This weekend it was in the 70’s and no matter how loud I blared Christmas music, I just couldn’t get into the holiday spirit. I finally forced myself off of the couch to decorate and hoped it would help me. It is still too warm for Christmas but I am feeling more festive now with a decorated mantel!
This picture from Pinterest was my inspiration for this year’s mantel. Red plaid and black/white is my overall inspiration for 2012 Christmas but this picture served as the starting point for the mantel.
Here is my version of the inspiration picture…if anyone can tell me how I can get the glare off of the tv, I will send you some flowers! The silver reindeer flanking the tv are from Pottery Barn way back when. It was a great day after Christmas purchase. I think they were 75% off or something ridiculous like that. I love them!
The Craigslist chair I made over usually sits on the right side of the fireplace but since that is where our tree goes, it has a temporary home on the right. (Come back next week to see our trees!) Carl loves this red blanket from Target – it really is so soft – and the black/white pillow is another clearance find from Pottery Barn many years ago. I love incorporating burlap into just about anything and love it at Christmas (check back next week to see it in our trees) so my Ballard Designs-inspired Mr. and Mrs. pillows work out perfectly here.
I got these carnations from our local grocery store for super cheap. They were fresh in this weekend so still need to open up before really getting big and beautiful. Carnations seem to get a bad rap since they are so cheap but I think make a great impact when clustered together like this! I’m also not usually a fan of red, blame it on an overdose of using it too much in our last house, but love it at Christmas.
The mercury glass votives, both the small and large ones, are from Target. I got the small ones two years ago for $1/each and the bigger ones are a find from this year and are $5/each. I’m glad mercury glass continues to stick around – I can’t get enough! The candles used in the small votives are the fake 3 for $1 from the Dollar Tree. They have the best battery-powered candles!
The garland is from a local nursery (TLC if you are local) and was only $10 for a 7 foot piece. This is a mixture of different greens so it is cheaper than others but I love the mix of different textures and types of greenery. It keeps it fresh and interesting because you don’t know what you will actually get when you lay it out!
It is always a challenge to decorate underneath our large TV but since I like simple and clean, this layout works really well. It keeps things low and classic since I can’t go too crazy with the space above or below. This area always looks better with a fire going too but there was no way I could turn it on with 70+ temps so just imagine pretty orange/red flames in the middle! Hopefully this weekend we can finally turn it on.
I’m linking up with The Lettered Cottage today. Click over to see more holiday mantel inspirations:
Your mantel looks great. Love the red touches – don’t you love pinterest for inspiration? Great pillows too!
[…] like to make sure the mantel blends into the tree and doesn’t get too crazy so I kept it pretty simple and clean. […]