How To: A Hip Holiday Mantel

OK, so you've decorated your Christmas tree and covered your hedges with twinkly lights. Don't sit down just yet. Next to the tree (and what concoction will be filling your crystal punch bowl), the mantel is the most important task to tackle in holiday prep.

If you typically opt for the simple evergreen swag or a crammed display of your Nutcracker collection take a look at these ideas and see if you can find some ways to freshen up your fireplace this year.

1. Silver Bells (er, Balls)
Go for a little glitz this holiday. One compote full of silver balls, a strand of white lights and a few votives, and you have an easy display that exudes an air of high-maintenance Hollywood glamour.

2. Get the Blues
Blue and white has become "the other" Christmas color pairing, but it doesn't need to be ordinary. Make these cute stockings (courtesy of Country Living) and accent them with some matching gifts. Prevent the colors from being too campy with a neutral garland and a simple line of votive candles.

Layering the mantel with mirrors is a great trick to reflect some extra holiday sparkle in the room.

3. No Color Barrier
Red and green, blue and white, silver and gold. Yeah, been there, done that. If you're bored with the ordinary Christmas scheme, break open the rainbow.

Pull together a hodgepodge of colorful leftover ornaments and wrap boxes in bright paper for display on the mantel. Take it an extra playful step and "gift wrap" your ordinary wall art to match the theme.

4. Stuff Your Stockings
We all know that technically your stockings aren't filled until Santa shimmies down the chimney while you're fast asleep on Christmas Eve (duh!).

But why let the pseudo footwear go to waste in the days leading up to that?

Stuff stockings (the ones shown are from Pottery Barn) with tissue paper or paper towels, then fill with fancy gifts in wrapping that complements the colors of the mantel. (If you don't want to display actual gifts, wrap random household objects, such as a bar of soap, small jar of spices or a golf ball.)

It creates a pulled-together mantel that will build the excitement for the actual gifts.

Photo: Pottery Barn

Photo: Better Homes and Gardens

5. Get Framed
Drop by a thrift store for a cheap, old frame (or scour your attic), give it a shot of gold spray paint and you have yourself the foundation for a stunning holiday mantel.

Hang an ordinary wreath from the top of the frame using a pretty gold ribbon and, voila, insta-chic.

For that extra magazine-galleryhoot look, flank the frame with matching holiday bouquets (Paperwhites are a lovely, fragrant option) and balance all that formality with a casually draped green garland atop the mantel. Excuse me sir, we're ready for our close-up!

6. O Mother (Nature), Where Art Thou?
Guests will be here any minute and your mantel is bare. What do you do?

Step 1: Head out back (or to the nearest park) and round up all the pinecones and tree greens you can find.

Step 2: Thank you produce drawer. Clean out your refrigerator of pretty apples and place them on the mantel among the impromptu greenery-pinecone garland.

Step 3 (optional): Add a strand of white Christmas lights along the inner mantel to backlight the display.

Step 4: Let guests bask in the amazingness that is your holiday decorating skill.

7. Hunt and Gather
Funds tight this year? Invoke the spirit of your great-great-great ancestors and do what they likely did when their stock market tumbled: Hit up the freebie aisle of Mother Nature and get handy with some tools.

In this case, an assortment of pinecones are strung onto braided picture-hanger wire to create a woodsy garland (drill through pinecones using a variable-speed drill and string along the wire; anchor at ends by tying on larger pinecones). Top the mantel with "topiaries" by inverting pinecones in assorted urns.