Farmhouse Fall Mantle
I live for this moment every year when I can break out the autumn decorations. In this story, I’m sharing a Sneek Peek of the Farmhouse inspired Fireplace mantle in our family room as well as a few tips on how to make your mantle kid-friendly too!
Every year I like to edit my decorations to do something slightly different, and this year I filled our family room with creams, blues, and greens for more of a subtle farmhouse fall look. Of course this is the best this room has looked in the past 6 months with a three year old at home! I certainly had to document it just for that. But I will say when we first moved into our house, I had a hard time figuring out the flow of this space. And one of the great things about being at home more this year has been having the time to develop a sense of purpose for this room and figuring out how we like to live in it. My number one tip when you start down your seasonal decorating path is to get a feel for your space first, and then select decorations that move along with your life. For us, we have a combination of form vs. functional, decorative vs. easy going. It can be hard to balance at times, but this room has been a great space for us to let our son run free while still maintaining a calm and collected look.
If you also have a fireplace in your family room like we do, here are some tips to help make it look amazing while keeping the kiddos safe.
Strategically place breakable, BIGGER, or nicer decor towards the back of the mantle.
I have anything breakable or larger placed in the center vs. on the sides or towards the front. This ensures that your toddler or small child won’t be able to easily pull it off the mantle. This also allows you to visually add height to the back while keeping the smaller items up front.
Make Sure some items ARE Actually kid-friendly.
My son has already had “fun” removing the plastic and fabric pumpkins from the mantle since he can now reach them. He thinks it’s funny to remove them, of course! But I don’t have to worry about these things hurting him because they are lightweight, not breakable, and honestly, not expensive if they somehow get ruined.
ADD EASY AMBIENCE WITH fake candles vs. real ones.
I LOVE lighting real candles, however, it was just not a realistic thing to continue doing with a toddler at home. However, last Christmas I found some amazing faux candles at Costco that flicker like real ones, and have never looked back! They are remote enabled too, so I can turn them on at the drop of a hat, and turn them off super easily when I’m too tired at night to do anything else.
Add fullness with faux greenery or florals.
This has been a go-to tip of mine for years. To make anything look fuller, add some faux florals and fill in the white space. You can get pretty inexpensive florals like this at Michael’s and they always have sales! Pick up some basic faux greenery that you can use throughout the year in different spaces. Plus, you won’t have to worry about watering these at all, saving time and money in the long run!