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It’s fall, y’all! …or at least that’s what I keep seeing around! It’s funny moving from Virginia to South Carolina (a move I couldn’t be happier with) because it’s just about October and it’s still in the 80s/90s this week and there’s not a sign of a leaf-changing tree in sight (not that there are too many of those, anyway). I’ve told the mister that I will divest with some of the holiday/seasonal decor items that I don’t really need/use. One such pile is the ‘fall-themed’ garland. I used to put it around our front door, which made sense, as it was red, yellow, and orange leaves and there were some trees that had a similar look about them. I had it up the past two years here, but I suspect it just looked silly.

I see people carefully placing pumpkins (real ones, bless their hearts), in front of their houses, and as sure as we know people will still be complaining about the heat, they’re going to rot and rot hard in the sun. So, I’m adjusting our fall decor, with a heavy focus on those fine items that I can stuff in a bin when I’m ready to deck my halls for Christmas (which should yield some good posts- do you have a hookup on preserved garland? I’m on the hunt!).

I was on a visit with a friend of mine, who absolutely loves fall…the way I love summer, and we saw that Michael’s had the most precious green-themed fall stuff, so with my changing theme in the back of my mind, I decided to update some our ‘fall look’. I really

was a fan of the M with the bird on it (it was around $4) though it’s not technically a ‘fall’ item, and both pumpkins have gotten places of honor around the house (stacked

was about $6, the mint & gold was $5). This year, I’m 100% on the ‘less is more’ bandwagon, and truth be told, I think it suits. I

wanted to get the mantle (over the fireplace that won’t have its pilot light lit for a few more months) looking a little more autumnal, but I didn’t want to spend a whole mess of time on it, so here’s what happened (and I’m calling it Fall Mantle in Ten Minutes):

Ingredients:

1. Tall glass jars that will fit your candles (see #2)
2. Battery-Operated Candles with timers (I mean, because why not)
3. Candlesticks & real candles (that I never light)- you could really skip this one
4. Autumn Leaves (artificial, of course)
5. Gourds & Little pumpkins (various colors- mine are fake because see #2 above)

I started with the glass jars on the mantle and set the battery candles in them (I use these rechargeable batteries, but I got them at Costco). I arranged them on the ends of the mantle. Next, I scattered the leaves around (I bought mine at Pottery Barn a long time ago, but happily I found the same set on Etsy), fishing out as many green ones as I could find and displaying them prominently. Finally, I fluffed the leaves and added the gourds and mini pumpkins (the link isn’t the exact ones I have, but they’re close) along the top of the leaves. I use fake gourds and stuff, mostly because I can pack them back in a bag and I don’t have to worry about them rotting on my mantle. If you wanted to use real ones, go for it! I bet they would look far better than mine.

I have a couple of other (fake) pumpkins on the front porch and I’ll add the fall wreath in a week or so, which will round out my fall decor sprinkle. I don’t add Halloween items to the mix until a week or less before Halloween. I love Halloween, but I can’t stand to look at all of the ‘stuff’ for that long…I feel like fall decor is so much more harmonious to look at. I’ll update y’all on the Halloween look, although that likely needs a good update, too. I hope this helps jumpstart your own fall decor creativity.

I’d love to see what you end up doing– tag me at @acruchypeach on Instagram, on Facebook, or add a comment to this post on Facebook!

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