Fall Kitchen Decor: Mixing Modern Vintage with Old World Style

In this post: Want to refresh your home with fall kitchen decor? Here’s how to mix the new modern vintage organics with Old World European style.⇒

Have you ever fallen in love with a design style only to worry that it didn’t fit in with your existing decor?

I don’t jump on new trends lightly.

For me to find a new look that seriously gets my attention, it usually has to seep in slowly.

Maybe the first few times I see it I’m hesitant, while acknowledging I’m somewhat intrigued. Then, after observing various iterations, I might realize there’s something in it that’s beginning to connect with me. Over time, my new decor interest may evolve into a full-on crush.

The fact is, if you find yourself gravitating toward a new decor style, and you find the components repeatedly calling out to you, there’s a good chance there’s an easy bridge between what you still love in your current home and the fresh style that’s consistently romancing you.

The trick, of course, is finding that link and pairing the design elements naturally and comfortably.

Such has been the case with a recent of-the-moment trend. I’ve seen it referred to as everything from rustic chic to modern vintage and various other monikers that mean the same thing. Whatever you call it, it is characterized by lots of vintage raw wood and other distressed, organic elements, set against a rather sleek backdrop of clean, modern lines plus the absence of color.

I hate that it’s so ubiquitous.

But then again, therein lies the opportunity to personalize it for one’s taste and to marry it with what’s existing in our homes. Essentially to make it our own.

In my case, that means merging it seamlessly with my European antiques and the design style I call Modern French Country. Surprisingly, it’s a natural match!

It means mixing vintage with vintage and crumbling with tatters, while at the same time contrasting gilding with raw and organic, the dichotomy I most love about French style to begin with.

Let’s look at how these united styles work in a kitchen decorated for fall.

Fall Kitchen Decor Ideas

Today’s post is the first in a new blogger series that celebrates seasonal decor, broken down on a monthly level. Each month, we’ll be sharing quick and easy decor ideas that create those ‘special moments’ in a home, without making significant changes to the design of the room.

This post looks at September Decorating Moments, introducing early fall into our spaces. Be sure to visit the other bloggers’ posts at the bottom of this one.

For this first post, I chose to address the coziest place in the home… the kitchen.

Fall Centerpiece on the Kitchen Island

The signature ‘moment’ is created in a place of prominence, smack in the center of the kitchen island. It embodies, in a tight vignette with just a few key pieces, the sum total of my concept.

The vintage bleached wood vase is paired with a simple modern white one, telling the essence of the rustic chic story with an elegant mix of materials.

Tucked into the richly distressed vessel is a lush spray of faux fall leaves in delicate shades of autumn colors. Where later in the season I might move into orange, deep reds and golden yellows, for September I prefer more subtle hues inspired by fall fruits like apples and pears.

Landscape Art Against the Backsplash

The second little moment is centered around the stove, the perfect location for a bit of fall warmth. The backsplash is a great option to be a focal point of your fall decor. The key is to vary the vignettes so that they look natural and connected to the space around them.

Here, a piece of landscape art is leaned against the tile under the hood, with shapely pears on a vintage wooden cutting board. Pears are an amazing and inexpensive decor option, due to their wonderful form and color.

Further into the season, you might use white pumpkins, gourds, or even pinecones, in place of the pears.

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Bowl of Apples and a Copper Pitcher

On a separate counter I styled another little moment that’s oriented around a bowl of fruit. This vignette best illustrates the mix of rustic chic with French decor, as it comprises an organic papier-mâché bowl, sitting with an antique copper pitcher, fronted by an underpinning of French kitchen towels.

For September I’ve filled the bowl with apples, but later in the season you could use small pumpkins, acorns or pine cones.

The copper pitcher lends a warm touch, however I went more subtle in choosing fall blooms, opting for white hydrangeas and just a touch of floral color, adding lots of greenery using seeded eucalyptus.

Tray with Candle and Wooden Beads

To ensure variation in my decor, at the end of the counter I used a spare serving tray to corral a mini arrangement of fall items. An antique ironstone pitcher, a candle in a copper jar and a strand of wooden beads rounds out the offering.

Other options for an autumn tray arrangement include faux pumpkins, a mug with twigs, or mason jars brimming with seasonal linens.

vintage decor on a wood tray in the kitchen

Wood Block Vignette

This next arrangement is a variation on one I keep at the end of the island all year long. Another example of mixing European antiques with a rustic modern serving piece, the seasonal updates include a cluster of fresh baby’s breath and my absolute favorite Baies (berry) candle.

As the season progresses switch out the baby’s breath for sunflowers and try a pumpkin spice candle.

Vintage Wood Stool and Vase

The remaining bits of decor are scattered more freely about, so that the kitchen doesn’t look like a series of evenly staged vignettes. For a diverse look, if one grouping has two elements the next will have four. If a vignette is arranged on a tray, another will be on the bare counter.

For simplicity, a vintage marble bowl sits on a raised footed cake plate. A terra cotta vase sits atop a bleached wood stool. An antique garden urn serves up dried hydrangeas, while a raw wood riser functions as a perch for miniature stone bowls.

These pairings add to the mix of Old World with modern, while providing the perfect setting for fall kitchen decor.

My kitchen is unquestionably all white and French inspired. But with the addition of a few organic pieces and some subtle fall color, it is both refreshed for the season and updated for the direction of current decor trends. The rustic pieces sit comfortably with my French antiques and the offbeat combination gives identity and personality to a frustratingly ubiquitous trend.

I don’t jump on new trends lightly.

Resource Guide

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.

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