fall mantel family photos thanksgiving

Decorating Your Mantel for Thanksgiving

Changing your mantel décor with the season is a fun and meaningful way to acknowledge the passing of time and the year’s special occasions. At Old World Stoneworks, fall is our favorite time to light a cozy fire and decorate the mantel. Thanksgiving is the season of harvest and family, and your mantel can easily reflect that. Use the colors and themes of the season, combined with your unique style and preferences, to create a special Thanksgiving mantel display for you and your family. Be sure to balance vertical and horizontal elements, and a pleasing array of shapes. Here are a few ideas to inspire you.

Think Natural Elements

Natural Thanksgiving Mantel

Natural Thanksgiving Mantel

Fall is a time of harvest and bounty. The brightly changing leaves draw our eyes to the natural world every time we look out a window or leave the house. Bring some of that beauty inside and add it to your mantel.

The smooth circular form of a wreath is always a good design element. In fall, use a wreath made from straw, wheat or branches.

Garlands can be straight or curved, and made of leaves or pine cones. Don’t be afraid to use multiple garlands.

For a nice vertical, put crabapple branches or a bouquet of wheat in a vase. Arrange Indian corn, gourds and small pumpkins in clusters on the mantel.

Rustic and Homemade

thanksgiving fall mantel decoration

Homemade Thanksgiving Mantel

Thanksgiving is the perfect time for the imperfect, whether you call it rustic or shabby chic. Wrap candles in birch bark or twine, or mod podge leaves to a mason jar and stick a candle inside. Try attaching individual fake leaves to fishing line and hang them from the mantel like the example above to mimic leaves falling from the trees during fall. Incorporate old wooden frames and mirrors into your design. Ask your kids, grandkids or neighborhood kids to contribute their autumn crafts to your mantel.

Symbols of the Season

It’s fun to throw in a few seasonal pictures or figures. Turkeys, scarecrows and pilgrims are all popular symbols of the season. You can find a wide range of depictions, from country to quirky to elegant. Let your mantel reflect your personal style.

Color

Oranges, golds and umber are the go-to Thanksgiving colors, and perfect for a traditionalist.

However, you don’t have to be married to fall colors. If you’re a sophisticated city type, try a boldly black and white Thanksgiving mantle. Or if you have an all-white mantel, keep things very simple and chic with white and metallic décor.

thanksgiving fall mantel decorations

Chic Fall Mantel

 

Words

Many decorators like to distinguish the Thanksgiving mantel from the ordinary fall mantel by adding words of the season. Incorporate such timely ideas as “Thanks,” “Give” and “Harvest” by hanging a banner. You can stencil letters onto individual small pumpkins or amber-colored bottles to spell out these words.

Personalize

fall mantel family photos thanksgiving

Fall Mantel with Family Photos

Since Thanksgiving is mostly about family, don’t forget your loved ones. Pictures of family and friends personalize your mantel like nothing else. If you have fall pictures of them posing in a pumpkin patch or under a tree turned red with autumn, all the better. Hosting Thanksgiving dinner at your house? Think about your guests and try to include as many of them on the mantel as possible. Walking into a house and seeing your picture displayed can make a person feel very loved. And that’s what the season is about – gratitude, family, and warm feelings of togetherness.