Collected Fall Mantle Four Ways

Today Mary Ann, Annie and I are joining three other bloggers and we are sharing our fall mantles. I prefer a collected look on my mantle. To give my fireplace a simple fall makeover I shopped my house and added some pretty fall leaves. No need to purchase a lot of new supplies. Shop your home and gather some items from nature. You will be amazed at what you can find. Here’s how I styled my collected fall mantle four ways.

Before you start ask yourself some questions about your particular fireplace.

       Keep the Elements Simple and let the Fireplace be the star

       If so make sure the colors visually connect with the rest of your room

        Add Textural Items in addition to the art
        Layer Textures

Remember to Vary the Shapes and Sizes of the Elements
Start with Larger Objects in the Center and Spread out to Smaller Objects

     Decide if you would like a symmetrical arrangement or an asymmetrical arrangement

Version #1-Traditional Asymmetrical

For this version, I took a traditional approach.  I shopped my house for everything but the fall leaves.  The mirror came from Horchow many years ago, and the Indian baskets I have owned for years.  If you have been following this blog you have seen them in many other places in my home. The mirror is my focal piece.

The fall leaves are placed them in one of my Hungarian picking jars. The leaves pick up the color in the pillows on the sofa visually connecting them to the rest of the room. The geese in the windows we have had for years.  This is sort of their permanent perch (at least for now).

I like the way the mirror picks up the color as the old beam that makes up the mantle. It is also repeated in the decoration on the Indian Baskets. The Indian baskets also relate to the rug in both texture and color creating continuity.

Version #2-add modern art

Here  I added two doors from an antique corner cabinet that were sitting in my closet.  They are in the original salmon paint for a splash of fall color. The doors are the focal point here.

I layered the doors with some old wood molds from roundtop for texture and a black and white print (a copy) framed in a Michaels frame.  

I like the addition of the modern art in the otherwise traditional space. The leaves on the right are from my pomegranete tree.

Version #3-Minimalist

This version is the simplest of all.  I removed one door and one panel removed the art and added my vintage lawn bowling pins.  I purchased these at Roundtop several years ago. I am sure you have spotted them before in other locations of my home.

I love the simplicity of this version.  You can appreciate the lines and structure of the fireplace, allowing the rest of the room to be the star.

Version #4 -Simple Wreath

This was last year’s mantle.  I constructed this wreath from gathered materials.  For the Christmas holidays, I just removed  the fall leaves and replaced with christmas greens .  You can read about how I made this wreath here Diy Wreath from Foraged Materials.

That’s how I styled my collected mantle four ways. Which look do you preferF? If you would like some more tips on how to style your mantle, you might want to check out the tutorial I did for a Spring Mantle several years ago. How to Style your mantle for Spring. 

FALL MANTLE GET THE LOOK