Our Fall Mantel + Decorating Tips

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I spent mine with this girl and this one here in Michigan. We went to an apple orchard (and drank the most delicious cider around), I assisted Ashley photographing a wedding, and did some exploring in a cute down town area of the town. It was so fun to spend the weekend with such sweet friends. I'm still on vacation here for two more days and can't wait to share more of my trip. What'd you do this weekend?

Today we're diving fully into Autumn with our Fall mantel (I think I settled on that spelling of the word. Thoughts?! It's always spelled differently!)  We kept it simple and did some stacked books, white pieces, touches of mercury glass (and you'll see some touches of gold in a DIY tomorrow!), owls, candles, and the cute Fall orange hue. After the images below, I'm dishing on my tips to style a well-balanced mantel. Enjoy!

(sneak peek of tomorrow's DIY project!)

Lantern: Pier 1 Imports, Mercury Glass Owl: West Elm, Candlesticks: thrift store, Chalkboard Print: Dear Lillie, White Square Artwork: Pottery Barn, Bird: Pottery Barn, Owl: Home Goods, Clock: Vintage.

Tips for your mantel:

1. Height is key! Ground the mantel with something in the middle and work off of that piece. For us, it's this white square artwork hung above the mantel. Then, I layered that with other items of varied heights. The white bird and candle sticks are the two tallest items (at opposing sides of the mantel), filled in with shorter pieces in between.

2. Balance with color. Most pieces are white, but are anchored with two items of a rich, dark wood-- the clock (my great grandmother's clock) and the frame on the chalkboard print.  Putting these two pieces on either side of center makes the mantel feel balanced, also pulling in browns from the brick fireplace.

3. Decorate using vignettes.  What a confusing word, right?! Really, all it means is decorate in groups.  I will explain our vignettes from left to right.  The lantern with the candle and the mercury glass owl serve as the first, next is the candle stick pairing, then comes the chalkboard print layered on top of the white piece hanging on the mantel, along with the pumpkins (in a set of three-- very important to decorate in odd numbers!)  The bird, owl and clock are the next grouping and the books with the jar of tangerines is the final pairing. I call these vignettes because they should be placed closer to one another, forming a relationship between the items. This helps you avoid the items looking randomly placed on your mantel. You don't want your decor in a straight line across the mantel!

4. Every mantel needs: texture (candle sticks, picture frame, white square artwork), something fresh (either flowers, a plant or bush, or in our case, tangerines!), and some books.

Hopefully these tips helped a bit. Did you start decorating for Autumn yet? Do share your links to your mantel below! Come back tomorrow for a gold DIY project.

Happy Monday:)
xoxo

PS. There are still a few advertising spots open for October if you're interested in promoting your blog or business! Email me at hello@michaelanoelledesigns(dot)com for more info.