Have I mentioned how much I love the holidays? Pretty sure I have, but throwing it out there again in case you haven’t heard yet. Part of what made me fall in love with our house is the original, built-in mantel and cabinet upstairs. The wood is dark, rich and ready for decorating.

You can see a few shots of the room here.

Christmas is a given but I am also tempted to spruce it up a bit for fall too. Rather than spend money on Halloween decorations that will have to come up and down, I think an autumn mantel with a Thanksgiving nod is the way to go. Cue Pinterest for inspiration.

This lovely pin led me to a fantastic “year of mantels” blog post by A Diamond in the Stuff. That is for another day though. Back to autumn. I think I can do this.

Working with what we already have, a few white pumpkins, stencils and perhaps another touch or two and I think this will work. If I give it a try I may go for an orange-tinted paint since our living room already has so much brown. Or perhaps a touch of gold as inspired by another pin I am loving below?

Or do I go completely out of my comfort zone and go bright? I’d definitely need H.E.L.P. from someone crafty to DIY an ombre pumpkin myself.

Help me decide people!