Welcome dear friends to the Fall Festival Blog Hop! I am honored to be joining Kendra at Joy in Our Home and twenty-three other creative bloggers for this hop. We will be celebrating the beauty and joy of fall by sharing different fall themes each day this week. Today’s theme is mantels!

If you are coming over from my dear friend Stacey’s beautiful blog, Poofing The Pillows, or you are just visiting today, I am so happy to have you here! For this hop I am sharing my simple, vintage French inspired “Welcome Fall Mantel” and a little sneak peak of how I am transitioning to my Halloween mantel. 

 

To welcome fall I have styled a very simple, neutral fall mantel with touches of chic and glam gold. As always I have incorporated my thrifted finds and found vintage treasures. A couple of years ago I bought this little French “welcome” sign on clearance at Jo-Ann Fabric and I really love it. I normally keep the sign in my dining room but I wanted to change things up and use it in the living room on the mantel to welcome my favorite season. Beinvenue automne!

 

This year for early fall I have decorated with lots of yellows and greens to add some pops of color to my every day neutral decor. Since I am an avid vintage and antique collector, our home is full of curated vignettes that are on display here, there and everywhere. To prevent things from looking cluttered and too busy I usually keep the mantel styled simply.  Two vintage brass candlesticks topped with “baby-boo” white mini-pumpkins anchor each side of the mantel while a few vintage and thrifted treasures fill the space in between.

 

This year I decided to try something new by painting my mini-white pumpkins’ stems gold. Just a little acrylic gold paint transformed the pumpkins to give them a bit of gold glam. I love how the gold stems coordinate with the gold in the vintage brass candlesticks.

 

The dining room is adjacent to the living room and the mantel is in clear view from the dining room table, so I often  keep the rooms similarly styled with colors and themes.  For the dining room centerpiece I have used several more mini-white pumpkins with gold stems and wheat displayed on a vintage French style pedestal urn (recent thrift score!)

 

I just love all the pumpkins with gold stems! You can see all the details of my current fall tablescape in my Vintage French Farmhouse Wheat and Pumpkins Tablescape post.

 

 

On the right side of the mantel I have styled a vintage books and vintage brass vignette. I stacked a small brass tray filled with shredded vintage dictionary paper, a white pumpkin and a vintage brass candlestick on top of a trio of vintage books. A single pale sunflower and a few magnolia leaves fill a small vintage brass vase. Mercury glass votive holders add a cozy fall ambiance when lit.

 

 

I used several different shades of gold on the mantel for variety and interest. The gold striped candle holder was a recent $1 yard sale find, and the candle holder is a .50 yard sale find. I painted the plain black candle holder with white chalk paint followed by gold acrylic paint. I distressed it a bit with sandpaper to let just a small bit of the black paint come through. Insta-new glam gold decor!

 

Last week the talented Marty from A Stroll Thru Life shared a guest post here with budget friendly ideas for creating DIY Gold Accessories: Dipped, Dyed and Taped. I have been painting more things gold ever since! In the past I have always used tarnished silver in my fall and Halloween decor but the gold is a fun change.

 

While I adore mantels filled with lots of greenery, leaf garlands and florals, I have found that “less is more” when it comes to our mantel. The mantel itself is 97 years old and I absolutely love the intricate carvings and molding. I usually just style the top of the mantel so the pretty details aren’t covered up. I still wanted some kind of simple leaf garland for the mantel for fall so I made my own using just a few faux leaves and some of my DIY book page maple leaves attached to thin gold wire.

 

 

Touches of gold on the mantel look so “fallish” on days when the living room is filled with warm, golden autumn sunshine.

 

 

 

Lighting the candles makes things seem so cozy and definitely helps create a fall mood.

 

 

 

Welcome October! Since my favorite month has arrived that means it is finally time for little bits of Halloween to very slowly start creeping into the decor! We have had this “Mr. Bones” skeleton for about 10 years and he is always the very first Halloween decoration I put out each year. For now he sits on the mantel to help welcome fall and the transition into the Halloween fun.

 

As I have gotten older I just seem to enjoy general fall decor more than Halloween decorations, so I save the all-out spooktacular decor until about two weeks before Halloween. Mr. Bones is ready for fall with his plaid scarf, and he is neutral enough to be on display for early October until I start really decorating for Halloween. I will share a newly styled “hauntingly beautiful” Halloween mantel for my Halloween home tour later this month.

 

On Friday the Hauntingly Beautiful Decor Link Party begins! Please join me and my co-hosts Angelina of Petite Haus and Larissa Jenkins (IG) for this fun on-going link up from 10/5-10/31. Check back each Saturday at 7:00 p.m. for our weekly party features. If you are looking for classy and elegant Halloween decorating ideas, you can find all of the beautiful link-up from last year’s party here.

 

 

I hope you were inspired by my simple, neutral “welcome fall” mantel with bits of glam gold! To see more of my early fall decor don’t miss my Vintage Cottage Style Early Fall Home Tour.

 

 

Now it’s time to check out the rest of the beautiful mantels on the hop. Next up is City Girl Meets Farm Boy. I can’t wait to see Kelly’s awesome farmhouse fall inspiration!

Don’t forget that the hop continues all week long. You can find the full schedule below.

 

Mantles on Monday

Joy In Our Home | County Road 407 | Poofing the Pillows |

Follow The Yellow Brick Home | citygirlmeetsfarmboy

Tablescapes on Tuesday

The Latina Next Door | My Creative Days | Elizabeth Joan Designs |

The Crowned Goat | Farmhouse Flare Designs

 

Recipes on WednesdayCherished Bliss | Countryside Cravings | Love In My Oven |

Chocolate with Grace | Making It In The Mountains

 

Vignettes on Thursday anderson + grant | DIY Beautify | Timeless Creations |

The Painted Hinge | Rain & Pine

 

Front Porches on FridayLantern Lane Designs | Little Brags | Chatfield Court

Camelot Art Creations | R and R at Home

 

Thank you so much for visiting today, and have a beautiful fall!

Amber

Reader Tip Tuesday A Morning Cup Of Joe Sweet Inspiration The Blogger’s Pit Stop Snickerdoodle Sunday Best Of The Weekend Saturday Sparks Flaunt It FridaysTuesdays At Our Home Reader Tip Tuesday Vintage Charm Wow Us Wednesdays The Scoop Make It Pretty Monday You’re The Star Happiness is Homemade Silver Pennies Sundays Feathered Nest Friday Friday Features Flaunt It Fridays Home Matters Best Of The Weekend Pink Saturday Saturday Sparks Create, Bake, Grow, Gather The Farmhouse Friday Link-Up The Charm Of Home Funtastic Fridays Fridays At The Fire Station Wonderful Wednesdays Waste Not Wednesday Creative Inspirations Keep In Touch Style Showcase  Thursday Favorite Things Share Your Cup Inspire Me Monday  Busy Monday Make Life Pretty Monday Project Inspired Link Party  Celebrate Your Story  Tuesdays at Our Home Reader Tip Tuesday   The Scoop A Stroll Thru Life  Amaze Me Monday   Dishing it Digging It Creative Inspiration Party Sundays At Home Pretty Pintastic Pin Party Friday Feature Creative Inspirations DIY Show Off Sundays At  Home Grace At HomeDagmar’s HomeParty In Your PJ’s