Little by little I am getting more comfortable styling our mantel. I have been working on layering and creating visual triangles so that the mantel looks balanced. I know I am far from an expert, but I think this is my favorite design to date. I used traditional Christmas colors in plaid and fair isle patterns to make a display that is cozy and cheery!
The focal point of the mantel is the oversized fair isle sign that I shared with you yesterday. The blown up version of a classic fair isle poinsettia ties in the other sweater elements of the Christmas mantel, like the sweater sleeve trees and our new fair isle stockings.
I made 20 or so German paper stars from Christmas scrapbook paper and used them to make a simple garland. The eight-points of the star and triangle shapes complement the fair isle sign too.
I reused some of my decorations from last year’s mantel, like the mini sled shelves, the ruffled plaid trees, and pattered wood words.
The vintage tree topper belonged to my grandmother, and I am always slightly worried that it will not survive a Christmas in our crazy household. So far, so good!
On the opposite side of the mantel, my dapper glitter deer made a reappearance in his suave plaid scarf. He is joined by two larger and even more glittery deer this year, but you will have to wait to find out more about them.
I will be sharing the oh-so-simple tutorial for these sweater sleeve cone trees tomorrow, so be sure to pop back again for the how-to.
I love our new fair isle stockings that hang under the mantel. I love the colors, the pompoms, the patterns. They (and smiling) are my favorite.
I didn’t add too much color to the built-ins on either side so that they didn’t compete with the mantel itself. I wrapped some of the hardcover books with faux bois wrapping paper and set my glitter and lace houses and trees on the taller shelves.
On the other side, you will see more of the same, along with the faux tartanware I made last year and a vase that I covered with the sleeve of a thrifted sweater.
Are you as nutty for plaid and fair isle as I am? They just seem like classic Christmas patterns that don’t go out of style. Check back over the next week to see how I put together some of the pieces you saw in this post.
