Faith McMillen. local South Lyon Interior Designer and me presented five very different holiday mantels. Our first themed mantel was very appropriately called:
Christmas Spirit, which featured a Long Bearded Santa, Holiday Plaques strung together with green and red holiday ribbon, Evergreens mixed with holly berry stems, White glitter jingle balls, Poinsettias tucked into the evergreen and magnolia garland and a fun glitter bird house placed atop the garland.
Hung from the mantel was more glitter jingle balls and a "merry, merry" christmas ball ornament.
Finally, on the hearth we placed beautiful red topiary trees.
With all the fun snowmen in the store, we wanted to duplicate the "Let it Snow" mantel that we showcased the previous week. We used different snowmen, but stuck with the Snowman Pictures, Frosted Trees, Star Candle Holder and Branch Stems.
Hanging from the mantel we placed White Jingle Balls and hung a "Let It Snow" Sign underneath the mantel shelf.
This mantel almost feels like you want to be outside in the snow! This is a great one for kids too!
Home for the Holidays featured a traditional christmas mantel with a lighter wispy, almost grassy like garland atop strung mini lights. Three Glass Hurricanes were placed in the center of the mantel. These were filled with red textured candles. Holly Berry Stems were strategically placed in the garland and Red Artichokes and Ceramic Cardinal Pedestals were placed atop the garland.
Hanging on the Mantel two Uttemost Red Doors Panels and a Evergreen Swag wrapped with Pinecones and Holly Berry.
This is a very easy and beautiful mantel that can easily be carried into the New Year!
With all the wonderful Peacock Feather Garland, Feather Trees, Feather Balls and beautiful Emerald and Lime Green Peacocks in the store we had to find a clever way to use all these beautiful feathers!
Fabulous Feathers showcased all of the above; we began by weaving the feather peacock garland through the evergreen and magnolia garland. The garland hung off each side of the mantel and stopped about 6" from the ground. We placed three old world antiqued candle holders on the mantel, two at one end with three color patchouli candles, and the other we wrapped with a green/gold poinsettia. We added two feather trees next to this candle holder and then placed the peacocks on the edges of the mantel to show-off their beautiful tails. A little more glitz was needed, and the green crackle balls filled the void.
Hanging above a simple, but elegant sunburst iron mirror.
At the hearth we placed a wood lantern on one end and a Peacock Wine Holder on the other. It was fabulous and one of my favorites!
Our final Mantel of the night we chose the name "Red Hot Celebration" to bring in the new year and remain up through Valentine's Day. We used lots of glitter, including glitter snowflakes hanging above the mantel shelf, glitter sprays in bright ruby red ceramic vases, and glass and silvery jeweled ornaments hanging off the mantel shelf.
A unique antiqued mirrored sconce was placed in the center of the mantel wall.
Red Holly Berry Stems were tucked among the silvery gold crackle balls and glass ice cubes.
What else is there to say - this one is definitely glamorous and makes a statement!
We hope everyone had a wonderful time and took away some ideas to inspire your own beautiful mantel!
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What a great way to kick off the holiday season; five different holiday designs for the Mantel! 14 gals joined Faith McMillen, Local South Lyon Interior Designer (Winway Limited) and me for a fun filled evening of holiday design techniques, lessons in textures, spacing, colors and more. Faith McMillen explained that mantels take time to put together, and should be given much thought. Think of it as going through a "trial & tribulation" phase. Not every piece you put up there is going to work. Sometimes you have to just walk away for awhile or sit in the room and let the space talk to you. I know we spent a good 8 hours preparing for this event over a two day period.
We started the evening with our first themed mantel, which we called "Holiday Fun". Featured on the mantel was a long bearded santa, green frosted trees, metal skates, birch boxes, snowmen and more! We hung white jingle bells and ornaments from the mantel as well.
A natural outdoorsy themed mantel shown below highlighted lots of pinecones and greenery with metal reindeer and ceramic pieces that held the pinecone sprays. We had to throw in the cute little critters too; owl, squirrels and even a woven natural twig snowman.
With all the different style snowmen in the store we decided a themed snowmen mantel was necessary. We appropriately named it " Let it Snow". Using a snow blanket covering on the mantel with white lights underneath we selected various snowmen of all sizes, colors and shapes and placed them throughout the mantel at different heights among snow covered trees and branches. On the back wall of the fireplace we hung frames snowmen art. White glitter bells and a "Let it Snow" sign were hung from the mantel as well.
Taking a more traditional approach, and one that could easily be modified into the new year, we used a lighter garland; not as heavy as the traditional pine. Holly berry stems were stuck in the garland, and on top of the garland we placed three glass hurricanes with metal stands and tops in the middle and filled them with pinecones and feather balls. (Red candles could also be placed in these). Strategically placed Red acorns and two ceramic cardinals finished the look. On the back wall, we hung two red doors and put together two pinecone spray and wrapped the middle with a holly berry stem. Wa la - here's our "Home for the Holidays" themed mantel. Red Holly Berry potted trees were placed on each side of the hearth.
The last mantel of the night was called "All that Glitters". We wanted to focus on the new year and add glamour and glitz. This was done by using lots of snowflakes, stars and silver with a blue fabric covering the mantel. We then added in touches of black and silver, such as the damask patterned hurricanes with silver bases and picture framed in black. We later modified this mantel with a arched mirror and placed icicle hurricanes atop silver candlesticks.
What a wonderful night it was and we hope everyone left the evening feeling inspired to go back home and get started on their holiday mantel!
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We had a great group of ladies for our Designer Session that was focused on mantels last Thursday. Faith McMillen, a local South Lyon Interior Designer with over 35 years of Design experience discussed all aspects of decorating a mantel, including the use of various textures, colors, size, placement of accessories, wall art, clocks and more.
We started with a Fall themed mantel that was already complete when the gals arrived and then slowly took away piece by piece explaining why particular items were placed where they were, and how we began with our one inspiration wall decor piece.
Moving on, we then focused on a Tuscan style mantel which easily was transformed from gold to red tones using the same main pieces of art, but changing out wall sconces and accessories.
A monochromatic mantel in browns was a great transition, and a far more masculine look that we thought men would also love. We discussed items that could also be placed around the hearth of the fireplace; leather stools or benches, trunks, candleholders were all great options!
The evening ended with a fun and outdoorsy birch bark holiday mantel made up of birch bark trees, snowmen, reindeer and garland.
Our next Designer Sessions will be held on November 12, one in the late morning and one in the evening, and will be focused on holiday decorating.
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