Hello, dear friends! Welcome to this month’s Design Challenge hosted by our friend Cindy from County Road 407. As we head towards autumn, Summer to Fall Decorating Ideas is our challenge, and I am excited to bring out decor which bridges this transitional time of year. Let’s check out this month’s inspiration…
If this is your first time here, wasn’t Carol from Bluesky at Home‘s summer to fall chest so special?! I love the ideas she comes up with for each challenge!! Additionally, welcome to my blog French Ethereal! I love decorating in more of a French Country style, but I love many different styles and try to change it up here and there. If you enjoy today’s post, please consider subscribing as I love making new friends.
Thank you, and I am glad you are here! 🙂
Cozy warm fall feels
Our inspiration photograph comes to us from Heidi at Eleanor Rose Home. She has pulled together lovely, soft neutrals playing up their textures in this vignette. I love that Heidi used a lot of vintage and antique books reading the room with their worn charm. Nubby, warm throws and pottery in creams add their gentle touch. Heidi’s blog is new to me, so I will need to check out her posts more!
Really love this early fall look a lot, though!
For my vignette, I pulled out the creams with slightly darker neutrals. I’ve also added a hint of soft rose to my palette…
The stacked china I chose to display on our plate stand is the lovely, soft, pinkish-red transferware made by Johnson Brothers, which includes family farm scenes. Each small bowl shows two boys playing down by the creek…
The How To: Behind the thought process
Borrowing the idea of books from our inspiration piece, I starting with them standing upright. but realized they worked better in repose. You may find this, too, that you like having an item in your tablescape; however, maybe that piece would work better in a different spot, or lying down, as I have found.
The little bird in his nest moved all around the tabletop before I was happy with the it near the newer antique-style vase with dried hydrangeas from the garden. Perfect addition to this early fall look!
The Oxford Book of Quotations is a tome found while browsing resale shops in England with my sister-in-love Linnea in the spring of 2005. This tome and a bunch of others were mailed back through the AAFES mail service at the end of our visit (took my kids over to visit during Easter Spring Break) with my brother and his family. This was Gene’s last overseas station before moving back to the United States.
In this tableau, it needed to lose its dust jacket. The pumpkin-colored book cover revealed underneath was a delicious surprise! Love the color…
With using warm neutrals in shades of cream, rose, pumpkin, and milk chocolate, the wood riser underneath the harvest pitcher adds a shot of espresso with its ship scene (not seen ~ sorry about the pun!).
This découpage project was a craft my husband made as a boy in the 1970s (sure dates us!). I like the warmth it adds when used upside down, and you can just see the “pull tab” Hubby used as a hanger which he screwed onto the back!
Remember how as kids you used whatever was laying around to “make things.” This was always a goal I had in mind when working with students in our Makers Space program at school ~ use what you have to make unexpected creativity!!!
Adding the barn painting with its golden fields is another nod to our season just ahead. I love how this early fall tableau has turned out!
Sorry the photo “looks” wonky… A sofa and coffee table are in the way right behind me when I try to photograph “straight on.” 😉
Really, really happy to share that there are the buffet turned out well. I am sooo happy with how it turned out!
Please check out everyone’s links below, friends. LoraBloomquist is up next with her gorgeous fall bedroom… Lovely!
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Happy celebrating fall, y’all,
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Barb, I love that you brought in items from a trip to England with family. Makes it extra special. And your husband’s childhood art project is such a seasonal addition. I need to look for a bust of some sort. I know you’ve used this one often. Your buffet is lovely, too.
Thank you, Carol, for your sweet thoughts! That particular maiden is my favorite of all the statues around here. The books are pretty special, too.
Thanks again!
What a pretty sideboard! I just love the red transferware!
Thank you, Laura! This challenge was hard for me, for some reason. It’s not exactly as I’d like, but it is close. I forgot the dresser scarf, which would have pulled it more together. Glad you like our sideboard/buffet and the transferware. 🙂
Have a great week,
Barb 🙂
Decorating with things you have picked up on your travels is a wonderful way to reflect back on good times! Your buffet is so pretty, and perfect for the design challenge!
Michelle, thank you for your sweet comments! I am enjoying this buffet; it was worth the wait of three years to find the right combination of blockers to get it to where it is now. Love having it for this challenge!
Have a great rest of your week,
Hugs,
Barb 🙂
I always love your vintage touches.
Thank you, Rachel! It is fun to pull things out of the cupboards which have been hidden away. Love these challenges for that!
Enjoy your week,
Barb 🙂
I know what you mean about a photo looking wonky. There’s always a glare from the sun, or a reflection in the way. Even with the troubles, your tableau looks amazing. I love the stacked dishes. I hadn’t thought of that! And every time I see your sweet lady bust, it makes me want one. Hope you enjoy your hard work for a while. Thanks for joining in. pinned
Cindy, your home would look even lovelier with a bust! <3 The European mirror frame you have, are you sure it is European? I was wondering if it wasn't Philippine mahogany made into a European style. I find it reassuring, and funny at the same time, that as people travelled the world over the centuries, they copied each other's furniture, painting styles, etc. (hence, the French-style paintings my father brought back from his tours in Vietnam, but that was because of French occupation). Your antique piece is lovely and would look awesome with a small painting in the top portion (which it may have had, at one time) and a little mirror in the bottom ~ like a mini trumeau. Was hard to see if the mirror is still there or not from that one angle. Your home always looks so tidy, too! Ours is a wreck with all of the issues, and I am having a hard time getting rid of old shelter magazines, which I used to pour through, but now are really dated. I can't bear to throw them out, so I keep finding ways to donate them, lol! Is that normal?? 😉
Today is turning out to be a rest day. After starting visits yesterday for the Design Challenge, I went out and added the bricks to the next spot needing them. Only took three hours! More mortar ends up on the ground than in the walls, lol! But I think I am getting better at it. 😉 Thankfully, the storm blew off and the winds kept me coolish. Then I came back to visits for the rest of the day.
Glad you liked my vignette, although with this one I was really challenged. I forgot the dresser scarf, which I think would have made me tighten up the placement of things more. Oh, well!
Enjoy the rest of your week and the weekend is supposed to be cooler (70's at night!!!), thank Heaven!
Hugs,
Barb 🙂
I’m giggling, Barb. If you look closely to my straight on photo, you can see my shoulder:( Had to sit on the bed & stoop down to not get myself in the mirror. Guess I didn’t quite accomplish that. Love your transferware; bet you love using it for Christmas.
Hi Lora! Too funny!! I am always catching myself in shots when I photograph with the mirror over the mantel. I’ll have to go look at your photos again. 😉 Nobody notices those things except the photographer, lol! My father used to always get his thumb or a forefinger in the edge of photographs. We got so used to it, I think oddly enough it became his trademark. Glad you enjoyed my post, and yes, I found this transferware at Christmas-time the first or second year we were here in Texas. It is a favorite for the season.
Happy almost fall to you,
Barb 🙂
Barb, I love the memories gathered on your beautiful sideboard .. that always adds warmth! Your vintage pieces really shine.
Thank you so much, Cindy! Most of these vintage items are thrift store and antique store items. Only the plate stand was something I found at Target back in the early 2000s and painted distressed white. Glad you enjoyed this little vignette.
Hugs,
Barb 🙂
Barbara, I love how you used what you already had to create such a beautiful vignette. Your red and white dishes are just perfect and add such a lovely touch. And leave it to you to have this gorgeous bust, she is absolute perfection!
Thank you for your sweet comments, Wendy! Finding our maiden bust was just a super lucky thrift shop find. She is a favorite. 🙂
Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week,
Hugs,
Barb 🙂