A mantel is at eye level and it’s usually where you look first when you walk into the room, so it’s worth getting right. The most common problem is simple: not enough garland. A strand stretched tight across the top looks thin no matter what you add to it.
How much garland
Buy about two and a half times the width of the mantel. A 48-inch mantel needs around 10 feet (a 9-foot garland (on Amazon) plus a little extra), a 60-inch one about 12 and a half. The extra length is what lets it drape down the sides and dip between hooks instead of sitting flat like a clothesline.
Four ways to hang it
Swags. Anchor it at both ends and in the middle with removable hooks (on Amazon) and let it dip 8 to 12 inches between them. Make the middle dip slightly deeper than the sides; perfectly even swags look a bit like a hotel lobby.
Flat along the top. No drape at all. It’s cleaner and more modern, and it’s the better choice for a shallow mantel (under about 8 inches deep), where draping doesn’t have room to look right. Lay a thinner eucalyptus or olive garland over a pine one for more texture without more bulk. Nothing hangs down to catch sleeves or small hands.
Pinecones on twine. If you can collect pinecones, glue them along jute twine with a few dried orange slices or cinnamon sticks mixed in. It’s free, very light, and easy to patch if a piece falls off.
Ribbon woven through. Loop 2.5-inch wired ribbon (on Amazon) loosely through a plain garland. It has to be wired or the loops collapse by mid-December. Pick one: plaid, burgundy velvet or champagne satin. Two 10-yard rolls cover a standard mantel.
Lights, stockings, candles
Lights you can’t see the wire of. Push a copper wire strand (on Amazon) deep into the garland with the wire toward the wall. Copper almost disappears against greenery. Hide the battery pack behind a candle at one end and use the timer.
Stockings. Three or five look better than two or four. Hang them 6 to 8 inches apart on weighted stocking holders (on Amazon). A filled stocking is heavier than it looks, and adhesive hooks don’t hold one reliably. Same color family, slightly different textures, looks collected rather than bought as a set.
Candles at three heights. One tall (10 to 12 inches), one medium (6 to 8), and a few short votives, grouped at one end rather than spread evenly. LED pillars (on Amazon) are the sensible choice above a fireplace.
Behind it
A mirror above the mantel doubles the lights and the greenery. If you don’t have one, a large framed print does a similar job, giving the eye something to rest on behind the garland. Either should be about two-thirds the width of the mantel.
The easiest change of all is swapping the art in your existing frame for a Christmas print for the month. Same frame, same nail.
On either side
A pair of small trees, 2 to 3 feet tall, one at each end of the hearth, frames the whole thing. Bottle-brush trees (on Amazon), rosemary topiaries or potted evergreens all work. They also help balance the dark rectangle of a fireplace you’re not using.
Special cases
A fireplace you don’t use. Fill the opening with LED pillars at different heights, or a stack of birch logs with fairy lights woven through. LED only; real candles in a firebox are a bad idea.
No mantel. A floating shelf 54 to 60 inches from the floor works just like one. A 48-inch shelf holds a garland, three stockings and candles. Use brackets rated for at least 20 pounds or screw into studs; stockings get heavy.
Small kids or a dog. Breakables on the back half, nothing dangling within reach, stockings empty until Christmas Eve, and only shatterproof ornaments in the garland.
January
A long garland coils into a wreath bag or a large tote without coming apart. Stockings fold inside each other, and candles go back into their original boxes, which are the perfect fit. Put it all in one tote labeled “mantel” and next year it’s mostly done in twenty minutes.