Decorate the Dining Room for Autumn

Cooler days, falling leaves and Thanksgiving coming soon. It's time to add some autumn touches to the dining room decor.

Besides the traditional colors of gold and orange, baskets of harvest vegetables and some mums, there are many ways to give a fall look to your dining room. After the heat of summer, I'm enjoying the brisk days of this time of year and want to bring the beauty of the autumn leaves and their rich colors inside.

Here are some suggestions to revitalize that room with some seasonal decorating touches.

This year I was late putting my autumn decorating touches around the house. I can blame it on travel, but decided not to make excuses, to just get going. I lugged in my green storage tub filled with faux leaves and foam pumpkins.
Although I didn't time myself, I estimate that I decorated the great room, the entryway and the dining room in under an hour. Wow! I'm a speed demon decorator.
Usually I drag it out for a day with my finicky arranging and re-arranging to get just the look I want. Not this time. I stuffed some silk mums and leaves into a vase, placed some colorful squash artfully around the base and the dining room table was done. It helps that I decorate each fall, so I have a pretty good idea of where pieces will look the most dramatic or which pieces harmonize with each other.

Two small jack-o-lanterns were sufficient for the nook in the entryway. After Halloween, I turn them around and just show the plain pumpkins. A few fake leaves tucked here and there completed my work. Looks fine and saved a bunch of time.
The green tub went back to the garage shelving, and my great room and dining room are ready for visitors, the holidays, and for us to enjoy.

Functional and decorative at the same time. A warm bowl of soup hits the spot in the autumn when outdoor temperatures are getting colder.

You can even use this to hold some lovely rust and yellow mums (faux or real ones) if you aren't having soup.