Fall Mantel with Persimmons and Pumpkins

Tutorial

Rachel and Carrie put together this fall mantel with persimmons and pumpkins for the mantel at my house))) The tutorial started out with a visit to the local farmer's market for some pumpkins and gourds/ Also, there was a visit to a local gift shop for the long narrow dough bowl. Found exactly what we were looking for at The Red Door in Pontotoc, MS

Dough Bowl

Shopping for the fall mantel decoration began as a search for a long narrow wooden tray. As I eventually discovered, there are other search terms you can use which are dough bowl, baguette bowl or tray. If you're not close enough to shop in Pontotoc, here's a similar one seen on Etsy. 40" Handmade Dough Bowl Mine is 40" in length and about 6" in width. The initial though for the tray was to use it on the center of my dining table. Then fall mantel was mentioned, so bingo! It was the perfect size for the mantel. Mantel or mantle? Never sure about that. Ask when you shop for a bow if it's food safe. I failed to do that, but would probably risk it anyway. The dough bowl is just a versatile style and neutral color, it can be used for any occasion.

Farmer's Market

The local farmer's market was the perfect place to pick up some small orange pie pumpkins and gourds. The fall mantel decor is a combination of fresh and faux items, but you can't tell which is which it was all finished! A couple of plastic pumpkins and a sack of striped gourds was picked up at Walmart, as the plastic pumpkins lend themselves well to chalk paint. We also used a bag of small plastic pumpkins from Trendy Tree. Chalk paint was purchased at Walmart is shades of blue, green and cream. 52475ASST Bag of 5 Assorted Pumpkins (plastic)

Painting the Pumpkins

The real, and faux pumpkins along with the gourds were painted with chalk paint a day ahead of time. We took no pains with the painting, as you can probably tell! We mixed colors here and there. As a result, they all came out a little bit different from the bottled painted. A few of the pumpkins and an acorn squash were left in their natural state because they were so pretty.

Dried Hydrangeas

The dried hydrangeas make a great filler for the fall mantel decor. As you can see, some of the hydrangeas were used in their natural state, and some had been spray painted with copper paint. The hydrangeas were sprayed with two coats of paint. The hydrangeas were purely an experiment as i hadn't known what to do with the blooms still left on the bushes in my front yard. Now I'm so glad we hadn't done anything with them. There was nothing to lose by trying to paint them and as you can see, I think they turned out great. Rachel used a combination of both hydrangea to fill in here and there.

Sprays & Picks

F3902420 RAZ Persimmon Branch 13389GN Eucalyptus Pick FL4055-OG Japanese Maple Rachel used a persimmon branch and cut it into two pieces for the fall mantel. This was done to coordinate with the dining table arrangement we had made the other day. She used two or three of the eucalyptus picks and also cut them into pieces and tucked here and there. The Japanese maple added more orange color.

String Lights

92968 20" Electric String Lights Electric string lights were chosen for the fall mantel decoration because there are electrical outlets on each end of the mantel. Had there not been electrical outlets, we would have chosen battery operated lights with a remote. The copper wire lights were just entwined along the floral piece. My only regret with the electrical outlets in the mantel is that I didn't have the foresight to have the electrician add an off/on switch close by. So if you're thinking about building....make a note! I do love the outlets though. You can plug in a timer and then plug the lights into the timer.

Summary

Here's the finished fall floral mantel with persimmons, pumpkins and gourds. Oh! I did snip a few pieces of Nandina from the year since the leaves were turning such beautiful colors. These leafy pieces were just stuck in here and there, which gave the floral decor an airy look. The overall look is just natural, nothing really fixed and certainly nothing permanently fixed. When Christmas gets a little closer we an throw away the real pieces and toss the others in a box until next year)) My kind of decorating! K.I.S.S. - keep it simply silly, or keep it short and simple. Mantels are so much prettier without a TV above it, but this is real life....not a showroom))) Here's some links to more simple decorating blog post: Hand Tied Funky Bow Persimmon Branches Arrangement Quick and Easy Fall Bicycle Wheel Door Hanger Thanks for visiting our blog! Hope you have enjoyed this fall mantel decoration. We appreciate it so much and we hope you'll share this link with your friends. Be sure to follow our YouTube channel and click the bell at the bottom of the videos to get notified of when we have a new upload. If you have any questions just leave us a comment. We love hearing from our viewers and all questions will be answered. *This post contains affiliate links. If you should click on one and make a purchase, I (Jeannie) may receive a small commission. This does not add any cost to your order, it is a form of advertising paid by the seller.