Fall Mantel

I’ve been waiting for the bittersweet to bloom along the roadsides to change my mantel from “summer” to “fall”.  I haven’t been in a rush and life has been too full  to bother much with the mantel.  Mantels can be difficult to decorate and mine in particular is so prominent, visible from the living room, dining room and kitchen, which really just blend all together.  I  used the “rule of three” approach that Debra wrote about in a previous post about how to decorate bookshelves.  Using three types of items really simplifies the process and gives the overall look more cohesion.  I choose to keep the first two items the same all year and just switched out the last items to change for the season.  This really saved on time.  I used milk glass, white twinkle lights and seasonal accents.  Here’s what I came up with:

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

I really didn’t spend any money on these mantels.  We alway go by the motto, “shop your own home first”, in my case, I also “shopped” Debra’s home as well (its great to have friends!).  Most of my milk glass collection are damaged goods, a chip here, a crack there, but that doesn’t bother me.  I still find them to be beautiful and useful.  Also, bringing nature in always seems to work.  Collections of sea shells, pine cones, drift wood, moss, press leaves, etc.  can all be used in decorating and often are sentimental reminders of trips and special places.

Hope these ideas can provide some inspiration and simplification to the feathering of your nest!

Elizabeth