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Quick & Free Winter Mantel Decorating

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December 9, 2013 By Jackie

Occasionally, I go out of my way in the name of holiday decorating. And by out of the way, I mean spending a rare 10 free minutes to rework the mantel decor.

Until recently the mantel was sporting green grasses and our lime green jute-wrapped monogram. I loved it, but it was feeling a little unseasonal with the snow-covered rooftops we see out the window and the sub-zero temperatures.

Staying true to my goals for holiday decorating this year, including small moves, using what I have, and keeping it stress-free, I created a fresh mantel look without spending anything more than 10-minutes of my time.

Love this simple winter-themed mantel | tealandlime.com

My favorite way to re-style a space is to shop my home and mix things up. The easiest way to pull together a new look is to walk from room to room collecting up items in a similar color and then putting them all together in a new place.

For my mantel, I was inspired by this long narrow Ikea tray hanging out on the tetris bookshelf. With blustery weather outside those irregular little white blobs on a blue background reminded me of falling snow. Layered upright behind my modern minimal block houses created the perfect winter-y illusion. And the vase of glittered feathers my son helped me make for this cloche styling shoot are totally random, but awesome…so they stayed.

Such a pretty, minimal winter mantel | tealandlime.com

With my blue and white tray inspiration, I wandered the house looking for more blue and white. I grabbed up these blue milk tin vases, also found at Ikea. They were the perfect shade and a good scale for the mantel. In my party supply cabinet, I keep one small bunch of white branches. I plopped them in the taller vase to give the look more height.

Gorgeous blue and white winter mantel | tealandlime.com

I needed a third object to group with the pair of vases, because the rule of three rules my house. Channeling the beauty of the yarn wrapped pinecones on my staircase, I decided to wrap one more pinecone, but in white this time. I put it on display in one of my corked glass jars.

Yarn wrapped pinecone in a jar | tealandlime.com

The finishing touch was the gilded animal menagerie.  They are also totally random, but awesome, just like the glittered feathers. Last year the boys helped me paint these three Target dollar spot plastic animals.  I added torn fabric ribbon bows to make them festive.  This year when we pulled out all the Christmas ornaments, my youngest snatched these animals and played with them for a few hours before agreeing to put them on display.

Love these festive gilded plastic animals for holiday decor | tealandlime.com

I didn’t have to change out the art.  My DIY canvas art creation is like a chameleon, fitting in with any decor and season.  I think the starry shapes are perfect for the holiday season, even though the underlying canvas picture is a spring or summer scene.

My absolute favorite part about this 10 minute mantel makeover is it will last me far beyond the holidays!  Those spare 10 minute breaks are rare, so I need to make them count.  By keeping the mantel more winter-y than Christmas-y, I can keep it up right until spring!

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Comments

  1. Ferly | Gifts We Use says

    December 9, 2013 at 7:24 pm

    This is fantastic! You are so good at pulling things together. I have trouble putting random things together. They don’t look amazing like this does. They look random and cluttered. Sigh. Well done.

    ~ Ferly
    Gifts We Use {to grow, love and serve}

    • Jackie says

      December 9, 2013 at 9:49 pm

      Ferly, thank you. Just keep trying and playing around. I have been re-styling this mantel for years and it used to not look so hot. Remember, to group things in odd numbers (3 animals, 3 vases on the left side, 5 objects on the right side), and mix up the colors evenly throughout the arrangement. Mantels are super tricky, because they are so shallow. Good luck!

  2. Lisa says

    December 9, 2013 at 9:30 pm

    Love it! I have the issue that Ferly does. I think I need to go back through your 30 days of styling series.

    • Jackie says

      December 9, 2013 at 9:50 pm

      Lisa, Did you notice my styling series did not include the mantel? Haha…I doubt my mantel styling skills. I think simplicity and odd numbers were on my side here. And with 10 minutes, there definitely wasn’t a moment to overthink it.

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