Entertaining - 3/20 - The Inspired Room

Fall Nesting {Pretty Mugs & Fancy Coffee Station}

One of my most favorite things about Fall, besides wearing boots and sweaters, is drinking a cup of coffee in the morning by the fire.

It’s my Fall Nesting morning ritual.

But to really make the whole experience more special, I have a hot drink station set up in my kitchen with my favorite mugs and tasty coffees, teas and fun syrups for flavoring.

I love my coffee maker, but you don’t have to have a fancy machine. Just fancy cups!

Making coffee in the morning is a little treat I give myself.

I especially look forward to it on those chilly mornings so I can wrap my cold hands around the mug and warm up inside!

What is it about pretty mugs that make drinks so much more delicious?

But the best part about coffee in a pretty mug?

It makes it challenging to rush around in the morning.

You want to hold on to a pretty mug carefully.

Sip more slowly. Linger.

Pretty mugs change everything about the day.

I got most of these mugs at Anthropologie, but I’ve seen some real cute ones at World Market too. I got the cup drying rack at World Market, and also the blue lidded jars. The little espresso cups came from JC Penney. You could use a basket to gather items in your station, or set things up on a shelf. Whatever you can find to make it cute!

Not only is having a pretty hot drink station an invitation for lingering on cozy Fall mornings by the fire, but it is fun when you have girlfriends over.

The first thing friends will want to do is pick out a pretty mug for their own coffee!

Now you’ve spread the Fall nesting love through your coffee station, and everyone is happy.

Yep. Pretty mugs and coffee stations are a Fall Nesting must-have.

How to Make Your Own Coffee Station!

My Kitchen Reveal

My Kitchen Sources and Other Details

31 Days of Fall Nesting:
Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four
Day Five

DIY Watercolor Napkins

Hello Inspired Room readers! Michaela here. I’m excited to be back today showing you a little DIY project you can do to spice up an end-of-summer-bash. {And if you don’t have one planned now, you will by the end of this post :) }

When thinking of fun ways to bring in color to tablescapes and party decor, it dawned on me. DIY watercolor napkins. They’re simple, quick and make a big impact. Bonus? You really can’t mess this DIY project up!

Materials: Rit fabric dye (or your choice brand fabric dye), paint brushes, water, white or off-white napkins, bowls for separate dye colors.

Step 1: Pour a little dye into each bowl and add water. I mixed up teal, blue and purple.

Step 2: For my first napkin, I spread it out on the table and began by doing large stripes of color across the span of the napkin. I repeated this all the way down the fabric, alternating colors. In some areas I would put more water on the fabric on top of the dye, in order to dilute the color a bit and give it more of a “watercolor” feel. You’ll see the finished look below!

Step 3: For my second napkin, I did a really thin stripe of teal, followed by an even thinner stroke of blue to give it extra color.

Step 4: To make it appear even more watercolor-looking, I dipped a small brush into the blue dye and tapped the water off onto the fabric, creating little drops of water.

Step 5: Wait for them to dry! Note that the colors will dry lighter than when you first put it on.

If you were throwing a big party, you could easily do a whole stack of these napkins in a short amount of time. These two only took me five minutes– promise!

It’s party time! As an end of summer bash, I set up an ice cream bar for some girlfriends. These colorful napkins were the perfect touch. And each guest gets their own unique napkin, which I think is a special touch.