Fall 2023 Living Room

Welcome to our Fall 2023 Living Room at the Dupont house.  Let’s start at the front door, and work our way through the entry way, into the living and dining room. 

It feels quite wonderful to celebrate our 2^nd Fall in the Dupont house.  The joy comes not only from filling our home with a sense of Fall, but from the plethora of autumn colors (including gold, red, warm orange and burgundy), that appear in the woods, along the roads, and even in our own neighborhood, as the Fall beauty slowly unfolds around us. 

Last year I had this unreasonable fear that the trees would never turn their leaves again. I literally parked my car in people’s driveways to take pictures of the trees in their yard!  I could not stop taking pictures.   And then this happened. 

Okay – so back to what I am supposed to be writing about! As you can see by this beautiful wreath, I am welcoming you to the Dupont house for our Fall 2023 Living Room tour.  

In September, Fort Wayne holds an annual fair called the Johnny Appleseed Festival.  People wait all year for this event.  It is held in a protected, woodsy park.  The only buildings are the restrooms.  No electricity, no running water.  Yet food is served from dozens of vendors cooking over an open fire.  When I went for the first time, my jaw just dropped. This year I went with my brother, my niece and my great-niece.  We took our time strolling around enjoying the bountiful display of artisan creativity; wood signs, wreaths, candles, pillows, jewelry, paintings, décor items. 

We were walking past one of the smaller booths when I spotted this wreath; I was drawn to the colors of the fruit and leaves she used to build it.  The Welcome sign just made it perfect, so I bought from the very nice woman who owned the booth.  She had it priced at $40 which was entirely reasonable, but when I showed interest she offered $35.  I said that’s not necessary and gave her two $20 bills.  She shook her head, and gave me $5 back.  Welcome to the Midwest. 

Moving into our entry way, where my glass case cabinet of blue & white chinoiserie stands guard.  

 I added 3 of these ceramic pumpkins, mixing them in with my collection of thrifted blue & white Chinoiserie and white pitchers.

In the picture below is one of my favorite thrift shop finds: a Pfaltzgraff gravy boat and saucer. Now, I don’t like gravy. I don’t know how to make gravy. And I may never use it as a gravy boat. But it’s a beautiful piece, and looks lovely in the glass case. 

On the shelf below the gravy boat (in the picture above) is a pair of Lladro love birds that were a wedding gift from my aunt.  We lost her last year; the lovebirds help me keep her memory happy and sweet.  

Moving along, I created this grouping on top of the glass case cabinet, which in all honesty took me 3 or 4 ((or more!)) attempts. 

Once again, I am working from the premise to use support pieces you have on hand for everyday use. Here you see the candleholders and candles, chicken wire basket and blue & white thrifted vase.   None of these pieces say “Fall” in and of themselves.  But when they are mixed in with a caboodle of Fall fruit, sprigs of bittersweet, and a bouquet of dark gold bristly buds, it sends a Fall message.

I’m giving myself bonus points that the blues play so nicely with the orange and gold Fall colors. (Yes, I DO realize I did not invent this timeless Fall color combination!)  The Fall color and feel of the ceramic pumpkins inside the glass case pulls in nicely with the ‘Fall frosting’ on top of the cabinet.  

The coffee table is sending us another message – Harvest Blessings.  Interestingly, I bought THIS little sign the very first time I went to the Johnny Appleseed Festival.  AND…sitting here writing this post, I just realized that the black & white buffalo check runner under the basket ALSO came from a vendor at the Johnny Appleseed Festival.  I guess it’s a sign I can never miss a future Johnny Appleseed Festival – I may miss out on a beautiful Fall decor piece!

Again, simple everyday pieces: the runner can be (and IS) used year-round. The basket, the pitcher, the little white ceramic garlic head do not say ‘Fall’.  Clearly the sign does…as does the white pumpkin and the stems of autumn colored leaves.

On the love seat are buffalo check pillow covers that match the runner. I sewed them from a pair of Piper Classics curtain panels.  These Pier 1 ‘seed packet’ pillow covers echo Fall colors. (Raise your hand if you miss Pier 1 too!) 

Next stop on this Fall 2023 Living Room tour is the dining room!

On the dining table I’ve kept it pretty simple.  A thrift shop runner, a garage sale pitcher with a little necklace of bittersweet, and some branches I’ve had for several years.

Oh, about those orchid pictures hanging on the wall… I actually bought them at a thrift shop because of the frames.  We hung them just to make sure the color of the frames will work with the hutch and dining table.  I need to take them in so I can have the magnolia prints I bought on Etsy inserted and matted.

Last year, my Fall dining table was the focus of the dining room.  For this Fall 2023 Living Room tour, I wanted a dining table display that was a little more downplayed, so that it would visually lead the way to the soup tureen on the shelf of the china hutch. 

This was the first project I focused on as soon as the Fall décor bins came down.  I’ve been admiring tureens in other blog posts, so I started to keep an eye out for them.  Over the past few months, I’ve picked up 3 of them from the millions of thrift shops here in Fort Wayne. (I’m exaggerating, but just a little!)

She came with a whole family!  As you can see, she is sitting on the platter.  There is also a lid and a ladle.  I suppose these were used for mostly soup and stews, but also could be used for a party punch.  Regardless, I feel like I hit the jackpot with how pretty she is.   

One of the blogs I follow is Erin Evolving (and here is her Instagram link); she incorporates these extended stems frequently in her displays of bowls and tureens.  I find her blog posts very inspiring, so I, um, ‘borrowed’ her idea.    

But honestly, isn’t that the point of all this?  I would be ridiculously pleased to know if anyone reading this (or any!) blog post ‘borrowed’ any of my ideas.  I would be thrilled and touched, even grateful!  There is no trademark on creativity, no ‘ownership’ of inspiration.  I write my blog posts to share my thoughts and ideas with anyone reading.  The hope is to nudge you into an idea, or provide a little spark to your creativity!     

Okay – Max had to get in on the action.  Here he is trying to figure out how those ghosts across our gravel road are flying around! 

Until he got bored, and took a bath! 

Thank you for spending some time touring the Fall 2023 Living Room at the Dupont house.  This Fall has been especially beautiful, and I have so enjoyed having the panorama of colors outside reflected inside of our home. May your Fall be filled with the beauty of the season, and the warmth of home and family.

From our home to yours~Happy Fall!

Kristine 

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