Hello friends! I’m so excited to finally share my fall kitchen and dining! It has taken me a while, but with canning and gardening season mostly behind me, I could finally clear out the canners, jars, lids, etc., that had taken up residence on any empty surface.
Y’all know that seasonal decor for me really means just switching out my dinnerware, etc., with more seasonal items including the Brown Drip dinnerware, colorful cloth napkins, anything orange and adding in natural elements form the garden and property.
For the table, I used a red velvet runner I’ve had a few years and layered it with a rust-colored curtain. I added pinecones, pumpkins and gourds from the garden and an arrangement of hydrangeas and blueberry branches from mother’s garden, combined with marigolds and a few assorted weeds. I have a smaller glass vase inside the pitcher so I don’t have to worry about leaking. The tall brass candlesticks were my grandmother’s and the ones I always wanted to use when she let me help set her table as a child.
If you’ve been around here long, you know I made the table also from salvaged wormy chestnut from the little house and had a local craftsman make the base, which daddy helped me design from a Victorian-era fence pattern book.
We’re using the Hull and McCoy Brown Drip dinnerware for everyday, and I like to add the Currier and Ives for a hint of blue. This particular glassware came form Pier 1 about 20 years ago and is still a favorite.
Several people noticed on instagram that I had painted the wall back in the spring, and I’m loving having that color again! If you’ve been here a while, you’ll remember when I found the paint drips on the back of the trim from the old house and painted the kitchen that shade about 10 years ago. I took a sample to Walmart, as it’s closest, and actually found an exact match in the Colorplace paint, which was then made by Sherwin Williams. The color is called “Secluded Guestroom” and is still my most requested paint color. It seems they are not making Colorplace paint anymore, so I had it mixed in an inexpensive Valspar at Lowe’s. I’ve since added the beadboard from the old house, so I only needed to paint that one wall, and I am in love with the feel and vintage look of this color.
I like to stay within a certain color palette when I change things around, so I brought out the brass plaques I’ve had for a while as well as the vintage needlepoints a family friend created years ago. More Brown Drip, of course and some towels I made simply to add the color and pattern to the boring black stove. I think a winter project will be repainting the bottom cabinets the same gray, but without the excessive distressing.
One thing I did purchase back in the summer is the 1976 McCoy Bicentennial Cookie Jar from eBay. I thought this would be perfect for coffee. I added a silicon ring around the lid so it seals. I LOVE this, and I think it was $10.98.
I made the curtains and sink skirt last year and couldn’t wait to get these out again. I love this floral, and it’s so perfect for this season and can coordinate with many different colors.
I really wanted to add the light/aqua/turquoise colors – because fall skies of course, so I did that with some of the blue/green mason jars, an iridescent tea set, and a tray all from my mother. I bought the mid-century lamp years ago and added this beautiful vintage floral shade I had in the living room.
Of course I had to change out my pink Pyrex for the Autumn Harvest Wheat pattern. I use all my Pyrex, and many at the same time, so these are definitely something I need more than one set of.
The 1977 Merry Mushroom cookie jar was my birthday present to myself this summer, and I could not love it more. I have the Sears Wish Book from ’77 this set was featured in and was able to find an exceptional deal on eBay for $22, which is unheard of in this pattern. It’s apparently very collectible now, so if you or your mom have some in the garage or basement send it my way!! My mother didn’t have this pattern, but there is something about it that reminds me of my childhood and those memories remind me of a time when I felt safe and was optimistic for the future. Obviously these days I think about those wonderful times a lot.
Mother and daddy have the most amazing oak tree that I like to clip branches from every year. I’ve used them all around the house, and they keep very well in water and actually dry pretty as well.
Did I mention how much I LOVE my blue wall? Yes, I did! There is something so vintage about this color, and I love it paired with the colors of fall – just as in nature.
Over on the buffet, I like to line up books along the back for fall, and I also added more iridescent depression glass in the fall colors that Mother has let me borrow.
The beautiful painting is an original by my late uncle from Montana and on loan from my daddy,
Some old family photos seem appropriate for the season, and the colors in the plate I bought in Bolivia add to that earthy, fall palette.
Another childhood memory I have that has influenced my decorating style, is the 50th Anniversary party my mother had for my grandparents’ in my childhood home. She had gathered beautiful fall branches and used them to decorate a built in library in the dining room, and I was absolutely fascinated by how pretty they looked, and that is exactly why I bring these beautiful branches inside every year.
The beautiful maple tree out the window is one my mother tagged in the woods here years ago, and I planted it about 14 years ago here. It’s my favorite tree.
Technically, our dining table should be where the piano is, but the grand has no other place it will fit, so it lives there.
My husband built the cabinet out of a walnut tree daddy cut and wormy chestnut scraps saved from the old house. It is a treasure to me.
The inherited pump organ is also a favorite of mine just for the beautiful craftsmanship in the woodwork that is hard to find in anything these days. It it still in working order as well.
More art by my late uncle, and a candelabra Mother bought in Lebanon in 1973. The hymn book belonged to one of the Walker sisters, Martha, of Great Smoky Mountains National Park fame. The only sister to marry, Sarah Caroline, married my mother’s great, great uncle Jim Shelton who photographed them as well as the park in the early years.
Thanks so much for following along with me as I shared my fall kitchen! I hope you’re inspired to look in your cabinets and closets before ordering or buying fall decor. Dinnerware, fabric runners/tablecloths, and branches clipped from the yard can make the most wonderful seasonal decor and will not cost anything if you just rotate what you have. Thrift shops, antique malls and fleamarkets, etc., are also great sources for vintage pieces that can be used and kept from a landfill. Plus, it’s so much more unique and interesting to not have the same decor as everyone else. Let your home tell *your* story not someone else’s.
I’ve linked a video showing some of our beautiful mountain landscapes and how I’m inspired by nature as well as my grandparents who lived here, and the old house my daddy grew up in. Be sure to check it out and subscribe to my channel;-)
I adore your YouTube and then can not wait to read your blog afterwards. How lovely and autumnal your kitchen looks. Wishing I were there having a cuppa with you. My special needs son collects brown drip as it remind’s him of his childhood. I never realized how much he loved it til on a thrifting jaunt he said he wanted to collect it. I was sorry I had left it behind many years ago when we moved to Michigan. He even has the 1976 cookie jar as you have.
It tickled him to see it in your blog. Our home is also colorful and filled with my mom’s and grandma’s things. What joy they give me, so I can understand Richies love for his drip glaze. We are going out to collect some fall branches for our pitchers…such a great idea. Can’t wait til your next blog. God bless! Love from Michigan ♥️
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Oh Lin thank you so much for sharing that with me☺️☺️ How wonderful he collects the brown drip – it is such a special pattern, and the memories of childhood it evokes I’m sure are comforting☺️☺️ Your home sounds absolutely wonderful – and a reflection of you as home should always be☺️
Wishing you were here too☺️
As always. Stunningly beautiful. And I absolutely love the blue
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Thank you Mother, and thanks for all the beautiful things of yours I get to borrow❤️❤️❤️
Oh how lovely! I do wish we lived near one another. Your autumn color palette choices thrill my heart. Thank you for another peek into your treasure filled, beautiful home.
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Thank you so very much Nancy☺️☺️☺️
As always, I love seeing your home and how beautifully you display and use your family treasures. It gives me such a warm, homey feeling 🙂 I don’t have nearly as many family things, but I do love having them out to see. I graduated high school in 1977 and well remember the wish books from that era. I loved the strawberry dishes at that time, and wish I had purchased some, but sadly I spent my hard earned savings on silly things, lol. With you as my inspiration, I’ve been trying to find some branches/weeds here in central Texas to cut and use inside. It’s been tough with our drought, but I discovered that my sweet basil works beautifully when cut and put in water. I have 2 large bunches in vases now; they look pretty and smell nice too – they’re going strong after a week. I’ll be drying them soon, but it’s been nice to have a ‘bouquet’ for a while 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your home and style with us, and for being an inspiration!
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Patty thank you so very much for sharing all that and for your kind comments☺️☺️ My mother has the strawberries dishes funny enough, so I certainly remember eating out of them. Yes I should’ve mentioned herbs are a great thing to use in fact I use sage a lot in arrangements when I don’t have anything else outside. That’s a wonderful idea and I’m so glad that you were inspired❤️☺️☺️
You have such a lovely home in a beautiful area. I have stuff😁! Just wondered how you store everything…by season, glass ware, color, etc. that makes it easy to change seasonally.
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Thank you so much Linda! The cabinet in the corner my husband built stores most of my things and I do have a lot of cabinetry here in the kitchen that is all used for kitchen dishes, bowls, etc. I have a China cabinet sitting in the hall as well where I store things but I’ve paired down a lot of things I did have over the years☺️
Perhaps that’s what I need to do, pare down!😜
I love your blues and teals with the fall colors. I have a navy old velvet sofa and chair with nail head trim and ball and claw foot feet. The burnt oranges, siennas, merlots and golds look especially good in the fall. Its my favorite season in my house. I love everything about your kitchen. I especially love the florals on the sink curtain and amazing lampshade. The overstuffed kitchen chair is pure cozy comfort. And the placement of the piano and organ looks like the room was meant for it. Its stunning. Happy fall and thanks so much for sharing. I am a fairly new subscriber and cannot wait to follow you through the seasons.
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Oh Liane, thank you so much!! Your sofa sounds wonderful, and those colors must be gorgeous😍😍😍
Beautiful job, Anita.love the Pump Organ .Tables are Gorgeous, color styling is Perfect.. thank you for sharing its all so lovely.
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Thank you so much Lana!
As always, I am entranced by your decorating talent. Your home is gorgeous in all seasons.
That said, I am compelled to point out that having lit candles on the stove under the vent hood, which could collect grease, is not the best of ideas.
Keep on being your wonderful you.
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Thank you so much! I do appreciate the fire safety advice, but my vent hood is actually higher than most normal ones and funny enough I just checked and there’s no grease at all up in there so I don’t know – I don’t cook fried greasy foods, plus I clean it occasionally. I kind of always thought this was about the safest place for a candle☺️☺️ But I could definitely see where someone who has a lot of grease collected up there might have an issue that I’ve certainly never thought of☺️
Such a warm, cozy and beautiful jewel of a home.
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Thank you so much Briana☺️☺️☺️
Beautiful home
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Thank you so much☺️☺️
Oh goodness, I so enjoyed this tour of your beautiful kitchen! Your use of color is so inspiring. Anita, I believe you have inspired me to use more color in my home! I don’t know if I can pull it off quite like you do but I am going to give it a try.
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Thank you Carol! Just go ahead try it! All you have to do is experiment and use more or less or whatever – just leave it for a while till it soaks in and then maybe try something else if you don’t like that☺️☺️
Your home is beautiful! The table and kitchen are just wonderful. I just love your blog it’s like taking a step into the past and the memories it stirs up. I always can’t wait for the next one! Beautiful job as usual.
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Brenda thank you so much for those kind words, and that’s exactly what I hope is stirred up when people see what I do here☺️☺️☺️
Just LOVE it all!! From the family treasures and the family stories you treasure, to the fabrics, colors and nature’s gifts of the leaves that grace your beautiful home. I too started collecting brown drip and your blog was the inspiration. My husband who usually never notices dishes joined in the collecting of it too. He would surprise me with a new piece every now and then. Now we have plenty and I like to pair it with my brown transferware any time of year, really!! Happy Fall!!
Author
Oh my goodness that is the most wonderful story! How sweet that he surprises you with pieces! Funny enough I do not have any brown transferware, and I would love to pair that brown with some – I’m sure it’s beautiful!!
Thank you so much for your kind comments as well☺️☺️
I always love coming into your rich colors and warm home. All the lovely antiques and vintage pieces work so well together, and it feels like a real home. Lovely photo spread, thanks for the tour! Sandi
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Thank you so much for the kind words Sandi☺️☺️☺️
As always simply stunning. Thanks for the inspiration. Love the hydrangeas on your chandy😍
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Thank you so much Lucy☺️☺️☺️
I was finally able to get to your post. I love your blog and your post and this one in particular. Thank you for sharing your stories of all items that live so beautifully in your home. I love Blue walls as well. I might have to steal this color 😊.
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Thank you so much!! Yes it’s such a pretty color, and I really do love it☺️☺️
The reason your kitchen is so cozy is that instead of an island, you have a big farmhouse table.
For years I’ve been tuning in my style and your home nails it on the head! I adore your fall decor and your summer, and winter….. argh! All so beautiful! I’m currently struggling with changing out my decor seasonally, and storing off-season things. I’d love to see how you organize and shop your home inventory each season (boy i’ve said season a lot in this comment….). Any chance you could do a post about it?!
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Thanks so much Danielle☺️☺️ I’ve written several posts about seasonal decor in the pastAnd talked about it lot in my videos☺️ I don’t have a lot of storage, but I try to have things I know will stand the test of time. I keep photos in like albums on my iPad so I can look at “spring decor,” etc., or “dining room,” and be reminded of things I’d forgotten about then get them out to use. I don’t have a lot of storage so if something is going away, something has to come out of that cabinet so it can be stored if that makes sense. But I generally just try to rotate things seasonally and keeping a photographic log of everything, and that’s really how I organize it – if that makes sense☺️☺️