I always look forward to a new season or holiday that allows me to decorate our fireplace. I feel like it adds to the feel of that season or holiday. So it was only appropriate to add some fall foliage to our fireplace. We didn’t get as crazy as last year with the autumn and Halloween inspired decor, but I think part of that was me being out of town/state for the first three weekends of October and also I couldn’t find all of the decor from last year. Darn basement renovation and having to shuffle things around. By the way, the basement has made a ton of progress in the last week or so.
So this year, the decor around the fireplace was a bit minimal, but it still adds to the autumn season. My Grandma J helped me make the autumn penant hanging. She sewed seams along the edges to prevent fraying, I hand painted the letters on, and used twine to hang them up. I didn’t bother with using a stencil or guides to make the letters—just freehand.
As you can see, I finally got the hearth painted white to match the rest of the fireplace. I may go back and get a semi-gloss paint to help with the ease of cleaning it. We would still like to replace the hearth completely with a different stone, but painting it white is a short term solution we’re okay with. Adding a thick, wood beam to create a true mantel is the last major step in updating the fireplace. The new decor (accent decorations, different mirror, fireplace tool set, possibly a screen) will all come later as well.
And a closer view of the penant. You can really tell on the letter “A” that I didn’t bother with a stencil. I have enough burlap left over that if I wanted to make a new one using a stencil, I could.
No autumn scene is complete without glittery pumpkins.
I always love seeing how others decorate their fireplace as well, so here are a few of my favorites. Maybe next year I’ll have more time to find and put up everything.
—m.