When it comes to Christmas decor, I tend to work around the traditional red and green color palette, instead using the hues that speak to me on a more personal level—bright pink, soft mint, and even a hint of pastel yellow! By thinking outside the box and choosing colors that I love year-round, our Christmas decorations seamlessly blend in with our daily decor.
Take our colorful Christmas mantel, for example! It’s not exactly the typical collection of seasonal colors, but the bold pastel accents still feel festive thanks to the addition of a few tell-tale Christmas silhouettes. Read on to find out how you can style a modern holiday mantel that feels cohesive alongside your daily color palette!
The focal point of our holiday mantel was going to be a collection of inexpensive yet high-impact paper fans, so that's where I started when it came time to style the surface. I hung Mint Green Tissue Hanging Fans, Turquoise Tissue Hanging Fans, and Vintage Collection Hanging Fans from clear fishing line in an assymetrical formation right in the center of the brick fireplace to establish the wow factor. 
Next, I added in my DIY Dyed Wooden Bead Christmas Garland—click here to get details on how to make your own beaded garland! Note that you'll need to set aside an afternoon at least 24 hours before you style your Christmas mantel since the painted garland will need time to dry. I overlapped and draped the garlands one by one using small tacks sunk into the wooden mantel until they spanned the length of the surface. 
Finally, it was time for the decorative touches. To establish height, I set a pair of Bowing & Standing Reindeer just off center of the mental. I then placed three Frosted Bottle Vases filled with cut branches from our yard off to either side of the deer. The branches didn't cost a thing to include, but ended up creating even more height and grandeur. Another inexpensive accent was the collection of Gold Spiral Place Card Holders topped with vintage Christmas cards. These can be added to or switched out as holiday cards arrive from our friends and family over the next month or so! 
The last step was to fill in all of the empty areas with Medium Cream Frosted Sisal Trees and Mini Cream Frosted Sisal Trees, plus an assortment of colorful vintage ornaments that I've been collecting for years. The main thing to keep in mind when styling your own mantel is to carry your color palette all the way through and to think about layering in different heights—from tall, all the way to small! 
(Project and photos by Carrie Waller)
