Early On a Saturday Morning

Hey y'all!! So for the last week and a half, or so, I've been working on my fall mantle.... It is of course going to be tweaked until it's time to put up the winter/Christmas mantle! Anyway~

So, here's what I started with (now remember, this was thrown together about a week after we moved in with just whatever was lying around the house :) next summer's will be MUCH better!!)...

It's pretty much your basic wood mantle-over-a-brick-fireplace :)

I have been thinking about painting the bricks, but since we're renting, I don't know about that! But I REALLY want to!! **We'll see if Corey agrees with me in time for Christmas** :) :) :)

The pictures on either side of the mirror came from K-mart if you can believe it, for maybe $2 a piece, they might have even been only $1!! They used to hang in the stairwell in an our old townhouse. The mirror came from Homegoods a few years back for $15. The rest was just other odds and ends that didn't have a home yet!

Oh, and disclaimer time: Sorry for the picture quality and all that jazz~ I have just a standard ol' digital camera for the next few weeks... I'm researching DSLRs and stalking stores and websites to find a good deal! However, I read an old post from Centsational Girl about the photo editing software Picasa... so I downloaded it and am trying it! We'll see how it goes. I do have iPhoto, but it doesn't upload directly to blogger like picasa :) So again, bare with my as I tryout my editing and picture taking skills!

And here's what it looked like for a few days....

The sticks came out of my yard.  Corey did some yardwork and was going to put these out for the trashpeople!! I stopped him, because look how fabulous they look! Such potential! PS--these are some of the same sticks that I have used in my master bedroom :D don't be afraid to root around in your yard for free decor!!  

And here is what it looks like today:   I think it still needs something behind it all.  Maybe some sort of paint treatment in the same color as my bedroom? (a greyish-bluish sort of something :) ).... hmmm... I don't know!! Thoughts?

    (also, my walls are a  light aqua color.  I can't remember the name right now, artic something by behr.  I'll look it up.  But it's not as light as it looks!)

<~ My stick transformation! I glued fall leaves from Michael's ($4.99 for LOTS!) with E6000 glue :) Cute right?!

This wreath is hung from one of those 3M hooks that you can remove and it doesn't cause any damage.  It's one that has a wire hook on it though, not a plastic one, and its stuck into the foam :)                            ~>

So the hurricane vignette... Let me just tell you~ Those are $.49 brass candlesticks from Goodwill! Yes, you read correctly.  49 CENTS!!! and $1 hurricanes from the dollar store glued together with some trusty ol' E6000!!!!  I then just took two white pillars that I had laying around and stuck 'em in there with some of those leaves from Michael's and some cinnamon scented mini pinecones in the other.  The hurricane behind those is of similar fashion...It's some sort of metal candlestick from a thriftstore with the same type of hurricane glued on.  I have a collection of wine corks, so I thought they'd be fall-y up there :) 

Then the picture next door has not been retouched AT ALL!! (actually, to be honest, the only ones that were were the very first one and the close up of the wreath).  Aren't the colors gorge?!

Anywho~ That's my mantle for the moment.  What do ya think?  It needs something.... and it's definitely getting a fresh coat of white paint soon, I'm just not sure what else yet!

Hopefully I'll work some more on my bedroom this weekend and share that with y'all! In the meantime, I'll put up some of the other mini-projects I've been working on =)

Happy painting!