With some creative thinking and dollar store supplies you can create a renter friendly global Christmas mantel with just a few dollars!

Greetings!  Did you catch A Very Merry Christmas home tours yesterday?   Make sure to check back each day this week to see more creative inspiration and enter for a chance to win $300!

Today is our second day of A Very Global Christmas series where Stephanie from Casa Watkins Living and I are sharing 12 days of globally influenced decorating ideas and DIYs.   Today we our giving you tips for global Christmas mantels.

An Elegant and Global Christmas Mantel

Yesterday you saw a little bit of our mantel in the living room.   Here are my easy tips so you can create a similar mantel for just a few dollars!

• Tip one:  Use pieces of fabric and/or paper for large art pieces.

Our mantel’s every day decor include a framed piece of washi paper and a scrap of shibori fabric that we found at the thrift store.  Large poster frames keep the costs down for displaying the patterns and the punch of color is perfect for the white walls and black and white mantel surround and stove. 

Most importantly the art and basket hide the eyesores on the rental wall! 😉  Thrift stores are also great places for used frames and large baskets like the threshing basket on our wall.

• Tip two:  Use accent pieces of furniture.

I pulled over our blue and white garden seat to add in more interest to the vignette.  The basket on top holds small gifts that were getting lost under the tree.

You may recognize the color palette from our Fall decor and yesterday’s living room Christmas tour.  It was influenced by an Eddie Ross inspired tablescape.  

You can see how our mantel looked for Fall below.

• Tip three:  Use greenery from the dollar store. 

I used the same moss “garland” from our Fall mantel but this time I placed it on top with fairly lights.  To bring in more red,  I added wool balls in berry colors on top. 

The wool balls are also mixed in with some left over ornaments and framed by a DIY dollar store moss wreath. 

• Tip four:  Use books to add interest to your global mantel!

I switched out some pretty b&w books for some with pops of blue and reds.  You can find them with the rest of my favorite home decor and creative books HERE.  Just another way to emphasize that wonderful color palette of wintery blues and berry reds. 😉

• Tip five:  Use antique and thrift stores to find interesting pieces.

I placed a collection of old and new bottle brush trees to the side for some fun texture.  Keeping it off centered makes the vignette a little more relaxed and hygge.

• Tip six:  Think outside the box.

My favorite discovery was how perfect a set of ceramic antlers are to hold our DIY recycled clothes stockings.  They actually broke off of poor Sebastian’s head years ago but I keep reusing them instead of throwing them away.  Ha!  Also a great stocking holder?  Weighted brass figurines and candle holders like the ones I used last year. 

With these easy tips you can have your global Christmas mantel put together in minutes!  

Which decorating tips have you tried?

Make sure to catch Stephanie’s 5 Tips For a Global Style Boho Chic Mantel!

Don’t forget to check yesterday’s post for some new Christmas home tours.

Do you have any Christmas decor up yet?  Are you waiting for December?  Leave me a comment and let’s chat! 😉

Head over to the winter holidays, DIYs, and decor page for more articles and resources!