Holiday mantel

Well, the Christmas spirit is getting deep up in here, so I thought I would go ahead and show you my festive holiday mantel.

Our current home has a gas fireplace in the living room that I absolutely lurve. At one point, the hubs and I discussed building a home, but bought our existing one instead. In our original plans, we haggled over whether or not we wanted a wood-burning or a gas insert fireplace. I must say that the convenience of gas logs is pretty awesome … no mess … fire at the flip of a switch … NICE! I am one of those people who really uses a fireplace, so I have been in hog heaven this winter in our “new” house.

The fireplace is built into the wall with a marble surround. I stained the wooden mantel to match our existing furniture.

The elements I used for this holiday mantel-scape mostly came from what I already had on hand. I filled the lanterns (which I display on the mantel pretty much year-round) with a candle and extra ornaments.

I did purchase these two extra-large glass ornaments from TJ Maxx for $9.99 each.

I used gold tulle garland in the back to anchor the vignette. Then I added tiny, battery-powered LED tea lights to give it some pop. I think they were three for $2 at Walmart.

The wreath I already had. I dressed it up with some gold ornaments, snowflake doilies and paper ornaments I picked up on clearance from TJ Maxx (again). Can I get a shout out for TJ Maxx’s holiday decorations? Lurve.

This wooden bowl was given to me from my mother-in-law. Like I said yesterday, she has great taste!

As an added bonus today (don’t say I never gave you anything), let me show you the little Christmas village vignette I set up on our TV console.

I like to add a little bit to the display each year.

Too cute, no? Are you in the Christmas spirit yet? Send me a comment. I’d love to hear how your decorating is going.

I linked this project up to these fine blogs:

Home Stories A2Z Mantel Party

Southern Hospitality Holiday Home Party