Fall Home Decor: How to Use Autumn Decorations in a Fall Vignette
In this post: If you’d like to use autumn decorations to create a fall vignette on a sideboard or table, you’ll love these fall home decor tips and ideas.⇒
When I was a kid, we rarely got more than one pumpkin for fall.
We’d make an outing of it, pile into the car and drive to a farm stand to pick out ‘our pumpkin’.
I think the intent was to make a jack-o-lantern, because without that goal, we probably wouldn’t have even gotten the one.
It’s not that we were lacking by any means. It just wasn’t a thing we did. We got our one pumpkin and called it good. We never got a cluster of varied sizes. We never considered heirloom pumpkins. And we never ever brought the pumpkin in the house.
Perhaps it was that early lack of autumn fanfare that made me crave it so much when my own kids were young.
I started with just a few pumpkins on the steps and gradually added mums, scarecrows and bales of hay.
As the years passed I enjoyed it more and more and it turns out to this day, although my kids are grown and are living on their own, I still absolutely love to decorate for fall.
It’s the season that reminds me most of family and the beginnings that come along with the calendar shift.
Decorating seasonally encourages one to celebrate life, to make an effort to update your home following the natural ebb and flow of time.
It underscores the offerings of each new month and punctuates the pleasure that a new season bestows on the senses. For this reason I love to indulge in aromatic candles and potpourri, as well as to enjoy the tastes that are unique to the seasonal harvest.
But of all my senses that engage in fall’s bounty, the one that delights the most is the one that perceives visual beauty.
And this is precisely why I enjoy creating fall vignettes around my home.
It’s like staging a little show on an accent piece of furniture, to highlight fall decor in an artful kind of way. And because it is temporary, it can be playful and whimsical, while imperfection is completely ok.
Today I’m sharing 5 tips for creating a fall vignette with your autumn decorations.
1. Use Greenery
I love for a fall vignette to have natural elements included to keep it looking alive and fresh. The mossy planter on our sideboard is faux, but the greens scattered about are fresh from the garden store.
Use the live elements as a foundation for your display and tuck the leaves in between your design elements. Planters are great for balancing pumpkins or used as risers for gourds and other fall motifs.
2. Select Unique Pumpkins
This one, of course, is a no brainer, as nothing says fall quite like pumpkins.
However, the secret is in the selection. Whether you go real or faux, large or small, painted or not, or any number of other variables, choosing the right pumpkins is essential to your display.
I’m partial to white ones to coordinate with my decor, but I also enjoy metallics and textured fabric pieces, too.
Start a collection and keep them all together when it’s the off season. Then rearrange the presentation each year in new and different ways.
Click here to see my seasonal storage closet organization.
3. Try acorns, gourds and fall vegetables
Following on the heels of a curated pumpkin collection are the accent pieces that will make your vignettes look defined.
Try acorn ornaments, live gourds and other harvest vegetables to make a seasonal statement. The harvest season is the perfect time to feature these items that mature in the fall.
I used craft ornaments to add personality to my vignette.
4. Include Fall Florals
As summer fades, so do many floral options for your arrangements, but I still think flowers are the secret to any beautiful vignette. They add color and texture and soften the other elements and will often become the focal point.
For my vignette, I wanted to find blooms that would define my color story, so I searched until I found the blush and rosy pinks I was looking for. This meant compromising on the varieties I chose.
I used blush roses, mauve daisies and rose pink carnations for the bouquet. I really had my heart set on pale dahlias but they were not to be found.
5. Add elements unique to your personal style
A fall vignette should not only be seasonal and lovely, but it should also express your own design style.
I try hard to ensure my vignettes don’t look like a carbon copy of what everyone else is doing, so I include my signature elements like the chippy statue, silver teapot and acanthus candlesticks.
For each of us those items will be different, but they should always bear our unique signature.
A sweet little vignette is such a simple thing that can be pulled together in a short period of time. It should be balanced and appear organic, so as not to look stiff or forced, but should also express your unique style.
It will enhance your enjoyment of the season at home, and then every time you walk by and catch a glimpse of it, it should evoke a little warm smile.
Autumn Decorations Source List
To get the look, click on the items below for direct links to the products. Where actual items were no longer available, I’ve provided similar options. If an item is out of stock but may be restocked, I left it on the list.
(This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.)
IF YOU LIKED THIS POST, YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN:
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Beautiful vignette, Lory – and it’s so your style! Now that my kids are back to school I am starting to pull some things out for fall. I just wish the temps would cool off!
Shelley
Thanks so much, Shelley! Truth be told, I’m happy keeping the summer weather and my pumpkins light and bright, but I’ll bet you’re more relaxed with the kids back in school… 🙂 Hope a lll is well!!
Lory, I love this vignette! Maybe because I’m using those same soft fall colors and white pumpkins! Found a few very realistic faux blush dahlias at Hobby Lobby. My cat eats any and all fresh flowers or plants he can reach. So far that leave only the kitchen island. He just doesn’t know he can jump that high and I’m not telling him. I’m still grieving over a 15 year old bonsai.
Ginger
Oooh, I may have to go look for those dahlias! Thanks for the heads up… 🙂
It looks so gorgeous! I clicked on through to see where you found that incredible little cherub with the crown. I should have known. I think this is the most perfect vignette…ever. Beautiful!
Nancy
Awww… thanks so much, Nancy!! Actually, my statue is not from E&E, although I want to get another one from her! I got mine a while ago, so the link is for something similar… 🙂
Beautiful, Lory! Thanks for listing where you found your items because you always have such pretty and unique things, and I always wonder just where you find them. Hugs!
Thanks, Bobbi! I do try to provide sources and if the exact is not available then something similar. It’s the question I get asked most… 🙂 Thanks, as always, for visiting!!
I agree Bobbi Nothing is any worse than to see a beautiful vignette or entire room, and not have the faintest idea of where to begin replicating. Anyone who follows Lory loves her home and style and loves her follow up with sources !!
Aw thanks Kathy! The only problem is sometimes they run out of an item and then the links are no good, but I do try to update. I’m actually working on a project to help with all of the sourcing on my blog. Details coming soon… 😉
I love the colors you used! It’s nice to see fall decorations that are not orange.
Thanks, Judith! I lean naturally to these colors, so it just feels right. I tend to save the orange for table settings, where you just use it for one night and then you put it away. Now copper… that’s another story. I’m all over copper this year, but not yet… 😉
I love the cherub, I have been hunting for one all summer at Brocantes without any success! However, my favourite brocante of the year is coming up in two weeks time, it is one of the largest around here and in the playing fields of a nearby town so I am keeping my fingers crossed! Regarding the note in the email, I would never unsubscribe, you were one of the very first people to ever help me with my blog, you offered so much invaluable advice, I can never thank you enough for getting me through those first few months of blogging! Susan x
Aww, such a nice comment, Susan! And you’ve come so far now… 🙂 How lucky, too, that you have such great brocantes nearby!! I would love to shop one of those…
Your vignette looks beautiful….I’m crushing on that sweet cherub……..
Smiles~
Maritza
Thank you so much, Maritza! I love garden statues and I’m looking for more… 🙂 They add such a nice chippy feel to a room, don’t they? Thanks for stopping by!
Your fall decor is stunning Lory. Classy and elegant.
Happy autumn.
Janet
Thanks so much, Janet!! Happy autumn to you too… 🙂
That’s so beautiful. I loved the colors and the way each element is set. I am reading through your blog all fours segments are special. It’s a great place to come to on the internet for inspiration.
Wow, thank you so much, Phyllis, for such a lovely comment!! It means a lot to me to know my posts are resonating with people… 🙂 Please enjoy!!
I love your arrangement Lory! The statue, the blush pinks, and other natural elements are elegant and simple! And I spy something that’s given me an idea. Pinned.
This is simply gorgeous. Well done!
Thanks so much, Amy!! Really appreciate it coming from you… 🙂
Lory, it is beautiful ! I never dreamed in a million years I would incorporate blush or pink in my decor, but I am ready and love it. But, it means redoing everything gradually. It is difficult when my palette has been black and neutral. But, I think the pinks, creams, white just say FRENCH. I can’t wait to see the reveal of your parent’s new place. It is great you can have them nearby and how lucky are they to have a decorator daughter like you.:>) !!!! Also, I can’t wait to see your new projects ! Happy Fall, but I am just beginning to get into summer. :>(
Hi Lory! I’m glad you reposted this here at the very beginning of our late summer/early fall 2018 season ~ so much inspiration for fall decor. <3 Coming over from this week's Style Showcase.
Thanks for some lovely ideas,
Hugs,
Barb 🙂
Hello Lory,
This is the first year that I’m trying to decorate without the ubiquitous Orange and I don’t mind saying that I’m finding it difficult. There are tons of things in the marketplace yet nothing seems to come together. Some are so very plastic looking, it’s as if everyone has jumped on the bandwagon! I’m not sure about mixing in the velvet pumpkins with other types, ceramic in pale aqua for instance. Your arrangements are so lovely and you make it look so easy. I notice the dates on the comments are from 2016. Are you still using the same items from then?