Christmas Mantel Inspiration

The boys and I have had the weekend to ourselves since Jon and Maddie Rae went to his parent's house early. We have been getting our Christmas on, but I have been a bit stumped.

First issue: we don't have that many Christmas decorations. We've only lived in our "own" house 3 years out of our entire marriage. The other years have been spent in apartments, other people's houses housesitting, and overseas. Thus my dilemna. I want my house to look fab for the holidays, but I have nothing to make it look that way.

Second issue: The Christmas decorations we do have are a mishmash of styles, ugliness, and gifts left over from my teaching days. Blah.

Third issue: Red and green is not really jiving in my wythe blue living room.

I turned to my favorite design tool for some inspiration: Flickr. I heart Flickr. It's a great place for designer wannabes like me to show off their houses, and you can always get great ideas.

Mission: Christmas Mantels.

Isn't this little elf cute? And I like the little whimsy touch he adds.

Oooh. Love this. Love the white milk glass vases. Love the white snowflakes. I'm feelin' inspired.

Love the white tree, but I know Jon won't let me go that far. But oh, it would look SO good!

I see a theme emerging here: white. Love this white village with the blue walls. Hmmmm....

Flickr isn't all inspiration. There are plenty of photos like this one which inspire what NOT to do (or what my mantel will look like if I use what I have).

Now that I'm feelin' the inspiration, I'm off to shop. Stay tuned for my Christmas Mantel Unveiling.