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This is a story about how one mantel has been decorated 652 times in the past year. But, first, let me say that I am not a professional interior designer. I did not go to school for design. Decorating my own home and helping out a few friends and family have been my only real training. I am sure some of my friends from college are probably laughing that I am offering design advice. So yes, definitely, you should totally trust me when I tell you how to decorate a mantel. Bahahaha! But I have decorated my mantel so many times over the past year and I have analyzed every single beautiful mantel that I’ve seen from some of my favorite designers. I think I’ve picked up a few things.
Currently my mantel looks like this. It did not look this way yesterday…see I am not lying when I say that I’ve decorated it 652 times.
Here are a few tips and disclaimers and then I will show you how I decorated my mantel 9 different ways…you know, in 1 day
- There are no hard rules for decorating your mantel. Anything goes. This post is simply just me decorating my mantel with whatever I have in my house at the moment.
- Personally for me I like to start off with one large focal point. A mirror, artwork, large scrolly thing (I am sure there is a real word for those). You get where I am going. Something large. I have a mirror on my mantel and the only thing constant in all of the pics below. While I love my mirror I really hate that it reflects my not so cute fan. If I had a pretty light fixture to show off (I lost that battle) then I wouldn’t mind so much. Just keep that in mind as you pick your focal point. Someday I might switch my mirror out for a piece of artwork. I purchased my mirror at Hobby Lobby and I believe they still have it there.
- I like to add a layer to my focal point. In my case I used a picture. You can use a wreath or a smaller version of your focal point. This part is completely optional. I just like to add layers to my decor. I have included examples of both below.
- If you have a TV above your mantel that would obviously be your focal point. You can still decorate around it and below it. I’ll add a picture of my old house that had a TV above my fireplace
- Add high and low supporting items to either side of your focal point. Candles, vases and books are all best friends.
- Speaking of candles, vases and books…I have a problem and if I see a vase or decor item that I love (or on clearance) I buy it. It’s just a slight problem. I’ll try to link what I can under each picture. And because I just said that, this post contains affiliate links 🙂
- I live in a traditional style house and I love adding modern pieces to my traditional home. I’ve been crushing hard lately on modern traditional designs. In other words there will be no cotton stems or tobacco baskets on my mantel. Feel free to substitute those in if that is is your style.
- My fireplace surround is not my favorite. Someday it will get a face lift.
Here goes…
Cement Vase//Large Blue Ginger Jar (also comes in a smaller version)
See what I mean about that dang ceiling fan….insert eye roll emoji
Sand Vase//Large Blue Ginger Jar (also comes in a smaller version)//Fern Print
Large Blue Ginger Jar (also comes in a smaller version)//Fern Print
Here’s a picture of our old house with the TV above our mantel. I made a long and narrow wood box and added some flowers to it and placed it below the TV (mainly because I wanted to try to do hide that stupid sound bar.) I decorated around the TV as well. It was nothing crazy fancy but it worked for what I had.
The possibilities are endless with mantle decorating. Like I said above there are no hard rules. Get on Pinterest and start analyzing what you love and just copy. That’s pretty much what I do!
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