Your mantel is looking bare, and every time you look at it, you wonder what you can do to upgrade it. Does it need flowers or another decoration? So far, everything you've tried isn't quite right, but you're determined to find the best mantel decor to create a beautiful space. We found some of the Best Farmhouse Mantel Decor Ideas out there, and we hope they'll help you make the best mantel you can!

1) Vintage Prints of Patents

Often, farmhouse decorations are vintage because when people think of farmhouses, they tend to think of older ones. Decorations also seem to stick around for a long time, so many modern farmhouses have vintage decorations. While that's not always the case, farmhouses are timeless places, and vintage decorations almost always have a place there. If you like vintage or retro decorating, you can get things like the vintage patent prints on this Rocky Hedge Farm Mantel. You could even look for farm-themed patents like ones for tractors or plows.

2) Macrame Runner

You can use table runners in places other than tables. If you have a wide enough mantel or faux mantel, you can get a table runner like this macrame one from Amazon that'll look perfect on a farmhouse mantel. You can use it as a backdrop for any other decorations. If you have a faux mantel without a fireplace, you can even let it hang over the edge without worrying about it getting singed or starting to smell like smoke.

3) DIY Spool Top Sign

Mantels are one of the few places where you can comfortably place wall decorations on a table because, unlike most tables, they're not going to be moved away from the wall. You can lean the thinner decorations against the wall without any chance that they'll fall through a crack. This means that you can make great signs like the one in this video by White Cottage Company. You can use the video's instructions to turn the top of a large spool into a farmhouse-style mantel sign.

4) Birch Garland With Lights

Mantels are excellent places to put garlands since they're out of the way and they're a natural place to drape something. You can get standard green garlands, but we found one that's a little more unusual and might suit you more. This birch garland from Amazon looks like somebody places a birch branch across your mantel and added tiny lights for decorations. You can add little candles to complement the tiny lights and add a vintage touch to this natural garland.

5) White Vases

White is one of the best farmhouse colors since it was common in many old farmhouses. If you're ever in doubt about what colors to use, white is an excellent go-to choice for your farmhouse mantel. Vases are lovely farmhouse decorations, and we liked the idea of a set of three vases like this in different sizes to create some variety. This way, you can put the three of them together to make an interesting set or place them around the room to tie the mantel in with the rest of the room.

6) Baskets

Baskets are pretty farmhouse decorations, and they can be practical, too, since you can put items in them a lot of the time. While small baskets could be an excellent mantel decoration if they fit, you can use larger baskets as decorations, too. When we saw this 1905 Farmhouse Mantel decor collection, we loved the way they placed a basket sideways so that they could fit a large basket and use it as a purely decorative addition to the mantel.

7) Faith

If you're not religious, this might not be the right idea for you, but farms and farmhouse decorating sometimes go along with faith, and with Christianity in particular. If you'd like to have a religious touch in your room, this cross from Amazon that says "Faith" and has an inspiring quote from scripture would be a lovely way to express that faith. It fits a farmhouse style, and the easel-like design means that you can set it on the mantel or hang it above it.

8) Family

Farmhouses are home to big families, or they were once upon a time, and family is still important in the country. If you value family and want to show that, you can get farmhouse-style decorations like this print. It's designed to look like white painted wood and says, "family, where life begins and love never ends." The white wood appearance will go well with your other farmhouse decorations, and the message is an inspiring and appropriate one for your mantel.

9) Ladder

A ladder might not sound like a type of mantel decoration, but ladders are popular in farmhouse decorating, You can buy ladders that are designed for decorating or build a small wooden ladder to hang above your mantel. You can also hang one below your mantel like the designer in this Marly Dice article did. We'd suggest painting it white or sticking with the natural wood, depending on what matches your other decorations the most.

10) Home Sweet Home

Farmhouse books are a neat decoration because they make it look like you left a couple of novels lying around, but you don't have to use actual books as decorations. We found a couple white farmhouse books on Amazon that say, "Home Sweet Home." This captures the homey spirit of farmhouse decorating, making them an attractive and appropriate choice. You can also make your own if you have the right tools, though you may need a stencil for the lettering.

11) Cotton Garland

One way to decorate a farmhouse mantel is to use crops or faux imitations of crops like this cotton garland from Amazon. They give it a realistic farmhouse impression because these crops are what would be available for decorating around an active farmhouse. You can add wildflowers and other natural farmhouse decorations on the mantel in vases or attach this garland to a decoration by wrapping it around the pieces you place on the mantel. If you go this route, you might need to buy two of them to cover the entire mantel.

12) DIY Paint Can Makeover

Turning old items into decorations is a staple of farmhouse decorating, so if you have old things lying around that you'd just throw away normally, you can repurpose them into mantel decorations. One thing you might not have thought of revamping before is paint cans. They make useful containers and beautiful decorations for a mantel, and if you need some help figuring out how to turn them into decorations, we found this video from White Cottage Company to show you how you can do so.

13) Barnwood Beam

Barnwood is increasingly popular, and it's an excellent choice for farmhouse decorating since it looks like worn, repurposed wood from an old barn. You can get a premade barnwood beam for a mantel to create the perfect base for all your mantel decorations. This way, all your pieces will be set on an appropriate farmhouse-themes mantel. This one from Amazon is designed to be a mantel, but you can also look for old railroad ties or other large, weathered beams to repurpose

14) Flowers and Gourds

Nature is important on farms, and in a lot of cases, the natural things you'll find on farms are crops and things that were grown there. Gourds are a popular decoration because they last a long time, and you can create imitation gourds like the ones in this article from The Crafting Nook. If you want to create a natural farmhouse mantel theme like the one in their article, you can also pick flowers; we suggest wildflowers.

15) Barn Door Shutters

Barn doors are typical farmhouse decorations, and while they're typically used for windows and doors, you can use them as wall or table decorations if you want to. We found some premade barn door shutters from Amazon, and we think they'd be excellent decorations to sit on the mantel and lean against the wall behind it. They could be centerpieces since they're large enough, and you can put other decorations in front of them to create a larger centerpiece.

16) Chippy Paint

Chippy paint is an excellent farmhouse decor paint chase because it makes things look worn, like something that's been on a farm for a long time. This creates a vintage look, and we suggest using white paint since it was common on farms a long time ago. You can use these directions from American Farmhouse Style to learn how to paint a mantel with chippy paint. If you're creating a faux mantel around a faux fireplace, the article also has decorations for building one.

17) Cross

If you're Christian, this idea might be one to consider for your mantel. Religion is important to a lot of people in the country, and there are a lot of religious decorations that fit with farmhouse decor. Sometimes simplicity is best for a farmhouse theme, in particular, so a simple wood cross like this one from Amazon can make a perfect farmhouse decoration for your mantel. It's made from real wood from the Bethlehem area, so it's an authentic choice.

18) Cotton Stems

Cotton is a popular crop, so if you want to use natural things on your farmhouse mantel, you could put cotton stems in a vase like you would flowers. They're ideal for this sort of thing since they'll last a long time, and you can find faux cotton stems like these ones on Amazon that look realistic. This way, you can leave them up all year long without having to replace them like you would flowers. Think about mixing these in with some other flowers or faux plants.

19) DIY With Thrift Store Finds

Oftentimes, the best place to get farmhouse decorations is thrift stores. They sometimes have vintage items that you can use to give your mantel an old-fashioned farmhouse look, and they'll have cheap decorations that you can repurpose. If you're thinking about making thrift store mantel decorations, you can take a look at this video from GingerChickRehab to learn how they turn a variety of thrift store finds into farmhouse mantel decor. You can also get things from swap sheds and tag sales to repurpose the same way.

20) Mini Faux Potted Plants

Plants are an excellent thing to use as a farmhouse decoration since planting is such a significant part of farm life. Potted plants are a neat option that you might like better than placing flower stems in a vase. If you like the idea of real plants, but they don't seem practical, you can put fake potted plants like these ones from Amazon on your mantel. These come in a 3-pack, so you can put one on either end of the mantel or space all three evenly across it.

21) Galvy

Galvanized metal, or galvy, is used n farmhouse decorating a lot because it's popular on farms, and a lot of things that were repurposed into decorations were made of galvy. Since it's so popular, it might be a good idea to have some of it on a farmhouse mantel, particularly if you have other galvanized decorations that'll match it around the house. You can get galvanized lanterns like the ones on the mantel in this article from Inspired By Charm or use galvanized trays to hold decorations.

22) Distressed White Shelf Clock

This shelf clock is a neat one because it looks like a mantel in some ways. It's also white with a distressed look that fits a farmhouse style and would make an excellent centerpiece. It's small enough to fit in front of a larger decoration, so you could lay a basket or tray on its side against the wall and place the clock in front of it. You can also put it on top of a set of books or other farmhouse decorations to make it taller and more visible.

23) Blessed

If you're religious, this decoration is a straightforward one that'll create a kind and homey impression. This reflects the feeling you want people to have in a farmhouse as well as the way you want things to look since it's made from wood. We liked the three-dimensional look with the cut-out letters better than a two-dimensional sign, but you can also get a sign or plaque to lean against the wall behind the mantel. This one has a distressed wood look, but you can also look for a white one.

24) Faux Gourds Buffalo Check Decoration

Gourds are common farmhouse decorations because they last a long time, but you can make them last even longer by making gourd imitation decorations. We saw these neat decorations that looked like gourds from Wilshire Collections and wanted to include them here. They used a buffalo check design for this faux gourd stack, which is an excellent farmhouse design choice, but you can pick any farm-themed decoration or pattern you like and tie it together with jute rope.

25) Framed Plant ID Chart

Identifying plants is a fun hobby to have and often a significant part of life on a farm, so a plant ID chart would be an excellent addition to a farmhouse collection. We love the idea of getting a framed plant ID chart like this one from Amazon. You could even grow the herbs on the chart and put them in pots on your mantel since you can grow herbs in tiny pots, as long as there's enough light.

26) Custom White Farmhouse Books

Farmhouse book decorations are popular table decorations, but you can use them on a mantel, too. The neat thing is that if you get a set like these ones from Amazon, you can choose what to write on them. This can be anything from an inspirational message to fake book titles, and since the books are painted white, they'll match most farmhouse decorations. You can also get a small collection of classic books for a vintage theme instead of the more modern theme these fit.

27) DIY Upcycled Food Cans

Upcycling is a standard part of farmhouse decorating since farmers have been turning old tools and furniture into decorations for a long time. You can take old items from around your house and make them into mantel decor, but what items are best? We've found a video tutorial from Heidi Sonboul DIY in which she makes some decorations from old food cans. Food can decorations would make good vases, and they're the perfect size for a mantel decoration

28) Ceramic Jug Set

If you want something a bit more modern or coastal, these ceramic jugs would be exceptional. They're thin enough to fit on a mantel, and the three different sizes and colors will add some variety. You can hang wall decorations above them and wind garlands throughout to make them look better and create a coastal or modern farmhouse-themed centerpiece for your whole room. For a vintage or retro farmhouse theme, you can get the same set of vases in white.

29) Vintage Distressed White Lantern

If you're trying to create a vintage farmhouse theme or matching a vintage room, distressed white decorations are some of the best choices since they look like something that's been sitting around a farmhouse for a long time. This distressed white lantern from Amazon would make a lovely mantel decoration since it looks like an old-fashioned metal lantern. You can use it at night since it has a candle in it or leave it unlit as a daytime decoration.

30) Wheat

Wheat is a common crop, and like many plants, it makes a wonderful farmhouse mantel decoration. You can bundle it or put it in vases the way Laura from The Turquoise Home did in this mantel DIY project, or you can turn it into wreaths and other creative decorations. If you like the idea, look for crafts that you can add little bundles of wheat to. If you get faux wheat bundles, you don't have to worry about it rotting or needing to be watered.

31) Barnwood Window Frame

Barn wood is an excellent choice for farmhouse decorating since it looks like wood that came from a real barn. Window frames are a fairly popular farmhouse decorating trend, and you can make or buy a barnwood window frame like this to put on your mantel. It's made from barnwood and has a distressed look as if it's been out in the elements for a very long time and had the paint stripped away. You can use this as a backdrop for smaller decorations or add bundles of wheat to it.

What are you putting on your mantel? There are a lot of different farmhouse styles; which one did you pick for your mantel decor? Please tell us about it in the comments below.