This year I decorated not one but TWO mantel’s in Sharrah’s new home in Tulsa! Helping her get her home ready for Christmas this year has been so special to me. I know I will always look back fondly on these memories of us working together as she expects her first child!

If you want to shop any of the decor we used this year, Shinoda Design Center has been gracious enough to allow our viewers to shop with them! You can check out how to do that here!

Here are my top tips as you decorate your mantel for Christmas:

1. Assess Your Situation

Make sure you take your particular mantel and it’s surroundings into account when coming up with your design. If you’ve got a very symmetrical room with windows on either side of the mantel you may want to play that up. Or the depth of your mantel may determine where you can place decorations on or beneath it. Whether you will be burning wood could determine if you want to use fresh greenery or not.

2. Garland Design

When it comes to hanging your garland, there are so many ways to do it! Since you’ve already assessed your situation, then you get to determine what hanging style will suit your space best. This year I did a sweeping garland that meets in the center upstairs and an asymmetrical garland downstairs!

3. Accessory Placement

This part is always so fun because your accessories become mini moments on their own. Depending on how you hung your garland is how you’re going to decide where to place your accessories. You want to make the entire mantel looked balanced.

4. Add Decorations

Just like decorating your tree, you want to bring in all the elements and colors that you’ve used elsewhere in the room to tie your design together.

5. Don’t Forget the Fireplace

A lit fireplace is always beautiful and cozy, but most of the time we don’t light our fireplaces! So whether you don’t light yours often or you actually have a faux fireplace adding in some decorations & lights can bring in the warmth without the burning fire. I put together this arrangement of wood, picks, fairy lights, my woodland friends, and candles together pretty quickly and it looks SO elegant!

Bonus Tips

Focal Point: If you can add interest centered above the mantel it looks fabulous with symmetrical designs!

Add Lights: This will always be my go-to! The more lights the better. Not only was my garland downstairs already lit but I added warm lights on top for that Christmas glow.

Stocking Trick: No one wants to see a flat and slouchy stocking; put some tissue paper or bubble wrap in them to fluff them up and make them look full!

Garland Straightening Hack: This year I discovered a great way to get a garland to hang straight and tip downwards. Wire some heavy ornaments onto the backside to pull it back to center. Be sure to watch the video to see this hack and the other tips in action!