41 Pretty Ways to Decorate Your Mantel for Christmas

By BH&G Holiday Editors
Updated May 27, 2020
Jay Wilde
Let beautiful Christmas mantel decor turn your fireplace into an eye-catching focal point for the holidays. We have Christmas mantel decorating ideas for every style and budget.
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Christmas Village Mantel

Make your own farmhouse Christmas village using inexpensive paper chipboard! Display your finished village with cut pine branches, pinecones, and a classic evergreen wreath. Add holiday glow with mini twinkle lights.

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Gingerbread House Mantel

Jacob Fox

A light dusting of sugar "snow" coats a mantel adorned with homemade gingerbread houses, animals, and cutout sugar cookie trees. Attach a small cookie scrap with icing to the back of each cutout to create a "kickstand" to prop it up.

Editor's Tip: Complete the Christmas mantel decor with a faux greenery garland and mini twinkle lights.

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Red and Green Mantel

Jay Wilde

Nothing looks more festive than a holiday mantel decorated in crimson red and crisp white. Add in the deep green of a flocked pine wreath and garland for a traditional farmhouse-style palette. Finish the look with mini tree decorations and small white ceramic houses.

Editor's Tip: Make your own twine-wrapped trees. Simply wrap papier-mache cones with red and white baker's twine.

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Vintage Christmas Mantel

Jay Wilde

Dress your Christmas mantel with a garland and cozy knit accessories. On top, create a still life of vintage wares: a mirror, salvaged window, and an old frame with an interesting shape. Add purchased bottle-brush trees and ball ornaments in shades of green and gold.

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Farmhouse Christmas Mantel

Adam Albright

Draw attention to your mantel display with an oversized sign. To complete the look, a collection of small houses peek out above a lush Christmas mantel garland with eucalyptus, pinecones, and small berries.

Editor's Tip: Use wooden tags decorated with each person's name to label similar stockings.

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Perfect Palette

A festive display of trees, presents, and reindeer doesn't have to be overwhelming—just stick to a simple color palette. This gorgeous Christmas fireplace decor incorporates frosty hues of white, silver, and gold for big-impact style with only a few colors.

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Metallic Christmas Mantel

This fireplace mantel Christmas decor goes for the gold. On top of the mantel, small flowerpots have been painted gold and filled with holiday blooms for a fun and easy project. Below, a spectacular display of wrapped presents and lanterns draws the eye in.

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Sweater Weather

Mantel decor doesn't get much simpler than this cheery display. All you need are a few old sweaters in holiday hues of red and green. The minimal design adds cheery color without a lot of fuss.

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Light the Night

Christmas lights aren't just for the tree. Lighted garland is an easy way to make a big statement without a high cost. Attached ornaments, floral arrangements, and a gold statement piece complete this holiday mantel display.

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Oh What Fun

Modern Christmas mantel ideas aren't limited to red and green. Depending on the rest of your room's decor, try experimenting with pinks, oranges, and blues. Metallic accents—such as the gold star and flower pots on this bright mantel—add a touch of holiday glitz.

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Cozy Cabin Decor

David A. Land

Make Christmas mantel decorating stress-free with low-fuss accents found around the house. Here, a black, white, and green palette complement Scandinavian-inspired holiday touches, including wood candlestick holders, small white trees, and sprigs of evergreen. Black-and-white family photographs add a nostalgic element to the display.

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Bold Blue

Bright blue looks beautiful with silver, white, and evergreen—and this festive mantel is proof. Glass ornaments and figurines are intertwined with a living garland, while a simple Christmas mantel wreath draws the eye in.

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Classic Red & Green

For a classic Christmas, stick to hues of rich, holly red and deep, emerald green. This simple yet stunning mantel incorporates plenty of beloved holiday features, including candles and a trim evergreen wreath. A garland of rich red ornaments adds a touch of modernity to the display.

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The Right Formula

Outfit your mantel with a variety of objects that feature a common denominator. Here, lots of ornaments steal the show. They're embedded in a simple garland, and adorned to tiny trees on either end of the mantel.

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Poinsettia Mantel

Poinsettia bracts in shades of red and pink stand proudly in mismatched glasses standing in as vases. The different shades of pink soften the look of the crisp white mantel and surround.

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Woodland Christmas Mantel

Have a wide assortment of pieces to display? Arrange them in a symmetrical pattern for an organized—not cluttered—look. Each side of this mantel mirrors the other. A hurricane and bottle-brush tree ensemble, along with two stockings, dress each side. The symmetry extends to the surrounding built-ins, which are outfitted with more Christmas collectibles and matching wreaths.

Editor's Tip: The objects used to decorate the Christmas mantel are carefully chosen for size so they don't interfere with the television screen.

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Vintage-Look Display

Outfit your fireplace with repurposed Christmas mantel decorations. Vintage window panes are an unexpected addition to a classic wreath, pom-pom garland, and simple knit stockings.

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Simple Christmas Mantel

Dress your mantel in a flash with a statement-making wreath. Although unadorned, this handsome green wreath is eye-catching because of its size, which is perfectly scaled to the handsome fireplace.

Editor's Tip: Hang the wreath over a mirror for a reflective element. Mercury glass candle holders and votives finish this modern Christmas mantel idea.

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Citrus Christmas Mantel

Add a pop of citrus to your mantel with lemons, limes, kumquats, and clementines artfully arranged on trays along with miniature sparkling ornaments. Fill in the open spaces with springs of greenery and classic white pillar candles.

Editor's Tip: Highlight the trays with no-sew runners. Using a 1/2 yard of white felt from a crafts store, cut a piece for each arrangement that is slightly narrower than the tray and long enough to hang over the mantel (but not too close to the hearth for safety reasons). Snip the ends to a point.

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Vintage Stockings

When it comes to fireplace Christmas decorations, take the opportunity to show off your favorite collectibles. This grouping of treasured stockings looks as good now as it did 20 years ago. Whole fruits intertwined with the green boughs add a pop of brightness to this country Christmas mantel decorating idea.

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Pretty Peppermint Mantel

This sweet scene gets its charm from red, white, and green peppermints. Clusters of candy and striped candles create a holly jolly mantel scene.

Editor's Tip: To enhance the look, add a bright red wreath and mini trees to the lineup.

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Forest Mantel

Take your mantel-decorating cue from the facade's color. This warm green space is outfitted with a simple fireplace Christmas garland made of fresh evergreen branches. Snowy white stockings hang from the mantel, pointing toward the birch logs below.

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Pinecone Christmas Mantel

All the elements—oil painting, wall sconces, garland, tree toppers, and floral picks—work together to create this mantel display inspired by a classic winter scene. The bright blue ornaments add a jolt of energy.

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Bright Mantel

When it comes to fireplace mantel ideas, small bits of color go a long way. Here, a handful of bright glass ornaments carefully arranged along the mantel wake up the white surround. Year-round porcelain dog figurines also welcome Christmas by being outfitted with whimsical collars made of wreaths and ribbons.

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Traditional Magnolia Mantel

Lush Christmas mantel swags of leaves, greens, and branches layered along the fireplace add an immediate holiday feel. Silver touches and pure-white candles add more holiday shine.

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Plaid Christmas Mantel

If you're searching for country Christmas mantel decorating ideas, look no further. This rustic scene takes the cake. To get the look, make use of plaid trees, stockings, and snowflakes. A pair of adorned skis next to the fireplace add a whimsical touch.

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Snowflake Mantel

Shiny CDs topped with inexpensive snowflake ornaments string across the front of this mantel for a sparkling display. Use clear industrial-strength glue (available at crafts stores) to attach one or more glittered snowflake ornaments to the CDs. To form the garland, snip bead garland into short pieces. Using a double strand of thread, tie one end of the garland to the tip of a snowflake. Continue until the entire strand is formed. If the CDs tip forward when hung, tape coins (as weights) to the back along the lower edge until they stay upright.

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Silver Christmas Mantel

Grace the mantel with classic collectibles, such as pewter pitchers and vases. Surrounded by evergreen boughs and filled with red and green blooms, everyday items become festive fireplace mantel decor.

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Garland Mantel

Decorating the mantel doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive. Thicken store-bought garlands by adding fresh greens from the yard, or plump a fresh garland or wreath with faux greens. Then, dress up the garland as much as you'd like with easy accents, such as apples, pinecones, wooden blocks, ornaments, or ribbon to give it still-life look.

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Colorful Stockings

Old-style stockings bring color to a neutral wood mantel. To customize, simply attach a no-fuss office supply tag to each stocking. All that's left is to stuff them full of treats!

Editor's Tip: Try making a homemade stocking to match your holiday decor.

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Playful Figurines