Fall Home Decor in our Tiny Apartment

I love the lighter grey and white fall decor trend that I’ve seen online the past couple of years, but for me and my home, I always want some rustic fall colours. Bring on the bright oranges, muted greens, natural wood textures and lots of flowers.

We’ve been doing some rearranging of the living room, and one of the pieces that got moved was this rustic cabinet I found in my grandpa’s basement last month. I aired it out and cleanedt up as much as I could, but I’d still like to put some kind of a protective finish on the wood. We’d been using an old microwave cabinet as a makeshift bar here, but I like this much better. There is even extra space beside it for a basket to store extra pillows and blankets.

The washboard is a bridal shower gift from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. It reminds me of one that my mom has hanging in her laundry room and I can’t wait to have a laundry room of my own someday to hang it in. (Seriously, a laundry room is one of my top three must-haves in our next home. Right up there with a dishwasher and a bigger bed. I like to dream big, guys!)

The cabinet is also a nice place to display some of my favourite fall touches – pumpkins (from a local patch!), some of my mercury glass collection (which I also used at the wedding) and a big galvanized tin of wildflowers from my neighbours’ garden.

On Saturday night, I helped my mom collect the wildflowers to make centerpieces for an event and she sent me home with a huge bouquet to decorate up the apartment with. I love all the little touches of yellow, purple and burgundy, as well as the very last of this year’s hydrangea. A bittersweet reminder that the flowers will be leaving us soon for another six month hiatus. I want to enjoy them while I can!

The bookcase in our living room now holds our big TV, so unlike other years where I’ve used it as a mantel for decorating during the seasons, this year the decor has to work around the TV. I did this while Garrett was away at work and he said it really felt like fall in here when he came home. Mission accomplished!

The beautiful sunflowers I picked up at the farmers market a couple of weeks ago are on their way out, but I’m trying to keep them going as long as possible by replacing their water every day and re-cutting the stems. The acorn squash are also from the farmers market and I’ll use them for recipes as needed. More mercury glass and a yummy wasabi apple mason jar candle I picked up at the mall awhile back. It’s not a scent I’d usually be drawn too, but it’s actually really nice and not too strong.

The other side of the bookcase holds a cute daisy & mum bouquet that Garrett surprised me with for our anniversary on Friday (in a green mason jar I got in my swag bag at this year’s BlogPodium), as well as some knit patterned candles from last year’s BlogPodium, a butternut squash (destined to become a soup!) and more acorn squash, mini pumpkins from the patch and mercury glass.

Over in the dining room, most of the room is a mess right now with me reorganizing my office space, but I did make an effort to keep the top of the cabinet free for a little autumn fun there too. More rustic elements and lots of happy orange (including a canister of chicory coffee from our stop at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans).

The table wouldn’t be complete without a big bowl of apples too. These Cortlands are from the farmers market this week and I fully intend to make them into either applesauce, more individual mini mason jar apple crisps for the freezer or glazed apple pie bars for company coming over this week.

While I was at the pumpkin patch I couldn’t resist picking up a big orange pumpkin to make a halloween jack-o-lantern this year, as well as a fun green cinderella pumpkin. Apparently this is one of the varieties of pumpkin that was cultivated by the pilgrims and served at the second Thanksgiving. I’ve never cooked one before, but I’ve read that they make a great roasted puree for soups and baked goods. I’m going to try it this year and see how it goes. For now, these two are going to camp out on the front porch with the mums!

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Here are some more fall decor posts from the archives: