This year with two toddlers in the house a holiday mantel with a garland seemed a little dangerous. They would definitely try and pull on it or climb up it. I didn’t want to take a chance on that happening so decided to go in a different direction. I do love the look of the garland, but we will try another year. Our mantel needs some height as the ceiling is really high and I thought frames would look great. To start, I went to my local Salvation Army thrift store to find different sized frames to put together a thrifted holiday mantel.

Four steps to create a simple and affordable thrifted holiday mantel.

1. Find secondhand frames from the Salvation Army thrift store. If you want a cohesive look like I’ve created you can paint the frames. I chose gold and black and chose two frames to paint, with some leftover spray paint.

2. Search for vintage free open source images. (There are SO many!) I’ve tagged the ones I used below.

3. Print images as photos or documents, it’s the least expensive. I used Canva to create the correct sizes and add in the images. Then had everything printed at Staples.

4. Layout your mantel. I added bottle brush trees I thrifted from the Salvation Army thrift store and found the red ones at the dollar store. The large black frame I already owned, but the rest are all thrifted.

I’m in love with how the images look and can easily change each season. I know the fireplace looks a little ridiculous. I thought of editing it then decided to leave it, as this is real life. We have curious toddlers so we boarded up the fireplace for safety. They love the chalkboard and it’s a fun addition to our living space. This thrifted holiday mantel creates the perfect festive atmosphere on a budget.