Fall Mantel Change-Up

via http://freespiritart.com 
I have a thing for birds and pheasants are one of my favorites.

I decided after looking at Kim's mantle over at Savvy Southern Style and then checking out the mantle party at TLC that it was time to change mine up. I've never been much for a lot of seasonal decor when it comes to accessories. Probably would be if I just had more time to play with it. Come to think of it, I did used to change up the mantle some before kids! Shame on me. Anyway, I need to get back to it again. So, I started hunting for stuff to dress it up.

The stick theme is really "sticking" with me lately (OMG, that was lame!) after the chandelier change-up so I headed out to find some great textural pieces in the yard. I tried taking away my dried grass, but it just looked so bare! One day, I plan to tackle that massive space over the mantle and add some architectural detailing, but until then ....I digress. I decided to keep the grass with the sticks and liked the look. It reminds me of the salt marshes.

Two old apothecary jars I have had for years were then pulled out. They were filled with "Mighty Mac" vegetable bowtie pasta to fill the base and hold the grass/sticks in place. Perfect fall colors!

I'm always hitting the grocery isles for textural and colorful items!

Perfect! Reminds me of fall leaves (in a yummy way).
Scottie Dog stood there eagerly waiting on all the pieces I kept dropping as I filled the jars:)

Little guy and I hit up the grocery store for some ornamental pumpkins as well. We even rounded up the ones that grew in the garden this summer from the seeds of last years in the compost. Can't beat free!

It needed a little more UMPH (technical term!)....something was missing. Oh, I know! Pheasants are so beautiful and are synonymous with fall to me, so I added some fathers feathers to the grass and sticks to complete the arrangements.

via http://www.faireandfowl.com 

I went looking for something nice and chippy to go over the mantle in place of the mirror (which is too small for that space, but it's just had to do for the time being). Something like this would have made my day, but no such luck:

via Southern Accents
I'm not quite sure why this image decided to rotate on me, but it looks the same sideways - so I'm leaving it as is. If it bugs you, turn your head and look at it from that angle:)

Would you believe none of my usual thrift store haunts had ANYTHING?! What's up with that? We really need a good large scale architectural salvage store around here. Hmmmm.... Anyway, I'm going to be on the lookout for a large window like this. I have plans for it when I finally find it (cue the crazy laugh...because WHEN am I going to find time to do anything else until soccer season is over?!).

So, since there was no chippiness to be had, and I didn't want to spend any money, I went digging in the cupboard and found this pie dish that hubby's grandmother gave me not longer as they were moving into a retirement home. I took the lid off and found a great pie dish in the perfect color to compliment the pumpkins.

The inherited pie dish.

Mix it all together and you get this!

My simple fall mantle makeover. I especially love the dried grass, sticks and fathers.

Nothing major - just a little tweaking for autumn. I like to try and follow the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple, Sweetie!) because otherwise it can start to feel cluttered. Clutter makes me twitch... and I've got enough twitches going on already around here!

Happy Fall, Ya'll  - as all us southern girls would say!

linking up to:
http://theletteredcottage.net/ideas-for-fall/