Seasonal Holiday Mantel Decoration
How to decorate Colonial, Victorian, Bungalow, and mid-century mantels in winter.
The hearth has been a traditional focus for holiday decorating. Suitable for the mantel in virtually all periods are natural sprigs and boughs of fir, balsam, holly, laurel, and cedar; colorful fruits; and candles. Some period conventions follow.
⊕ Pilgrim Era: Keep it extremely simple: greenery and perhaps small oranges. Display “bests”—a collection of pewter or plates.
⊕ Late Georgian to Federal: Look for symmetry or balance. Use delicate swags of pine, strung cranberries, or beads. Display silver objects, or silver or brass candelabra. Dressed fruit was popular: clove-studded orange pomanders, waxed fruit, a pineapple on a stand.
⊕ Greek Revival: This style calls for a wreath. Use dramatic, larger garlands, including broadleaf evergreens. Candelabra remained popular. Add cut glass, silver, gold, or brass for sparkle and shine.
⊕ Victorian Period: By now the emphasis was on the tree. Simple decorating is fine for a folk Victorian, but in your high-ceilinged parlor you should indulge in ostentation. Show off “curated” displays. Layer mercury glass or silver, framed art, and Santas amidst candles and greenery. Red and green are expected. Stockings were hung from mantelshelf or chimney after the 1860s.
⊕ Bungalow Era: Emphasize the hearth in Craftsman and Tudor Revival homes. Use lots of natural greenery. Tuck in small toys or tiny wrapped gifts, along with small family photos. Pottery vases might be left empty or filled with flowers and more greens. Arrangements were often asymmetrical. Electric lights were introduced.
⊕ Colonial Revival: Another return to the use of natural materials, symmetry, and restraint. Glass, silver, and mirrors were popular.
⊕ Mid-Century Ranch: The tree was the centerpiece, rarely the hearth. Consider spare decoration using Santa figures, votive candles, wire trees, glass ball ornaments, or Christmas-themed china and glassware.
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At the Sargent House in Gloucester, Mass., an 1804 Federal mantel is decorated with oranges studded with cloves. Photo by Kindra Clineff Archive.
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A Victorian arrangement decorates the 1840s black-marble mantel in the Goodwin Mansion at Strawbery Banke in New Hampshire. A cranberry garland underpins dried flowers from the house’s summer garden. Photo by Bruce Martin.
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Sprigs of winterberry holly are a festive pop of red against rustic wood and pewter plates; this room, at the Phelps–Hatheway House in Connecticut, dates to the 1760s. Photo by Caryn B. Davis.
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Simple greenery accompanies gold leaf, brass, and crystal in a Victorian Italianate. Photo by Gross & Daley Photography.
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Evergreen garlands and dried fruit embellish an original, Georgian-era room at the Sargent House; note the grand woodwork. Photo by Bruce Martin.
