Ideas For Your Christmas Mantlepiece

I love giving my home a bit of Christmas sparkle and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune either. With a few simple style tricks, let me show you how to give your mantlepiece a little seasonal magic for less than £7.  Let me show you how I did it in my own home with this easy how-to guide.

In my time, I’ve decorated huge houses for magazine shoots on a tiny props budget – so I know it is possible (if a bit challenging).  Let’s start with my fireplace – here it is ‘before’ all the glitter (I’m loving my fish wallpaper btw – thank you feathr). We’ve hung up some art above but that’s it to start with  – pretty bare.

This is what you are going to need. One large bunch of eucalyptus – I get mine from The Flower Stand in Hove (the best florist in Brighton). This bunch cost about £2 for the lot – and it’s more than enough for what we need.

Next, pick out two bushy branches and stick them in place with masking tape to your mantlepiece (check the masking tape isn’t going to do any damage). Don’t worry, you wont see the tape when we’re finished.

Tape a bush piece each end (with the stems pointing into the middle) – hope that make sense! The working your way into the middle add more and more branches and layer them in until your mantle is full. Don’t worry – I’ve done a Vlog here if you need some video help.

Now you need to add some sparkle – I’ve picked out these pom pom battery powdered fairy lights which I love which are from The Wise House. These ones cost £25 – but as we are doing this on a tight budget, you can use just simple fairy lights from the £1 shop which will work just as well.

Pop your fairy lights among the stems and bury the wire so you can’t see them. Looks lovely already, doesn’t it?

I used baubles I had spare and dotted them into the leaves and fairy lights. I’ve gone for a sparkly ones that you can pick up for next to nothing on the high street. These ones are plastic and they cost, £2 for 12 from Paperchase. You can get tiny-weenie ones that would look so cute hidden in the leaves.

That’s not it…next we need some pom pom string. I got this one from C&H fabrics in Brighton and it cost £89p per metre. I used 1.5M which was £1.78.

Loop that from corner-to-corner of your mantlepiece, draping it across the whole of your fireplace. I didn’t need it to tape it in place, it sort of hooked onto the leaves. You might need a tiny bit of fishing wire to tie it in place if it keeps slipping off.

That’s me there, just tweaking my mantlepiece in my slippers – rock ‘n’ roll over at WeLoveHome HQ. It’s getting there. Just needs a few more finishing touches. Gold star to the person who can spot the Teddy monster.

I dressed my tiled hearth to finish off the look with some accessories like this Blue Tallow wick candle from On-line shop, Style Chapel.  They are based in Kemp Town, just up the road from me. Style Chapel sell total madness (which is so me) and I thought this modern slant on a wee willie winkie candle was perfect for my fireplace (and it’s perfect for my style kit)…anywhooo….I love it.  The little car is from another local on-line shop called Rockett St George it’s a Christmas tree decoration I have been waiting to use for ages.

And here it is. The end result, complete with pressies from #DIYboyfriend’s mum 🙂 Simple, stylish and it cost next to nothing. Please take a moment out to watch the vlog – and see Buster the cat’s starring role in our Christmas makeover. Do you feel inspired to give your mantle a leafy Christmas makeover for just £7?
Now…what to decorate next with the left over eucalypts stems?
Merry Christmas Peeps.