The Fall Mantel

Call me crazy but in the middle of whole house renovations with workmen everywhere, I need a meditative spot so I decorated my TV room for Fall.  Some people might chill by gazing at the ocean or watching the birds in their garden; I need to see pumpkins and colored leaves.  My knitting basket got tucked away when I found out that Teddy had been pilfering balls of yarn and hiding them under a chest. Chow chows truly are more cat-like than dog-like sometimes.

 I dusted off the glass pumpkins and added them to the decor.

 Once the workers arrive at 7:00 am each morning, Teddy and I are locked up in the basement while they crawl all over and through the house. The basement is also my craft area so it is not a bad place to be locked up in.  I am getting up at 3:00 am to let Teddy spend time outside before the workers arrive so our summer schedule has really been disrupted.  As you might guess, bedtime is very early.

 I love waking up in the middle of the night and coming downstairs when it is dark and flipping on the tiny lights. The house is peaceful and quiet, Teddy is out during the coolest part of the day and I still have hours to cook before the chaos arrives.

 This year I dragged out my silver candlesticks, polished them up and plopped pumpkins on top of them and placed them on the floor on either side of my fireplace.

I have a lot more decorating to do but at least this is a start.  I have an idea for my front door this year but I have to make the decorations so I have a lot of work ahead of me. I can't do anything outside until the house has been painted and with the pace of this project, Fall might be over by then.  This is turning into a long summer!