Christmas Mantle 2019

6 Materials
$15
1 Hour
Easy

It’s beginning to look a little like Christmas around here. No tree yet, but my Christmas Mantle 2019 is finished. This year I was a little bogged down with all the Christmas decor in retail stores since this summer. I say “bay, humbug” to buying much holiday decor.... Why buy when you can gather and create!

First, you will need to collect branches from your yard or surrounding area. I love cypress and juniper versus pine, not as messy and easier to work with. But you could really can do this with so many different types of branches. See my natural holiday decor from last season  here,  where I used magnolia and holly branches.

Second, choose a plastic container for the base. I chose 2 long narrow bins because I was making this for my mantle, but you could use round or even square bins for a centerpiece.  These plastic bins actually have another purpose, they are the bins for my  window box in the summer. Then add florist foam inside the container that will help position the branches. Because my plastic bins were so narrow and the branches fairly large, they kept falling over. To stabilize the bins, I added one brick in each bin near the center.

Continue adding branches to create the look you are going for. My goal was to create a modern but woodsy look. I found it easier to move the containers into place on the mantle and then continue filling them with branches. Then I added some water to prevent the branches from drying out and added lights and pinecones. You could add enough branches to the containers to completely hide them, but I had some old barn wood that I thought would look really nice as a faux cover / box around the sides of the box. These are just two pieces of wood placed in front of the bins on the mantle.

To complete the “woodsy” look, I added the winter gnomes I picked up in Cologne last year. But these have become very popular this year, you can find them on Amazon and in various home decor stores.

Finished Look!

Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Flawless C Designed
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 19 comments
  • Susie Susie on Dec 15, 2020

    Thick and wonderful greenery - love the idea of using window boxes, as my evergreens tend to slide around on our mantel. Plus keeping them fresh! Thanks for this great idea!

  • AndradeTea AndradeTea on Dec 15, 2020

    That looks beautiful!

Next