Welcome to the Blog today, Friends. We’re still deep in Christmas decorating mode and I’ve been working on the Great Room mantle. In the picture above you can see some of the elements that make up this year’s mantle design. I started with a pine garland that stretched across the mantle and drapes down the left hand side.
In the picture above you can see the drape of vines as it reaches the corner of the mantle and turns down towards the floor. I added a second garland of holly and berries to the original pine garland. I used additional holly garland to wrap around the wrought iron candlesticks that flank the fireplace. My clever Hubby added a brass rail to the mantle years ago so all the garlands, stockings, etc. attach to that. It makes it much easier to decorate.
On the other side of the mantle a double bow defines the corner. I wove one of the ribbons in and out of the double garland as it travels across the mantle and down the other side using pipe cleaners to secure the ribbon to the garland.
In this picture you can see that the ribbon is woven through the garland and pulls together the two sides of the garland. Additional garland is wound around the iron candlesticks. Multi-toned green and brown candles are fixed to the top of the candlestick.
Birds are nestled into the garland along the mantle giving it an organic and colorful look.
Hydrangea, dried at the end of the summer flowering, add additional organic touches to the garland and some fulness. The color brightens the look and picks up the colors in the ribbon and in some of the birds.
All the elements work together to create a nice full fireplace display.
I’ll be adding a poinsettia to the Fitz & Floyd pot that sits in front of the fireplace on an antique andiron.
When the mantle was finished I worked on a smaller project for the hallway. An old sled I found a year ago needed a little decoration to spruce it up for Christmas.
This was a fun , quick project, taking about 15 minutes.
There are four parts to this project. The first is a long hanging garland with short pine needles and pinecones. The second piece was a long needle pine garland. Then a blue pick with small blue balls covered in crystal ice and on a number of individual strands was added to the first two garlands. Finally, a blue bow was added to the top of the sled where the garlands are joined together.
The sled stands in the corner of the hall next to the doorway. This simple decoration for the sled was a fun and easy creative project.
Here’s a closeup of the bow and the blue balls. They make a nice combination that lightens the whole look for the sled.
A decorative mantle…..
…..and a decorative sled bring a little more Christmas to our home.
Just as a note: all the garlands, picks, ribbon and sled were thrifted. You never know what you will find when you go to the Thrift Store.