I topped out at 5’10” tall before I turned fifteen. There are few things in this world that make me feel short. My living room mantel is one of them.
So it was interesting filming this video for you. What you don’t see is me standing on the top of a step stool to style my mantel. Seriously, it’s so tall I don’t dust my mantel nearly enough because it’s out of site out of mind. Don’t worry the scale makes sense when you see it in the context of my two story living room. The mantel is the right height. I’m just too short for the room.
So why am I showing you my freakishly high mantel today? Because if you have a mantel, you’ve probably thought, how do I decorate that?
Mantel styling is tricky. With such a shallow surface area you need some special tactics to create an arrangement that fills the vertical space, but doesn’t look flat on the narrow ledge.
My big and tall mantel gives me plenty of practice filling that giant vertical void over the fireplace. With a little geometry and some layering magic, decorating a mantel isn’t so tricky after all.
If you want to create an effortlessly layered look on your mantel, watch this video to see how it’s done.
Ready to style your mantel?
- Grab the Mantel Styling 101 Cheat Sheet for the step-by-step instructions and a few bonus tips.
- Pin this post so you can refer back to the video.
Have fun copying this simple layered look or create your own arrangements using visual triangles and layering.
Great tips! Video was very well done and clear. I unconsciously already followed your rules with my own mantle. Do you ever have items hang below the horizontal? Thank you!
Terri, Thank you. Do you mean items hanging below the base of the triangle? On my mantel, only at Christmas time — pine cones and stockings.
Excellent video, Jackie. Your addition of the blue lines showing your triangle outlines is perfect. I have seen other guides where I couldn’t exactly “see” the shape that was being described. As always, you fill in the details!!!
Thanks Judy. I definitely had fun editing this one. So glad the lines helped.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful video Jackie! As what Judy said “the addition of blue lines showing the triangle outline is really perfect”- I agree!