The Untypical Christmas Mantle

So what there are black glitter poinsettias!?!

I fell in love with a gift I received for Halloween.  A black feather wreath, thanks to my girl Tracy.  I helped her do set design for her amazing haunted house.

I wanted to keep my Halloween decorations up round year because I was having so much fun using black.  I have it all over my house but have always used the pretty Christmas colors, red and green.  Now that I'm mixing metals, I'm using silver and gold in most of my rooms.  I wanted to add some charcoal and black this year.  I found some black accents at a thrift store looking for props for the haunted house. I got a steal on multi colored black poinsettias and used them in my design, that centered on the black feather wreath.

I used white birch branches as my architectural base.  At first my son said that they looked like a white mustache.  Not to be deterred by pessimistic opinions I continued on with my design.  I stayed up for 24 hours pulling an all nighter to get it done.  My mother in law was staying with us and when she came down for breakfast I showed her my piece.  I got a standing ovation from her.  My sister in law was up with me all night. My son even made a stop motion movie of my progress.  No idea how to post that.  It shows me going up and down a ladder about a hundred times.  It took me 8 1/2 hours to complete it, but it was worth it!!!  Using mercury glass accents, black florals and pics, different kinds of poinsettias, silver and gold accents and super gorgeous lighting it really was a show stopper.  I even hung my animal print nutcrackers on each side to give the piece more visual weight.  

I love how the color scheme brings out the colors in the pheasant hanging over the mantle.  

I used silver branches, mercury keys, nutcrackers, 3 different kinds of black and gold ribbons - one with a Greek key to reinforce the silver Greek key ornaments interspersed throughout the garland.  I even took some of the ribbon and wrapped it around my two large candles to bring the eye up and further the design aesthetic.  I used beautiful beaded trim in silver and clear glass to add an extra layer of glam.  I found some huge black peacocks with gorgeous black feathers and added them to each side.  Quite dramatic.

What do you think?