Fall Into Fall Decorating

Don’t have enough to do this fall? I don’t know about you, but there are so many thoughts swirling around in my head about upcoming events, trick-or-treating, Thanksgiving, Christmas and all that, that I just want to slow down and take each step toward the end of the year one at a time, and enjoy one day at a time.

I’ve designated the Randolph-Henry homecoming parade as the beginning of the fall season, but who would have thought you could view that spectacle in short sleeves? That cool crisp air of fall hasn’t arrived yet, but that’s no reason not to think about decorating your home in shades of orange and rust and brown. The little bit of exhilaration you usually feel when the leaves begin to show color can be brought right to your front door and your living room.

To greet visitors this time of year, create a living wreath for your front door, or kitchen door, or both! Over the years, I’ve gotten lazy and the fall wreath with the artificial colored leaves and tiny pumpkins, apples and gourds hangs in my attic the rest of the year. I take it down, hang it on the door, and boom, decorated.

But this year, as dry and depressing as it is outside right now, perhaps I’ll forage in the yard and the woods for a new wreath. Colored leaves, of course, rose hips, small branches, dried hydrangeas, wild grasses – all of these can be used to satisfy that urge to create. Start with a grapevine wreath or straw form and just go wild. Make elaborate, bushy bunches of grasses to wire around the wreath forming a fuzzy background. The next layer can be stems of colored leaves wired on, or hot glued if fresh. Don’t want to ignite things on the table. On top of these, tuck in rose hips and other found things from the yard – nuts, fruit, chrysanthemum blossoms – anything with a little color. Use your imagination and look at ordinary items in a creative way. Make it elaborate; in fact, bypass that small wreath form and go big, the bigger the better. Make a statement on your front door.

For a tabletop arrangement, pick out a wooden box, a watering can, a big rustic basket, grandma’s soup tureen, or a cake stand and fill it to overflowing with nature’s gifts. Thinking in orange and brown, pile on small pumpkins, gourds, corn stalks, colorful Indian com, faux black crows, and more colorful leaves to create your centerpiece.  Keep in mind that this is your table in your house, and you’re not competing with Martha Stewart.  Do whatever you like. When you set your table around your fall creation, consider using black and white plates and napkins if you have them.  Even lime green will make a vibrant statement.  The color contrasts are striking and the more you add, the more fun you’ll have. After all, this decorating thing should be fun, not a chore.

For easy side table decorating, go to the pantry and pick out some canning jars. Dump a bag of candy corn into the bottom and then squash in an orange or yellow pillar candle. Colorful, easy, and quick. For lighting on the dining room table, use large clear glass goblets of any shape with caramels in the bottom.

Add tapers of an appropriate color to blend with your centerpiece and you’ve created mood lighting on a spooky fall evening.

After my daughter had outgrown trick-or-treating and even the fun of decorating the neighborhood with toilet paper, I decided there was no reason to ignore the season. Starting with a large piece of floral foam glued to an old tray (you could use a piece of wood too), I found a small tree branch which I poked into the foam to stand upright and then sprayed the whole thing black. Small bats cut from black construction paper were hung from the branch with black thread from the sewing basket, and the whole thing draped with some of that fake spider web stuff from the dollar store. A cluster of orange twinkle lights clustered around the bottom and I had my Halloween table set.

Have fun with your fall decorating. The more stray leaves on the floor, the better, I say.