Decorating our mantle is a little difficult, since it usually ends up being a catch-all for everything we don’t want dogs, cats, or toddler getting into. But with all the inspiring mantles I’ve been seeing, I thought I could give it a try.
The vase on the left was a wedding present and is filled with peanut butter candies. The lyre candelholder is a gift from one of my AXO sorority sisters. Various other wedding gift candles and a halloweenish one I’ve had for a few years. The flower bucket is filled with branches from our yard with a quick coat of black spray paint. The pumpkin lantern is a hand-me-down from my Mom. The light bulb was burned out, so I just popped in a tea light for the photo. It will probably not get a new light bulb this season. The book is a collection of Edgar Allen Poe works that we already had. The print isn’t specifically Halloween-y, but it’s Magritte’s Empire of Light and I’ve always thought the surrealism with the daytime sky and nightime house was a bit creepy. I am also quite thrilled to replace the abstract expressionism Bleu II by Miro that was there previously – it was a red slash and some black dots against a blue background that I never really liked. Maybe Dave won’t notice if it doesn’t return to the mantle!  The bowl with the rocks in the middle are our wedding “guest rocks” in a wooden bowl we got in Bora Bora on our honeymoon. Instead of a guest book, we had everyone sign a rock. I’d put them somewhere else for this, but I don’t have a good place to move them to, and nothing specific to fill the space in the middle. So, they can be Halloween guest rocks. The wall color was already pumpkin – Dave has a fondness for this color and it’s in our sun room, dining room, and over the mantle.
I think I have a few other odds and ends that I will add to this, and I think I’ll do some kind of a garland or drape across the print. Either way, it’s better than it was and forced me to put away the junk that was just cluttering it up.
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