Put together a beautiful floral arrangement to add color and embellishment to your fireplace mantel styling.  An easy way to customize your look and colors.

Hi there!  We are well underway to having our new house all set up for entertaining and guests.  I plan on sharing how to survive a move with pictures of our new house but today I wanted to introduce you to our main living space and how I styled our mantel.

Simple Fireplace Styling with a DIY Floral Arrangement

When we moved in late September our living area was a beautiful blank slate with a gorgeous wall color. And after living in two smaller houses in Japan,  felt like a palace!

The front picture window is where my baby grand piano sits now.  The tv/fireplace side is our living area.

Right away I knew I wanted to paint the built in shelving unit to match the trim and lighten up the corner.  The built in was such a wonderful solution for that long fireplace wall!

Tips for styling a small mantel:

• Use a group of 3-5 objects in different shapes and sizes.
• When selecting the scale of the items,  imagine filling 80% of the blank space between the mantel and ceiling leaving 6 inches room at the top or more depending on your ceiling height.
• Layer two of the items by placing one slightly in front of the other to connect the vignette.
• Make a connection below the mantel with a trailing plant or embellishment.

Within 24 hours of having our boxes unpacked, I had this wall styled.  It is one of my favorite things to do!  You can see I added our fireplace mantel from Okinawa right on top of the stone.  Not sure if it will stay or not but I like the pop of white.

My mom has been saving us furniture and art from my grandparents house for the last few years.  It’s so much fun to finally back home (after 18 years!!).  I’m getting two wing back chairs reupholstered in some fabulous fabric currently but we are using a traditional cream sofa and it looks beautiful in this space with a new coffee table and furniture we picked up in Japan.  Here’s a little sneak peek!

The art on the mantel is from artist (and friend) George Grammer and is probably my favorite piece of art.  Ever.

I also have many of my aunt’s paintings and we featured one of them in the living room to bring in pops of color.   You could say it tells the color story for the space although I toned it down by using a lot of neutrals and solid colors elsewhere.

I decided to bring in floral and green to the mantel with a super duper easy floral arrangement.  Why?  Because I basically lack any skills for anything more complicated with florals.  Ha!

To create it, I bought three stems from my local craft store, separated them with wire cutters, and arranged them in a middle eastern coffee pot varying the heights.  I added the trailing pearl plant for more interest and to make a connection with the mantel.

Easy Floral Arranging Tips

1. Choose 2-3 different stems using different colors, sizes, and shapes of floral.
2.  Separate the stems at the bottom with wire cutters.
3. Use a vase with a small opening to help you control placement.
4. Place each stem in at varying heights, experiment with the overall shape.  You can keep it simple by using taller in the back or center and gradually getting shorter to the front.  Create an uneven shape by having tallest to shortest go side to side.  Save a few longer stems evenly around the bulk to add whimsical interest.

I can’t wait to show you more treasures we have acquired from my family including a huge portrait of my grandmother!  You can see more of our living and dining spaces in my Thanksgiving decor and table setting posts.  Here’s a pic I took my iphone!

And a peek at a rug we just bought a few days ago. 

So there you have it!  A long overdue intro to our new house.  I hope you enjoyed the decorating tips and living room tour.

You might also enjoy:

Simple and Elegant Thanksgiving Decor with Garland and Wreath

Easy and Beautiful Table Settings You Should Try!