FALL MANTEL(S) 2014...

I love fall!  It's a wonderful season and the cooler temps this past weekend made me dream of bonfires, chili cookoffs, pumpkin farms, bobbing for apples and all sorts of fun stuff. I was also thinking about lighting the fireplace...well maybe not lighting the fireplace but decorating the mantel.

I actually started on the mantel a couple of weekends ago but didn't quite like how it was turning out. Though I don't have a direct picture of it, this was my first attempt at this years fall mantel...





from the little sneak peek picture I showed you last week.

I used a shuttered window mirror I got from Home Interiors years ago as the focal piece but it was a little on the small side and once everything was added it just seemed WAY to "countryish" for my taste. Though it was cute something was off.

However, I kept it that way until I took down the three mirrors from the dining room when I sold the buffet. I then decided to try using the mirrors in place of the shuttered window mirror and it looked pretty good so, I thought I was done.

But...there's ALWAYS a BUT, isn't there?...I spotted a great metal tree wall hanging at a local thrift store on Saturday for just a few dollars and right then and there I knew it was perfect for my fall mantel because after all...aren't trees the perfect representation of fall?

So I bought that big ol' tree. I went home and took down the three mirrors and put the lovely fall tree in their place...

Ahhh, yes that's just what this fall mantel 2014 needed...a big ol' tree.

I replaced the long thin branches with a perfect bunch of floofy (is that a word?) weeds I found on the side of the road...yes, I stopped on the side of the road and pulled a handful of weeds (that smell wonderful, almost like mint) just for my fall mantel...I have been known to do stranger things in the name of decorating just so you know! hehehe (Remember the HUGE fresh pine branch I stole from the Catholic church yard last Christmas to make garland for the mantel? Shhh, they still don't know about that). So I ask, Why not decorate with weeds (or pine branches)? They're free and pretty!

I tucked in a few munchkin pumpkins along side of my favorite fall decor...the metal pumpkins. I found them at a yard sale for just a few dollars the year we moved into this house.

I have to say after looking at these pictures that I like both the mantel with the mirrors...

and the tree...

Pay no attention to the candles in the fire pit.  I know I need to add a little fall in there too, or at least have a fire, huh?  Maybe when it gets just a little colder!

Anyway, which mantel do you like best?

I'd love to hear from you.