ANTLERS

 Do you add antlers to your decor?  I do.  Enjoy some of mine. 

Shed antlers in a container in my family room.

SHED ANTLERS COLLECTED IN A CLEAR JAR

I always use them on stacks of books.  I've included Bella.

ANTLERS ON PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS AND OF COURSE MY FAVORITE LAB, BELLA

I turned an old framed oil over and added some antlers.  Rustic + nature.

I'm not sure where this is going yet so it's currently resting on my zebra rug while I decide.

ANTLERS ON FRAMED OIL PAINTING

My neighbor's tree sheds these wonderful curly seed pods.  I combined them with some antlers in an urn.  They were my Fall decor on my porch a few years ago.

ANTLERS AND SEED PODS IN AN URN ON MY PORCH

You know I love orange.  I combined the antlers with some Hermes boxes and finials.  (The finials are Christmas ornaments that I refuse to pack away after the holidays.)

ANTLERS AND ORANGE

ONE OF MY NATURE-INSPIRED EVER-CHANGING MANTELS

TUCKED INTO A DOUGH BOWL

How do you add antlers to your decor.

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STYLING MY MANTEL WITH SEED PODS

If you follow my blog you'll know that my rough cedar family room mantel is the thorn in my decorating side.  I seem to always be re-styling it. 

The family room is right off the kitchen and is our most-used room.   Over the years it's become the orange and green room with chrome accents.  When I found a wonderful preserved seed pod, I knew it was the perfect green.  Yep, I'm giving the mantel another look.  The seed pod "branch" is about 48 inches long and mounted on  two iron rods on a large piece of recycled barn wood.  I have the option of hanging it horizontally or vertically. 

MY SEED POD

Next to the seed pod is my plaster ram.  He usually makes an appearance during the holidays when I drape some garland around his neck. 

PLASTER RAM

My stack of orange Hermes boxes tied it all together.  Since they're orange they travel around this room frequently.

HERMES SCARF BOXES

Looking in from the kitchen you can see my favorite ottoman. It's a place to rest your feet, a coffee table when I add a tray, and extra seating for a crowd.   It was an old Ethan Allen piece with some dated blue fabric.  I had it re-done with some orange Trina Turk fabric.

VIEW FROM THE KITCHEN

The oversized demijohn sports some jewelry and picks up the green.

There's more green on the chrome bookshelf, the MCM chair,  and the collage art.

I've mentioned my business partner, Monica  @gatehousedesigns.  Of course we have similar tastes and we both purchased the seed pods for our homes.  She hides hers in her TV cabinet.

MONICA'S TV CABINET

What a lovely surprise when she opens the doors.

SEED POD IN TV CABINET

What quirky accessory have you added to your home?

BOUQUETS WITH BRANCHES AND OTHER YARD FINDS

While I'm waiting for blooms from my garden, I love to use branches from my yard as bouquets.  I have a huge demijohn on the landing in my foyer.   It's the vase for some birch branches.

BIRCH BRANCHES IN MY DEMIJOHN

Sometimes I paint them.

PAINTED BRANCHES ON MY MANTEL

I painted these branches too and placed them into a vase with shells and sand to support them.

BRANCHES ON MY MIRRORED TABLE

BRANCHES REFLECTED IN MY MIRRORED TABLE

Branches don't have to be bare to work as a bouquet.  I have Nandina shrubs in my yard.
 They're a bouquet source all year long. 

BOUQUET OF BRANCHES FROM MY NANDINA SHRUB

I clipped some branches from my cedar tree and wrapped them around some spheres
 inside a dough bowl on my dining room table.

CEDAR BRANCHES IN A DOUGH BOWL

My yard pickings aren't limited to branches.  I even invade my neighbor's yard.   She has a  huge tree that drops the most wonderful seed pods.  I added them to an urn and complemented them with some of my shed antlers.

SEED PODS AND ANTLERS IN AN URN ON MY PORCH

What do you bring in from outdoors to use inside?

My Boho Pumpkin

One of my fellow vendors, Leila, is also a talented artist with a bohemian vibe I love.

When she decided to add her boho artistry to a white pumpkin, I knew it had to be mine.

It was just what my front porch needed to welcome Fall and the cooler weather.

Boho Pumpkin on My Bench

It's perfect with my new door color.

I used some branches, leaves, and pods from my yard as a back drop.

----soooooo lovin' my boho pumpkin.

My Fall Mantel

If you've been following you know that I'm part of a blog hop and that the last four participants are sharing their Thanksgiving Vignettes today.  I'm in this last group and I'd say mine is more Fall decor than Thanksgiving.
 But hey, Thanksgiving is in the Fall.
 Sherry from No Minimalist Here is hosting the hop.
Kudos and a big thank you to Sherry for organizing it all and making it work.

If you missed Blog Hop Part 1 go here.
To see links to Blog Hop Part 2 go here.

I decided to share my Fall mantel for the "Hop".
This Fall my mantel is very sparse.  The layers upon layers are missing; but I don't miss them.

Family Fall Mantel

The golden ibex directed the mantel design.

On the left side of the mantel is a resin turtle shell on a pedestal.  I lightly rubbed it with some gold gilding wax to add some interest and depth to the textured shell mold and to repeat the gold tones.
The matted and framed print is of French decorative painting from the 16-18th centuries.

There are more gold tone repeats in the sunburst mirror.  Below the mirror is an Hermes box.

On the edge of the mantel is a glass jar, belted equestrian style. 

 The framed Versace poster touches the mantel edge and drops above a Draper dresser.

I filled the belted jar with feathers, seed pods, and zebra grass.

I love the curling seed pods and the way the zebra grass sprinkles some color into the arrangement

 and stretches across and reflects into the mirror.

I've already shared the poster, the Hermes scarf boxes, and the bejeweled demijohn.

They really complete that side of the room so they made it into the blog for a repeat performance

If you haven't noticed, I'm really into spikey spheres.

What have you done for Fall decor?

Kathy

Make sure to visit my fellow Friday participants.
Follow these links to see their Thanksgiving vignettes.

 Miss Kopy Kat, 

Miss Kopy Kat

21 Rosemary Lane, 

A Thankful Tradition at 21 Rosemary Lane

and 
A Stroll Thru Life 

Dining and Living Room at A Stroll Thru Life

My Fall Mantel

I can't believe it's Fall already.  I thought I'd do a quick mantel change up to get with the season. 

 All summer my mantel looked like this.

I decided that I liked the grates as a back drop but would remove the topiaries.  I had a grouping of four architectural prints on a bedroom wall in the upstairs hallway.  The brown undertones were perfect for the season.
So in my typical change up fashion I ripped them off the wall and plopped them onto the mantel.  Plopping and propping are good--no nail holes involved.

I added my velvet pumpkins from last year--a lovely gift from a reader--some antlers here and there--- and some seed pods and feathers in a vase with books as risers.

Here are some  close-ups of the Fall mantel.

Alongside the mantel I have an arrangement in a jar that I created previously and wanted to use again.

What have you done to get ready for Fall?

Kathy


To see last year's Fall mantel go here.

To learn how I created the mix in the jar go here.

To learn more about the seed pods go here.

To see why I've never met an iron grate I couldn't use somewhere go here.