Cupcakes and Corndogs: Fall Mantle - Decorating around a mounted TV

I almost didn't post my mantle this year. I get super jealous of all your cute fall mantles because have to decorate around a tv, soundbar, xbox, and satellite box We don't have a formal living room, so our family room is very much "lived in" which makes it hard to pull off that straight out of Better Homes and Gardens look. I decided to post it anyway because I know how many times I've googled the Internet and browsed blogs for ideas for decorating around a mounted TV so just maybe someone else out there will appreciate my example. (Sorry for the yellow tent to the pics, it was night by the time I finished but I wanted to get my post up today)

I started by covering the length of the mantle with a leaf garland, taping as I went to make sure it doesn't fall off. (Don't judge the wires, we are working on it..) Then I filled my Lenox French Perle Pitcher (a wedding present) with leftover leaves and berries.

What's even worse than decorating around a TV is decorating around a TV that isn't centered over the fireplace. Sometimes I don't know what the people that built our house were thinking. Our fireplace is not centered on this wall. When we went to mount the TV we found out that the studs where where we could center the TV to the wall, but not to the fireplace.

I've found the best way to deal with this is by balancing the weight on the sides of the TV with anchoring objects like these candle holders. These normally hold candles but I've replaced them with white pumpkins for fall. The big pumpkin is real, I picked it up at Publix for $3. The small one is from a set at Pottery Barn. I also have one from this set on my coffee table.

In Advertising school, you learn to always work with odd numbers in design, so I have incorporated this in with my decorating also.

Here's a view from the other side where you can definitely tell the TV isn't centered.

Next to our fireplace, we have a small wooden bookshelf that holds the Xbox, and the satellite box. I love this glass carafe with the wheat stalks in it, it could be my favorite fall addition this year.

The wire pumpkin was a gift from my mom last year.

Since our house is already decorated in a harvest yellow and red, Fall is really my favorite season to decorate. If we ever change our house to more neutral tones, I would love to decorate with burlap and cotton for the fall. Wouldn't that be lovely??!