Celebrate fall with the best mantel you have ever created! Bring in the bounty the season inside using green cuttings from your garden to create a beautiful fall mantel that is easy, stylish and fresh.
Fall is when we really start decorating our homes for the upcoming season of warm welcomes and gathering people we love around our fireplace. I know it’s when I feel the inspired to create pleasing decorations for my home and I usually start with my mantel! A mantel is the perfect canvas to create a beautiful design element for the season. If you don't have a mantel, this will work wonderfully on any horizontal surface, a shelf, your buffet, your entrance hall table.
WELCOME TO MONDAY MORNING BLOOMS!
HAPPY MONDAY! This Monday, Mary, Pam and I are doing something crazy, we're creating arrangements without any flowers at all! There are so many times that flowers aren't available, or you don't have any flower money left in your budget. Especially during fall, green leaved branches, or other clippings from your garden will give you a fabulous effect, without flowers! Whatever your own personal style might be, including natural elements that you clip from your garden is a fresh, timeless look that always looks amazing.
Not everything has to be fresh - if you can't find enough cuttings to your liking - I've been known to sneak in a few glorious faux here and there! Gleaning interesting branches or cuttings from your garden or your neighborhood {ask permission if needed please!} is such a great way to stretch your decorating budget. My French Country Natural Mantel is easy to do, and costs nothing...how wonderful is that?!
For this fall mantel, I used a few eucalyptus branches I cut from a tree on our street in front of our house, some ivy from the back garden, and silver sheen cuttings from the front garden. Then I raided the vegetable and fruit bin in our fridge for my "accents" to add a little fun.
HERE ARE THE STEPS FOR CREATING A NATURAL FALL MANTEL.
1. DECIDE ON THE BACKDROP.
Every mantel needs a backdrop to set the stage. A backdrop fills in the space between the mantel and the ceiling, which in many homes today is quite high. I love my antique French Mirror that hangs above my mantel, it reflects the lights in our French chandelier at night. To be honest with you, I usually don't have the time or energy to change it out for something else. BUT....there are so many things that could be the backdrop for your mantel arrangement - a large painting, a large clock, an antique French bread board, really, the sky is the limit.
2. CHOOSE DECORATIVE ELEMENTS THAT YOU LOVE.
When you decorate with things you love, you can't help but design something beautiful. I use our antiques in every season here at home. Sure, I might pull out the brown French antique glass and the paisleys during fall, but I stay true what I love, I use our everyday objects for all the seasons {and holidays too} and just embellish them a little. For this mantel, I used these marvelous antique French apothecary jars and bottles to display the bevy of green branches from the garden.
3. VARY THE HEIGHT.
One of the most basic design "rules" of decorating is to vary the height of your decorative objects. You want your eyes to travel up and down over objects differing in height, it is the most pleasing, and also the most interesting. The jars and bottles I used for this mantel are different heights, and I put three on them on an antique book for an added layer.
4. USE DIFFERENT TEXTURES.
Texture is design's best friend, using different textures in your home is the secret weapon of beautiful decorated rooms. This is where branches and leafy green clippings really shine, they all have different textures! The little seedpods on the seeded eucalyptus really stand out amongst all those silvery leaves, the ivy has a totally different color and texture all together.
5. THROW IN SOMETHING FUN!
After looking at my arrangement, I still felt it could use a little something. Something unexpected, and fun! {I'm a huge fan of fun} The three white pumpkins are "expected", and the pears I added were fun, but not fun enough. I looked in our vegetable bin and saw these baby eggplants - yes! There is something cute about their plump smallness, and that deep rich aubergine color is always a winner. And your antiques like to have fun - they've survived over 100 years and are up for seeing something unexpected and amusing. : )
The antique French glass apothecary jars and bottles are always an enchanting addition to your home decor, simply because they are so versatile!
{ SHOP OUR LATEST FRENCH ANTIQUES HERE > }
Be Sure to visit the inspiring posts from my friends Mary and Pam...and please keep our beloved Shirley in your prayers!
and me, LIDY at FrenchGardenHouse
Our Autumn Floral Collection has launched!
I wish the most beautiful fall week ahead! Thank you for joining us today- see you soon with lots more autumn inspiration!
28 comments
Love the mantel and you had me at those gorgeous antique glass bottles perfectly adorned with foliage!! I love how you added “fun” to the mantel. The mantel seems to dance with the joy of Fall. Thank you for all of this beautiful inspiration Lidy! Missing my MMB friends!
Thank you Bonnie~ I am so blessed when you visit me. And thank you so much for praying for our dearest Shirley!! xoxo
Thank you so much Theresa….I hope you bring some fall foliage and branches inside…and have fun decorating your mantel!
Thank you so much Shannon! That amber glass is so pretty when the light shines through it, isn’t it? Happy week to you!!
Linda, thank you so much. I am so excited for you that you found an antique armoire of your very own!!Once she is home, you will love it even more. Thank you too, for your kindness, I cherish your comments always. xo
Thank you so much, Alice, I covet every prayer for our darling friend and her battle. xo
That’s a fun mantle. Unusual but fun and attractive. Thank you for reminding us of sweet Shirley that is going through treatment. I will be praying for her.
As always I love your decorating approach because it is more refined, elegant and unique. I appreciate your decorating tips and how you love to add that pop of “fun” to your designs. Your mantel is beautiful and I couldn’t help but notice the stunning wood armoire that you bought on your vacation this year. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it on your post. I just came back from a girls trip to CA and found an incredible similar piece with beveled mirrors on the front in a store that supports the American Cancer Society. I do have to have it shipped home to Oregon which will be an investment but something similar here would have cost a bundle more. I cannot tell you how excited I am to receive it and seeing yours just added to my smiles today. Thank you for your wonderful posts and lovely flower arranging!
I love everything about your mantel! Those apothecary bottles are the perfect color for fall! The greens and gourds and baby eggplants are perfect! What a delight!
Lucky you, Pattie! I love them, and I’m sure yours are wonderful, especially since they came from your Mom.