Fabulous Fall Party: Fall Decorating with Nature

There are moments when being a DIY home blogger who lives in the Deep South has it’s advantages, but right now is not one of them.  When it’s 97 degrees outside and the leaves outside my window are greener than Kermit’s ding-a-ling, it’s very hard to get in the fall decorating spirit.

However…

All of my blogging buddies are breaking out their autumnal adornments this week, so the pressure is on.  I was invited to join a few AMAZING home bloggers in the Fabulous Fall party today.  Since my severe FOMO won’t allow me to say “No” to very much, of course I agreed to join in.  (FOMO=Fear Of Missing Out, for those of you who don’t speak tweenagese).

We were asked to decorate with things found in nature and celebrate the beauty of the fall-ish things happening around us by bringing the outdoors inside. So, I whipped out my cans of metallic gold spray paint and decided to make it work, ala Tim Gunn. So, without further ado, let’s get this party started!

My dried hydrangeas got squeezed in around the cute pumpkin made of peach pits that I found at the Country Living Fair a few years ago.  Who else besides me can never say the word peach pit without picturing Brandon and Dylan and Brenda crowded table in the corner?  Man, I miss 90210.

Speaking of crowded tables in the corner, I got a wild hair this weekend and decided to move my “new” Paula Deen kitchen table into my dining room and try to sell my dining room table that I’ve had since I was single.  This table was just a few inches too big to fit comfortably in my kitchen, but it fits just right in the dining room now.  I love it!  Very happy with this decision.  Now I need a new table in my kitchen, and I’m cooking up a plan.  Stay tuned.

Remember that gold spray paint I told you about?  These are actually made from pressing leaves in polymer clay for a quick little craft project that I whipped up for this post.

Let’s move into the living room and check out my 2013 Fantel!  Fantels are my fave- right up there with Chrantels and Sprantels.

Bearing in mind that this post is all about bringing the outdoors inside, I tried to incorporate as many natural elements as possible into my mantel.  One of the top things on my to-DIY list recently was this AMAZINGLY gorgeous fall leaf artwork that Chris from JustaGirl created last year.  

I have pinned her photo about 5 times because I love it so much, so I used her instructions to make my own version of this gorgeous leafy leaf art, with an added leaf heart in the center. You know, since I Heart Fall.

My neighbor has this stately golden rain tree that produces these paper lantern-like pods this time of year.  I got brave and asked if they would mind if I clipped a few of the pods.  They were so kind to say yes, so I was excited to add these gorgeous blush colored blooms to my nature-inspired mantel this year.   I also asked if I could take a few of their hydrangea clippings, because one can never, ever have too many hydrangea blooms.  Thanks, neighbors!

The metallic birch vase came from my friend Allison, who sent it to me just because she thought I would like it.  And boy, was she right.  I LOVE it. I have the best friends.  The turkey feathers look perfect with it.

The cat tails came from my office, believe it or not.  We have a marshy area in front of our office that was full of cat tails, so I went and harvested a few for this post.  When Garrett saw them he goes “OH!  Is that a corn dog??”  Then he touched it and said, “Nope, it’s just a fuzzy hot dog on a stick.”   Seriously, this kid leaves me rolling sometimes.

Since I feared that my pumpkins would rot if they sat outside in the heat right now, I brought them indoors to sit in a stack on my hearth instead.  The cute fabric covered one on top came from TJMaxx.  Shoutout to my hubs for that great find!

Ok, here is where things get a little weird.

Ok, maybe not weirder than fuzzy hotdogs, but still.   So, my mom has this giant pampas grass on either side of her pier.  In the fall, pampas grass blooms get really big and bushy and beautiful, so I decided to use some in my decorating for this post.  I wasn’t sure how to incorporate them, until it hit me to make a wreath out of it.  So I twisted the grass stems onto a grapevine wreath, stuck some cotton bolls on it, hung an Alabama shaped chevron ornament in the center and called it a day.  But now that I stand back and look at my crazy pampas grass wreath, I’m thinking it’s got a certain possom-like quality about it.  Very hairy and critterish.  Hmmm.   What do you guys think?  Keep it or toss it?

Some of my most favorite things that I gathered from my garden for this post were these beautyberry stems.  I stripped off all the leaves and left the pretty purple berries in clusters along the stems.  They look gorgeous mixed with lavender from my whiskey barrel.

A dough bowl filled with more leaves and a strand of Christmas lights completes the side table. The rusty wire ball came from a local salvage store.  Love it.  I am going to have to add a disclaimer here, though–  do not leave Christmas lights unattended with dry leaves and a wreath made of fuzzy pampas grass kindling hanging right above them.  The lights don’t get too hot, but you just never know.  They did fine for the 40-50 minutes I spend on this photo shoot, so I feel like they would be safe, but don’t take my unofficial work for it.

Garrett bought me this monogrammed pumpkin from Kirkland’s for my birthday last week, so I had to include it in my fall decorating. Monogrammed pumpkins make me happy, especially when I don’t have to carve them myself!

And with that, I’m bringing this Fabulous Fall party to a close on my blog.  Please, please hop over and visit my friends blogs today and see their gorgeous nature-inspired fall decorating ideas.  Click on their images to go to their posts!  You will NOT be disappointed.

Want more Fall tablescape inspiration? Check out my 2013 golden leaves placesettings that were featured by The Huffington Post!

And more fabulous fall tablescape and placesetting decorating with natural elements from 2014: