Fall Decor

Lately I've seen a lot of posts out in blogland about fall decor. I am not one to get too seasonally snazzy with my decor, but in our current apartment we have a mantle-- and it has been begging for a little embellishment for a few months now. When we first moved in, I had a mish mash of framed photos and some glass candlesticks on display, but it just wasn't doing anything for me. With such a huge blank wall above the mantle, I knew I needed something with a little height, and, unfortunately, a grad school budget does not permit much in the way of art purchases.

But, on my maiden voyage to Hobby Lobby (another fabulous store we're lacking out west-- kind of like Michael's meets the Marshall's home wares section meets discount furniture store), I found the mirror in the photos below. It was 50% off (can't beat that!) and stained a nice dark wood color that compliments our other furniture and will be in style for years to come. So I was able to justify the purchase. I also found matching dark wood pillar candlesticks from Pottery Barn (again with a 10% coupon for having recently moved), so the look was complete.

Both of these items will be permanent-- not just for fall-- but now that I had my nice mantle decor in place, I couldn't resist adding a little autumnal flare. Enter Central Market. I scooped up some miniature pumpkins and gourds, grabbed a few large branches of bittersweet vine, and voila! I feel like it's quite inspired for about 5 minutes of work!

The whole "mantlescape" (yes, this is a word I recently read in a Ballard Designs catalogue) from a distance. I'm particularly proud of the proportions-- I think the mirror fills up the wall space nicely.

And a closer look at my mini gourds and bittersweet vine.

Happy Fall!

(And, yes, I know this is hard to read without any paragraph breaks. I keep trying to fix it, but Blogger is not cooperating. Any tips on this?)