Welcome to my home.

A year ago, if you had walked in through my front door, your gaze would surely have fallen on a very eye-stopping red brick (did I mention RED) brick fireplace. For a while, I lived with it. And then as much as I love the natural stone, I just didn’t love the red. So, without further ado, my fireplace, before and after:

You can’t quite tell in the photo above, but the new color is “weathered sandstone”, a nice neutral tan-beige-ish color. It blends well with our walls and espresso colored furniture.

With a lovely new fireplace which I enjoy looking at daily, I decided I wanted to celebrate the seasons and holidays atop where else..? but my fireplace mantle!

I took it as a personal challenge to decorate my mantle according to the Fall/Autumnal theme by using only items I had in my own house, and not buying a single thing. This sparked a bit of creativity for this very simple mantle-scape. I give  you my fall “mantle-scape”, focusing on nature’s gifts and a brown-orange-green color scheme.

Some of the things I used/re-purposed in a creative fashion would be great decor items for weddings; a centerpiece, welcome table, or other decor!

• Pillar candles wrapped in brown kraft wrapping paper: add a little personality by hole-punching the top and bottom of the paper to create a fun border before wrapping it around the candle! Finish off the look by tying a bow with hemp/jute rope!

• Leaves: Believe it or not, I picked these from a stem I cut from a tree in my backyard! Using the same jute/hemp string, tie on the leaves every 6 inches or so to create a homemade, natural garland. As the leaves brown, they still match the autumnal feel!
• Use extra leaves to decorate small vases.  Incorporate natural rocks, fall-colored bamboo sticks and flowers in fall colors to tie everything together!

I love the simplicity and how it all turned out. Stay tuned… because Christmas is just around the corner!