Simple Fall Fireplace

We have two fireplaces in our house. One is in our formal living room and works, but we never light a fire in it (to see the recent mantel makeover project in that room, click here). The other is in our family room and it gets used constantly from late fall straight through to early spring. I love the smell of wood burning and look forward to our first fire of the year every fall. Until that happens (which might be soon as the nights are getting chilly around here!) I thought I would dress up the mantel and hearth a bit for the fall season. Let me know what you think of this simple fall fireplace.

The family room is open to our kitchen, so the fireplace figures prominently in the view from both rooms. And since I spend a lot of time in the kitchen (and adjacent laundry room!) I wanted to do something that would make me smile as I folded clothes at the kitchen table or cooked for the hungry beasts in my house. At the same time, the family room is a very casual space – its part TV room, part playroom – so fussy decor wouldn’t work. I opted to pull a bit from what I had and combine it with mums and pumpkins from our local farm stand to keep the color palette decidedly autumn.

I love the vibrancy of bittersweet and the nod to nature. Although these are more practical – faux stems that get reused season to season. No matter, they do their job adding a pop of color against the beige wall. The K, for our last name, was forgotten on a high built-in shelf. So I decided to give it a space front and center for awhile. It added some height, provided a foil for the bittersweet and grounded one end of the mantel.

The lanterns are one of my outdoor staples. I have them on both my front steps and on my deck. A bargain at just $14.99 for the large and $7.99 for the small lantern, you can find them at IKEA (Borrby lantern). Inexpensive enough to have many in various sizes, I pulled a few in from outside to warm our hearth.

The wreath is one that I’ve had for many years, purchased from Home Goods. I small command hook attaches to the mirror each fall to hold first a fall wreath and then a Christmas wreath as winter descends upon us. Maybe this spring I’ll invest in one of those pricey magnolia wreaths so I have something to keep up the rest of the year. Stay tuned.

Aside from pumpkins, nothing says fall to me more than mums. I picked up this large beauty and it fills our wood basket perfectly.

The small tea light candles are an easy DIY project. The glass holders are actually empty yogurt jars. I am slightly obsessed with Yoplait’s new Oui yogurt. It bills itself as “artisinal French style” yogurt and I can tell you, it does not disappoint. If you’ve ever eaten yogurt in Europe, this is what it tastes like. Not the no fat, no sugar, no calorie weird tasting stuff they market to us over here. But I digress. If you enjoy yogurt, it is the bomb. And it comes in these adorable little glass jars. The minute I saw them, I knew I was going to save them and use them for something.