It’s now officially fall as of early this week. If you’re not an early fall decorator (I waited until September) you’re probably thinking that now is the time you should probably start thinking about decorating for fall. Halloween is less than five weeks away. This year has gone so fast, hasn’t it?

Today I’m so excited to share some of my fall mantel decorating ideas. I’ve been playing around with my fall décor the last few weeks and came up with 3 different ways to decorate a fall mantel depending on your style and the time of year–i.e. early fall, closer to Halloween, or around Thanksgiving. Of course, depending on your decorating style, different ideas are going to be more appealing to you and certain looks go better with certain parts of fall. Today I’m sharing 3 different fall mantel looks. 1) A rustic-chic mantel. 2) A gothic Halloween mantel. And 3) A harvest mantel.

 

 

I put all of these together in the hopes of inspiring you and, also, so you can see it’s totally possible to come up with three unique looks using the same mantel. However, you may have noticed that my mantel is not a “mantel” at all. I actually don’t have a mantel! I’ve seen so many pretty faux chic mantels on Pinterest, but for the time being, I use one of two pieces of furniture for my mantel displays. First, I often use the top of my piano to display mantel décor. And second, I use a “buffet” (that’s actually an antique dresser) in my dining room which is what I used to create these three fall mantel decorating ideas.

 

Rustic-Chic Fall Mantel

This neutral, rustic-chic mantel turned out so beautiful. This is something you could display at the beginning of fall before you’re ready to do Halloween decorating. Or, you could keep it up all the way through Thanksgiving. It has a feminine elegance and reminds me of Cinderella’s fairy godmother and what her fall decorations would look like–those pumpkins are magical.

I used only things I already had for this display–besides the pumpkins, of course–those are real. The Victorian silver candlestick came from a thrift store, as did the milk glass vases I used as candlesticks, and the empty frames which I painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint. The greenery came from shrubs in our backyard. Huz was trimming them and I saw potential so I snatched them up. The other items were things I already had and have used in various other displays in the past. This mantel was so easy and I love the neutral, muted tones.

 

Gothic Halloween Fall Mantel

I didn’t have to change up my dining room décor too much for this display. As you may have seen in my post about my Victorian-inspired dining room, I already use empty frames and, in fact, this antique art nouveau candelabra, as part of my regular décor. I love a Victorian-Gothic look and decided on this theme for my second fall mantel. This type of display is perfect for the beginning of October through Halloween, when you really want to get spooky. It reminds me of Whipstaff Manor in the movie, Casper. In past gothic Halloween displays I’ve put skeleton heads on each candle holder on the candelabra but I really wanted to find some black candles this year. Luckily, Michael’s had some! They have everything, right?

All other items used in this display were things I already had from years past. I picked up the black cloth netting and pumpkins at the grocery store, the green pedestal glass bowl and ceramic black cat came from thrift stores, and the skeleton bride sitting on the right was from TJ Maxx several years ago. I wish I could decorate my whole house in this theme! Maybe someday when I have an old Victorian farmhouse, I will.

 

Harvest Fall Mantel

 

This bright and cozy fall mantel screams “harvest!” I feel like I brought pieces of a pumpkin patch into my house and set them up. The different textures from items like the hay bale, pumpkins, and corn husk wreath on the wall pull this entire look together to create a fun display for the end of fall, after Halloween, all the way through Thanksgiving. Of course, if you don’t want to do any specific Halloween display, you could just decorate with some harvest décor and keep it up all season long.

I like to start my displays with some type of backdrop. For this, I used rustic wood wall décor shutters (similar) I picked up at Michaels and a ‘Give Thanks’ sign I found at TJ Maxx. Most of the items in this display were things I didn’t have. I went to TJ Maxx where I got the corn husk wreath, and the pickup truck and as already stated, the ‘Give Thanks’ signs. The faux fall bouquet (similar), hay bale (similar), and big orange pumpkin came from Walmart. And again, the shutters came from Michael’s, as well as the scarecrow (similar).

 

I hope this gave you some inspiration for your own fall mantel decorating. Which mantel is your favorite?

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See my post on feminine fall tablescapes for more fall decor inspiration.