Welcome everyone! Are you as excited as I am about all the fall decorating inspiration that’s going on over here? Between home tours and special guests and link parties my mind is racing, but I love it! Today I am so happy to have Rita from Panoply here as a guest blogger to share some of her wonderful fall indoor and outdoor decorating ideas. You are in for a real treat!

I connected with Rita through blogging and had the pleasure of meeting her in person through dealing in antiques. I have since enjoyed getting to know her further through blogging and social media, and I wanted to introduce her to all of my readers here as well!  So without further adieu..

Here’s Rita!

Hello, and a big, hearty welcome to Follow the Yellow Brick Home readers! My name is Rita C., and I am the voice behind the blog Panoply. I’m happy to have been invited to collaborate with Amber here on her blog in what she hopes will become a series, with guests sharing on subjects many of us love. My content today covers two of my favorite subjects – fall, and home & garden vignettes.

Antiquing and blogging have helped me reconcile the needs I have in being creative, sharing my love in finding cool things, fostering them (if only for a while), staging & selling them and, occasionally, being able to incorporate them into our home.

As an antique dealer in the South Charleston Antique Mall, South Charleston, WV, fluffing the nest is always better when I can infuse vintage style into the mix. Allow me to share some of the ways I have created vignettes in the home – sometimes directly from the garden – and, at times, even spilling over into the spaces I share with two of my sisters in our booth spaces. I hope you enjoy the photos, a few with links where you’ll find more details. Grab your favorite drink, lots of photos ahead!

The photo below is how my front entry is decorated for fall 2017. I bought the pumpkins and mums at our farmers’ Capitol Market, and I am using various vintage items I’ve accumulated over the years. A stack of varying pumpkins and beautiful blooms is one of the easiest displays for big impact!

If you live near a forest or woods, it’s very easy to gather things from nature that work especially well in fall decor. Below, I’ve arranged pine cones, deer sheds (given to me by a friend), and faux fruit “picked” from a local estate sale. They’re all contained within a handcrafted birdbath bowl, perched on an antique bread board purchased on one of my many antiquing ventures.

Feathers are another great natural find, although mine were purchased. Pictured below, they’re garnered in a vintage trophy cup. In the same area, I’m using an antique dough bowl, and repeating the deer sheds, pine cones, and fruit. I’ve also added in some artificial, inexpensive, small gourds.

The garden itself is a huge inspiration for me when creating seasonal vignettes. I always plan and plant my perennial landscape and annual containers with my USDA Zone 7A in mind. As an example, the purple fountain grass pictured below provides great height, color and texture from May through October or November. The plumes could easily be cut and used for a dramatic indoor fall arrangement.

Other plants in my landscape, such as a magnolia and red twig dogwood, also provide great components for indoor, seasonal arrangements such as the basket below. The vintage market basket was the perfect vessel for this arrangement, and you can click here for the how-to instructions. While the red twig dogwood is pretty in color, any sticks can be gathered for a similar effect.

Thanks to birds I’ve fed from my garden feeders, I’ve had patches of volunteer sunflowers in years past. I did something special for myself with photos taken of the splendor that grew. I created the plates you see in the photo below (learn more here), and set a pretty, vintage tablescape (another one of my favorite subjects I cover on my blog). I’ve since created even more plates, and they are great conversation starters when gathering with family and friends.

Another tablescape I created for fall in 2016 (below) was inspired by a simple bouquet of flowers cut from my late summer garden. This table became one of my favorites, utilizing a great mix of natural and vintage items gathered, such as the Currier & Ives dinnerware, the copper peat pots, pine cones, Indian corn, various fruit & mini pumpkins. A true cornucopia!

Other times, I simply cut a bouquet of flowers from the garden and make a simple arrangement such as the all neutral one pictured below.

Porch decor varies from year to year, and I like mixing natural garden elements along with vintage things, and, as is the case below, with handcrafted items like the ladder with crow and pumpkin, purchased from a local fall fair. Again, the pumpkins, mums, Indian corn and hay bale came from my local farmers’ market, but most grocers now stock these items seasonally.

A stacked topiary of pumpkins and an old bushel basket spilling the Indian corn and mini pumpkins makes a simple, yet eye-catching display.

Alternatively, a vintage lantern spilling the pumpkins varies the look.

Often, I’ll start the fall display with leftovers from my summer season displays, as shown below. The urn with fern gives height to the display while the mums and pumpkin below fill the corner space. The urn is an antique – cast iron – and was an auction win several years ago.

Another means of adding a fall touch is to simply cut a few branches of leaves from a maple tree that’s turning colors. If that’s not feasible, you can purchase preserved stems from craft stores, but my method is much cheaper. 😉

Sadly, not everything in my garden is a success. Such was the case when we planted white paper bark birch trees which later had to be cutdown. However, the silver lining was I had instant decor elements afterward! I have used the branches in something as simple as plunking them into a vintage olive bucket, or embellishing them with a string of lights, pine cones, and other various natural things gathered. This idea transitions easily throughout the seasons, as shown here.

Another way of using the thicker logs of the fallen birch trees, I cut graduated pedestals for use in yet another table centerpiece. Once again, pumpkins, pine cones, gathered acorns and leaves finish the vignette.

A mini birdbath can be used for indoor tabletop display. Who says you have to put water in the birdbath? Here, a few small pine cones, wine corks, and chestnut pods make a nice fall vignette.

One plant that keeps on giving in the garden is the hydrangea. Below, my Endless Summer variety’s petals turn to shades of beautiful, mossy green and mauve in late summer, early fall. Cutting the stems and hanging upside down to dry, they become great fillers for indoor fall arrangements.

In the photo below, you can see dried hydrangeas in the trophy cup in the background. On the table, cut magnolia branches arranged around a centerpiece makes an elegantly simple statement.

I love gardening, and collecting vintage things such as nozzles, sprinklers, wire flower frogs, tools, plant sitters (for watering), and even broken wings from old statues…all of these create an all-season display when tossed in a basket and placed on a table. It’s a perfect vignette for a porch, sunroom, or she-shed.

At the antique mall booth spaces, my sisters and I always like to stage seasonal displays, too. Pictured below, you see the same urn that was on my front porch in a previous picture, along with a pumpkin perched upon it, and a pip berry garland. As dealers, we have the luxury of fostering items at home, and then having the option to sell them, or vice versa. 🙂

Another display at the antique mall, utilizing the urn again, this time with a grapevine wreath and bittersweet vine. Notice the feathers in trophy cup on the table.

Currently in our space at the antique mall for fall 2017, we’ve staged the old porch swing below, with vintage quilt, painted graphic on barn wood sign, and a small basket of faux gourds. Our goal is to help people visualize what they can do at home with things we offer for sale.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these vignettes, and find a little inspiration in what you’ve seen. There’s still time to create something of your own and enjoy it through this season of fall, both in your home and garden. You’re always welcome to come visit Panoply’s antique booth spaces at the South Charleston Antique Mall, 617 D Street, South Charleston, WV 25303 (Exit 56 on I-64). We’re located on the first floor.

For those who don’t follow my blog, let this be my personal invitation for you to come visit me at this link, Panoply. I love engaging with visitors via comments, many who’ve since become loyal readers and friends. So, let me know if you stop by! Amber, thank you again for the chance to collaborate in your guest series.

Friends that was certainly a lovely post full of inspiration! I am looking forward to having Rita back as a guest during the holidays to share some of her wonderful Christmas decorating ideas as well. Please head on over to her blog to see more of her beautiful gardens and pictures of her fabulous antiques booth displays! I am planning to visit her booth soon (I’ve got my eye on that big black urn!) and I will be blogging all about my visit in my Let’s Go Junkin’ series!

(Thanks Rita!) 

If you are looking for more fall decorating ideas, here is my Early Fall Home Tour   which was part of the Harvest Home Blog hop with seven other beautiful homes in case you missed it. Thanks for joining us today!

Amber

Linking up with:

Create, Bake, Grow and Gather

Silver Pennies Sundays

The Scoop

Share Your Style Thursday