Porkandham, is that a pet seal? I had a triple-take, there lol.

I've always kept my decorations up into Jan, so my regular mantel stuff is still stored. I don't have any pics of how it looked before, for some reason.

Pratt & Lambert Accolade in Wythe House Gray (Velvet finish), an historic Williamsburg color (CW721, I believe). It's really a slate or smokey blue, not a gray per se.

Alex9179 - Not a live seal, LOL! He's a leather footstool. I have another one that's shaped like a pig.

Mine is still dressed its usual garb of holly, pine and lights for Christmas( I have a steady source so it has been refreshed over the holidays, but is on its last legs now)
A pair of antique chippy corbels, some old books and a little chippy bird will replace the lights. The antique beadboard doors, keys and clock and lamps stay.(yeah I know the colors are off but I am thinking of painting the walls.) But it is a work in progress- what isn't?

Just got Christmas decor off yesterday.

My dad gave me the horse print for Christmas years ago, and the clock belonged to my great, great grandparents, so it's been in the family for 5 generations.

I'm looking for candles to put in place of the grapevine balls.

This post was edited by Miz_M on Mon, Dec 31, 12 at 12:13

Thank you, Kevin, I have that on one of my samples. It is beautiful in your room. I hope that it is going to look half so lovely in my kitchen.

Miz M, I love your horse print.

Thank you, BettyDee :)

Happy, I'm so glad you started this post, as I was stalling on putting anything back on my mantle after taking all the Christmas things off. So far I haven't put anything back on except for the tall candle holders with the candles so it's looking bare today. I was thinking of a change-up and am looking here for some inspiration so this has helped. Keep 'em coming!

Another minimalist here. We have a peacock mirror, dried hydrangeas, candle sticks and a few other smaller items.

I love this! Thank you, everyone!

It's so fun to see so many different ways to style a mantle. Lots of inspiration! I like hearing what things mean to you, too.

Kitchendetective--I'm seriously drooling over that horse. Seriously.

I've shown this picture before, but once more, objects in my pictures always appear smaller than they are. I still can't figure out why!

This is pre-Christmas because garland is still on the mantel. I'm going to add more crocks and I have two 17" "chippy" (love that!) cream pillar candle holders coming in this week.

Mercury glass and star won't be put back on it.

I love seeing all of these mantles - they really are gorgeous. I love a simple mantle for my house - a pile of bleached antlers and a favorite painting from an artist in ATL. I try to make myself change it, but I resist it. That is definitely one of me decorating shortcomings - I get something I like and I keep it the same for too long (I guess the upside is it saves me money).

{{!gwi}}

Love seeing all the different styles and decor! They all look so inviting and cozy!

Thank you, Happy. The sculpture was a gift from my parents to DH almost 30 years ago, and DH treasures it. Of note, it was hard to find someone willing to add the marble base to the horse. The horse only has two feet "on the ground," and they barely touch, and the fabricators didn't want to risk damaging an antique casting.

nini804 love your room. Could you share the wall paint color and the paint color of the trim?

Kitchendetective--I don't blame them. What a scary project--but it must have gone well. He (or she?) is gorgeous. If he ever needs a new home....

I've enjoyed scrolling through this thread again today. In every picture I find something to love. After the decorating excess that is Christmas, I find these images soothing and calming.

I ended up gathering some candle lanterns, a small lamp with a red shade, and a couple of other small doodads for mine. It looks okay--I'll keep messing with it and pretty soon it will be February-time for Valentine's, spring, and all that. :0)

This is such a fun thread. I played around with my mantel today, adding art work from another area of the house, a mirror and a couple more vases. I really like it now. The vases add a shot of color and I find the rusty, brown, gold tones soothing. The mirror is reflecting a ceiling fan I've never liked, so I'll be try to convince my husband to swap it for a nice light fixture. ;)

Great thread! Christmas still up here...I NEED INSPIRATION TOO! Please keep it coming...

Hey Memsmom, thanks! The wall paint is SW Lattice, and the trim is SW Extra White.
I also love all of these mantles...very artistic and well-done! Lots of talent here on GW!

Here is a lousy iPad pic of mine, as I sit here looking at it! I fiddle with my mantel all the time. The little guys on the left don't belong there -- they are "woodland creature" candles from Christmas that I don't know what to do with (how could you light them and watch their heads melt?). The candles, bookends/antique books, and antique print have been there for a while. I added the bird on the right as I was taking down the Christmas stuff and realized the brass color worked well with the candle holders, but I'm not sure if it will stay.

The little framed print looks really out of place with its light colored mat -- I need to get a darker one!

nini804, I LOVE your room! It's so airy and yet comfortable looking. I wish our living room had such a well thought out layout.

Miz_M, we have the same horse print, we bought it (reproduction print) at the Louvre on our vacation to France years ago! I am sad to say I forget the name of the original. Ours is in our entryway, it's a smaller print, but I love the horse.

Tinan, I love it, too, it's my most prized print! I never knew the name of the original, would love to know more about it. :)

You guys are an inspiration with your gorgeous mantles.
My room in a little bit masculine and a little bit rock
and roll...haaaa...just kiding.
I recently lightened up the look of the room and besides the mantle clock that our son made when he was 17...I only
have five other objects on the mantle.
On the right is a sitting frog, a dragon fly pot, and a
hummel. On tghe left is 'the hummel photographer taking
our photo...
This is a close up.

this is the overall look. I lightened up the entire area.
The log holder was shiny brass and too wide for the hearth.
It has been down in our workshop for years. Recently we
pinched in narrower to fit the hearth, then I spray painted
it -- hammered bronze.

I don't have a close up, but here is our mantle, equine art above and a set of candles in the middle, tall candles on outsides, Tibetan meditation bowl on the left and a plant on right.

{{!gwi}}

Something simple...haven't found anything that has wowed me!

tinan--nice media/TV unit!!

Just wanted to say I love this topic : ) It's so interesting to see all the different styles.
I have a huge stone and brick fireplace but no mantle yet so I'm extremely jealous : ) I can't wait for hubby to finish ours so I can decorate it.

This *was the fireplace mantel until I took it down painted and put it in the dining room. It was way to small for the fireplace IMHO. So once I get to build a new one that fits the scale of the fire place the 'mantel' d�cor is in the dining room. But this is pretty much what will be on it when I get it together.

Great post. I am always happy to see the Christmas decorations go because the house seems so much bigger and less cluttered, but I'm sad at the same time because it is the only time of the year I can make my mantel look decent. For the most part, I've given up even trying. I love our fireplace, but with the stone extending all the way to the top of the cathedral ceiling (at least 20 feet and well above what I can show in this photo) plus a lot of variation in the stone color, there is a lot going on there. Anything I put on the mantel either makes it look too busy or, more likely, gets totally lost. The tall wood "object" on the mantel is almost 3 feet tall and even that is dwarfed. If anyone has some ideas, I'm all ears! I do have a large pond yacht that lived up there for awhile and even though I got sick of it after awhile, maybe it's time for to sail back to the mantel.

After looking at this picture, I think I need to do some rearranging.

We have a double sided fireplace that doesn't really go together at all and I would do very, very differently now, but here is what is on it.

wi-sailorgirl, that's a gorgeous fireplace, I love what you have up there.

Wonderful to see so much inspiration! I had planned to change mine on 12th night but life got in the way so I still have Christmas up. I've often kept Christmas decor up until well into January. Mine is more winter anyhow, nothing Christmas-y.

Wi-sailorgirl, that is a lovely FP but huge if that wood item is 3' tall! I think something at least 6' tall would be more in scale, maybe a nice rusty vintage/antique wrought iron gate. Then if you need the ambience of candles you could do a simple row of tealights in plain holders. Ikea has many glass tealight holders and what I've found work even better are small juice glasses. I bought some years ago at Ikea that are ribbed and look really good with tealights.

This thread made me get up and finally put the mantel back on the fireplace!

Here is a link that might be useful: More pictures

I love this thread, too...enjoy seeing what everyone does.
As we have the dreaded tv above, I have very little room to work with~ but I miss Christmas garland and twinkle lights! Does anyone have a garland of some sort, year round? I feel like some type of greenery with hydrangeas would look festive.

I have many. My mantle changes with the seasons. I can't imagine one motif on it sitting there all year--except at Christmas. I need change. I have a lot of things I like--I don't like any THING that much that I want to look at it all year.

I did more piddling with the FP and I'm finally pleased. It's a cloudy day so the overhead spotlight is shining down on the mantel which makes it a bit cozy.

Oh, we have an English Pointer. :)

Cloudy here too, oak. A good day for decorating or at least changing a few things around. The mantle is looking good, but it would be interesting to see one of the candlesticks elevated higher than the other. I prefer the two together rather than one on each end too.

What a fun thread--it makes me wish even more that I had a mantel in my living room.

I don't care! I love it, and staying xmas until next weekend. And no! Of course laziness has absolutely nothing to do with it. :>O

I don't care! I love it, and staying xmas until next weekend. And no! Of course laziness has absolutely nothing to do with it. :>O

This is not my mantle but might provide inspiration! I have a stone fireplace so I am always looking for ideas on how to decorate it.

Great post!

{{!gwi}}

Source: freshome.com via

This post was edited by dawnp on Mon, Jan 14, 13 at 8:54

Here's a few more:

{{!gwi}}

Source: bloggingwithholly.blogspot.com via {{!gwi}}

Source: theoldpaintedcottage.com via {{!gwi}}

Source: houzz.com via

This is still my favorite framed art work. It's a Tarkay (a print), called "In the Lounge". Can't you envision two young ladies sitting in a Parisian lounge during the 20's or 30's enjoying a bottle of wine together? This one always makes me smile! We have a higher ceiling-20 ft in this room so I will eventually mount it a few inches above the mantle.

dawnp-The stone fireplaces you selected are beautiful! I barely looked at the mantels since my eye went right to the stone work!

Patty, I considered elevating one of the candlesticks, but they're almost 18" tall as it is. I want to keep the two books on the mantel under the dog, so adding anything else to elevate the candlesticks would look off, don't you think?

Christmas has been down for several days, and our LR mantel is back to the usual spare look:

Here it is farther away. The antlers on the hearth we found embedded in a beaver lodge damming our creek, and the gazing ball is from the garden of our previous house. The painting can't be seen very well in either photo but it is an English landscape circa 1900:

The library mantel needs work. The chimney breast goes up 14 feet so I can't get it all in the photo. Right now i put two majolica leaf plates, three birds and some brass candlesticks up. The photo over the mantel is an enlargement, a picture my dad photography took in Stratford- on -Avon. Despite the non glare glass it has faded a lot and I am planning to have it restored this year. The original was a riot of green, red and yellow.

We keep the mantle kind of simple. The jar on the left is a chamber pot that belonged to DH's grandparents. The "pitcher" on the right is an olive oil Amphora from Italy.

Porkandham your shelves inspire me, Thank-you! This was my mantle for Christmas. I dont have an updated photo because I don't know what to do with all the upper shelves. I built this around the pellet stove to make it appear to be a fireplace. I had to chose between getting the bottom doors done or decorate for christmas! So please everybody keep em coming!