|

Thanksgiving Mantel and Living Room Decor

Thanksgiving Mantel and Living Room DecorNovember means Thanksgiving.  Today I’m sharing one of my Thanksgiving traditions: decorating my home with my turkey collection.  I started collecting turkeys in college.  (I’ll point out the first one that I purchased when I share its picture.)  Thanksgiving decor isn’t easy to find.  Stores seem to jump straight from Halloween decor to Christmas, bypassing Thanksgiving.

Not only do I collect mostly vintage turkey figurines, I collect turkey platters.  It wasn’t long after college that I discovered my first turkey platter and it was love at first site.  Over the years I’ve developed quite the collection but I’m only sharing part of what I own today.  🙂  (I need to either sell a few or loan them to friends who also enjoy turkey decor.)

I really enjoyed this year’s fall mantel and hated to remove it but after I got some of my turkeys in place I was happy again.  My fall mantel featured a large bittersweet wreath that I replaced for Thanksgiving with a hand crafted pinecone wreath.  I purchased it in the mid-90’s at a local church and have enjoyed it ever since.  If you store a wreath properly, it will last for years.

Thanksgiving Mantel and Living Room Decor

Since I haven’t yet crafted Thanksgiving pillows, I left my fall pillows in place.  A few of my turkey platters, figurines, and vintage turkey candles adorn the mantel.

Thanksgiving Mantel

The gourds in the wooden box are ones that my dad grew in the early 90’s.  I dried these my first few years of teaching and have used them ever since.Thanksgiving Mantel

The turkey figurine in the center is the turkey that started my collection.  The two flanking it are beeswax and were locally made.Thanksgiving Beeswax Turkeys

The marble table in the corner kept the same vase of river oats and my dad’s college lamp but has one of the newest additions to my turkey collection, a lidded turkey dish.

Thanksgiving Mantel

 

My mom bought this turkey dish for me in an antique store in Manteo, NC.

Vintage Turkey Covered Candy Dish

 

The green turkey platter was my first.  The stamp on the bottom says, “Compliments of Broadway Furniture Company, Tampa, FL.”

Thanksgiving Mantel

 

I found the three antique turkey candles in a now closed antique store in Roanoke, VA.  I don’t think I’ve seen any turkey candles for sale since.

Vintage Turkey Candles

The gold turkey platter is my most recent turkey platter find.  A few months ago a neighbor had an indoor yard sale in his rental house to sell some of his mother’s things.  I now own his mother’s turkey platter.  The large turkey to the left of the gold rimmed platter is not vintage but I still love him!

Vintage Turkey Platter

I have a pretty large collection of vintage Thanksgiving post cards that I inherited from my grandmother.  The postmark on the one below is 1917.

Vintage Turkey Platters and Thanksgiving Decor     Vintage Thanksgiving Postcard2

This vignette is in the dining room adjacent to the living room.  You would think that I would have a collection of pilgrims since I like Thanksgiving decor but I only have a few.  These two are a recent purchase from Hallmark.Thankgiving Vignette

This postcard is also from family and is postmarked 1908.

Antique Thanksgiving Postcard

I enjoy decorating this chest in my dining room for the season.  We almost always enter our house through the dining room door, so this spot is one that I enjoy every time I come home.  The chest and picture above the chest were my grandmother’s.  My mom gave me the lamp and it is most likely from her mother’s home.

Thanksgiving Dining Room Vignette

 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my Thanksgiving tradition of decorating with turkeys.  Since Thanksgiving is late this year, I’ll get to enjoy this mantel for several weeks.

Thanksgiving Mantel by virginiasweetpea.com

 

Now that you have read about one of my Thanksgiving Traditions, you can enjoy a few shared by a few friends.

Check out a few of my favorite blogs after you visit the Thanksgiving Traditions posts.

Sharing With: Refresh Restyle, Dwellings-The Heart of Your Home

8 Comments

  1. Paula,
    I love these vintage turkeys and those platters are beautiful. My mom has a huge turkey platter and its been in the family for 50 years. It’s lovely. I don’t like that the stores bypass Thanksgiving either I like to enjoy Halloween, Thanksgiving and then Christmas. Happy I am not the only one. : ) I love your collection and its a great tradition.

  2. Paula, thank you for sharing your awesome collection of turkeys. It must be so much fun to bring them out each Thanksgiving. Have a wonderful holiday. ~Jeanette

  3. Oh Paula, I LOVE your vintage turkeys and plates. Your home is filled with wonderful memories. Your vintage cards have my heart. (I think I need them) Thanks for sharing your Thanksgiving Traditions. xo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.