My Fall Mantel

There is so much fall inspiration floating around blogland that I was encouraged to dress up my fireplace mantel for the cozy seasons ahead.

I have to admit that while I'm a huge fan of the fall season, I'm not especially fond of decorating my home in fall colors.

That was until...

I attended an auction earlier this week and purchased this pair of lovely large ginger jars.

I brought them home immediately placing them on the mantel of my chinoiserie fireplace hoping they'd provide the drama I was looking for.

Now I don't know about you but I've always found mantels (and bookshelves) very challenging to decorate.

 I stood back to take them in while scanning my inventory to see what I could come up with to create a pleasing vignette.

First I grabbed a pierced compote and a large piece of coral and placed it in the center.

 Then I remembered I had a stash of my favorite Chinese mushrooms which I then placed among the jars and coral centerpiece.

And finally I went outside to gather some pampas grass and placed it inside one of the ginger jars. I considered putting it in both jars but in the end decided that I liked the asymmetrical arrangement.

I spent a little more time trying to add a few other elements but realized that sometimes less is more and stopped.

I placed the matching firescreen in front and voila...

My autumn mantel was complete.

 So, what do you think?
It's not the typical fall look but does it work?