I’m so excited to show you all my Fall Fantel for this year! In case you’re just joining us and haven’t been around for previous incarnations of my Fantel, we use that term to mean a fake mantel. Cause I don’t have a real one yet, but should I be left out on account of that? I thought not.
Here’s what I have going on for this year!
All kinds of complicated ideas were floating around in my head for my Fantel this year. What really happened is that one day the weather was perfectly Fall-ish, I had a little bit of free time, and I wanted Fall in the livingroom now.
Progress needed to be made right then and there and now dilly-dallying of any sort would be permitted.
I started playing around with things I had on hand, and what do you know? It stuck. This is almost always the way it happens, despite all of my grand plans.
I kept up with my tactic of sticking things to the walls (that need to be torn out and replaced anyway eventually) just like I did last year. This time, instead of nailing sticks into the walls, I hot glued on some burlap.
The orange Jack-Be-Littles came from our garden and then white ones I had picked up at the farmer’s market for super cheap. The cornucopia came from Michael’s on clearance a couple of years ago for something like 74 cents. I keep forgetting it in storage and I haven’t had the chance to use it until now. This emergency-perfect-Fall-day decorating situation was just the chance I needed!
Aren’t my new dollar store crows the prettiest? Around here, we get a ton of crows in the Fall and Winter (real ones). People here hate them. They chop down trees to try to get rid of them. They hold crow hunting contests to see who can kill the fatest one. But I kind of love them. Shh! Don’t tell the locals! Oh, oops… I just did. Well, there. I said it. I think they’re pretty!
This underneath part has always bothered me. I never know what to do with it. This time though, I think I got it.
The shutters from on top moved down underneath and I brought in a potted mum (wrapped in more burlap!) and a pumpkin that I meant to go on the front step. It’s so simple, but really almost perfect to me.
I brought in a few of sorta changing leaves from outside in this little zig-zag-twine-clothespins doodad in keeping with the theme of clothespins I seem to have going on this season. This pretty much started when I saw this and I just haven’t been able to stop!
The whole thing was framed by a few extra cornstalks and it was good to go!…er stay.
Do you have a mantel you like to decorate for the seasons or do you just fake it like I do? Either way, there’s always a way to make it work and bring a little extra fun into your room!
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.