Fall Decor

I started unpacking my fall decorations pretty much at Labor Day (yes, I'm only now taking pictures of it, shhh). It seemed early to me then, but I have to say, I'm glad I was ready to start celebrating fall while it was still summer, because by October 2nd most of the fall stuff was already gone from the stores to make room for Christmas! Yikes! Seriously? I have to be honest, I'm not feelin' the holly jollies yet! Is it just me? I know the older I get, the faster time seems to fly by. It SO doesn't help when Christmas comes three months early. If you're trying to "live in the present," probably don't go into HomeGoods. :) Okay, that's enough of my soap boxing.

Without further ado, before everyone starts whistling Christmas carols, here are a few little things I did to start dressing up the house for autumn. Remember this cutie thing?

Look at him now! I just added some tiny pumpkins and Indian corn. I love it! (Are we still calling it Indian corn, or do I have to say criss-cross-apple...corn?)

Since I don't have a mantel, my dining room table is basically standing in. I would have set it up like a dining room table, with decorations down the middle, but usually the table looks like this:

Woah, how'd that get in there?  What I meant to say was, we use this table for everything—homework, folding laundry, making crafts—we'd forever be shoving the decor out of the way. I wish I had a better idea, but for now it's sort of arranged as if it were a mantel. Silly, I know, but it still looks like fall.

I love the look of a simple, leafy branch in a vase. If I still lived up north, my house would be filled with pretty branches, and acorns, and pine cones I collected outside. {sniff} Florida doesn't have a lot of natural bounty in the fall leaves department, so we have to improvise. I used a preserved oak branch. From the grocery store. Also from the grocery store, an infamous wheat bundle. (Yes, it is real!) The pumpkins aren't. But I'm loving white pumpkins and had to have some.

A bowl full of gourds and some stray leaves. The little bird was on sale at Michaels; when I got to the register, it rang up even less than I thought. $1.19? I'll take two!

Someday I need to learn the secrets professional floral designers use to get that perfect combination of color, texture and shape to their arrangements. For now, I decided to try to copy the style of the pre-made arrangements at Michaels, and I wanted to do it without spending a ton of money. I found stems in the natural elements section that had nice variety and texture already combined, and they were 40% off. I picked a couple of tall ones and a couple floral and literally just popped them in this vase I already had. Not bad!

I'm also digging copper, a lot. I found this mercury glass-looking acorn at HomeGoods for $6. The small copper pumpkin came from Ross for a sweet $1.99! Love it! And the birdie twin. I wasn't kidding, I did take two.

Here's a side table in the living room.  I think having a lot of one type of flower looks so dramatic.  Probably could use a little height under the candles.  I'll have to see what I can do about that.

Before I show the kitchen, there's a warning: The following image contains a graphic depiction of vertical blinds and may not be suitable for those with a sensitive decorating palate. They're ghastly. And broken. And the more broken they get, the happier I am because the closer they are to being replaced. Unless we want to suffer Florida afternoon sun beaming straight through the kitchen door. Which is unbearable, really, so that's not an option. Anyway, at least these cozy decorations have a place to live!

It's a much better view without those horrendous verticals.  No wonder they call them blinds.

Ahh, that's better. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm a sucker for holiday lights.  They're like instant festive!  I love their warm glow.  Note to self to do a better job hiding that extension cord.  I was standing on a chair to take these pics, and even though you can't see it from the ground, it bugs me now.

These are the shelves over our little coffee bar.  I just tucked in some glass bead garland, more tiny pumpkins, some pine cones and leaves.  Easy!

 

That's all for now, I'm off to start planning Easter! Just kidding....