A Touch of Fall

I didn't want to go all orange and red for autumn decor this year.  Early autumn in Georgia is less flame colored and more green and brown with lots of blooms.  Pink, yellow, purple wildflowers bloom in profusion in the fields.  But yes, the predominant color is green.  I was more interested in greens and browns.  It's apparently called 'neutral' in fall decorating lingo.  I pinned a load of ideas on my Pinterest board.  I started off with a blue Ball jar of mums in purple...Not quite where I wanted to head either but the flowers were inexpensive and pretty.

As with most everything these days it's all 'Use what you have,' a motto I'm coming to learn never limits me as much as I think it will.  What I had, besides those purple mums was the remnants of a bag of leaves the guys brought me back from New York state in 1993 that I had pressed in a heavy stack of books.  I really wanted to somehow use them and so I decided to put them in the frames I've had my arrowheads displayed in for the past few years.  I  chose the nicest three (and the only ones that would fit, ha), mounted them on scrapbook papers with a buff/ivory tone.  I love them next to the two long prints.  The prints were obviously meant to display an autumn scene in the country because there's a good mix of color in the trees.



I've had this shadow box for a good while.  I'd meant to use it to display the funny old fashioned lock John dug out of his shop and gave me but I couldn't figure out how to do that.  The old leaves helped me find a way:

I am sorry I had to use the flash to take photos today.  It is light enough to see during the day but for some reason the whole room photographs dark.  I love this little vignette here.  I started it out right here then moved components about  the room and eventually came right back here with it.  I love how the scrapbook paper, the leaf, the old lock and the vine all play up the amber glow of my great grandmother's  parlor lamp base.

I've never used the little reading girl here in this room before. This space is between my chair and the mantel.  The top book is an old church hymnal from the mid 1800s.  And the cats were Granny's.  I guess Mama or her brother must have bought them for her one Christmas.  There are no markings on them and they appear to be some sort of painted plaster.  I have loved these cats since I was a wee child myself and Granny gave them to me years upon years ago.  I used to beg to sleep with them...and broke Mama cat's leg doing so!   I found the little girl last year in an antique mall.  Although she is a blonde, her attitude and the way she's sitting made me think strongly of Hailey, my grand daughter.  I've a photo of her in her pajamas on the floor sitting just so with a book in her hands.

Next is the mantel which has changed slightly since I took the first photo of the leaves in frames.

I decided to empty the books from the top section of the bookcase and use it to display the wood dough bowl.  These sorts of bowls were commonly used to mix up bread and biscuits.  This is not a family piece but is an old piece.  Grandaddy Crowley found it, split in two and he brought it home.  Mama tried to fix it without much luck and eventually passed it off to me.  John undid the damage done and patched it up properly.  You can't even tell it was split!  I love this old piece.  I am sure it was once well used.  It's smooth as can be.

In the dining area, I changed up the buffet.  It's simple and quiet, which suits me.

That platter on the left has a fern pattern  on it in greens and browns.

I struggled for a bit with the dining table. Then I gave up.  I don't know just yet what I'll do but I've an idea I hadn't time to execute these two days.  We'll see how that turns out before I show photos of that area.

I just wanted to add a bit of autumn to the bottles on the entry way dresser.  I opted to split up a silk pick I'd purchased two or three years ago.  I added it into the picks I bought to display over summer.  I thought they nicely represented our blooms here in autumn.

And finally I gathered all my blue pieces and put them atop this cabinet that sits between the kitchen and the entry to the living area.  I love how this display looks.  It reminds me of the brilliant blue skies we see this time of year.

It's not much really but it is a touch of fall in my home and while it's not quite as neutral as all those images I pinned, I think I'm happy with it.  Best of all, it only took time, which means it fit perfectly within my budget!