Fall 2016 Tour – Part 1
Fall in Alaska has pretty much come and gone already. It is the most abbreviated season we experience every year, lasting at most a few weeks. The mountains have a fine dusting of snow, and the cold crispness in the air married with the sharp smell of high bush cranberries is nothing short of divine. A high powered wind storm hurried the golden leaves exit ushering us into another season.
Inside, however, fall décor will remain until after Thanksgiving. I was thinking about seasonal decorating (I have a lot of time to sit and think lately as I nurse my sweet little babe). Some people bring out bins and go all out for every season. Some buy a pumpkin at the store and call it good. And really, it doesn’t matter what you do, as much as you establish your place as home.
But for me, our home is my canvas. Like an artist I can’t resist the joy of echoing the Creator’s work outside, and making an inviting home that dances with the season’s ebb and flow. And like an artist with a brush in hand, staring at a piece of canvas, I am ever drawn to create something new and different. To draw on different combinations, textures and colors. I mean, who ever heard of two originals of the same painting? It just doesn’t’ happen.
So this fall, I was wanting to decorate my house with cotton stalks, pheasant feathers and white pumpkins. A subtle, neutral fall-scape if you will. Easy enough, you see combinations of that all over Pinterest. The hang up is Alaska. There are limited varieties of pumpkins available. Cotton is nowhere to be seen. (And yes, I’ve seen the tutorials to make your own cotton branches but I have this strange aversion/phobia of cotton balls. I know, weird, but somehow the sound and texture of cotton balls will leave me running away and shuddering – like nails on a chalkboard for some folks). And the shipping to Alaska for awesome stores that most people take for granted like Joss & Main or Magnolia – usually is double or more of the cost of the item.
So I went to Plan B. Go to Michaels and JoAnns and work with what they have. So I got more faux pumpkins of the blue and white varieties. I found a few pheasant feathers on clearance at Fred Meyer (our local Kroger), I purchased a few faux hydrangeas at JoAnns and then just played with new combinations of what I had. That truly is the beauty of creativity, making something new and beautiful with what you have.
I added a couple pheasant feathers to the lighted sticks in the vase, and white pumpkins in place of candles on the silver candle sticks. I decided to go silver and pewter. I love the contrast of the warmth of fall colors and the color and texture of the silver tones. The wreath was a simple creation. A grapevine wreath that I stuck in a faux hydrangea, two pheasant feathers, and took apart a fall garland that went around pillar candles. I didn’t even glue anything, so it all can be re-used for something else in the future. And I love it, even more than my original plan.
The built-ins I left as in, only added some “natural” fall elements. Faux pumpkins of varying colors and sizes, a stalk of wheat I found last year at Safeway, another faux hydrangea, and the pumpkin blueberry arrangement I concocted last year (so there was one repeat, I really loved it).
My gorgeous treadle sewing machine I always feel like is the center of attention. I mean, exceedingly gorgeous on her own, however, I like to grace her with seasonal décor. I love the play on textures here, the warm old wood layered with a seagrass mat, a Potterybarn silver charger, a sprinkling of faux acorns, a white pumpkin, and a vase full of feathers. I love this.
The addition of pheasant feathers to my décor was actually inspired by this pillow I made last year. My favorite embroidered fall pillow ever!
Because of the volume of words and photos, I will show you the rest of the fall décor in Part 2, the next installment of inspiration from Of Ruffles and Rifles.
Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
Cheryl
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