Decorating The Mantel For Fall

I’m going to start this post with a disclaimer – this is my mother’s house, my mother’s mantel. Not mine.

So why do I feel it necessary to state this disclaimer, you might ask. Well, because there are pros and cons when decorating for your mother.

Con #1 – She wanted me to keep this painting up above the fireplace.

Now, granted, I’m the one who painted it years ago so I should be flattered.

But she wanted to keep it mainly because it reminds her of our family resort, Echo Chalet. And my dad, who has been gone 11 years now.

How could I say no to that?

Con #2 – I only got to shop her house this year. No Michael’s, Walmart, or even the thrift store. Nope. Surely we must have enough fall stuff for the mantel.

Um, I guess a tall vase or basket full of Red Delicious apples is out of the question?

Pro #1 – We had some burlap remnants from another project so I made this easy fall leaf mantel scarf.

Pro #2 – I found these lights with grapevine balls in an old box. Score!

Pro #3 – There’s this weird little cubby above the fireplace with an electrical outlet.

Okay, so I was raised in this house and never thought much about that cubby. Until this year.

What is up with that? It’s too small in scale for the fireplace and mantel. And a big, ugly electrical outlet? Puhleese.

So that’s Con #3.

No. Wait – it’s Pro #3 ‘cause I didn’t need an extension cord for the little lights.

Confused? Me, too.

But I kept looking around her house, trying to find anything that could work – baskets, no. Frames? No.

I did find some fake fruit. They were the right colors so that’s another Pro.

I could only find a few fake fall leaves though. And the leaves on the trees haven’t turned yet.

That would be a Con except that I just clipped apart one of her fake greenery bushes to fill in the gaps.

Now I’ve totally lost track of the pros and cons. Oh well.

Candles, twinkle lights, burlap, faux fruit, faux leaves. It still needed something . . .

Aha! Twigs! Nice twigs. Twigs that I climbed over a fence to snag for her last Christmas.

Con #whatever – don’t take all my pretty twigs out of my pretty vase!

Excuse me, Mother. I risked life and limb to gather those twigs for you last year. {ok – I exaggerate. A bit. I did pull something or other climbing over the fence.}

Yep – the twigs give the mantel a little larger scale and add to the whole rustic feel – even with fake fruit and fake leaves.

Pro #whatever – my mom was really happy last night when her mantel was all aglow with the twinkle lights and the fake hurricane. We don’t even have to light the candles.

Which means I can sleep a whole lot better, not worrying about my mother knocking over a lit candle. Add that to the Pro column.

Last and final Pro of decorating my mother’s mantel – she’s my mom! She’s still my biggest fan and likes almost everything I paint or decorate.

That ‘pro’ outweighs any con any day of the week.