It’s Fall Y’all!

… at least inside my house it is. With it still being in the 80’s and humid outside, and with the mosquitos still attacking and me still sweating, I can’t quite let myself pull out the boots, leggings & sweaters yet. Soon though, hopefully. Each year I always decide to wait until it actually feels like Fall outside before decorating the house, and I always regret that decision when Fall quickly comes to an end and it’s time to decorate for Christmas. Now don’t get me wrong, I love decorating for Christmas as much as the next person. I take that back; I’m pretty sure I love decorating for Christmas way more than the next person, but that’s beside the point. The point is that Fall is just way too short, at least down here in the south. So this year I’ve decided to decorate now rather than wait until it actually feels like Fall outside. I just don’t have the patience anymore. Besides, everyone I follow on Instagram is already doing it so it must be okay …

So with the day off from my real job, my husband working, and my 20-month old pretty good at entertaining himself when I need him to, I thought today would be the perfect day to get the house Fall-ready. Apparently my toddler did too. What should have taken me a little over an hour ended up taking about four hours. I’m beginning to second-guess my placement of certain items considering my toddler repeatedly rearranged some things and then had meltdowns when I messed his arrangements up. Who knows, maybe he has better taste than me. Maybe the pumpkins do look better underneath the coffee table and maybe the burlap garland does look better wrapped around the dog. Regardless, the inside of the house is finally decorated. I even learned a couple things from my morning/afternoon of decorating – (1) It’s close to, if not entirely, impossible to do anything productive with a toddler (how I don’t know this by now, I’m not really sure) and (2) I sure could use some more Fall stuff. I imagine Target might be seeing my face sometime this week. I don’t feel like I have a lot to show off, but here I go anyway – a little Fall tour if you will. The areas I’ll be showcasing are my entryway table, fireplace (mantle & hearth), and dining room table. Hope you enjoy!

The Entryway Table (Cost Plus World Market) –

I originally had the metal bull sitting on the table, but everything seemed a little too dark for my liking. I need my color so I switched out the bull for a wedding pic inside a turquoise frame. I’m hoping I made the right decision but now looking at the pictures I’m leaning back towards the bull … ugh, someone decide for me.

The decorations on this table cost next to nothing, which is always a plus.

Pine Cone Jars – I’ve saved a bunch of jars over the years, so I took two small ones and one larger one and filled them with pine cones – can’t get much simpler than that. I bought the pine cone picks at Michaels and just cut the ‘pick’ part off. Turn the jars upside down and there you have it.

Pumpkin – A Classy Flea (antiques & consignment shop). I actually found 2 of these & you’ll see the other one on the dining room table shortly.

Large Mercury Glass Candle – Kohls after Christmas a couple years ago. I believe I paid about $5 for it and it smells heavenly. I think mercury glass screams holidays in general … Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, who cares.

Small Mercury Glass Candles – Dollar Spot at Target – if you’re not familiar with this spot, you need to be. It’s the perfect place to find cute cheap decorations, wrapping supplies, etc. These were $3 each versus the ideal $1, but they smell like pumpkin butter and I’d pay a lot more than $3 for that smell any day.

Wreath – Tuesday Morning a long, long, long time ago.

Burlap – Michaels (hint – buy the really wide rolls of burlap ribbon and cut to the size you need … much easier & cheaper than trying to find actual table runners, etc)

Fireplace –

Yes we painted our brick, but trust me when I say it needed it. The previous owners had covered the beautiful brick with some sort of shiny finish and it was impossible to get off. We tried everything. So we painted it and we never looked back. Antique mantle – A Classy Flea /// Smith & Hawken fireplace screen – Target

Mercury Glass Pumpkin Candle Holders – Target

Dried Garlic Flowers – local farmers market (these make such a unique and beautiful addition to any vase)

White Porcelain Squirrel – Target

Fall-Colored Candle – Michaels

Wreath – handmade by yours truly. I simply bought a decently thick grapevine wreath, lace ribbon, & some stick-on flowers (all from Michaels). Cut lace to the length of your liking and wrap around wreath (glue as you’re wrapping). Glue on flowers. The end. I just love simple crafts.

Leaf Garland – Dollar Spot at Target ($3). Notice in the picture below how it’s actually glittery? I just flipped it around and let the backside show because I wanted the more rustic look.

Bowl O’ Pumpkins – Lotus Farmhouse Bowl from Painted Fox Treasures & 12-pack of pumpkins from Homegoods.

Turkey – probably my favorite Fall decor item ever. This delightful guy came from Urban Farmhouse in Milton, GA.

Cotton stems – Blue Ridge Cotton Company in Blue Ridge, GA.

Dining Room Table (JC Penny) –  

This is probably my favorite Fall decor vignette in our house. I just love the rustic natural feel it gives off, as well as all the different textures of the pumpkins. The vase (Pottery Barn), including the twigs, owls, and birds, stays on our table year-round except for Christmas, as do the salt/pepper shakers (Bed, Bath & Beyond) and the water pitcher (Target).

Orange Pumpkin – A Classy Flea (2nd one from the pair I found)

Bark Pumpkin / Twine Pumpkin / Owl Candle / Squirrel – Target (gosh they have cute stuff)

Pine Cone Jars – Just as simple as before. This time I left the lid off and tied some twine & eggplant ribbon around the neck of the jar, and I used actual pine cones from Michaels (versus the pine cone picks).

Wreath – handmade by yours truly. I simply bought a grapevine wreath from the Target Dollar Spot and used some of my leftover pine cones, as well as some twine. Cut twine to the length of your liking and wrap around wreath. Tie on pine cones with twine and glue for extra security.

Coffee Table –

I wasn’t even planning on including this and I’m actually pretty embarrassed to even share this with anyone at the moment, but I’ll go ahead and do it. I love and hate having a round coffee table. Such strong feelings towards a table, I know. It’s so hard, for me at least, to decorate it for any occasion and have it look good. But I love the way the table itself looks. I’ll probably be playing around with this some more because I’m pretty sure I’m not quite satisfied. All I did here was pull out my old Southern Living magazines from previous Fall months (decorating tip 101 – save your favorite magazines with seasonal covers – they make great decor. I do the same with our Garden & Gun magazines – see fireplace hearth pics above). I found this cool gold sphere thingy at Homegoods a couple weeks ago and I figured it works good for any season. Lastly I wrapped the flower pot in burlap and stuck some pine cone picks into the burlap to give it a bit of a Fall feel.

And we’re done, already (short tour I know). I’m thinking it will be a bit longer next year as I plan on hitting up the after season sales for some more Fall-inspired goodies to add to my collection. As for the outside of our house, I’m hoping I can find some real pumpkins and mums next weekend and get our outside decorated, so stay tuned 🙂