My (New) Christmas Mantel

Well HEY! I’m so excited to share my Christmas mantel with you today! You know this year was especially fun for me because of the redo our corner fireplace recently went through. If you haven’t seen it yet, go ahead and click over. We’ll wait.

:)

OK, so here’s a quick stroll down memory lane – the big bad annoying corner decorated for Christmas:

I tried my best to work with it…and I thought it always turned out pretty this time of year.

But now…NOW. I am giddy!

I have a REAL fireplace (OK, it was always real, whatever) and a REAL, thick, chunky mantel. WHOO!

My plan was the same as always – I beef up my garland in layers. I started with some pine greenery from Big Lots:

I’ve mentioned this stuff a few times and I swear this is the most realistic, beautiful greenery I’ve seen anywhere. At least for $10. ;)

I made an investment this year by purchasing a few really thick 9 foot lengths of faux greenery at a local florist. They had thick, thicker and thickest and I got the thickest version. I got them during a great sale, so they were still a steal compared to the prices I kept finding online.

I used a section of it and just placed it right on top of the pine:

It’s SO FLUFFY!!!! (I try to resist, I do.)

Then I added the must have – lights:

I just pushed them in here and there.

Then I fluffed and fluffed and fluffed, and then started adding more pieces of the pine from Big Lots. Because I love this stuff so much, I got some on clearance last year:

 

Then came the sparkle in the form of cheap ornaments:

And the pine cones (they actually come attached to the BL garland – told you it was awesomesauce). I found some of the new Glitter Blast Krylon spray paint at True Value (they have every. spray. paint. ever.) and I couldn’t resist spraying the cones:

This stuff is SO fun!

I got the red version too, but I have yet to find something to spray red glitter. I WILL find something.

The garland was ready to go and was FLUFFY beyond my wildest dreams, but the wall above the fireplace seemed empty on the sides. Enter a trip to IKEA and their perfect red lanterns. I hung a few on each side with cup hooks and fishing line:

 

Aren’t the lanterns insanely festive?

I just love them and their bright Christmas red and stars etched into the glass!

I hung the wreath that usually hangs on our door over the mirror:

It’s a wreath from Target (clearance years ago) layered over a simple pine wreath I’ve had foreva. It’s nice and chunkaaay.

And the result? Well. I LOVE.

It’s a large and in charge mantel and I love it!

I’ve mentioned once or 20 times that I’m a little obsessed with red this time of year. This space is no different.

Obviously. :)

A few of you had asked for a shot from further back in the room, so here’s a view of the new wall:

I swear, it looks like it was always that way!

The little Polar Express Santa on the chair was a Goodwill find a few years ago and he was in PERFECT condition. The countdown pillow was from Stein Mart:

Did you see my cutie candy cane by the fireplace?

It’s a knit cover over the cane and it is adorable! I found it at a local shop.

The stockings are all from Pottery Barn – I got them all for $15 each (including embroidery!) last fall:

I think we need to get another one for this guy:

Yes. We will get our dog a stocking. Welcome to our world.

Because I am so excited about having this mantel (did I mention that?) I took way too many pictures. Speaking of pictures, ignore the IKEA backing still in those frames. ;)

You know nighttime is my favorite time at Christmas! The little candles in the lanterns are all LED, so I just flip the switch on them and it’s all dreamy and glowy:

 

Here’s my view from the sofa:

Usually my feet are up there on that table but I’ll spare you the foot pic this time. ;)

(And the candy cane doesn’t stay there when the fireplace is lit – I just left it for a bit while I took pics.)

Because I can’t resist a before and after session, here’s the family room after it’s redo earlier this year:

Here is is with the new fireplace and all Christmastastic!

The view from the kitchen before:

And now, with new floors too!:

These show how very little space the new mantel takes up – I swear it looks more spacious! And I like how the angled wall mimics the angled wall that goes to my office.

Couldn’t be happier!!

If you haven’t linked up your holiday mantel at Rhoda’s yet, get on over! And check out the 300+ gorgeous mantels! I’m late, like always. ;)

And if you’re looking for more mantel ideas, check out my JOY version in our master bedroom:

More red. Shocking. :)

Happy decorating to you!

Metallic Christmas Table

Hello hello! Hope you had a lovely weekend!

I finished up our Christmas dining room today and I am smitten! Layla is kicking off our Holiday Home link ups tomorrow morning, so I had to share what I’ve been up to!

I’ve wanted to change up the centerpiece in the dining room for some time now – I love those glass candleholders in the framed out mirror, but it’s been a couple years now and I was craving something different!

I tried a few different ideas, none which were it. And then finally…it came to me.

I swear anymore I have to sit on a space mentally for about six months before the final idea comes into my noggin. But once I’ve figured it out in my head, I usually love the result. This time is no different. (Thank goodness. Whew.)  ;)

I started with a few trips to a few different Goodwill stores. I was on a mission – a mission for brass candlesticks:

You know – the ones you see gracing the shelves on every trip into Goodwill? And of course when I decided to do this project, they were harder than heck to find. Sheesh. It’s like brass is coming back or something. ;)

I have a confession to make…I actually kind of liked these as they were. Kind of. Kind of more that I’d like to admit. They were more antiqued brass than shiny brass. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

But I had a vision in mind, and that vision included spray paint:

I started by spreading them all out in the garage:

Then sprayed them all with a primer:

Then I put them into three groups and sprayed each one in a different metallic color. One group was Krylon Caramel Latte, one was Krylon Nickel, and one was Valspar Gold.

Let me tell you – that gold color was BEAUTIFUL. It is really awesome – although I hated the new nozzle. It was SO hard to spray with.

When they were dry, I just mixed the different colors in the mirror centerpiece, then filled it with bits of greenery and green and brown ornaments:

I tried to vary the heights as much as I could, but otherwise they are just on there, no rhyme or reason:

The place settings are pretty standard – white dinnerware I got from HomeGoods a while back (I wanted to brighten up the table so I sold the dishes and place mats that we used for years), my goblets from Goodwill and the sparkly brown bulbs that sit in the bowls were from Hob Lob years ago.

When I got it all together, I wanted to add the napkins to the table but didn’t have any napkin rings that worked.

I was standing in the garage when I saw my solution -- I grabbed a cardboard roll that some fabric came on, cut it down on my saw and got these:

After sanding down the edges and then spraying them in the gold Valspar spray paint, I got some very quick, very free DIY napkin rings:

And I gotta say, I really like how they turned out!

I love how the candlesticks give some height to the table, but you can still see through them:

The metallic colors are so pretty and I figure they’ll work all year round – it looks beautiful without the Christmas filler too!:

I wanted to keep the green and brown theme in this space to go with my Walmart ornament vignette I put together last year:

All of the ornaments were a buck and all of them are SO FUN!:

I was totally bummed to see that Walmart doesn’t have all of these ornaments again this year! They still have a bunch of pretty sparkly ornaments for cheap, but not quite as cute as these were.

Of course, just like any Christmas decor – the table looks most magical at night:

Wowza! I love it!!

Candlelight – I don’t think you can beat it! It’s just beautiful.

Makes you want to cook a four course meal at 10 p.m. on a Sunday for your husband and eat by candlelight beautiful:

Of course I don’t keep the candles lit if we’re not in here, which is OK, cause I love it when they’re not lit too.

But there’s some definite magic when the only light comes from the candles and the tree:

LOVE!!

The total cost was probably around $30? The candlesticks ranged from $1 to $3 each and I had all of the spray paint colors but the gold color. I think that one was $5. It took me about an hour to spray paint all of the candlesticks.

Not too shabby for a new look in the dining room – and one I’m a little giddy over:

Do you see those chairs? Yeah…that’s another project I’ve been sitting on (HA! Sitting on…get it?) for the past six months or so. ;) Can’t finish those till I finish the drapes, and I don’t want to finish the drapes till I decide if I’m going to repaint the room.

So…yeah. :)

Can’t wait to see all of your beautiful tablescapes at Layla’s tomorrow!

*You can see how I created the original centerpiece here.

**The December Before and After Party will go up Monday evening!

Linking this up to Julia’s party!