Fall Mantle

Wow!!  Am I ever late for the party!!!  September has come and gone and I am just now beginning to decorate for fall.  I'm usually stalking the garden centers just dying for the first pumpkins and buying mums way before the weather permits. 

At least the living room mantle is done.  Let's take a look.

The center is a grouping of several sizes of grapevine pumpkins with some real gourds and faux bittersweet.

I bought the gourds from the Amish in Pennsylvania when I visited my mom this week.

On the left side, I placed this arrangement that I've used all over the house.

I elevated it with this stack of old leather books and a ledger.

These horns are filled with faux ferns, flowers, feathers and artichokes.

On the right side, is an arrangement with a birch bark candle from Pottery Barn, a faux topiary.......

and this great antique French doorstop.  I scooped my daughter's sister-in-law at a flea market for this.  It has a very little bit of blue paint on the peasant's blouse, but the dog is what clinched the deal for me.  Jan at The French Tangerine just showed us this same doorstop in her blog here.  Hers is brass and sits on her kitchen counter.  

Nothing exceptional here, but I enjoyed the nod to this beautiful season.  Fall decorations actually stay up longer than even Christmas........IF you get them out early!!!!

One thing I never change here is this oil painting by Eugene Paparocki.  It's the most valuable piece of art in our home and a wonderful memory of a very special time.

I'm planning a post on this mantle.  It is probably the one improvement in our remodeling that made the most difference in this home.

There's a little peek at a few more decorations in the corner.  Yes I have promised to do a before and after of the living room, and I promise that it is coming. 

But tonight,

I'm simply celebrating the fact that I am finally finding the time to usher in fall.  Goodbye summer, goodbye flip flops.  I'm mad for pumpkins now.

I'm linking up for the following parties:

Tablescape Thursday

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Home Sweet Home

http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

Show and Tell Friday

http://myromantichome.blogspot.com/

Inspiration Friday

http://www.atthepicketfence.com/

Fridays Unfold

http://www.stuff-and-nonsense.net/

Favorite Things

http://bargainhuntingwithlaurie.blogspot.com/

Seasonal Sundays

http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/