Fall tablescape...

I have some hard fast rules for decorating for the holidays. Fall decor goes up the week before we leave for vacation…usually the last week in September. Christmas goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving.

It’s the rules.

This past week I broke the rules.

It wasn’t really my fault. I got an At Home magazine in the mail. It had a really pretty picture of a fall tablescape and I was compelled to immediately go buy MORE fall stuff for my formal dining room. I blame it all on their devious advertising.

I went upstairs and dug around in my stash of heirloom china. I also pulled out the fall box marked “formal dining” …then I decorated my dining room.

I used my china and added little glass pumpkins, some amber stemless wine glasses and green place mats from At Home and straw placemats from Amazon…

I picked up a few fall table runners but they didn’t make the cut.

i stuck a few little fall doo-dads in the china cabinet…

I made the center piece last year…fall candles, pumpkins, fall picks and some cotton stems in a round tray.

LOVE!

(You can check our the china cabinet makeover HERE!)

My son insists we use this room during our Sunday dinners. Since this china has to be hand washed, I have no doubt it won’t actually get used…we will just have to sit in the other dining room or move this fancy stuff out of the way…but it sure looks pretty.

For those who advocate using the fine china for every day use and not just for “formal”….you obviously have never had to hand wash dishes after feeding your entire family.

Right now we are having to hand wash everything anyway…our TWO YEAR OLD dishwasher isn’t working. I have no idea why…I’ve googled…could be one of four things. But after having to buy a new washing machine because we couldn’t get a simple part, we decided we would just buy a new dishwasher rather than pay $150 to have a repair main come out and tell us we can’t get a part we need. A brand new one was installed Tuesday.

So back to fall decorating. I love it and every year as soon as the temp drops below 80 degrees, I get the itch to start digging out the pumpkins and fall wreaths. But like every year, the temps climbed back into the 90s this week so now I haven the dining room decked out but the rest will have to wait a few more weeks.

That is okay! I will just enjoy the glorious summer flowers! And they are glorious this year!!