I’m Dreaming of a Red Christmas!

My Christmas Mantel is done!

My Halloween and Thanksgiving mantel both used the old barn door, which I love, but I felt it was time to mix it up a little!  I also was ready for some color and decided RED!

My initial hesitation with not using the door was that I knew I needed something with a large enough scale.  Then I remember I had the mirror that used to hang horizontal over my dresser and knew it would be just the ticket!

This reindeer was brown and cute but I wanted to make more of an impact so I sprayed painted him red.

I really like the mirror because it reflects several of the other Christmas elements in the room as well such as my paper mache carolers on top of my armoire.

I used several of the pewter and silver plate vessles I have picked up recently as bases for a mixture of artificial and real trees.  I love the detail on this piece.

I used a slice from a branch (my husband cut down a lot of trees this past weekend so look for more projects with this!), a few pieces of greenery and some vintage bell ornaments that I had to hang in the center of my “wreath”.  I found the felt snowflake at Target.  Since I already had so much greenery included, I wanted to keep the “wreath” simple.  I used an embroidery hoop, spray painted it red and then hung the wood, snowflake and bells in the center.

The red really pulls in one of my favorite things in our house – our big key sign.  I found in about 10 years ago at a random antique barn in NY but it is from the town my husband grew up in and his family still lives there.

I had the red stockings and they seemed to work really well.  Actually, I will have to find a way to hang a bunch more stockings because we are lucky enough to share Christmas with a lot of our family.

I also took a few pictures at night and I really love the change that the light makes on the color of everything.  In the background of this picture you can see our kissing ball which we have had for years.  My youngest promptly told me I should kiss Daddy under it as soon as he gets home!

I found the flocked bell and pinecone star at the Christmas Tree Shop when I went there a few weeks back. I hung it from the ladder I got at an auction recently and like the rustic element that they bring to the mantel.

Now I can’t wait to just sit down with my family and watch It’s a Wonderful Life and enjoy the Holidays. 

So now that the “back” half of my house is pulled together, I need to work on the rest.  Oh yeah, and I think I have a third grade diorama to assist with this week!

If you like what you see, I would love if you followed me!

Thanks for letting me share this with you!  I will be joining the link part at The Lettered Cottage.  Come check it out and see what great mantels have been submitted!