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Welcome to My Mantle, Autumn.

Raise your hand if you’re loving the crispy fall air and the excuse to wear giant fluffy pajama pants and make piles and piles of desserts just because the recipe calls for both chocolate and pumpkin.

Ooh ooh! ME! That’s me!

I always forget how much I love fall until the trees start changing – just that moment when the leaves on the outside of the tree turn deep red but the middle is still green so the whole tree looks like it’s on fire – and suddenly you find an excuse to drink pumpkin spice lattes and mocha hot chocolate.

Welcome, fall. Welcome.

You’re invited to make yourself right at home here on my mantle. Let’s say bye-bye to the fresh happiness of summer…

And an enthusiastic “HELLO LOVER!” to the abundance and richness and deep burgundies and oranges of fall…
Simple autumn/fall mantle at View Along the Way

For seasonal mantle updates, I like to try to shop my house and spend zero dollars when possible. This mantle was no exception. My trusty ol’ sunburst mirror has been around forever, cycled in and out of my decorations, ready to be called in at a moment’s notice to make any empty wall spot feel happy. It’s been living in storage for a few months so it’s happy to see the light of day.

Hydrangeas = Happiness producers. The green pumpkin came from TJ Maxx last fall. The pears are vase fillers that I got at a yard sale last year for a buck.

The maroon leaf garland has gold sparkly flecks, and while I love it, it wasn’t sure I was going to use it until this happened:

Whoever was removing the pictures that were on the wall there before –

(Ahem. There’s no way to know who that was.)

– must have gotten a little overeager and pulled off part of the wall. They probably didn’t mean to do it and must have decided to quickly camouflage it with that leaf garland. But this is all speculation.

The apothecary jar and green apples are long-ago TJ Maxx finds, and the little white vase I found at Goodwill is full of berries I picked from the Heavenly Bamboo in my yard.

Now that there’s autumnal goodness happening on my mantle, I’m thinking chocolate chip pumpkin bread might be in my near future…

Have you made any updates for fall? What’s your favorite part of the season?



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Comments

  1. It’s so pretty! I love your fall mantle! My favorite part of this season is the anticipation of the holiday season. And I love how warm and cozy the house looks when it’s decorated for fall. Thanks for making me crave chocolate chip pumpkin bread….I may have to make a run to the grocery store for some pumpkin!

  2. LOVE IT! So fresh and clean but still perfect for fall. Great job!

  3. I love your fall mantle… but you had me at chocolate and pumpkin!
    Hope your baking enough chocolate chip pumpkin bread to share.

  4. I love the mantle and I love it that you didn’t spend any money. 🙂
    I think I need to invest in a place with a mantle…a little one bedroom apartment doesn’t give me much space for creative mantles like this one.

  5. Hydrangeas DO = happiness. They are my all-time favorite flower EVER. Your mantle looks great and I especially love that you used stuff you already had! I haven’t done any fall decorating because my living/dining room are still in a state of flux AND I’m about to repaint the whole space. Double bummer. Maybe by next fall I’ll have it together…doubtful…but maybe.
    Also, my heart skipped a beat at that gorgeous tree. I’ve always wanted to go on vacation just to see the autumnal leaf change. In TX we typically go from green to brown. Occassionally you’ll see some lovely colors on the trees but it’s rare. I would sit under that tree allllll day. 🙂 Yay for fall!!!

  6. I love the fall season! The trees look beautiful and I have a great excuse to wear all my favorite coats!

    Your fireplace mantle looks great! I love how you created interest using different heights and texture. The sunburst mirror is another bonus! Love it!

    Have a great week, Kelly!

    Jessie
    http://www.mixandchic.com

  7. Ooo! Ooo! I’m raising my hand too!! 🙂

    I’m trying to savor every aspect of fall that I can because it comes and goes so quickly here…

    I wish we had a mantle. Instead, the island in my kitchen becomes my changing-decor-spot.

    I found a recipe through Pinterest for pumpkin spice latte… I think I’m gonna have to make me some. 🙂 It’s one of those afternoons…

    • Was it the crockpot recipe? I tried it and it didn’t work for me. 🙁 Bummer! If it works for you, let me know and I’ll give another try, because I REALLY wanna know how to make that stuff!

  8. Great fall mantel. I don’t change mine up, maybe I should!

  9. chocolate chip pumpkin bread, you say? count me in. and oh yes, i was jumping up and down with my hand raised, too, to get in on the fall lovin’. my faaavorite time of year, because of the gorgeous colors of the leaves. i am so glad your chic mantel uses those glorious colors. gorgeous!

    and you had me cracking up with that comment about the wallpaper…woopsie!

  10. Those really are va-va-voom colors — I love how they contrast with your beautiful blue walls. So pretty.

  11. Great mantel. Thanks for dropping by and checking out my mantel.

  12. haha I was wondering what happened to the holes from the pictures!! The fall mantle looks great though – very good job!

  13. I love the mirror! And all the natural beauty and color looks so crisp against the blue background. Just made banana bread today myself. something about fall and winter make me want to bake!
    :)Heidi

  14. This is gorgeous! I love that mirror. It’s perfect with Fall decor but also so versatile!

  15. So pretty! I’m lame and don’t do much in the way of holiday decorating, except a little at Christmas. Maybe I will decorate with pumpkin bread, instead? Would that work? 🙂

  16. I love your mantle and it will have to be my fall fix because I”m packing and sadly will not be decorating (unless you count the cardboard chic look decorating). In the continuation of our long distance mind reading marathon we have going, I also replaced the oil with applesauce and I used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat. I guarantee we could share a brain.

  17. This looks great. I love the transformation (especially what you did to cover up the oopsie). It definitely motivates me to try and “season” up my decorations. Do you have specific storage space for seasonal decorations?

    • We do have a giant attic that (confession) I’ve never actually entered. My husband is in charge of storing everything, and I like it that way. 🙂

  18. Kelly I adore your mantle, it is so elegant and I love repurposing what you already have!

    I have hooked up with Julia’s Party as well!

    xoxo
    Karena

    Art by Karena

  19. Lindy@ItsyBitsyPaper says:

    This is awesome. I hope you will link up to my Wickedly Creative Halloween Ideas Party.

    http://www.itsybitsypaperblog.com/2011/09/wickedly-creative-halloween-ideas-linky.html

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  1. […] View Along The Way  decorated an elegant yet simple fall mantel. […]

  2. […] A few carefully placed dried leaves and seasonal fruit add color, texture and height to this classic mantle from View Along The Way. […]

  3. […] A few carefully placed dried leaves and seasonal fruit add color, texture and height to this classic mantle from View Along The Way. […]

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