Tag: holidays

I have a fireplace in my new home! I have always wanted a mantle to decorate and our new home has one. So now I have been searching for a fun way to decorate my mantle for the holidays.

One of the most commonly decorated areas of a home for Christmas is the mantle. This is not only where you will hang your stockings, but it is the perfect place to set decorative items. The following tips will help you decorate your Christmas mantle in the shabby chic theme.

Use Distressed Wood Frames

If you have pictures on your mantle, and many people do, you don’t have to take them down just because it is Christmas. Instead, keep the pictures up, but switch out the frames. Even if you already have shabby chic-friendly frames, now is a great time to put away the white frames (like these) and bring out some distressed wood ones. This really adds a fun look to your mantle where the rest of your shabby chic Christmas decor is probably white, silver, and pastel colors. It gives some nature to your mantle without getting too far from the shabby chic look you want to acquire. For a bit of fun, you can even switch out the pictures and replace them with pictures of angels, snowmen, Santa and Mrs. Clause, as if they were friends and family members.

Create a Village on the Mantle

Many people create a Christmas village and put it on a table, but why not put it right on your mantle? It keeps it high enough to be away from kids or cats who are a little too curious, as well as being in a room where your family probably spends a lot of time during the holidays. Not only that, it is a convenient place to spread around twinkle lights and p lug them in, allowing you to easily illuminate your shabby chic-style Christmas village.

Use Vintage Items on the Mantle

For more traditional decorating of the mantle, you might want to use various decorative accessories and figurines. For a shabby chic look, try to find items that are vintage or at least have that old-fashioned look to them. Some items that work perfectly include an old pair of white ice skates, vintage milk jugs and bottles, or Santa Clause figures that have the old dress as opposed to the bright red dress and hat of the more modern styles.

Add Spray Painted Bottle Brush Trees

Bottle brush trees are really popular during Christmas since they are inexpensive and always add a fun element. However, instead of the bold green ones, you can either get them in white and other pastel colors, or spray paint them yourself. Spread them around your mantle in between other decorative items.

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Last week I shared how I want a more shabby look for my new house this year. I am doing away with cute decor for modern, chic and grown up to match the theme inside. I love a clean, fresh holiday look.

Decorating your front door for Christmas is easy when you go with a wreath, but if you want to stick with your home’s shabby chic style, then there are a few things you should do first. The following ideas allow you to have a festive holiday wreath that contains the vintage, feminine charm of a shabby chic home.

Use Vintage Ice Skates

A very popular decorative element for any Victorian, old-fashioned or shabby chic Christmas style is to use old ice skates. The ones you get might not actually be vintage, but you can usually find old skates at thrift stores or secondhand stores. If not, check stores with Christmas decorations, and you might find imitation skates that work good for this type of wreath. There are a few different ways to do this. You can go with a traditional wood wreath that is heavy enough to support the skates hanging in front of the wreath, or go with something else entirely. For example, you can get a small, old window frame that you can hang as a wreath on your door. Hang the skates in front of the window frame and it really creates a vintage, shabby chic-style design on your front door.

Incorporate Classic Shabby Chic Colors

You can also go more basic with your wreath by starting with a foam wreath and covering it in any fabric that is white, silver, light blue, light green, or light pink around it. You can leave it solid with just a bow or an angle attached, or add some other elements like pearls, lace (like this roll), or a few old ornaments. Another option is to wrap pink or white straw garland around the wreath form, then attach silver ball ornaments around it. This is a really easy way to show visitors you are decorating your home in a shabby chic Christmas style.

Decorate With Vintage Wood Ornaments

Part of the shabby chic style is having wood in a lighter color that looks distressed as if it is genuinely vintage furniture. You can incorporate this in your wreath by first covering the wreath form in the desired material, then gluing on wood ornaments. Use all ornaments that look to be distressed or vintage in a Victorian style. You can try to cover the wreath entirely with ornaments, just scatter a few, or have one large ornament near the center and some smaller ones off to the side.

It is easy to create a wreath with any type of shabby chic materials or ornaments by sticking to the right color scheme.

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