Neutral Fall Mantel Decor

Welcome to another fun Pinterest Challenge, hosted by Cindy from County Road 407! Are you ready to start decorating for fall yet? If so, it’s your lucky day! I’m sharing my neutral fall decor for the mantel today, and several other talented bloggers have also linked up with their own fall decor ideas!

If you’re stopping by from Thistle Key Lane, welcome! Michelle always has such pretty decor.

If you haven’t heard about the Pinterest Challenge before, here’s how it works: Several different bloggers take the same photo, and create something similar that will work in their own homes, and with their own style. It’s so fun to see all the different interpretations of the same photo!

You can see some of my past Pinterest Challenge posts here:

• Summer Table with Glass Bottle Centerpiece
• Strawberry Crumble Bars
• A Christmas Basket
• Spring Kitchen Decor
• Birdhouse Spring Decor
• A Traditional Spring Table Vignette
• DIY Burlap & Ribbon Valentine Wreath

Our inspiration photo this month comes from Janelle Trinette. I love the way her mantel is beautiful, but also “do-able”. She uses simple elements that many of us probably already have around the house, and brings them together for a cohesive arrangment for her fall mantel.

As I set out to create my own fireplace mantel inspired by Janelle’s, I had two goals:

• Create a neutral fall decor mantel with muted fall colors
• Not spend any money, using only things I already had around my home

My Neutral Fall Mantel Decor

For this Pinterest Challenge, I decided to decorate the fireplace mantel in our three-season porch, because we spend a lot of our time our here during the cooler fall months.

Most of our home, including this porch, is decorated in various shades of gray, cream, ivory, and taupe. I like being able to use this neutral backdrop to incorporate seasonal colors throughout the year.

While I do love fall colors, I’m not a big fan of the super bright oranges, and much prefer more muted autumnal colors, so that’s what I used for this neutral fall mantel decor.

Fall Flowers in a Glass Jar

Like Janelle, I used a glass vase to hold some fall-colored flowers. For mine, I chose a glass urn from an antique store that I originally bought to hold wine corks. I ended up using something else for the corks, so now this urn works well to hold my faux florals in neutral fall tones.

Lantern

The large lantern on the opposite side of the mantel is a recent estate sale find. I’m only using one lantern here, but I purchased them as a matched set of very heavy solid brass and glass, for only $20 for the pair.

I love decorating with lanterns— they are so versatile and can be used for every season/holiday.

I particularly love using my lanterns with flameless candles. THESE are my favorites, because they automatically come on/off each night with a built-in timer, and create such a cozy fall feeling.

Candlesticks & Pumpkins

I used 3 brass candlesticks that came from a thrift store years ago. Although they aren’t as tall as I’d like for this arrangement, I do love how the brass tones work in my muted fall decor. To raise one a bit higher, I just tucked a couple of wood slice coasters under one, which also adds visual interest and texture.

I have several mini faux pumpkins in various shades of ivory and white, so I used a few of them to stack on top of the candlesticks, and place along the mantel.

Fall Sign

I didn’t have a large fall sign like Janelle used, so I instead added my small pumpkin patch sign, along with this glass flower press picture I got months ago from the Target Dollar Spot. I pressed a faux fall leaf in between the glass. Layering these two smaller signs helps add some dimension to the mantel.

Pumpkin Coffee Table Centerpiece

I recreated a similar look to Janelle’s coffee table by layering my favorite Magnolia circular wood tray, with a tree slice that we used in our wedding centerpieces. A wood bead garland, faux leaves, and a monogrammed pumpkin finish it off.

Texture & Dimension

Since I only had small fall signs to work with, I needed something to add a bit more height to my mantel. I layered my rectangular tobacco basket behind the candlesticks, which served not only for height, but more texture, too.

When you’re working with neutral tone-on-tone decor, texture becomes very important for visual interest. The bricks on the fireplace add a lot of texture, but so do the tobacco basket, the wood bead garland on the urn, the flowers, and even the scattered leaves. Placing all of the items at varying depths along the mantel adds dimension, rather than lining them all up straight.

Cozy Factor

Here is the screened porch lit up for nighttime. The “cozy factor” is important when decorating for fall, don’t you think? The fireplace, the flameless candles that come on automatically when it gets dark, and even the little string of fairy lights I tucked down inside the crock, under my hydrangeas. All of these things make for a comfortable and cozy place to relax on crisp and cool fall evenings.

If you need some more fall decor inspiration, here are some more posts you might want to check out:

• DIY Burlap & Ribbon Fall Wreath
• Make Your Own Fall Porch Sign
• Fall Front Porch

Next, I hope you’ll pop over to Everyday Edits to see Laura’s lovely fall mantel. And of course, don’t forget to visit all the other beautiful fall decor linked up below.

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