Decor: Fireplace Mantel

We are officially moved and settled into the new place! I am planning on doing a little photo shoot and (maybe) a video tour of the house next week. We finally have most of our photos, curtains, etc. set up so I feel like it's presentable :)

Until then, I wanted to share my latest decor obsession: our fireplace mantel! Our fireplace was one of the major selling features of the house to me, and I knew I would have a lot of fun decorating the mantel for holidays. To me, that makes it feel more like 'home'.

When we first moved in, I wasn't really into fall-mode yet, so I decorated it with different sized frames and some floral arrangements, to keep it contemporary and chic.

Please excuse the blurriness. Cell phone cameras...so hit and miss sometimes!
I got the mirror at HomeGoods for $30 and I was ecstatic when I found it. It was on clearance for some reason, and one just like it was the next row over and it was $75. Score!
We already had the frames from our art wall in the last apartment, so I just tried to arrange them in a balanced fashion.

...fast forward to three days later, and I had the fall itch! Leaves started to fall and it was 44 degrees that morning, so I was definitely feeling in the spirit to start decorating for autumn. I went to the Dollar Store to try and get inspired, since I didn't really know what feel I was going for. Knowing that I wanted to incorporate Halloween, but still make it autumn-y, I thought pumpkins worked for both as well as leaves and branches. I managed to spend $20 on a bunch of small pumpkins (carve-able!), faux leave garland, spiderwebs, plastic gourds, some spooky rats and a crow, a little skeleton man for our door as well as one for our mantel and some glass vases to use for acorns, etc. I have yet to fill the vases with acorns or other autumn-themed items, but improvised and cut some branches from the tree in our backyard that had leaves that were changing color.

Cute, right? I made the bats by printing out a silhouette photo from Google Images and cutting them out. I stuck them up with double-sided tape. Easy peasy! I think I might add some more to fill in the space above the mirror, but I haven't decided.

The 'Boo' wooden sign was from last year's Halloween decor, seen here. I found a few spooky printables on Pinterest (the 'Keep Calm' and black cat) and put them into frames we already had from our art wall.  I already had the photo of the old oak tree (behind the crow) and I thought it worked. I really love how it turned out.

To transition to autumn/Thanksgiving, I think it will be an easy replacement of turkeys and printables. Maybe a Thanksgiving bunting? Meanwhile, my Scentsy has gone to fall scents - I currently have Clove and Cinnamon in. Totally sets the mood, even though the weather is being stubborn and is 82 degrees out as I type. Come soon, fall weather! 

Thanks for stopping by! Again, I hope to have photos up soon for all of you that have asked for them..thank you for being so patient! :)

xo,

Kelsey