Planning my fall foyer decor.
Living in Wisconsin, the fall outdoors is a beautiful landscape of colors. It's full of reds, yellows, and oranges. Beautiful, and I appreciate it all! However, the fall is also a crazy busy time with new school schedules and fall sports. With that in mind, I like my fall decor to be calm and reflect more of an oasis in this hectic (but fun) time of year. I love some chippy white items, linen-look fabrics, and silver - mainly mercury glass. You might say I obsess about mercury glass. And, of course, natural, real items from nature. I truly appreciate all the different colored pumpkins we can now get.
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Using mercury glass, white candles and some natural elements.
I have had most of the items I used in my front foyer for years. I collected mercury glass before mercury glass was 'in.' I have many silver mercury candle holders. If you love them too, here are some cute ones that are very similar to mine and are a deal for mercury glass candle holders. I don't care if the candle holders match or not; I like displaying them together.
I love the texture fabrics bring - so my fabric pumpkin is a favorite. Plus, I was happy to find a very plain lampshade with a very neutral fabric cover. As I was looking for another one, I was pleasantly surprised that you can find fabric pumpkins with lights in them!
The big chippy white mirror is one of my favorite decor pieces. I've had it in numerous homes in numerous places. It usually ends up with a wreath on it because it's so big, and I think the wreath pulls it together. I love natural preserved boxwood wreaths! I put up real preserved ones in my home, but I'll confess that if they are outside my door, I may use plastic boxwood wreaths. The real ones don't hold up well on the outside where I live!
Using timers in the fall and winter.
I love fall, but I don't like how it gets darker earlier in the fall. I've figured out how to make that work for me! I have my white battery-operated candles with timers. They come on at 5 p.m., so as it starts getting darker, there is the warm glow of the candles. I display the candles differently in the winter, and they come on a little earlier. I love timers on candles because I don't need to turn them off when I go to bed. I'd like to thank the person who invented battery-operated candles with timers personally: ).
Do you see the lamp on the left? I also have that on a timer (indoor electrical timers are so inexpensive now - I use them, so I never walk into a dark house in the fall and winter). It goes on at 5 p.m. and turns off at 10:30 p.m. That timer on that lamp saved us a ton of electricity. The kids didn't turn on and leave on the big foyer chandelier every time they went upstairs. The lamp is more than enough light to go up and down the stairs comfortably when it's dark. Perfect for for some functionality with my fall decor.
Some simple decor guidelines.
Now, I'm by no means a decorating expert. But a few well-known rules help pull your decor together. One of them is to decorate in odd numbers. And, yes, that always makes a huge difference. Three candles rather than 2 or 4. And, you should always have the tallest items to the left. The above candle display looked funny, with the tallest one on the left. I just looked at the whole display and decided the lamp on the left is the anchor for that rule. See my fall decor pumpkins? Biggest one on the left.
I've shared my favorite decor pieces with you. What are yours, and why do you love them?
Love fall?
Here is my favorite fall planter! I've reused my summer grasses in this one.
My most popular fall post. It's old, but every fall, everyone wants these easy two-ingredient pumpkin muffins!
Looking for DIY ideas for beautiful planters? You will receive lots of ideas and inspiration. Plus, tutorials on how to plant planters.
Anna
Where did you get the mirror..I love the whole thing.
momcrieff
The mirror is from Kirklands. I've had it for years and so have they. I saw it in the store last week!
Stacey
Gosh, I was going to say it would look great painted. If you aren't sure, I wonder if you could start by just changing the hardware?
joyh82
I would leave it the way it is. Love it! Such a cute pumpkin' too.
momcrieff
Thanks for letting me know you like it! Decorating can be so subjective!
imarancher
Do not paint it white. Too much of a good thing is still too much. It looks terrific as is. And the reason that the tallest candle on the left rule doesn't work is because the light on the far left takes it place. Putting the left right rules onto the candle sticks results in making the entire table top look like it is overbalanced to the left. I am no decorator but I have a few artists friends who are happy to straighten me out now and then, lol. And in regards the buffet, I concur with Anonymous above; "the wood tone adds another element of interest."
momcrieff
Thanks for your comments! And, especially explaining why that tall candle looked odd when I had it on the left. I guess it's good that I noticed it didn't look great and didn't follow rules for the sake of following them. Appreciate the logic of your explanation.
pestep81
I'd definitely paint the buffet. It doesn't have to be white though that would look good, some shade of grey or dark tone might be nice. You'd probably want to introduce a little more texture or color to the display. Possibly some greenery or other wood pieces.
momcrieff
I love grey but painting it that color didn't even occur to me. I'll have to think about that idea. Thank you!
Anonymous
With the décor you have on the buffet right now, I would say painting it white would be too monochromatic. For me, the wood tone adds another element of interest. I would like to see how a runner would look on the buffet, laid flat or strategically scrunched up.
momcrieff
Great idea about the runner! I have a couple. I'll have to see which one works the best.