How to style your mantelpiece to perfection for the holidays – 11 festive ideas to elevate this space

The mantelpiece really comes into its own over the holidays. It's prime real estate for holiday decor and the perfect surface to add a festive flourish. We'd go as far to say that a beautifully decorated mantle can even rival the Christmas tree.

The mantle is also a nice place to start with your Christmas decor ideas. You can start giving it a holiday feel as soon as Halloween is over, bringing in touches of festive foliage and candles just to nod to the upcoming holidays. Then you can get bolder and more decorative as the weeks go on, adding more fall decor for Thanksgiving, and then upping the Christmas decor at the start of December.

We gathered together all our favorite Christmas mantel decor ideas to provide all the inspiration you need to create a real focal point around your fireplace. From the really bold and extravagant, to simple and subtle, no matter how you like to decorate for the holidays, you'll find plenty of stunning ideas and expert tips right here.

11 ways to decorate your mantlepiece for the holidays

'Move over tablescaping, mantelscaping – AKA styling your mantel in a captivating way – is the new trend taking over fireplaces this winter,' says Dayna Isom Johnson, Etsy's trend & design expert. This mantel decor trend allows individuals to unleash their Christmas spirit and personal style in the true heart of their home. Whether you choose to create a winter wonderland village using vintage putz houses, snow globes, and iridescent baubles, or a forest scene featuring garlands and seasonal florals – the options are endless'

Whether you’re looking to light up your evenings with candles, celebrate nature with scented garlands or get ready for Santa with a row of stockings, explore our collection of inspiring Christmas mantel decor ideas, as well as a whole host of styling tips from the experts.

1. Adorn your mantel with festive foliage

‘For a wonderfully rustic mantelpiece decoration, use cuttings of winter foliage to create a display of eye-catching natural texture. I love using pine, holly, eucalyptus, olive branches and mistletoe – herbs, like rosemary, also work well,' says florist at Wild at Heart, Nikki Tibbles.

Angus Buchanan, creative director at Buchanan Studio also says, 'Green pine branches always bring a beautiful fragrance to any room without having to use a full tree. We like to use them to complement our Christmas tree ideas, and arrange them in a large vase or laid over shelves or mantelpieces.’

An arrangement of pine branches or cuttings of other foliage may be a classic, traditional Christmas decorating ideas, but it can still look super modern, as shown here, with the truly striking, sculptural display on the mantel.

2. Or, opt for an elegant floral display

Whether you opt for flowers that add a burst of Christmas color to your mantel, such as a riotous mixture of red poinsettias, winter roses and berries, or embrace more minimalist Christmas decor ideas and choose to decorate with dried flowers, these natural decorations will always bring a timeless elegance to a mantelpiece.

Opting for flowers that dry well can make for a Christmas mantel decor idea that can last throughout the holiday season – hellebores, mimosa, gomphrena, and strawflowers are especially good choices for a mantel arrangement, as they’re all very long-lasting and dry well.

3. Add a twinkling touch with string lights and metallic accents

To elevate your mantel with an irresistibly cozy feel, then be sure to decorate the space with twinkling string lights.Whether you simply drape them across your mantel with a few select ornaments to work alongside, as shown above, or enhance a display of foliage and flowers with a set of lights intertwined, this indoor Christmas lighting idea will perfectly complement the warming glow of a roaring fire.

Walmart's battery-operated string lights are perfect for adorning the mantel and you can hide the battery pack easily with decorations or tuck it neatly underneath the mantel.

4. Line up your stockings

Working out when you should put your Christmas tree up is obviously important, but remember that you can stagger your decorating to ramp up the sense of excitement.

Adding a row of stockings to your mantel decor in the week, or even on the night before Christmas will give you a decorative addition to look forward to. Consider coordinating your stockings with your existing room color ideas, – in this example by Kit Kemp, the colorful trio of stockings designed by Kit perfectly coordinate with the green foliage and the pale blue and red decor.

5. Create a cozy atmosphere with plenty of candles

Candles are a wonderful way to create a warming, cozy feeling in a space at Christmas time – and they work especially well when positioned on a mantelpiece.

Easier to light on a whim than the fire itself, their flickering glow of is an excellent, subtle addition to the centerpiece of a living room and they can bring beautiful festive scent into the room too – perfect for making your home smell good for Christmas. Layer up a few different heights and sizes to create a real display – tapers and pillars together will create extra interest.

If safety is a concern, you can now find authentic-looking electric candles (these Homemory Real Wax LED Flameless Taper Candles from Amazon even have wax drips to make them look extra realistic) – in tea light form and otherwise – which can be slipped with ease into all sorts of candle holders and mantel displays.

6. Embrace a coordinated color scheme

The likes of red, gold and green are classic holiday colors but what if they don’t work with your year-round decor? If you love a sophisticated and tailored scheme, curate a mantel display that carefully mimics the existing scheme in the surrounding space. Adorn your mantel with ornaments and decorations that draw from the room's palette, creating a satisfying sense of cohesion and calm.

On this mantel, festive decor has been chosen to match and complement the pink room ideas, including pink and white stockings, orange Christmas tree models, holly leaves for a little contrast and Christmas presents wrapped in complementary paper and ribbons.

7. Use a traditional paper garland

The festive season is a time to celebrate with family and friends, so why not get creative with DIY Christmas decor?

Paper garlands are a timeless Christmas decoration (and they're super easy to make). Perfect for resting on the top of the mantel, or for attaching to the surround, as shown above, paper garlands can not only create a more classic, retro feel, they are super cost-effective, too. We love this pastel paper chain from Etsy, perfect for more modern Christmas decor.

8. Style the space with festive ornaments

Ornaments aren't just for the tree, they can work just as well on a mantle. Arranging them among your candles, lights and floral display will help add a pop of color that ties in effortlessly with your tree design.

Of course, as well as Christmas tree ornaments, there a whole host of other decorations that can sit beautifully atop a mantel, from miniature trees, to bells and snow globes, get creative and curate a beautiful festive scene.

9. Enhance your garland with inviting scent

If you’re wondering how to make a Christmas garland, you’ll need to think about details as well as structure. If you’re going for an organic look, consider adding details that not only look good, such as pine cone decorations, but that also smell great too. ‘Bright, orange tangerines decorated with cloves also make for a beautiful display as well as a sublime scent whenever you walk past,’ adds Angus Buchanan, creative director at Buchanan Studio.

This Potpourri mix from Amazon has scent notes of fresh cut evergreen, crushed pine needles, orange zest and fir balsam.

10. Keep things simple and minimal

If you have a more minimalist style to your home, you don't need to go bold with your mantel decoe for it to have an impact. For a more pared-back, simple approach, arrange a small cluster of thoughtful decorations on your mantel and soften them with a simple green garland.

In this serene white living room, the garland adds a contrasting, festive touch to the space, with the cozy candles and white ornaments perfectly in-keeping with the room's simple, minimal style; establishing a simple yet elegant decorative display.

11. Or, embrace a more maximalist look

For those wanting to embrace maximalist Christmas decor ideas, then opt for a 'more is more' approach with your Christmas mantel decor. Here, designer Molly Mahon's colorful mantelscape perfectly coordinates with the maximalist decor, colorful style of the room.

She says of the design, 'One of my biggest joys is making Christmas decorations with my children, anything from printed bunting to paper chains. Paper Stars are simple to make, are really effective and create a cheerful splash. Display them on your mantlepiece and it will instantly look festive and full of joy and love.'

'You can make individual stars or string them together to make a garland. All you need are some rectangular sheets of wrapping paper, a stapler, a sharp pair of scissors, glue and some ribbon. If you stick two contrasting sheets of wrapping paper together, it means that your finished stars will look pretty from every angle,' she adds.

An empty mantel is a sad mantel, especially over the holidays when it can really come into it's own and be the focal point of a room. It's the perfect space for bring in some extra decor or some festive foliage to really cozy up a room and make it feel instantly more Christmassy.