Continued....

Not at home, so no pic, but mine is similar to what you posted. Greenery, burlap ribbon and turquoise print ribbon - no bows. Mini white lights. A few turquoise, gold and glittered white glass ornaments.

I like the wreath (or greenery) around the sconce idea.

No photos of mine because I am really not done with the rest of the work on the mantle, but I found a nice rather real looking pine garland from Michael's. I have a few pinecones collected from a family trip and then I shopped moms curio cabinet for two pairs of white Danish pottery birds and a pair of taller winter ladies. Next year might get some mini lights, but I already have a pair of vintage glass lamps on the mantle. I think I will try the pinerest idea of using stocking holders to reset a curtain rod with the stockings hung from it (guessing it will be too light weight for stuffed stockings though

I LOVE so many of the above mantels! How beautiful! But, because of the Southwestern paintings in our living room, which is where our main tree is, and where everyone gathers, my mantel decs for Christmas have been tough for me. On top of that, I'm allergic to real pine and cedar greenery. Touching them gives me hives all over. So, after many tries over the years, this is what works best for me. I take down the two side paintings, leaving our large center one. Add a nice greenery garland and lights to the mantel. Add candle wreaths to the candleholders already there. Add my 2 small Cardinal statues at each end. Move my deer from the top of a bookcase in the room, to our mantel and give my brass deer who lives full time on our hearth a cheery bow.

Our mantel is still unfinished so I'll share some photos I've saved over the years that I thought were beautiful. The first three belong to friends, the first two being the same friend as I'm sure you can see. I have quite a few more, but they are on my desktop. I've a terrible head cold so not sure I'll deal with that today. Not sure which is kicking me in the behind more, the cold or the meds.
First two are Ceci's

I love nature so one really appeals to me.

So many pretty ideas! We have a fireplace, but no mantel. Just tile on the wall, and the configuration really doesn't lend itself to putting one in. I'll just have to enjoy all of yours.

The tree toppers are wonderful that way! I'm going to steal that idea :)

From Victoria Elizabeth Barnes' blog, such a

Smart idea.

have a board cut the same size as the mantel, and secure everything pretty to the board so there is no damage to the actual mantel.

Check out the Christmas videos from Rebecca Robeson. I love her style and she teaches you at the same time. https://www.youtube.com/user/robesondesign/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=9. I wish I had her talent...

Karin

I use Command Hooks to hang stockings. Do not "clean" area where it's going since it took the finish right off, when trying for the first time a few years ago. Everything on the mantel but the pine/pinecones is there all year.

Wow, what pretty arrangements! VEB is such a hoot, but that's a great idea, maddielee.

Mine is pretty simple. It was going to be even simpler--as in not decorated at all--but my FIL returned Santa's Helpers to me a few days ago. So since they're already out, I switched out my larger artwork over the FP, and ran out and clipped some twigs from a volunteer cedar tree that came up in the front yard (and is slated for demolition). Maybe when the kids decorate the tree I'll thread in some mercury glass bead garland.

(My mantel is not warped, just camera distortion.)

I had previously posted looking for suggestions on my mantel. Since then I've added the red candles on both sides and a ribbon through the greenery. Didn't take pictures down as some suggested. Difficult to decorate around a huge box hanging above. Still tweaking.

Wow, such a wealth of ideas and suggestions! This is all fabulous. Thank you everyone for your pictures and suggestions.

I spent a bunch of time shopping yesterday and came home with bags of stuff. I need to get some slippers finished first, and then I’ll attack the mantel and see how I did.

Martha, you reminded me that I need to look for new xmas hand towels for the powder room!

bpathome, that’s an excellent suggestion. Once I get the arrangement done, I’ll see if the wreath backers will work too.

OP, got it on the glitter, but it’s too late…I’m already into glitter. Fortunately, my mantel is not surrounded with texture so hopefully it won’t clean up too badly. Of course, glitter is ubiquitous and I’ll still be finding some in July!

MizGG, thanks for all the wonderful pictures..quite an eclectic mix. I really like the simplicity of the pine cones in the painted pots with a few boughs. Very simple and elegant.

tinam, I see turquoise a lot in my looking at decorations…it sounds lovely.

kippy, stockings from a rod sounds interesting.

LynnNM, very pretty treatment. I really like the height provided by the decorated candlesticks.

JGTBM, those are lovely mantels. Very talented friends you have. And I love the idea of the vintage tree toppers in candle holders.

maddielee, I’ll mention the board idea to DH if he starts having kittens about what I’m doing.

akarinz, Wow with the videos…there are so many! I could spend many hours on those alone…but then I’d never get my own decorating done!

allison, thanks for the warning on the command hooks. Lovely arrangement and what interesting stockings!

mama goose, those figurines are really cute.

nhbaskets, looking good!

Here is the before picture of my mantel. I'll see if I'm brave enough to post the after once I'm done...it may end up looking more like Charlie Brown xmas!

I'm sorry, Annie, but it's in the GW Rulebook. You have to show us. :D

Mmmm, I love your FP and the room .... and I want those chairs! I'm obsessed with caned furniture. What is that great color above your mantel?

Thanks, MizGG...the walls are BM dark beige and the ceiling is BM pearl harbor. Those colors are prominent in my public spaces. Those chairs are true 70s ... can't you tell by the avocado green? Got them when we were first married for our bedroom....

nhbaskets, I have the same issue with the big black box over the mantel and didn't realize how much that was going to cramp my Christmas decorating style! I like what you've done with yours. Ours is further limited by a sound bar mounted directly below the TV. I've put a couple of my Clothtique Santas on either side of the TV, but that's it. It looks kinda sad.

Here is mine... I apologize for the 'bad' picture. Took it with my iPad.

Annie, what a beautiful fireplace, surround, and built ins you have. Someday I'll have more than a couple garden brackets with a long plank of wood on it to decorate. Not that I don't decorate that, but it's certainly not share worthy. LOL
My friend Wendy didn't have a mantel so she built the one you see in the third picture by using two pillars, two garden angel statues, and then had a long shelf cut to fit over them with an added apron. I love the mix of the rugged rock fireplace and the darling cherubs.

Oh I love those giant garlands! Here's mine this year. I definitely think I'll be hitting the after Christmas sales and upgrade my swag.

Auntjen, DH wanted a sound bar but I nixed it saying decorating needs trump everything. Besides, all he needs to do is turn up his hearing aides!

Thanks. Our original family stocking (needlepoint) are on den FP. I wanted something different for the living room so I ordered vintage sock stretchers from etsy stores.

Thank you....you've all got such different yet lovely fireplaces and decorations. Thanks so much for posting them here.

We just got back from a holiday house tour...now I'm chock full of inspiration...only the houses were all antique colonial style so their decor and decorations were very different from what would work in my house...though I did see some pretty things and some ideas. One I saw was they had tied bows around the sconces rather than doing wreaths...I might do that to bring the ribbons up higher on the vignette. Even simple things like candles on a tray and the bottom of the tray full of cranberries looked so festive. They also had some baskets done up with boughs and berries and bows as a way to bring a hostess gift of wine to a party...very pretty. One house had this giant master suite (an addition to the old colonial) that was all done in off white and soft blue....it was so calming and relaxing, with views you wake up to that look out over an old apple orchard. So nice! Only thing is it makes me realize how busy I have to get before the holidays!

Vintage glass tree,toppers in candlesticks----what a great idea! Some lovely photos, both commercial and our own gwers mantels! We went lighter this year with a magnolia garland only on the lower level mantel, Byers Carolers and greens in the library, and our white and gold china deer family on a velvet runner on the stone mantel in the living room. It's much the same as previous years.......just a little less.

kswl, you do such a beautiful job with xmas each year...perhaps you could share some pics again...

I just came across this picture, and wanted to share. So beautiful and cozy!

Lousilinus, I love that look, especially withthe wall color.

MizGG, I adore the first one and the fourth one you posted. Because of weight, it is very hard to get that look with real greenery (which I insist on for the scent and imperfections). Ask me how I know! ...And then the two in your cont'd thread!? TDF!

NH Baskets, what kind of greenery is that? i love how feathery it is.

So how did I do? Here's the after...

ETA: Please click on picture for a less distorted view

What you can't see in the picture is the wall opposite the fireplace is aubergine, thus the purple pieces.

The christmas angel is counted cross-stitch my SIL did. She had the patience of a saint and the eyes of an eagle to do that...or so I thought until she started doing beadwork which required even more patience and finer vision.

It's gorgeous, Annie! The purple is so luscious.

NIce job!. I really like the parts that dangle and your bow. Did you decide against something on the sconces? I might add in a little more greenery in back for depth. Thats one thing I am finding, mantles just eat it up.

MtnRdRedux, it's fake. Something I picked up at a shop in York, ME. I have several small wreaths out of the same. I love how it drapes.

I think it's enough without adding to the sconces...DH says, "Stop already!" He already thinks I've gone OTT!

Now all I have to do is figure out how to store it for next year....

I was at my mother's today and took a photo of one of her mantels:

well that is strange.... The picture is weirdly proportioned until you click on it. Hmmmm.

Beautiful...love the garland below the mantel...and what a great fender!

That is so bizarre that the photo is squashed.

This is the mantel in context:

The fender is a great place to sit!

KSWL: Your moms mantel is gorgeous.

Here is mine.

and my urns outside

Annie your mantel turned out perfect! Love the purple...so different and so lovely!

Went with gold this year and a mix of white and amber lights.

Gosh.....you are all making me not only wish I had a mantle but your decorating senses of style as well. I am hopeless at accessorizing and what's worse I am tired of all the little Christmas knick knacks I've collected over the years and never know where to put anything or if it looks good. Woe is me!

The good news is, we've got 90% of our decorations up and the cats have on knocked off a couple of incidental things with no breakage. Yeah!

Kswl, now we know why you have such good taste:)

Annie, yours turned out so wonderfully! Congratulations.

I may have to keep an eye out for some fake greenery. I keep cutting from my own property which is fine but I may be pillaging too much.

Here's our bedroom mantle. Sorry it's so fuzzy, I wanted one with the lights down. I am a minimalist at heart...

I'm a bit late to this--but here's my mantle this year. The fireplace is in our family/TV room. I think it needs some greenery, but family arrives tomorrow and I'm just out of time!

I'll post a pic but it's pretty awful. I have the kiddie gate up in an unsuccessful attempt to keep kitties out. My mantel is so narrow that I couldn't find a garland that would work so I used a narrow window swag. Next year I am going to replace the white lanterns with black ones and may find garland that is narrow enough to work.

Hah! Holly Kay...you and I have the same chairs!!!

Yes we do! My actual library chairs are in my office because of naughty kitties. They will not stay out of the fireplace and they keep tracking soot all through the house. I can only imagine soot prints all over my new chairs so they have been banished to the office until I can find a cat proof solution to them getting in the fp. Toby is the Hoss Cartwright of cats so I can't imagine how he squeezes his chunky self into that tiny space.

The Hoss Cartwright of cats, lol Holly! I had a good chuckle over that one :-)

So many beautiful mantels here. I have always loved Ceci's style and wonder what her mantel looks like this year. Just playing around with what to put in the white tray and Billie was available!