Summer Mantel Decorating Ideas

I’ve got a few decorating ideas for you today. I finished my summer mantel last week and thought you might like to take a peek. I know looking at others ideas usually helps me come up with my own ideas and I’m hoping it does for you as well.

For the longest time, I had my mantle the same year round with the addition of a seasonal garland or something simple. Of course I would change it for Christmas, but that was about it. Then I started decorating it for fall and discovered that I have so much fun seeing new and different things around the year, I started changing it out all the time. There is no standard mantle for me anymore. I love it! I like change, so this is a simple way to add something different to the house. Of course, I’m not going all out like I paid a designer and have high-end things. I keep it fairly simple and budget friendly.

I got this mantle done just in time for us to leave for the summer. I’m sure my husband will appreciate the effort when he isn’t traveling as well. 😉 My girls and I are headed out on a cross-country adventure together. We leave tomorrow morning! You can follow our adventure on Instagram or Facebook. So, back on topic, let me show you my ideas for a simple summer mantel. 

I started with these cute colored jars I found at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby. I love the colors. I based the rest of the mantle on these colors. I also made some pillows for my living room that have a touch of these colors. I’ll show you those later this week or next week.

The other side of the mantel needed a little something. I stole a plant from my daughter. She had to put it up on a high shelf because the cat always tries to eat them. It didn’t look all that good there, so I took it. I’m hoping he won’t jump up on the mantel to try to eat these. Fingers crossed.

Both plants are from IKEA. I don’t have a green thumb, so fake plants can usually survive in my house. They’d do better if the cat would stop trying to eat them. Geez…I can’t even do fake plants well. LOL! I put one of the plants into a little holder we got at IKEA, but it seemed too matchy to put both plants in the same thing.

For this plant, I covered the base with a small piece of wide burlap ribbon. I just used tape to hold it in place. You can’t see the tape at all, so it is all good. I also added a small burlap flower to the front for a touch of cuteness. (You can see that in the pic above this one.)

You may have seen the ice cream garland I made for this mantle. Originally the paper I selected for this had some of the same blue and pink in it from the mantel frame and glass jars, but I also had initially planned that this would be flip-flops not ice cream cones. That didn’t work out which you can read about in that post, so it turns out to be a little more monotone than I had originally wanted. I did use a burlap type ribbon to bring that element in here as well.

I added the same burlap ribbon from the garland onto the hurricane lamps I re-did a year or so ago. Love how sweet they look!

Since I don’t ever light these candles, I added some of those same burlap flowers that I added onto the plant burlap cover. I place them into the bottom of each hurricane lamp. So sweet!

Of course my summer letters had to be front and center on the mantel. I had originally planned that these would be on the actual mantel, but it just didn’t look right. So they ended up on the hearth.

I added another plant behind them because I felt like that space needed something.

The final touch is the DIY wall art frame that I made. I ultimately decided to leave it empty (though right now it has a Happy 4th of July sign in it that Pumpkin made). I think it could use something in it, but I also think it could make things a bit busy and I’m not sure what to put in the frame. So for now it will remain empty.

I like that this mantel is simple. It isn’t overly busy or full. To me it is a nice balance of color, whimsy and pretty. What do you think? Do you have ideas of what I should put in the frame or do you think it is best left blank?

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