"Le" Fall Mantel ...

Happy Tuesday!  One day closer to the weekend .... yay!  It's still so dreary here (even though we *really* need the rain)!  This icky weather has *forced* me to stay inside and work some more on my Fall decor.  Darn!

Well, I thought I'd share our great room mantel (or mantle) today.  Here it is, all decked out for the Fall season (feel free to click on pictures to enlarge).  I'm still so happy with its *new* look:

You see, pictured below is what it looked like last year (and, please excuse the metallic background behind the mirror ... that was RL Metallics Paint/Golden Candlesticks, and whenever a flash bounced off of it from a camera, it would "light up."  Crazy).  While we thought our fireplace surround was "nice," it looked like every other mantel in our neighborhood (with the arched cutout above).  I really wanted to "beef it up," and set apart from everyone else's. 

So, I found a few inspirational pictures ... drew up a sloppy sketch, and a friend of ours (who has an amazing talent when it comes to woodworking) brought my chicken scratch drawing to life.  We love it!  It's so much more fun to decorate, as the mantel is not only wider, it's also deeper, so it can hold more of my "stuff" ... yippee!

I was determined to hang beaded garland this year, but I couldn't find any.  So, I bit the bullet and decided to make it myself (yikes).  I found pretty wooden beads at Michael's and simply strung them onto picture frame wire.  Voila ... super easy, coming from a NON-talented crafter!  (lol) 

I shared my pumpkin/guord filled hurricanes last week, but here they are again:

Love the muted pumpkin/leaf garland I found at Hobby Lobby! 

I tucked some feathers in for fun:

As for the floral arrangement ... nothing fancy ... I just threw some sprigs with tiny leaves and tiny rust colored flowers into a vase I wasn't using ... tried to keep it simple:

Of course, I just *had* to add feathers and tucked some leftover burlap garland around the base of the florals.  It looks like the arrangement is wearing a burlap scarf ... lol:

And, I gotta give a little shout out to the *oh-so-pretty* coppery/bronze-y container that I found at, none other than, Home Goods!  And, even though we have a gas fireplace, I decided to fill the bucket up with logs ... just thought it might add to the rustic feel I'm going after this year:

Before I go, I leave you with how the mantel looks at night, all lit up:

Oh, and, *speaking* of all lit up, I can't wait to share my Fall tree with you!  Yes, that's right folks ... I said Fall *ter-ee!*  I've.gone.mad!

Thanks for stopping by,

I'm linking up with:

The Nester's Fall Mantel Party

Hooked on Houses for the Fall Open House Party

Falling Up for the Fall Linky Party

DebbieDoos for the Before and After Partay

Funky Junk Interiors for SNS

Southern Hospitality