Thanksgiving Fireplace Mantle

When touring houses as prospective buyers, one of the first details that caught our eye was the fireplace in our now home. The whole house is covered in icky honey oak trim, which is not my style, but the living room was redeemed with a really nice dark mantle. We will put a TV on the wall some day, but until they go on sale (Black Friday), I had free rein of the entire space.

The ceiling is pretty high, with a long slope, so tall items were needed to balance. I have been trying to find a way to use a few old windows for a while, and this was the perfect opportunity. A Ben Sollee poster and plant also add height. The poster also hides the outlet and cable hook-up you can see in the upper right corner of the photo below.

There are a few fall touches: two pumpkins and a cornucopia. I plan to change the mantle out with each major holiday/season. A long metal candle holder from our wedding and three rectangular peach candle holders from our honeymoon sit in back.

This is my favorite part! Cute little birds sit in an antique bird cage. When I first put the display up, the bird on the perch kept falling over so it looked like a hanging bat or a sad dead bird, which is not cute. A twist-tie solved the issue!

Lastly, a metal G from Anthropologie and one of our engagement pictures in a bike chain frame sit in front of the poster. I originally wanted to put the "G" above our bed, but it is heavy and I am afraid it will fall off in the middle of the night and knock one of us out... The frame was a going away gift to Mike when he had an internship in Indiana for a month last summer. He put it on his bedside table at the hotel. :)

I'm happy with the way the mantle turned out but already excited to decorate it for Christmas!

Hobo Day Soup Buffet

The University I work for has a yearly homecoming celebration called Hobo Days. Yes, slightly insensitive to the plight of the real hobos, but tons of fun! One of the festivities is called "Bum-a-Meal" which consists of a group of students visiting a community member's house for a free meal. Mike and I signed up to provide dinner, so a hobo-chic buffet was set for us and five guests.

The buffet was complete with galvanized steel, cans, newspaper, twine and old lace. We served chili, chicken tortilla soup (did you know real homemade tortilla soup has corn tortillas in it?), condiments, bread sticks (thanks HyVee!), from-scratch vanilla cupcakes (not a fan of this recipe- too dense), and juice. We haven't bought a dining table yet, so the table and chairs were borrowed from Mike's work. Not hobo-y, but better than the floor. 

 

Happy Hobo Day!