Fall Mantel

This is my first year decorating my mantel for anything other than Christmas.

Weird, I know.

I've known and heard of lots of people who decorate for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines and the 4th of July.

I was just never one of those people. It seemed like too much work and effort.

But then I started to get sick of seeing my mantel the exact same everyday.

Sorry for the fuzzy picture, it's all I could find.


So while lovely, I found I was starting to get tired of looking at the same stuff everyday.

Then we got a flat screen t.v.
That helped for a little while.

Then I got tired of that being the focal point of the room and I made Jeff take it out.

But then I was left with a gaping hole above the fireplace, and though I knew what I wanted there, I had to be patient and find it. Because once I found it, the decorating possibilites would open right up.

So until then I decorated for Halloween with some lights and other Halloween-y stuff. Which I didn't take a picture of, so you'll just have to take my word for it. And it helped transition that gaping hole into something fun for the holidays.

And then it happened. Jeff found what I was looking for one day when he took a different way home. (fate, kismet?)

There, at a road side "antique" store, he saw probably a hundred old shutters.

Big, tall shutters. Large enough to fill that big empty space.

And the best part? While a little grody and dirty, they were already this beautiful turquoisy blue color.

The guy told us that they came from an old hotel (brothel) in Singapore. That creeped me out a little bit. So I've decided to pretend they came off an old plantation house in the south instead.
Ya with me?

So after scraping and pressure washing to get all the old loose, lead paint off, they were ready to display.


Stick a wreath on the front, or a large paper heart, or an American flag, and you have presto change-o decor options.

Don't you love it?

I do a little dance inside everytime I look at those shutters.

I love how they're not perfect. That they look old and weathered but that the blue is still so lovely and vibrant.

As my friend Daisy said "they just say "Amy"

I would have to agree.


What have you done with your mantel? Put a link in the comments so we can all check it out.