Welcome to this month’s Pinterest Challenge, dear friends! Our friend Cindy from County Road 407 finds a photo for us to use each month as our inspiration piece. This month we have been challenged to create a beautiful fall vignette…
If you are just coming over from Carol at Bluesky at Home to French Ethereal for the first time, welcome! I am so glad you are here and hope you consider following my blog and my other media channels.
My living room is fresh and clean with the fall cleaning I began just a couple of weeks ago, and I’m happy to share a small corner of it with you today: our lovely library/tea table over by our western facing back windows which overlook our backyard. 🙂
So, let’s get to our inspiration!
Vintage inspiration
I totally love this fall-styled table from Katie Wood at The Cottage Journal magazine, who shared this vignette as part of homeowner Gloria Parker’s antique-filled home built in the 1830’s. There is sooo much autumnal goodness here!
Gloria’s table is artfully arranged with a double-handled olive oil jar, which I learned during this challenge is called a confit jar which is filled with orange winterberry vine. A stack of vintage books, a lovely autumn-colored soup tureen, plus several prettily framed portraits add to the scene! Oooh, I just noticed she copied the pot’s look in the shorter soup tureen with its double handles as I took in a second pass over her photograph. Don’t you just love “repeats” in decor?
Just brings everything together… 🙂
A bit more fall is woven into this vignette with several tiny cream pumpkins and a few fall leaves. Love the monochromatic look!
The orange winterberry branches definitely lend their fall touch to the vignette and set the color scheme. The pumpkins add a festive look and set the scene squarely around October and Halloween time, at least in my opinion.
My tableau
Our vignette begins with finding something along the lines of those winterberries…
I found faux ones at Hobby Lobby but they were a bit pricey so I opted instead for soft autumn flowers in peach and pale yellow paired with creamy pussy willows.
How to Make Your Own Fall Foliage Vase
I arranged these florals in a French vase to mimic the winterberries in the olive oil jar from our inspiration photograph.
A sheet of heavy paper packed around the stems keeps the florals upright (what the cashier wrapped these stems with). I would have used chicken wire but forgot that I had some out in the garden shed. 😉
Pieces of green moss tucked in around the top hide the paper edges and give the vase a finished look.
As you can see, creating a little area for penning a note to a loved one is really showcased with the soft fall colors in our floral bouquet!
I’ve added my signature maiden statue for added height and its soft chalkware hue, plus more whites in a vanilla-scented candle, then a creamware mug of hot tea, play up the creams of the sweetly soft pussy willows.
The little brown jug with its little friar or monk stopper is a prohibition piece which belonged to my father’s mother and father. It plays “How Dry I Am” and it still works! This jug is another nod to the beautiful olive oil jar from Katie’s stylings for the Cottage Journal.
To the other side of our library table, I’ve added a small stack of books in soft fall colors of russet, gold, cream and a pale sky blue. Two fabric pumpkins nestle into the scene just like in our inspiration piece and add more texture to this vignette.
One vintage framed card set inside a gilded frame I’ve had since high school helps complete the tableau. After I began photographing, I remembered this little pewter candle snuffer and added it to my tablescape.
I did indeed use it to put out the candle when I was done. 🙂
The rest of the story
And here is our full fall vignette ready for me to finish writing this notecard. An old favorite story about Hazel the rabbit and her many friends in Watership Down waits to be picked up and read some more. Not a bad recreation, is it? I’m happy with this fall styling.
Thanks for stopping by today, everyone! Up next is Kim from Cottage in the Mitten whose fall vignette is absolutely stunning with her signature blue books! Do stop by and check out all of the other wonderful fall tablescapes shared today… 🙂
Thank you to Cindy for gathering us all together again! Love being part of the Pinterest Challenge crew…
Past fall PC tours you might enjoy…
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Enjoy the tour, blessed friends,
Great use of fall elements, Barb. I love the touch of writing a notecard. It makes the fall vignette come alive.
Thank you, Carol! I love how everyone’s tables turned out sooo differently this time. This particular challenge was really fun to read through. Glad you enjoyed my little writing idea. <3
Such a gorgeous grouping Barb! I love the soothing elements.
Thank you, Laura. This was really fun!! I really think this particular challenge brought out so much creativity in all of our vignettes.
Such a gorgeous vignette, my friend. Happy Fall!
Thank you, Renae. Sorry, I thought I sent a reply a couple of days ago, but guess I didn’t. 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed my little writing vignette! Happy fall to you, too!!
Hugs,
Barb 🙂
What a fun way to cozy up and spend an afternoon writing letters, Barb. It’s such a lost art! I love the unique and creative way you put everything together. It’s really relaxing. Hugs, CoCo
I appreciate your sweet thoughts, CoCo. I’m really happy with how this challenge pushed my style. Love how different all of our tables turned out. Great challenge!
Such a beautiful vignette. Love all the elements.
Thank you, Rachel! I love your table and shelves and how yours turned out, too. Really fun challenge!
Very pretty vignette Barb with your fall stems! The jug is just adorable! What a treasure!
Thank you, Michelle. I am glad that I brought that little jug home with me when Mom asked what things I would like to have several years before she passed. It is a unique piece of family history. Glad you enjoyed seeing it in our challenge. <3
I’m a practical person and find it hard to decorate for the sake of beauty. Weird I know but your vignette with the notecard and pen is perfect! I love how romantic the desk looks. Makes me want to watch Pride and Prejudice for the 100th time. lol! Thank you for joining in.
Cindy, that makes me laugh! I love all the versions of Pride & Prejudice… Amy and I watched Sense & Sensibility again while she was here, which was fun, as I miss watching movies with her. We always enjoy talking about what the characters are thinking about! Glad you enjoyed my table. 🙂
So pretty Barbara. I love the soft colors you chose along with your beautiful maiden. Together they create the perfect vignette.
Thank you, Wendy! I realized when I opened the computer (10/4/23) that I never sent my reply… (eye roll up). Guess I was tired. Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed my little fall vignette. Love how very different all of our tables turned out!
So pretty. I love that you added your gracious lady to your vignette. She reminds me of days gone by when staying in touch was done with elegant notes. Beautiful vignette.
Thank you, Marty! I really appreciate your thoughts. I am in awe of how we all really created something unique this time, unique to our own styles. I do love writing… <3 Happy fall!
Such a cozy little writing spot you created, Barb! Perfect for a teacher;)
Thank you, Lora! I wish I could say that I was a teacher. I am an aide but I really enjoy all the years I’ve helped teach children. I’ve learned a lot but haven’t had to worry about grading and all that. I do love sharing books with students and working in our library now is ideal. Happy fall to you!
Barb, you created such a sweet and French- inspired writing area! I love that bust and the florals are soft and romantic. So pretty my friend!
Cindy, I’m sorry! I thought I commented back on Thursday last week… Never got there, I guess. I do appreciate your sweet thoughts on my fall table. I really enjoyed putting this challenge together and I’m still amazed at how varied all of ours were this time. Good challenge! 🙂
What a beautiful vignette, Barb, with so many sweet elements. It feels like it’s a moment frozen in time. 🙂
Thank you, Niky! I hadn’t thought of how my table turned out in that way. I do love Victoria Magazine and how their tablescapes were always so ethereal, timeless. Glad you enjoyed mine! Sorry I am just getting back to you; I really thought I’d caught up last Thursday. 🙂 Enjoy your week!!!