With the change of seasons comes an urge to get cozy indoors. Honor your need to nest by updating your mantel décor for fall with these 6 simple, beautiful ideas.
1. Gather natural elements. Driftwood, wood slices, feathers, bare branches, and balls of greenery make lovely — and long-lasting — decorations. You could start with a display like this as your base, then layer in mini pumpkins at Halloween, and pomegranates and nuts at Thanksgiving.
2. Create a glow with amber glass. A few amber-hued glass hurricane candle holders and vases are the perfect accent for a warm and welcoming fall mantel display. Pluck a few small branches of fall leaves outside your door, and finish off the display with a handful of tiny white pumpkins.
3. Keep an eye out for frame-worthy wrapping paper. We all joke about the gift that’s too pretty to unwrap, but the truth is, some gift wrap does deserve better than being crumpled and tossed! A lovely marbled paper, or something botanical, would make cheap and chic DIY art. Scoop up a couple of inexpensive frames, pop in the paper, and prop up on your mantel. Easy!
4. Gather the bountiful harvest. Scoop up a basketful of pumpkins and decorative gourds at your local market or farm stand, cut a few branches of fall leaves, and you have yourself a nearly-instant, swoon-worthy mantel display. Place the branches in tall glass cylinder vases or hurricanes, and place the whole arrangement atop a few squares of autumnal fabric to complete the look.
5. Craft your own Thanksgiving decor. Simple cardboard letter forms from the craft store can be easily transformed into a custom sign with just a few dots of hot glue. Spell out a message like “give thanks” or a simple word that says it all, like “family” or “gratitude."
6. Try the “stair step” trick. Examine any great shot in your favorite interiors magazine, and you will likely find some version of this rule in play: arrange your items so that the tallest are in the back, shortest in front, and place something medium size between the two. In other words, you want to avoid having something really tall next to something tiny. Prop up your smaller decor items on stacks of books or on a decorative box, and use medium-height items like candlesticks or feathers in a jar, to fill in any gaps.
Do you change up your mantel with the seasons? Share your favorite mantel decor ideas in the Comments section.
(Sources from top to bottom: BHG; Centsational Girl; Good Housekeeping; The Lettered Cottage; Centsational Girl)
For all of the images, check out Woodside Homes blog:
http://www.woodside-homes.com/blog/6-quick-mantel-styling-ideas-for-fall
