A Cozy Hearth
Today (2016) I decided to decorate our mantel for fall. I love our fireplace!! Since our house did not come with a fireplace, we built our own. A friend who is a designer suggested the overall design to incorporate an antique carved piece that was given to us. It was one of our more challenging projects, but it turned out well and we are proud of it. I want to point out a couple of details that we considered important: first, we made the mantel wide enough so we had room to add accessories. We also included electric outlets on both sides of the mantel. And, last, we built up the hearth to have extra seating, if needed, and of course, another place to accessorize.
I started with a blank mantel, and then hauled out all my accessories that might possibly “work”. My first step when decorating this mantel was to lay out a garland of greenery; in this case, a garland of leaves from—where else—Hobby Lobby. Then I wound a string of LED candy corn lights into it.
Next I “tried” focal points to see how I liked them. I made this cute little scarecrow years ago, and I still love it. But that didn’t work, so I put a large pumpkin in the center and one of my ceramic scarecrows, made years ago in a ceramics class, on each end. I do love these little guys, but that didn’t work for me either.
So I moved that larger of the two scarecrows to the center of the mantel and then began arranging pumpkins around it. After much trial and error, I finally had an arrangement that suited my eye. When I was satisfied with the arrangement, I added candlesticks. I like the height they add and I like lighting them when we have guests. There is just something about candlelight—.
And last came the finishing touches of greenery tucked in where needed, and the tall corn-like stalks behind the candles, next to the mirror. Then I carried the theme down to the hearth, using the left over pumpkins. Now all that’s needed is a cozy fire in the fireplace and we are all set for those brisk fall days.