Mantel Update: Elephants and Books

Yes, we have an elephant on our mantel and he is so. darn. cute. I showed y'all the picture below when we lit our first fire a couple months ago. I was just not satisfied with the boring-ness of our mantel. It was totally blah. Blah blah blah.

Such a great terrible quality photo. Oh well, ya get the point. The mantel was just ehh.

One bright sunny day (actually I can't remember what kinda day it was) Kirstin and I headed out the door. Mission: make the Tucker mantel unique and cozy.

And this is what we came up with.

I totallyyy had that adorable vase in my basket one day at Target, then after much deliberation while checking out the Halloween candy, I decided I didn't need it...so I put it back (I instead justified the couple pound back of chocolate...). Fast forward a week later and fate brought us back together. I guess it was meant to be. A match made in mantel heaven.

Moving onto those candlesticks. Target. Sale. 'Nuff said.

Finally onto our animal inspired portion of the mantel, Elphy the Elephant. Yes, yes I did just make that name up and I kinda like it. Can I get a shout out for Elphy being $9.99 at TJ Maxx? His turquoise color and cute details were enough for me to want to take him home.

Along with some purple hydrangeas, and the previous items on the mantel, I believe our mantel is complete...for now....because Christmas decorating will be in full swing this weekend! Eeeek! <---This is me jumping up and down with excitement!

We might or might not have put our tree up already. Ok we totally did, but we haven't decorated it yet! I promise! (Yikes, I can already hear the backlash of "One holiday at a time, Tuckers!" and "You can't decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving!")

That would mean most of you probably don't approve of this:

Ahhh pretend you never saw that :)

I can't wait to show y'all our first Christmas mantel this year. I am already pinning ideas left and right...now I just need to decide on which one I want to go with!

Happy Tuesday!