Decorating a Fall Mantel

So, today is a big day! It’s not only the start to our It’s Fall Y’all link parties with explosions of fall inspiration all over the place.  It’s also the big debut of my new rustic wood mantel.  I can’t wait to show it to you and I’ll be back with another post telling you all about my mantel and how I got it installed.  I will tell you that the mantel was made just for me from Southern Accents in Cullman, AL, a really cool vintage salvage place that has the best reclaimed wood and other items that I’ve ever seen. If you’re looking for rustic, reclaimed, chippy junk treasures, Southern Accents has you covered.  I’ve done a nice post about them a couple of years ago (link just above) and have so enjoyed working with them.  We did a trade out on the mantel for me telling all of you about them and it’s definitely a win-win for me, because I really believe in them and what they do and I have beautiful products in my house.  They also did my fabulous rustic shelves in my kitchen that I love so much.

So, let’s get on with the Fall mantel party, shall we!

I have a confession to make.  I forgot about the mantel party until yesterday.  I was out of town in Nashville with the Haven team on a little planning retreat and it was on my calendar for Tuesday, but I totally and completely forgot that our Fall parties started this week.  Can you say scrambling to put the mantel together?  If you hang around blogland long enough, the pressure is on to get decorated for the seasons and Fall is one that always sneaks up on me and I can’t seem to get my act together.  I don’t typically decorate a lot for Fall anyway, but now that I have a mantel, I had to put something together.  No respectable blogger is without a Fall mantel! Just in case you think I’m a slick blogger who always has it together, I can assure you that is far from the truth.

Nothing like last minute.  The mantel just got installed last week too and I haven’t even had time to play around with it yet, so this mantel party got my butt in gear to decorate for Fall this year.  I’m pretty happy with how it came out considering I only spent 30 minutes on it, pulling things from around my house.  That’s a good reason to be a hoarder to hang onto stuff.  You never know when you might need things for layering and all. I’m sure it will be changed up a few times in the next month, since I have other things to decorate for too.  You will be seeing this mantel change a lot, I can assure you!

So, after scrambling around to put this all together, I used what I had, including the green and blue pottery pumpkins I got from Kirklands last year, as well as the pretty peacock feather wreath.  Since I have these colors in the living room and these jewel tones can speak to the Fall that is in the air, I went with what I love. Who says you have to decorate with orange, green, brown, and yellow for Fall?  Not me!  Use what you have and love and Fallify it in your own way.

Now you can see my chunky hunk of gorgeousness rustic reclaimed wood mantel.  I stained it myself and had someone install it and I’ll be sharing all of that with you later.  For now, enjoy the Fall décor.  I do like to layer a lot of stuff and I know this isn’t for everyone. I just happen to like this layered approach to decorating a mantel.

The mantel is nice and deep at 10”, so I have room to layer and lean things which I love to do.  I used the painted beadboard art piece I  made in the middle and hung the peacock feather wreath in the middle.  I love the colors in the wreath, perfect with my other accents in here.

That vintage rustic frame I used with the beadboard is burnished gold and really looks nice with my vintage landscape painting that I found last year at Woodstock Market.  I bought that thing knowing I’d use it and love it and I do. Those pretty bubbled glass vases came from Willow House a few years ago and those things have really been work horses for me.  I love going out in my yard this time of year and cutting turning leaf branches to use in these.  Simple and pretty!

All these colors make me happy and the added red leaves bring a bit of Fall in from outside and sort of bring out the colors in the rock fireplace.  My plan is to add a planked white wall over the top of my mantel and cover up the rock just on the top.  I really don’t mind this rock, but it’s a LOT of rock and I’d like to tone it down a bit with some simple wood planks above the mantel. That will give me a nice backdrop to decorate too for the seasons. That will be another project on my to-do list.

I love how this beadboard art project turned out. Free beadboard left over from my screened porch and I cut it to fit this vintage yardsale frame that I found for $1.  Lovely!  The mossy ribbon I had in my stash.

On the right side, I stacked some pretty Readers Digest books that I picked up in perfect colors to decorate with.  I love stacking books like this on a mantel.

Those plush pumpkins came from the Love Feast girls and they are actually not the Fall pumpkins, but heart shaped from Valentines, but the colors work, so I’m using them.  That cute sign is one I picked up last year at the Country Living Fair here at Stone Mountain and I finally got around to mounting it on a piece of beadboard. I’ll show you that on Thursday for our craft party.  This is one of my favorite scriptures ever, Jeremiah 29:11.

Here’s a good look at the Love Feast plush heart pumpkin and those cute acorns that keep making the rounds on my blog that were made and given to me from a blog friend.  She had a really good idea on painting those acorns and I imagine that will be a big hit in blogland too.

I just love this little vignette!

You just can’t beat red Fall leaves to decorate with. Nature is the best decorating tool there is!

The aqua glass vase, vintage landscape painting and Fall leaves make a great combo in my book.  I really love how this turned out, even though I didn’t spend hours on it.  Mixing textures, colors, as well as layering and adding height on a mantel is key to making it all work. And the best thing is, you can have fun with your own mantel and create your own masterpiece too.

So, did you decorate a mantel this year?  If so, hop over to Sarah’s and link up your mantel too. I love seeing beautiful mantels out there and you’ll be able to get all sorts of ideas from the party.  And don’t forget Layla’s Fall Craft party on Thursday. I’m going to pull a little something together for that too.  And Kate and I are up next week with 2 more Fall inspired parties, Tabletops and Wreaths/Front Door décor.  I’ve got to get busy!

Happy Fall Y’all!

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