together in THIS Instagram highlight.
This project is so simple and can be done using scrap pieces from around the house!
Here’s how to make the DIY Watercolor Trees for this Whimsical Christmas Mantle Tutorial:
- Trace or draw your tree outlines onto the pieces of scrap wood you’ll be using.
2. Before cutting them with your jigsaw, clamp your pieces down so they’re nice and secure. For it being my second time ever using a jigsaw, I’d say they turned out pretty good!
Tip: If you’re ever using a jigsaw and your edges end up looking messy, you’re using the wrong blade. Try using one with more teeth for a smoother cut.
3. After cutting them all, the next step is to sand them. Sanding them gets rid of some of the orange tones and gives them a nice edge.
4. To finish them, I took paint I already had and added some water to it to make them like water colors. I took inspiration for my colors from the bulbs I ordered that will go on my tree. I can’t wait to get that up soon and have the whole look come together!
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This is absolutely gorgeous. It also gave me an idea for my new build, an outlet on the side of the fireplace to plug in the lighted garland. Would you consider doing a post on good things to add to a new build or things that you would have done differently when building. Looking for good ideas from someone who has already been there. Thanks again for your amazing ideas and excellent posts.