It is turning crisp and and cool here in Chicagoland, and I am LOVING it. It is so refreshing to experience the change of the seasons again – to actually feel like it really IS time for that pumpkin spice latte. In Vegas, I never really got that feeling until very late Halloween-ish, thanks to the long warm season. I’m sure in a few weeks or a month, I’ll lament my loss of those warm autumn nights, but for now I am just embracing the change.
The other benefit of the change in the weather is the eager desire to decorate for fall! Since we’re crashing with Mom for the interim, I went hunting and dug out her bins and bags of fall decor to play with. Lucky for me, she is more than happy to let me do my thing with the fall decos – though she already warned me she has her own plans for Halloween.
First order of business was an autumn tablescape.
Mom has a smaller home, and she makes best use of her dining space with a pretty four seater pub table, tall and concise. With my own six-person pub table tucked away in storage, I had to rethink my normal decorating strategy. Here are a few tips from what I gathered together:
1. Don’t cover your entire space.
These placemats were the only adornment, save a wooden salad bowl, that my mother initially had on the table. I rather liked them for continuing into autumn, but they really ate up all the space. Hanging them half off the table allowed them to showcase better and to allow plenty of room for the beautiful wood of the table to show through.
2. Stacked dishes make easy decor.
Previously, I’ve never actually “set” the table as part of the decor. This time around, it seemed like a simple and pretty decoration for the table – and uses items you already have!
3. Add a pop of color.
Mom didn’t have napkins, but she did have these red woven placements tucked in her bin of fall decorations. I still liked the originaly placemats for that purpose, but I was able to retool the red ones into adding a touch of color to the table. I simply rolled them up lengthwise, folded them in half, and placed them inside the bowl. Pop!
4. Create a simple centerpiece for the crowning touch.
The circular leaf placemat is mine, picked up in a yard sale forever ago. It just happened to be stuffed in a box that did make it to Mom’s for unpacking, so it made itself into the decor. The candle actually as well. Rummaging in the kitchen yielding the short brown vase and the green bowl. I added the river rocks from my crafty stash and the small beaded wreath was from Mom’s bins. I am quite happy with the simple yet overwhelmingly “autumn” appearance it presents.
How do you decorate for fall?
Linking up to the awesome Savvy Southern Style and these other amazing parties!
One comment