Instead of decorating for Halloween & Thanksgiving, I usually just put out some fall decorations. Honestly, I didn't really decorate at all for the fall holidays (or really any holiday except Christmas) until last year. Seeing all these blogs with fabulous fall mantles made me want to do the same!
Here is what my mantle looked like this summer:
{Summer}
And here is what it looks like decorated for fall...
{Fall}
My main inspiration for this mantle came from the picture below from Martha Stewart.
As you can tell from the summer picture of our mantle, we don't have a mirror hanging above the fireplace. I didn't want to spend money on a big mirror right now, so I decided to use some brown packing paper to cover up the oil painting. I just cut it to size & used a few pieces of sticky tack to adhere it to the painting so it wouldn't get damaged. I couldn't find any pretty gold ribbon at Hobby Lobby, so I used some gold tulle ribbon to hang the wreath to the back of the picture. (I just duct taped it to the back.)
{My version of Martha's wreath}
I removed the candles from their holders & replaced them with some Dollar Tree glittery pumpkins I picked up last year.
On the other side of the mantle, I filled a glass vase with faux acorns, (from Wal-Mart) another glittery pumpkin from the Dollar Tree, and a few faux leaves.
I filled the space in between with more faux leaves & clear plastic acorns (both from Dollar Tree), pine cones, & some artificial berry stems I already had.
It's not quite Martha's version, but I really like the way my fall mantle turned out. I think it is both simple & elegant, which is the style I'm after these days!
Thanks for looking! I hope you were able to find some fall inspiration for yourself!
Wendy
