No Mantel? No Problem.
I’m joining up today with my lovely friend Kendra of Joy In Our Home and 23 other amazing bloggers for the 2nd annual Christmas Festival Blog Hop! If you are stopping by from White Arrows Home, WELCOME! Isn’t Kristin’s mantel festive? Love it!
This year I also decided to share how to decorate a mantel for the holidays. (Last year for this hop I showed our Holiday Front Porch, which was so fun to put together. )
The only problem is that we don’t have a mantel!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click the link and purchase. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details.
As much as I would love to have a beautiful and cozy fireplace with a chunky wood mantel to decorate for the holidays, that just isn’t our reality. So what do I do? Improvise, of course.
Last week, I showed how we created extra storage in our entryway with these hacked Ikea shoe cabinets. This welcoming area right inside our front door is the perfect place to decorate and hang our stockings for Santa.
Stocking Style 1 | Stocking Style 2
I used this DIY stocking hanger that I made several years ago to hang all of our stockings on. We are so happy that we were able to add a 5th stocking the the bunch in 2018!
The shelf on top of the shoe cabinet is perfect for decorating with fun holiday tchotchkes.
These cute wooden nesting houses are one of my favorite decor items to use year round. They fit in perfectly with the little evergreen trees!
Nesting Houses | Lantern (Similar) | Small Evergreen |Large Evergreen (Similar)
I love this welcoming little space spruced up like this.
So, if you are a member of the “no mantel club”, don’t hesitate to get creative with your holiday decor and stocking hanging skills. A shelf, a piano top, and even a decorative ladder can serve as a place to decorate and hang your socks up! No Mantel? No Problem.
Thanks so much for stopping by and don’t forget to head on over to City Girl Meets Country Boy to see how Kelly decorates her mantel. Oh, and check out all of the other creative holiday ideas below!
Christmas DIYs on Monday
Joy In Our Home | 2 Bees In A Pod | My Creative Days
County Road 407 | Chatfield Court
Christmas Front Porches on Tuesday
The Tattered Pew | The Crowned Goat | Little Brags
Follow The Yellow Brick Home | The Painted Hinge
hristmas Recipes on Wednesday
Crisp Collective | Love In My Oven | Countryside Cravings
Walking On Sunshine Recipes | Beyond The Butter
Christmas Mantles on Thursday
anderson + grant | White Arrows Home | Elizabeth Joan Designs
City Girl Meets Country Boy | Red Brick On The Lake
Christmas Tablescapes on Friday
The Inspired Hive | Curly Crafty Mom | Making It In The Mountains
Holiday Gift Guide – Etsy
The holidays are fast approaching and this year I wanted to put together a gift guide of some of our favorite home decor products exclusively from Etsy! As you already probably know, Etsy is an online marketplace where you can buy unique, custom, or vintage items. All of the following products are items that we own/love and are featured throughout our home.
Lila & Lola
Aren’t this calf and donkey the cutest? While coming up with a design plan for our little guy’s nursery, I came across these fun digital download prints and knew that I had to incorporate them into the room.
PCBHome
I have admired this shop for several years because of the pretty calligraphy that they do for all of their pieces. They sell many different kinds of handmade home decor items, but I think I love the throw pillows the best!
Carpenter Farmhouse
What better way to invite someone into your home than a pretty welcome sign? This shop creates beautiful laser cut, letters/words, as well as fun cake toppers.
Bubs & Windy
We have loved having this play mat so much! Since I pretty much decorate our home with neutral colors, finding baby items that don’t jump out and scream “day care center” was important. Our little guy has loved hanging out on this soft mat and learning to roll/play here.
Cherie Kay Signs
Cherie is one of the sweetest shop owners that I’ve met and she creates the loveliest of signs. This one in our master bedroom is huge and such a simple, but beautiful design.
Linen & Ivory
The owner of this shop, Kendra, is also just a sweetheart. Her shop has so many fun designs for almost any holiday/season/occasion. I think we have at least 10 of this shop’s pillows and hand towels!
Save the Empties
Speaking of shop owner’s, I had to add my step-brother’s amazing candles to this post. I love the he hand cuts and reuses empty beer/wine bottles to make all of his 100% premium soy wax, scented candles. They are a fun and unique gift for sure.
Vivid Atelier
Something about cute animal prints always pulls on my heartstrings. And this beautiful digital download deer print did not disappoint. This shop also has cool typography, botanical, and other prints for awesomely inexpensive prices.
- Build It Yourself, Furniture Makeovers, Home Decor, Neat & Tidy, Organization & Storage, The Country House
Create Extra Storage In The Entryway
Since we’ve moved to The Country House, something that we’ve struggled with is storage space. Especially, after we turned our master closet into a sweet little nursery. Living in only 1300 square feet with 5 people makes finding or adding storage solutions many times difficult. However, we’ve been able to create an entryway with extra storage by whipping up a cool Ikea shoe storage hack!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click the link and purchase. Clicking a link won’t cost you any extra money and helps keep this site running! Please check out our disclosure policy for more details.
Once we knew that our master closet was going to be transformed, we had to come up with a game plan for all of the stuff already inside.
We sorted and donated the things we didn’t love. Our clothing took up residence in a small hallway closet. But that left us with no place for our shoes, hats, belts, scarves, etc. We did try to hang a shoe rack over the inside of the closet door. However, the shoes hit the hanging clothes and fell off the rack constantly. It was just a huge mess!
After some brainstorming and online storage system browsing, we decided to buy two Ikea shoe storage cabinets and add them to our entry area. The original set up of each cabinet left several inches of space between the center of the cabinets. They ended up extending beyond the hallway wall just a bit, which looked pretty wonky.
So, we decided to remove the original tops, slide the cabinets together, and attach a new stained/painted top to make them look more like one unit. We also replaced the old knobs for some ring pulls that have a more unique look.
Welcome Sign | Nesting Houses | Ring Pull
Each cabinet is supposed to hold a minimum of 12 pairs of shoes, but depending on the size and style, you can definitely fit more. I’m a size 7.5-8 and have over 20 pairs inside of one cabinet!
I love the extra drawers at the top of the cabinets too! Perfect for cold weather accessories.
You truly realize how much stuff you have when you don’t have a place to put it. Adding this shoe cabinet storage to our entryway has helped us with a major storage struggle. The depth of the cabinets is perfect for our small space and doesn’t impose too much on the room. We are so happy with how this project/hack turned out!
Country Sampler Magazine Holiday Homes
I have something really exciting news to share today! Elizabeth Joan Designs was featured in the most recent issue of Country Sampler Magazine! They shared our Holiday Front Porch from last year in their Holiday Homes edition. I cannot begin to tell you how amazing this is a for a little ol’ blogger like me.
When the sweet people at Country Sampler Magazine first contacted me, my jaw hit the floor. I couldn’t believe that they wanted to share a photo from this blog in their publication. They always share such beautiful spaces and vignettes in their issues. Have you ever checked them out?
Some personal information was removed from the letter for privacy.
Last year when working on our holiday front porch, I had so much fun putting everything together. This area was a bit of a challenge because I was trying to not to spend a bunch of extra money and had to get creative in my styling. I pulled in some natural blue spruce branches and a few faux eucalyptus pieces to add some extra greenery to the space.
The magazine is in stores now, so if you are out and about, stop and grab yourself an issue!
It is such an honor to be included in this issue along with so many other amazing bloggers and designers! If you want to see more photos of our Holiday Front Porch, click here!