Fall Decor & Design Ideas - Fireplace Mantel
Ready for some more fall decorating? I finally am! An easy go-to spot to get your fall on is the fireplace. Fall mantel decor is the perfect place to indulge your seasonal decorating desires!
We recently took a look at fall decorating using natural materials and what you already have. I’m still in a “use what you have” mode and mostly continued with that theme for my fall mantle, so hopefully you’ll get some inspiring seasonal ideas for your own home.
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To put together a seasonal fall fireplace mantel pictured below, I pulled together my vintage brass midcentury candlesticks and tapers, a vase with some pussy willows salvaged from an old bouquet, my trusty wooden mushroom, and a bronzy-dark pot I recently picked up at an estate sale.
My only new purchase was the black iron infinity sculpture. I’m really liking it’s modern, abstract vibe that works anytime of year with a dark patina that’s well suited to fall.
One of my dogwoods got a trim and a new spot in that bronze planter. Btw - here’s a “bringing the outdoors in” decor tip I learned the hard way: dogwoods smell stinky for a day or so after you cut them! (the bracts not the leaves)
My son and I were sniffing around that part of the house trying to find the source of the unsavory smell. I finally realized it was the dogwood branches. I thought I’d have to dump them, but it went away after about a day or so.
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Natural forms & design repetition
Fall gives us lots of material (literally) to work with. Acorns, gourds, pumpkins, dried grasses, fall branches and leaves, and my favorite pine cones. I love all of it, especially the things my boys and I have collected over the years on our many “nature walks” as their pre-school teacher used to refer to them. (She’s right - it’s not like most kids do many legit hikes, right? Not without some form of bribery more often than not.)
So at the base of the fireplace, I featured more natural materials and forms. I have a wire basket that year-round holds some sugar pinecones and moss-covered branches my boys and I have collected.
I placed a vintage iron pumpkin purchased years ago during a misguided attempt to go antiquing in Las Vegas. Here’s another decor pro-tip (haha): if you’re like me and prefer antiquing to gambling even when in Vegas, it’s really not an antiques kind of town. Shocking, I know. The few and far between antiques shops are mostly located far off the Strip resulting in costly Uber fares especially during rush hour… However, I still love my two vintage metal pumpkins along with the hard-cover Harry Potter books that were my haul for the day!
The grapevine-twig pumpkin provides repetition of form alongside the metal pumpkin. The idea behind repetition here is to create harmony throughout your space with recurring patterns, colors, and different elements. We’re always striving for a balance of similar and different elements to keep the space interesting while maintaining cohesion. Repetition provides cohesion.
My tall piece of cork oak bark (Quercus suber jic you’re interested) also sits there year round, and my little cast-iron cricket-beetle adds a bit of quirk and harmonizes via material/color with the infinity sculpture above. (I’m into bugs - it’s also a permanent fireplace resident.)
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I also included a picture of the teak side table that’s directly left of the mantel (you can see the basket with the pine cones in shadow on the upper right). Here’s the second, smaller iron Vegas pumpkin along with a wool felted pumpkin and a few other items.
I dusted off an October Garden Design magazine with a nice pumpkin spread, (still miss the print version) and raided my twins’ bookcase for a fall-appropriate pheasant-type feather “bookmark.”
The white pumpkin provides a nice lighter focal point of (non)color. I added the Wire Vine plant (Muehlenbeckia axillaris) for a spot of green, which is always a good thing.
Again, the pumpkins provide repetition and cohesion, as do the warm russet colors of the teak table, the vintage wool mill spool, and the other browns.
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So that’s this year’s fall mantel. Checking in again on your decorating mood since the last fall post: Have you transitioned from spare and minimal to full pumpkin? Or not so much; you’ve basically had it with 2020? I totally get you either way. However you’re feeling at this time, I do hope you’re inspired to bring some cozy fall warmth into your home.
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Other posts you’ll love:
Easy Fall Seasonal Decor [Shopping Your Own Home & Using Natural Materials]
Easy Fall Tablescape [Thanksgiving Style Ideas)
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