Spring To Fall Table Setting: How to Style Five Different Looks from One Table Setting

 

Good Monday Morning! We have been having the nicest Fall-like temperatures in the Atlanta area for the past few days: upper 60’s in the mornings with an average in the low 80’s for the high each day. This time of year is tough for me because I’m such a Summer girl. It takes me until the first of October before I really want to get my Fall stuff out and decorate. My geraniums are just now starting to make a comeback since July, so I’m taking full advantage of their growing season!

This Summer, I repainted our front door in a medium grayish brown shade called “Caribou,” an older Duron color in the same color family as our siding. Our door had previously been a beautiful shade of rosy red a few years ago, but when we updated our porch colors here , here, and here, it was time for a door paint update, as well. 

At Christmas time, I loved the way the door looked with the porch decor and door wreath with the Caribou paint color ( here ) , but this Summer it seemed a little lackluster. When I planted the salmon colored geraniums in urns on either side of the front door for the Summer, I started thinking of paint colors for the door that might look good year round. I wanted something that looked good with pinks and corals in the warmer months, but other colors in the Fall and Winter months, too, and “Mermaid Net” came to mind right away- a beautiful soft aqua green by Behr that acts as a great neutral. You may remember the back porch bench and Adirondack chairs are also painted in this color. I absolutely love it.

See how those stubborn geraniums aren’t doing a thing? Yep, I think I may have Miracle Gro-ed them more than they like? Anyway, I showed them and neglected them the rest of the Summer, and wouldn’t ya know…..

They started behaving and showing me right back. Don’t you just love love that salmon color with the door paint color now?  Another thing I considered ( because Fall is the next season ) was how the new door color might look with mums, pansies, and pumpkins? I think it’s going to be good during all seasons, AND be a nice pop of color during those gray January and February Winter days.

Another project I wanted to do this Summer was to create more table settings on my little iron and glass table on the side porch. I thought the soft aquas, greens, and gray browns around the porch would look pretty with some Pellegrino bottles in a table setting. Aren’t they so pretty?  So I bought a few packs in June and took the bottles out and placed them on the dining room table on a silver tray until Labor Day weekend. ( sometimes it just takes awhile for the right inspiration to hit??! 😉 When Labor Day weekend rolled around, at that point, I was a little more “chill” and had more creative juices flowing in my brain. Oldest son to college ( check ), other 2 sons in high school and all was going well ( check ), and it was a holiday weekend/ I could breathe again ( check ) !! I thought of the pretty little Pellegrino bottles and some Italian lettuce plates I had, and thought artichokes would be a nice natural textured addition with the aqua and green bottles. Then I started thinking oyster shells in a large copper pot as another table setting, blue and white porcelain jars as a centerpiece for another, and so on…. I found a round paisley tablecloth at Tuesday Morning, and knew the colors would tie everything together beautifully. 

These settings were very simple and I used all natural elements, for the most part, combined with items I already had or were easily accessible from the produce section at the grocery store.  The first table setting is artichokes in a thrift store copper pot, combined with Italian lettuce plates ( a relative brought back a large square pasta bowl and 6 lettuce plates from Italy several years ago )

Table Setting #1~ Artichokes in Copper Pot

Table Setting #2~ Hydrangeas & Artichokes

Here I added a rabbit vase I already had with hydrangeas from the side of our house, and placed an artichoke at each individual place setting. Simple enough, right? I already had the taller green glasses, and found the shorter green glasses back in the Spring at Pier 1. I bought this candelier a few years ago from The Nester‘s website store, I believe. I love its’ crusty, chippy surface- In the past, I have placed short, white taper candles in it, but it gets so hot on this area of the porch in the Summer, they end up looking like a melted mess! 

Table Setting #3~ Blue & White Porcelain Jars With Artichokes

Oh, and I could just kick myself for not trying our wedding china plates on this table setting!! They are Federal Cobalt by Lenox, and I never liked them ( my hubby liked them and we compromised 21 years ago ) until I started loving blue and white porcelain. Turns out, he has very good taste….. 🙂

Source

Wouldn’t they have looked so pretty?! With the lettuce salad plates and maybe topped with a lettuce bowl? I will be setting another table like that soon, but for now……..

Table #4~ Oyster Shells in Copper Pot

You may remember my love of beach table settings here and here, when we were at the beach the past few Summers. I think these table settings really inspired me to create more tablescapes using what I already had, combined with natural elements. I was lucky to have found 2 copper pots at Goodwill a few months ago, and placed a bunch of oyster shells I had collected at the beach ( for a project that still remains to be seen…) in the largest one. This was my inspiration for this setting, combined with some starfish I already had.

And last, but not least, a Fall table setting, because what kind of blogger doesn’t have her house fully decorated for Fall by September 15?! ( um, this one?! ) While I still had the tablecloth and dishes out on the side porch table, I wanted to show another way you could use some of the existing items in a Fall table setting. I replaced the lettuce plates with my everyday Mikasa English Countryside dishes, bought some gray-green pumpkins from a local farmstand, wrapped some dried honeysuckle vines from our woods in a casual circle and placed that around each soup bowl, then placed a pumpkin on top. I also used pheasant feathers in a crusty urn ( both of which I already had, as well ) for the centerpiece on this table setting. I used my crystal glasses for a rustic elegance look, but I  also showed how the table could look without them. This table is strictly ornamental, not practical, but here again, just a way to use items found in nature for a pretty table setting. You could always use small wrapped grapevines topped with smaller pumpkins, too, and make it more practical for an actual Fall supper table setting.White pumpkins with little white votives in clear glass holders would be lovely, wouldn’t it?! So many possibilities.

Table Setting #5~ Pumpkins & Vines With Pheasant Feathers

 And without the crystal & gold glasses…..

I really loved playing around with different items and elements from the kitchen, dining room, nature, our yard, & the produce section to achieve different looks for different seasons. Christmas would have been fun, too, but we really don’t use the side porch table by December. I will try and remember to set a Christmas table though when my Christmas Tour comes along. But for now, let’s just keep it Fall, considering my Summer shells and decor are still out. I’ll be ready in another week or so……Blame it on the salmon geraniums.

Thank you for taking time out of your day to join me today! Have a blessed week! 🙂

xoxo

 

*I’m linking up with Best of the Nest today! Check out the amazing talent from Lisa, Jennifer,Kris, and Pam, along with many other bloggers linking up for lots of inspiration!

 

   

A BIG thank you to Kris at Driven by Decor for featuring this post!! 🙂