What Not to Do With Your Christmas Mantel Decorations

Here Are Few Ways You Shouldn’t Decorate a Fireplace Mantel:

1. Fireplace Interior Painting

   - Don’t paint the fireplace interior with bright colors; instead paint the interior with black fireplace paint. This can cover any ugly stains and make the opening look like new. The color you choose could conceivably clash with your holiday decorations, even if the paint goes with your room during the rest of the year.

2. Mantel Painting

   - Don’t paint the mantel with bright holiday colors. If you do want to paint, check to see if the color competes with the general look of your fireplace and also the room.

3. Displaying Decoration Pieces

   - The fireplace is the focus of a room and attracts a lot of attention. You may want to decorate the fireplace mantel with many of your favorite holiday decoration pieces, the whole place can look quite overdone and eventually neglected. Instead of cluttering your fireplace, you can go for a combination of selective pieces that go with the room décor, and you can always rotate pieces through your display regularly.

4. Choosing the Decoration Pieces -

   While choosing the decoration pieces, make sure that they are sized appropriately, neither too big nor too small for the mantel. Match them to the room décor and the color scheme of the room so that they don't look out of place. Also, make sure that these items need to be nonflammable, if your fireplace is functional. Avoid books, kerosene oil lamps, wooden décor, etc. Instead you can display a centerpiece on the mantel such as piece of holiday art, a flower vase with a few sprigs of fresh holly, or a festive mirror.

5. Decoration Arrangement

   - Don't arrange your decorations all in a single row, instead go for the three dimensional look. This can be done by placing the centerpiece toward the front and other items toward the end of the mantel. Or arrange them in groups of threes in the form of a triangle. You can dress up your mantel with a mantel runner and decorate it with lights and glittery baubles during the Christmas holidays.

6. Think Twice Before Drilling Holes

   - Don’t hammer nails into your hardwood or brick mantel, instead attach your stockings with hangars. These fireplace brick clips are a useful way to hang stockings from the fireplace without causing any damage.

7. Don’t Decorate with Same Display Pieces You Use Throughout the Year

   - Many people use their mantelpiece as a display area throughout the year whether it’s a carriage clock, family photograph, or any other treasured ornament. Christmas is an opportunity to make changes in your usual decor. So, why not shuffle the display pieces for the Christmas holiday!

8. Decorations Should be Far Away From the Actual Firebox

   - Be careful when you decorate with drapes, garland, silk floral sprays and wire ribbon around the fireplace mantel as they might catch fire.

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