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The Frugal Homemaker

Your guide to turning your house into a home... one DIY project and yard sale find at a time

Neutral + Vintage Christmas mantel

December 6, 2012

Neutral Christmas mantel

I am excited to share my vintage, homemade, and neutral Christmas mantel with you today.

Neutral Vintage Christmas mantel

This mantel is so different in many ways than my past Christmas mantels.

Here was last year’s mantel – all burgundy and gold.  This year I am trying to leave out as much red/burgundy from my decorations as possible.  Just wanted to go in an entirely different direction this year! 🙂

Christmas mantel

In fact I had been decorating with the same color scheme since we got married over 9 years ago.  So it was time for a change.

Here’s an old collage I did last year of pre-blogging, pre-reading blogs, pre-Pinterest mantels.  So glad my decorating skills, photography, stash of décor thanks to yard sales, and much more have improved since 2009!

collage of mantels

So back to this year’s mantel!  I LOVE it!  Of course I showed you the focal point yesterday – my homemade vintage music page wreath.  It is hanging on a DIY chalkboard.  And you may notice a few things did make it back onto my mantel.  I LOVE the yardsale pinecone topiary and the white feather tree (Michael’s after Christmas clearance a few years back).  The mercury glass tree and candlestick were $1 yard sale finds and the owl was a Ross purchase.

Neutral Vintage Christmas mantel

Apart from my music page wreath, my other favorite part of this mantel is this display on the hearth.  I just started decorating my hearth as part of my mantel display when I did my fall mantel this year.  I was inspired my many pictures on blogs and Pinterest to decorate the ENTIRE space.  Neutral Vintage Christmas mantel

I ADORE this area.  Doesn’t it make you want to just snuggle up next to the fire in the candlelight next to the tree??  Come to think of it – maybe I should make that a date night activity this December – snuggle by the fireplace next to the tree and play a game together.  (Sneak peek of my tree too awaiting a homemade tree skirt.)

Neutral Vintage Christmas mantel

The little bench was a free find and stayed from my fall mantel, I made the sweater pillow (tutorial here), and made the plaid snowflake pillow (tutorial coming for that – any ideas on what it is made from?)

Neutral Vintage Christmas mantel

The old wooden sleigh was a $5 flea market find and I borrowed the firewood from my brother (“Can I borrow some firewood for Christmas decorations?  Yes, I know I don’t have a working fireplace…”  My family is slowly getting used to my decorating craziness.)

Neutral Vintage Christmas mantel

I also love these JOY letters.  I am probably breaking every decorating rule out there by leaving them in their unfinished state, but I just couldn’t decide what color to paint them and the longer they sat unpainted, the more I LIKED them unpainted.

Neutral Vintage Christmas mantel

I also was inspired to gather some fresh clippings from my yard this year.  I don’t know what they are from, but we have a lot of these wild evergreen trees popping up in our yard – spruce trees?  I added little sprays here and there and more sprays to my faux garland.

Neutral Vintage Christmas mantel

I LOVE this mantel!  It is just “cozy” to me.  And I am SOO glad I got my painted brown striped curtains done cause they look amazing with it too.

Neutral Vintage Christmas mantel

I am rushing to get a few more DIY projects done (hence, why no stockings hanging from the mantel), so expect a few more tutorials coming soon.  And I will be sharing my tree next week too!

Don’t forget to hop on over to Christa’s today and see what she is sharing as part of our “A Homemade Christmas” series.

Are you done with all your decorating?  And if you say you are done with all your decorating, shopping, Christmas cards, baking, and wrapping – beware, I may just ban you from this blog.  Ok, not really, but I will come kidnap you and come put you to work at my house. Winking smile

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Comments

  1. Tonya @ Love of Family & Home says

    December 5, 2012 at 11:09 AM

    Your mantel looks fabulous!! I love the neutrals!! I went the same direction with my mantel this year & now wishing all of the decorations in the house were that way!! Oh well….maybe next year!!

    Reply
  2. Kathleen says

    December 5, 2012 at 11:22 AM

    Love each of your mantels from this year and years past! Also love the candle holder in your fireplace…we have a beautiful but very unworking fireplace, too, and I’ve been looking for something similar to put in there with candles. Where did you get that candle holder?
    Thanks! Merry Christmas!

    Reply
  3. Heather C. says

    December 5, 2012 at 11:50 AM

    This looks amazing….love it, love it, love it! You really could be an interior designer 🙂 The neutral colors are nice because they’ll work through the entire winter and not just for Christmas. I did the opposite and did a lot more red this year than usual, but tried to limit it to natural elements (berries) and darker, more muted red. So far loving the results, but I might have to try the neutral decor next year! Your blog posts are always very inspiring!

    Reply
    • Akande says

      September 30, 2014 at 12:36 PM

      Lovely decorations. I love the balubes in the bowls. So pretty! How nice that you change everything up for Autumn. I wish I could do that. My house is a rainbow of bright colors every day of the year. 🙂 I love sayings and quotes. I don’t think there’s much of anything you don’t collect. HA! I am always working on something. Sometimes I don’t know what to work on, I just know I need to do something. Hope you are having a great day! Tammy

      Reply
  4. Kim @ Sand & Sisal says

    December 5, 2012 at 12:16 PM

    Stunning, simply stunning! I love every part, so much I pinned a few pics too! I’m about to run back to Target to pick up another table runner to make that pillow! I have the runner in my dining room right now.

    Reply
  5. Deb says

    December 5, 2012 at 8:07 PM

    The mantel is beautiful. As usual, it looks like something from a magazine 😉

    Reply
  6. Heather@ThriftyStories says

    December 6, 2012 at 12:51 PM

    I love it, Christina. I’m hoping to get my mantle finished soon- poor thing is constantly being put on the back burner. lol! The vintage music wreath looks fabulous on the black chalkboard. Really makes a statement!! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  7. Gabbi @ Retro Ranch Reno says

    December 10, 2012 at 3:09 PM

    absolutely beautiful! i love it!

    Reply
  8. Stacey says

    December 15, 2012 at 9:08 PM

    Oh yes…it is lovely! Your feather trees are beautiful and I adore all your delicious red touches! Perfect!
    Thanks for linking up to the Christmas Mantel Linky Party at Embracing Change!
    Stacey

    Reply
  9. Tone says

    December 15, 2014 at 9:16 AM

    Hi! I am so in love with youre gorgeous paperbook wreath!
    I made my very own this weekend inspired by yourse. I gave youre blog post from last year some attention on my post about my very own. Hope you`ll have the time to check it out:)

    Reply
  10. Sue says

    January 21, 2015 at 9:02 PM

    Wonderful job! I also love using vintage neutrals in my Christmas decor. Beautiful mantel 🙂

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. DIY Burlap + Lace Stockings - The Frugal Homemaker | The Frugal Homemaker says:
    December 7, 2012 at 12:25 PM

    […] my mantel display is finally complete!    And I love it!   You can get all the details on everything you see in […]

    Reply
  2. Placemat pillow tutorial + my favorite Christmas vignette - The Frugal Homemaker | The Frugal Homemaker says:
    December 11, 2012 at 3:01 PM

    […] you didn’t guess it when I showed you my Neutral & Vintage Christmas mantel, that pillow is actually made from a placemat!  Yep, a placemat and it is soooo easy and […]

    Reply
  3. “O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree…” - The Frugal Homemaker | The Frugal Homemaker says:
    December 13, 2012 at 1:55 PM

    […] is the whole display – my mantel, tree, and hearth.  This side of the room is definitely Christmas heavy.  I really need to work […]

    Reply
  4. Christmas projects + December recap - The Frugal Homemaker | The Frugal Homemaker says:
    December 31, 2012 at 12:44 PM

    […] showed you how I decorated my Christmas mantel and hearth with things pulled from all over the house, yard sale finds, and natural […]

    Reply
  5. White Winter Mantel - The Frugal Homemaker | The Frugal Homemaker says:
    January 11, 2013 at 8:01 AM

    […] saw my mercury glass owl on my Christmas mantel (Ross or Marshall’s find?) and I was excited when I found the baby brother at Kohl’s on […]

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  6. 50 Vintage Christmas Decorations - Prudent Penny Pincher says:
    October 16, 2021 at 10:49 AM

    […] Neutral Vintage Christmas Mantel from The Frugal Homemaker […]

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Hi!  My name is Christina . . .

I love doing simple, frugal things to make our house feel like HOME! Come learn along with me how to have a beautiful home on a budget.

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