Fall Decorating 2015

This year I decided to focus my decorating in the heart of my home, the dining room. Each holiday season, I see beautifully set tables in magazines and all over Pinterest with expensive dishes and glassware and I dream of being able to set tables that gorgeous. But sadly, buying new dishes and glasses for each season is too much of an investment for this stay-at-home mom. Solution...Find a way to do it on a budget. And that I did. I spent all summer, scouring thrift shops and dollar stores to try and find the best pieces for my Halloween and Thanksgiving tables. I found inexpensive dishes and glassware that set the basics for my table and then added some of my old Fall decorations to really make these tables pop. Hope you enjoy them and find some inspiration.

Halloween Decorating

HALLOWEEN TABLE

This tablescape was almost entirely from the 99cents Only Store (My friend, Gina calls it "The 99"), Dollar Tree and AMVETS Thrift Stores for only about $65. This is proof that you can design an elegant and festive table for very little money!

Here's the breakdown of my Halloween Table. The six silver chargers, six dinner plates, and six green wine glasses cost me $18 from The 99. The small cream colored salad plates I got on clearance at Target for $1.30 each.
The table cover is a canvas drop cloth from Home Depot, left over from another project(Free). The green satin remnant runner covering the drop cloth is from the Thrift Store and cost me about $1.50.
The most expensive item was the silverware (I just had to have them!) from Cost Plus World Market. I bought them with a coupon. They cost me about $25 for 4 sets. If you look carefully, I had to take strategic pictures and crop my pics because there were only 4 sets of silverware at a table set for six. I moved a fork here and a knife there when I had to squeeze in the look of another silverware setting.

The center of the table was made up of pumpkins and candles I had from years of collecting. The larger ceramic pumpkins were from Tuesday Morning and Big Lots. The spiderweb runner was also from The 99. The center Urn was also a find from the thrift store last year. It's heavy and silver plated and I love the cemetery feel to it. I added creepy cloth and some glittery stems and a 3 sets of black glitter leaf garland for $8 (50% off sale and with a total purchase coupon) from Michael's as an easy, eerie and elegant centerpiece. The 4 green glass votive candle holders were from the Dollar Tree for $4. Gorgeous!
Total Cost of Halloween Table: Less than $65.

Halloween Wreath

I try to make a new wreath each year and this year I found inspiration from a pin from Pinterest. This is my version of this creepy and elegant Halloween wreath made with feather boas, creepy cloth and light up skulls from The 99 and The Dollar Tree.

Fall Decorating

I wanted muted colors of brown, green and white for my Thanksgiving table this year. The flower arrangement below was made up of grab bag flowers from Michael's that cost $2. Basically, I bought a bag of silk flowers, sight unseen, for two bucks and it was a jackpot of perfect fall flowers! It contained a green sunflower, a dahlia, and a hydrangea. Along with 5 huge sunflowers which I used in the door hanging photos at the end of this blog.  I filled in around these with the Eucalytus stems from Tuesday Morning, The light green lantern flowers from The 99, and the brown berry clusters from The Dollar Tree. I think it turned out really pretty! Don't you?

THANKSGIVING TABLE

This table starts with my old cream tablecloth and an amazing Pottery Barn Jute table runner that I picked up from the Thrift Store along with these 4 embroidered leaf napkins for $5 total. All 5 items for $5. A total steal! Again, I had to be creative with my shots and edits to use the 4 napkins at a table set for 6. Mostly I just shot it two different ways (see below) Most of the place setting pieces were from "The 99". The dark brown chargers, tan dinner plates, small acorn and pumpkin appetizer plates, the bubble glass stemless wine glasses and the green votive candle holders were all from The 99 for $26. The wine glasses being 2 for a $1. The taller wine glasses and the silverware are my everyday stuff. I got the small leaf table scatter from The Dollar Tree.
Total Cost of Thanksgiving Table: less than $40.

In this picture below, the two leaf serving dishes to the left were also from The 99. I bought each of them a few years ago. I used to use the large leaf plate at a soap dish in my bathroom for fall. :)

Instead of making a wreath for my front door, this year, I decided to hang a bucket of fall flowers and foliage. The sunflowers were from my Michael's grab bag and the rest of the flowers were re-purposed from prior years. I used bright oranges, yellows and browns on the outside to go with my porch full of pumpkins. :)

I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving! 
 

More Fall Decorating Ideas:
Halloween Decorating and Entertaining
Halloween Decorating 2014
Fall Decorating 
Fall Decorating 2014