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Consider the colors in a room before you decorate the fireplace mantel for
Christmas. As a rule of thumb, use an existing color from your room as the dominant color for your fireplace mantel Christmas decorations.
The most striking Christmas mantel decorations are those that echo the principal
colors from the room's walls, furnishings or accessories.
Is the fireplace mantel you want to decorate for Christmas in a room that already has a
bit of Christmas red? If so, your Santa-suit red Christmas accessories will look great on your mantel. But if not, what should you do? What if the fireplace is in a room you
would never consider adding red throw pillows or accessories the rest of the year?
Look at your room with an eye to identifying what colors other than the traditional
Christmas red and green you could highlight in your Christmas mantel décor. Shades of pink, rose, burgundy, blue, silver, gold, and white each make dramatic Christmas decorating
colors. If green is already in the room, use that existing shade of green, whether it be lime, celadon, or forest, instead of the traditional Christmas green.
Just as house plants work with all color schemes, thankfully nature makes evergreens in shades of green that complement
virtually all other colors! So regardless of the colors in the room and on the fireplace mantel, evergreen and holly are always appropriate choices for  the fireplace mantel at Christmas.
Here are some examples:
- In a room with a yellow, navy, and white color scheme, decorate the
fireplace mantel with white and navy blue candles in brass candleholders, evergreen boughs, and yellow poinsettias in navy blue pots.
- In a pale green and white room with light pink accents, use clusters of
candles or ornaments in white and in the same hue but deeper shade of pink, pink poinsettias or amaryllis in white pots, and lush
evergreens tied with a pale green, silver and light pink plaid ribbon.
- In a cream and burgundy room, skip the red Christmas decorations and go
for gold and burgundy Christmas decorations on the pine-bough covered fireplace mantel with burgundy poinsettias, and hang up burgundy Christmas stockings.
If you want to go with a different color scheme for your fireplace mantel
this Christmas, but all you  have are red and green mantel decorations,
despair not. Use paper in the color or colors of your choice to wrap small empty boxes, tie with ribbons or yarn in an appropriate color, and cluster them on
your mantel. Or pick up a can or two of spray paint and turn pine cones or bare branches into dramatic accents in your "new" Christmas color. And candles, Christmas tree ball ornaments, and ribbons are conveniently available in most every color imaginable!
If the rest of the year your room has Christmas red in it, your mantel is well
suited to having traditional Christmas red decorations on the fireplace  mantel. Otherwise, with the addition of Christmas greenery and
perhaps some wide plaid ribbon in your room's colors, let the room's existing any color scheme boldly inspire your selection of
accessories to decorate your fireplace for Christmas. For that final decorator's touch, switch out the traditional red and green
fireplace stockings for ones that reiterate the colors of the Christmas accessories decorating  the top of the mantel.
And if you are not burning a wood or gas fire in your
fireplace, a fireplace candelabra is a great way not only to add flicke ring flame to your fireplace but also to echo the
colors you are using to decorate your mantel. Just add candles to your fireplace candelabra in the appropriate  colors, light the candles, stand back, and admire your
Christmas decorating handiwork!
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