Winter Mantle

A few months ago, I decided I desperately wanted a mantle. Mostly because I saw on Pinterest and blogs how easy it was to decorate a mantle for the various seasons. I was crazy enough about this idea that I was even talking to The Coach about if our ancient chimney could be resurrected and a fireplace built in the dining room. He answered my questions, but did look at me a little like I was crazy and there may have been a few sighs in the conversation. He knows how I am when I get an idea in my head – like a dog with a bone!

Luckily (for him, at least) shortly after that my in-laws offered us an antique cabinet that they didn’t want anymore. Always looking for more storage options and loving all things old when it comes to furniture, I snapped up the offer. We got it home and I decided the kitchen would make the perfect home for it; I replaced the big bookcase we had been using as pantry space with the new cabinet.

As I stood admiring how much nicer it looked to have all that “stuff” behind doors rather than on open shelves, it struck me – MY MANTLE!! The top of the cabinet made a perfect space to create my mantle scenes for the seasons!

I was beyond excited to decorate it for Christmas. As we packed away the Christmas decor after the holidays, I started to think about what pieces I could use as constants in my decorating, but somehow change up a little for each season. I think I found some perfect pieces to keep up year round, and some that will come and go. Here’s my winter mantle:

• I used a couple vases I had out at Christmas with various colors of Christmas Tree ball ornaments. I replaced the colorful mix with just silver.
• I added a couple silvery tree decorations.
• The string of lights was out at Christmas and stayed. I cut squares of tulle and tied it between the lights to create the softer, almost snowy look.
• Next is a cheap frame I bought and painted white. The printable inside the frame is from a Pinterest pin that directed me here.
• My sister-in-law had given me the wine bottle at Christmas. It is painted with chalkboard paint. It had a Christmas ribbon and trinkets tied on when she gave it to me. I replaced those with a tulle bow, added some white glittery fake branches I had in the bin of Christmas decorations, and wrote my winter message in chalk.
• Finally, I have my owl Scentsy warmer, which is a fixture in our kitchen!

Most of the stuff here I already had or was from the dollar store! I bought the Christmas Tree ball ornaments at the dollar store before Christmas. The frame was from the dollar store and I already had white paint. The wine bottle was a gift. Everything else I already had! So my total investment was a couple bucks! Gotta love that!

Do you have a mantle? How do you decorate it? I’m looking for ideas for all the seasons!!