Make Your Christmas Fireplace Elegant with these 13 Decorating Ideas

You can make your Christmas fireplace look elegant with these easy to copy country chic and transitional style neutral, and natural decorating ideas.

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Do you love decorating for Christimas with a natural, elegant, organic aesthetic?

Then you’re in the right place!

If you decorate just one spot in your home besides your tree, the fireplace is a great choice.

After all, not only is it a focal point, but it’s also where you’ll be hanging those Christmas stockings.

Sometimes decorating a fireplace can feel a little overwhelming.

How do you get a natural, elegant looking fireplace for Christmas?

I’m going to show you 13 ways to make your mantel and hearth look festive.

The best part?

You can use some of these elegant Christmas decorating ideas in other parts of your home too!

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How Do I Make My Fireplace Look Christmassy?

When it comes to decorating my fireplace at Christmas, I’m all about creating a gorgeous custom-looking garland.

I love using greenery in my Christmas decorating!

Both my son and I are allergic to pine so I stick to using faux greenery.

There are so many gorgeous and natural-looking options available now when you choose faux greenery.

Store it carefully and it will last you for decades.

Since I build up my garland so that it’s very thick, I start decorating my fireplace by adding some risers.

Stacked scrap wood lets me raise decorations a little higher so they don’t get lost in the garland.

I’m loving this set of gold resin reindeer from Wayfair!

They add some elegance and shine to my Christmas mantel.

Next, I arranged some of my vintage brass candlesticks.

These flameless ivory candles look so realistic because they actually flicker, but they’re safe to use (especially around all this faux greenery and my curtains!).

Ever since I updated my fireplace with this gorgeous round mirror from Wayfair a few years ago, I only add decorative items on the outer sides of the mantel.

This lets the mirror be one of the focal points of the fireplace.

I also love having something hanging down from the mantel, like these large gold jingle bells.

Attaching a stocking rod, like this one from Wayfair, before adding the greenery gives a secure way to hang the bells and the stockings.

If you look closely at the photo above, you can also see I’ve attached a large clear command hook above the mirror.

I ended up adding two more of those hooks a little lower on each side of the mirror to pull back the greenery.

After taking the picture I also attached 6 cord bundling straps along the top of the mantle to hold my garland securely.

After I added my garland, I gave it a custom look by adding floral picks of greenery, mini pine cones, sticks, and faux magnolia leaves.

I use most of these floral picks year-round!

There’s no rule that your greenery picks have to come from the holiday decorating section.

I also added some faux artichokes and these realistic looking pomegranates from Wayfair.

The pomegranates actually came attached to a faux tree branch, but I wanted to spread them around more… so I cut them off the branch…

I saved the branches since they have leaves attached to them and I’ll use them in future floral arrangements.

S2M Tip: Don’t be afraid to cut apart faux branches and stems to use them in unique ways!

I liked how it was looking, but something was off, so I sent this picture to my bestie (AnnMarie!) to get her opinion.

She helped me make a few changes to get things more balanced.

Can you guess what I changed?

I’ll show you the final look at the end!

What Do You Hang By a Fireplace at Christmas?

My family Christmas tree, filled with sentimental ornaments, stands to the right of my fireplace.

I’ve found that my room looks more balanced if I hang my garland asymmetrically, so one end of the garland hangs down on the left side.

This string of bells from Wayfair adds some more visual weight to the garland.

It was so easy to just slip them over the end of the stocking rod.

They’re currently on sale at a huge discount, so go get some for yourself now!

I cut dark green chenille stems into small pieces to attach the floral picks more securely to the garland that’s hanging from the mantel.

Something else that’s perfect to hang on your fireplace at Christmas is your stockings.

Did you know there’s a trick to hanging stockings so they look their best?

Make sure you follow our tip to help your stockings look amazing all season!

Our friend, Diane, makes gorgeous elegant custom stockings to fit any color scheme.

She’ll even save fabric so she can make you additional stockings that will match perfectly as your family grows!

Is There a Secure Way to Hang Stockings?

There are lots of pretty stocking holders in stores, but a lot of them aren’t very secure once the stockings are filled.

For years, I’ve used mantel clips like these to hang our stockings.

They’re very secure, but when the mantel has a lot of garland on it, it can be hard to find the hook!

This year, I tried something new: a stocking rod from Wayfair.

It uses three mantel clips to secure it to the mantel, and the rod is adjustable!

All you do is pull the two pieces of rod apart, then slip the loops of your stockings over the rod.

Or you can use S hooks like these to attach the stockings for even easier removal.

I love that the rod comes in six different finishes so you can coordinate with your home’s decorating style.

I chose matte black because it coordinates with the painted marble fireplace surround.

In the photo above you can see how the stocking loops fit over the rod.

I love how easy it is to arrange the stockings so they’re perfectly spaced!

I might be little bit type-A about some things…

You can also see the big chunk of paint that got pulled off by a command hook a few years ago when I tried using them to hang our stockings.

Ugh.

At some point, I need to sand it all down and repaint it…

You can see how the stocking rod just blends into the garland on the mantel.

How Can You Decorate a Mirror to Look Elegant for Christmas?

The easiest way to make a mirror look elegant at Christmas is by adding greenery.

The greenery on my mantel is a mix of this cedar garland plus some matching cedar hanging bushes.

I love that the bushes have longer pieces that hang down over the front of the mantel.

To decorate the mirror, I connected the stem ends of two of the cedar bushes with wire.

Then wrapped the rope end of another string of jingle bells around the center.

I attached some of the same eucalyptus leaves that I used on the mantel to help it coordinate.

Then I added a loopy bow made with some gold grosgrain ribbon when AnnMarie suggested adding a bow!

The gold bells create a visual triangle with the gold deer on one side of the mantle and the brass candlesticks on the other side.

Visual triangles are a design principle that draws the eye through a display.

The gold bells hanging below the mantel also create a visual triangle with the gold-toned items above!

How to Visually Balance Items on the Top of the Mantel

When I reached out to AnnMarie for help, she suggested grouping 5 of the brass candlesticks together on one side instead of spreading them out on both sides of the mirror.

She was right!

They make more impact grouped all together.

I ended up adding two more boards to raise one reindeer higher than the other.

The height difference helps to balance the reindeer and gives them more visual weight.

I may end up playing around with it some more and raising the reindeer on the outside instead.

S2M Tip: Don’t be afraid to rearrange and tweak your displays after living with them for a few days!

13 Ways to Make Your Fireplace Look Elegant for Christmas

I’ve been sharing how to put all the elements together to create an elegant fireplace for the holidays, but let’s break it down.

Here are 13 things you can do to make your fireplace look special this Christmas:

1. Add sparkle with larger decorative items like gilded reindeer
2. Group flameless candles in vintage brass candlesticks
3. Make your garland look custom by adding greenery stems
4. Nestle faux pomegranates, artichokes, grapevine orbs, or ornaments in the garland
5. Add twinkle lights (this set has lights spaced closer together so you’ll have less wire to hide)
6. Hang large bells on the end of the mantle
7. Use a stocking rod that coordinates with other metals in your display to securely display stockings
8. Hang coordinating custom stockings that match your Christmas aesthetic
9. Add a greenery swag to a mirror or artwork
10. Use ribbon that coordinates with your Christmas color scheme
11. Place a large container on the hearth to balance an asymmetrical garland, or place one on each side for a more traditional garland
12. Don’t forget a coordinating throw blanket and/or throw pillows to add texture
13. An elegant scrollwork fire screen adds more detail to the front of your fireplace

If you live someplace where it’s cold for Christmas, don’t forget to make a cozy fire in your fireplace while you sit back and enjoy your display.

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More Fireplace Decorating Ideas for Christmas

If you have any questions or suggestions, contact me or leave a comment!

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