Are you tired of your winter Mantle and ready for a transformation? I sure am!

I’m looking for a refreshing spring mantle transformation that reflects new life and warm weather!

So, when I begin thinking about a mantle, I think about my ‘jumping off point’.  Everybody needs a jumping off point in a project right?  (It’s almost like the point of no return but not quite :).

No but really, this is my point where I get started in any kind of shelf or mantle decorating project.  It’s my highest point of decoration.  For today it’s going to be my two pictures.

Check out this video for the ‘live version’ of this process.

I love these pictures!  They are so refreshing (I think I’m going to be using this word a lot today so bear with me).  I love the light gray wood grained frame with the soft grays, and blues, and greens in the picture itself.  They give me such a broad color and texture palate to work with.

Also, the pictures help me bring the outside into my home.

Here’s a point of interest, my mantle is actually not around a working fireplace.  I don’t happen to have a fireplace in this spot, but I really love how a mantle is so friendly, so I just mounted one to the wall and placed my furniture around it.

This particular mantle is one that I found at an antique store and fell in love with.

One of the issues that I had to work with since I’m not dealing with an actual fireplace is that the wall I mounted the mantle to has an outlet smack dab in the middle of it.  I that I needed to hide it so I’m going to start by placing and plopping some soft gray burlap on the mantle and draping it down the back to hide the outlet thing, LOL.  When all is said and done, it actually enhanced my design.  Who would’ve thought??!

Now with my decorating schemes, I always work in a triangle or an ‘A’ or an upside down ‘V’.  (Some of the people that I work with call it a triangle, but what’s wrong with an upside down ‘V’ anyways?)

Never ever design a shelf or a mantle with everything at the same height.  (I never cared for a bunch of soldiers standing in a line) It’s just not visually interesting.  It’s just one of those things…  Got it?!

So when I start building my upside down ‘V’, or ‘A’, or triangle (we gotta figure out what to call this arrangement) I try to find something tall for the middle.  For this project I chose a glass vessel to be my key player.  Isn’t vessel such a great term?  It just sounds sophisticated and awesome! 

Repeat it a few times to yourself a few times… vessel.  There you go!

Now I’m going to start bringing in my secondary players.  I had some candle sticks lying around so I nabbed a couple of those and I going to start with one of them.  I’m also going to put a plant on top of it for some additional refreshing  (there goes that word again) color and texture.

Now comes the cluster.  Have you ever wondered why grapes and bananas look so good in clusters?  I really have no idea where that question came from, but I like clusters so we’re going to use a cluster today.

I typically like to use a cluster or group of three or more items of similar texture and color for a real ‘pop’.  Odd numbers just seem to strike a balance.

Next, I’m going to add another but taller candlestick with a little blue glass vase on top for a change of pace.  The gray of the candlestick and the blue glass reflect beautifully with my pictures.

Now I’m going to add my wooden tray.  I love trays!  They are so much fun to work with and they are so versatile.

Today on my tray I added another cluster consisting of a glass vessel (ha!), a plant, and a candle holder to hold down my tray (don’t want it to fly away).

I’m going to sidle or tilt the tray onto the mantle on the right side of my key player to again help form the ‘V’.

Last but not least, I’m going to add one last little plant onto the end of my mantle for added texture and color.

There!  That does it!  I’m going to shuffle things around a bit for the sake of the show and to balance it all, and ‘Voila!’ I’m done.

To check out some of these great products in real life, come see me at Kloter Farms. 

Now it’s your turn!  Have fun!

Be sure to tell me how you like to decorate your mantle in the spring!

The post Tips for a Refreshing Spring Mantle Transformation appeared first on Kloter Farms Blog.