Fall Decorating & Clichés
I’m the master of utilitarian and multipurpose everything; black looks good with anything, I don’t own a mixing spoon because a spatula does just fine and every pair of shoes I own is either black or white. I’m a no-nonsense Mrs. Bale and I haven’t had a microwavable mixing bowl in 7 years, even though it makes my life quite challenging. Then there’s the other part of me that believes that you can’t Swiss Army knife it all. You need 30 cake stands, 14 different kinds of sauces in the fridge door and 27 different scents of candle. While it’s completely obnoxious, I am grateful for this tug-o-war I experience when it comes to belongings, because the two different views on “stuff” generally balance each other out. It might shock you to learn that this fight has resulted in a single, solitary bin of fall decor.
As you know, I am head over heels for fall. I’m going to make a very cliche statement, but I liked fall before it was popular. I grew up in Florida and I often spent some of the fall days up in North Carolina, where the air nipped and bit, old wooden floors were normal, leather and brass were a part of daily life and shoe shots with amber colored leaves on the ground were expected, except it was all film back then and you weren’t going to waste film on a shot you hoped might be interesting. Let me catch my breath. Phew! Seriously though, when you spent your summer days playing on the surface of the sun and then turning around believing that white Christmases were a myth, those North Carolina autumns were magic. When you don’t have certain things and you get the opportunity in life to taste a relief you didn’t know existed, that experience becomes ingrained in you. It becomes you and it feels as though you could exclaim “Exhilaro!” in the name of that experience, and all would be well. It might sound ridiculous or even extreme, but I bet you have some kind of experience in life that lights up the magic center of your brain.
About the second week of August, I pulled my single bin of fall decor out and slowly started decorating. My favorite place to dress up is the dining table. A while back, I bought this antique Missouri farmhouse table that a former vice president of Sherwin Williams used to own. This table is the best table I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned a lot. Of. Tables. A. Lot. I did up the first tablescape with a jute table runner, copper candles, one of those cake stands I mentioned, a terra cotta knight and the paper leaves we made last year. On the third week of fall, my true love said to me…just kidding. No, the third week, I decided to change things up a little. I swapped the table runner out for a Chan Luu cream and black runner, I swapped the cake stand of pumpkins out for an Italian pumpkin tureen I had in the kitchen and brought in some brass candlesticks. I popped the knight back into the scene and sprinkled the paper coffee leaves around the setting. The look was shockingly very different, yet almost everything was the same.
Sometimes one bin of fall goodies feels annoying when I see the new cute things that they have out at the store. Despite this, I think of the cost benefit of storing all of the items, the actual cost and the cost of storing those items, only to turn around and store them for 10 months out of the year and that is so much more annoying. You don’t need to make every craft or buy every decoration to create a look that is uniquely you. The candles are something I use throughout the year, the table runners go with everything and the knight can always be found making his rounds. The only “fall” items are the quintessential pumpkins and the leaves. Be creative, look at what you have, be off-beat, be you, this is how new ideas are born. If you feel like you need a little something more to create the perfect fall look, see if you can make something affordable, try to create something that doesn’t take up a lot of space. Doing more with less isn’t on trend these days, but it sure is nice for the pocketbook and peace of mind. If you’re like me and have a tug-o-war about “stuff” or you can’t justify lots of decorating goodies for whatever reason, that is 100% OK. Life isn’t about making everyone else happy, part of life is about being true to you. So make sure you’re doing what works for you…not what social media suggests. In all seriousness, I am just joking about 30 cake stands and 27 scents of candle, but there are 14 different sauces in the fridge.
