My Christmas "mantel"

Hi. My name is Anna, and my house is mantel-less.

Phew, I'm glad we got that out of the way. Am I the only mantel-less lady who has miniature pity parties when confronted with photos of beautifully decorated mantels? I sure hope not.

This year I decided to dress up the top of my upright grand piano and make it a mantel. Sort of. See, I don't like a lot of things on top of pianos -- while I was growing up, this very piano had approximately 253 dusty picture frames on top of it, which scarred me for life -- so I knew I wanted something simple.

I made the fabric-covered cylinders last year after reading this post at Thrifty Decor Chick. It just took sheer fabric and some double sided tape. And some deep breaths to calm my neurotic self when it didn't turn out perfectly. Pfft. That was so last year. Very overrated, that 'perfect' thing.

They're absolutely beautiful when lit, but since I forgot to take a photo of that, you'll just have to take Thrifty Decor Chick Sarah's word for it:

(Image: Thrifty Decor Chick)

See? Gooooorgeous, hello!

The greenery I found at Michael's last year for a few dollars. I brought it home and hacked it up with a wire cutter so I could stick it into all the little nooks and crannies between cylinders.

I hung the stockings using fishing line... 

(Can you see the fishing line in the photo above? Gosh I love fishing line in crafts)

I hooked the fishing line onto some 3M Command hooks which were hung upside down on the back of the piano:

I'm pretty happy with the end result, even with our mistmatched stockings!

UPDATE: Check out our new stockings here!

I'll have to swing the stockings out of the way if I put music on the piano, and I'll need to leave Santa a pair of scissors so he can cut them down to fill them... but I'm okay with that. 

Speaking of Santa... if you're reading this, all I want for Christmas is some MDF. Those walls? Board and batten, my friends... coming to a room near me in early 2011.

I'd show you my Christmas tree, which is also in that room... except I'm in the process of making eleventy-billion pom-pom garlands and until I finish that monumental task I refuse to decorate. It's the principle of the thing -- there's an order one must adhere to when decorating a tree, am I wrong? ;)

Here's a tiny peak though 'cause I love you:

(PS Giveaway coming later this week... did you like my faux mercury glass tutorial? Then make sure to watch for the post!)

Linking this to The Lettered Cottage's mantel party...