Dining Rooms - The Inspired Room

Fall Dining Room: Farmhouse Holiday Tour

Welcome, welcome!

Come in, everyone! Today I’m so excited to joining in as a special guest for a Farmhouse Holiday Fall Dining Room tour. You can find all the tour participants linked below. The invitation was perfect timing to inspire me to set up my dining room for fall. I’m all about fall nesting right now (I just started my annual fall nesting series, you can catch up here).

So, come on in, friends! We’ve got room for you all to gather around the table. Well, obviously it’s kind of a small space, but as I said about our kitchen, we can all squeeze in real cozy-like.

Sources are listed at the bottom of this post or here

When it comes to decorating for the seasons or for a holiday, as you might already know I tend keep things pretty simple most of the time. Not because I don’t love an all-out festive table or room, not at all! I really do! I love the creativity, but simple just seems to work the best for me.

But isn’t that how decorating should be? Do whatever brings you joy.

Simple decor brings me joy for many reasons, but for one it’s because I like to change my home often. I enjoy the process of puttering around the house, evolving each space as I’m inspired through the season.

If you are a regular around here, you know I started my evolution to fall in the kitchen with my new rug.

(Whenever I say that I started my evolution to fall in the kitchen it sounds to me like I said I started to FALL in my kitchen. Just to be clear, I didn’t start to fall in my kitchen. Hahahaha. Hahah. I crack myself up sometimes. Okay, haha.).

This is our first fall with our remodeled kitchen, so I couldn’t wait to get started with fall touches. My kitchen and dining room are small but connected spaces, so it made sense to me to make the “fall vibe” flow through both spaces.

You can see the whole fall kitchen and sources here and here.

As the kitchen began to be more “fall-like,” I started to get more inspired with what I wanted the dining room to feel like. You can see how the two spaces connect visually and physically through this archway.

Adding a cozy layer in the dining room can start as simply as adding a tablecloth (from HomeGoods). So that’s what I did. Easy peasy, right?

A few weeks ago I really went wild and grabbed this woven pumpkin at HomeGoods. Ha! So unlike me to be ahead of the game!

This early in the season we don’t have many real pumpkins or pretty gourds available at the stores near me (at least anywhere I wanted to drive to!) so it was actually a good thing I brought that woven pumpkin home. Bonus, this guy won’t rot, so I’ll be able to use this “pumpkin” all season long. Super thrifty of me, if I do say so myself.

Other than adding my new pumpkin and tablecloth, I just set my table with what I already had. Sometimes when I’m going to shop in my own house, I will give myself a ten-minute limit to “decorate.” It’s a good motivator for me to just get going, and mix and match whatever I can find in a short period of time.

I often find that once the timer goes off, I’m quite content with small changes I made!

It doesn’t take much to get me in a fall mood.

As I set the table, I decided to pair the same pretty blue and white dishes I used in spring, but added pretty plum napkins for a fall twist. The wood chargers warmed it all up nicely and they looked great with my new punkin’. You can find the sources all linked at the bottom of the page.

But when I added the gold flatware, it all felt too disconnected so I set a little brass tabletop under the pumpkin. That made him feel a little fancier and elevated his presence as a unique centerpiece.

Then to bring warmth around the room, I brought out these pretty brass lanterns for the buffet.

A few perennials in a basket (that I need to plant outside) brought in a pop of fall color.

Other than that, we’ve got some added cozy with fuzzy sweater pillows on the banquette, velvet pillows and a knit throw on a chair. Layering in textural details is my favorite way to decorate for fall.

In fact, speaking of fuzzy fall textures, if you look real close …

We have a photo bomber.

But since he adds a nice cozy layer to the mix I think we’ll keep him.

Oh, and speaking of keeping it simple while gathering around the table, I’ve got a brand new book coming out October 3rd called Simple Gatherings! You can get the book and the amazing preorder freebies here.

Thanks for stopping by today, friends!

Enjoy the rest of the tour, be sure to find the tour links below and visit everyone. I know you’ll be really inspired!

All my room sources are linked at the bottom of the post!

Ella Claire | Craftberry Bush | Love Grows Wild | Shades of Blue Interiors

City Farmhouse | Dear Lillie | French Country Cottage | Miss Mustard Seed

Liz Marie Blog | Rooms for Rent | Julie Blanner | Kindred Vintage

My Sweet Savannah | The Inspired Room

Sources:

Simple Gatherings Book (preorder now and get all four of my books as e-books for FREE!) >> Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Blue and white pattern dishes

Wood charger

Dark purple napkins

Striped Banquette Bench

Wicker dining chairs (similar)

Chandelier – RH Teen // Similar Option (great price!)

Hammered gold flatware

Napkin Rings (gold and silver)

Tablecloth – HomeGoods

Rattan Pumpkin – HomeGoods – similar options one and two

Chalkboard and Dry Erase Place Cards (similar options) > dry erase, chalkboard

Gray ceramic lamps and lampshade

Jute rug

Glass door cabinet – RH Hampton Glass Casement in Taupe

Round white and rattan mirror

Gray velvet pillows

Linen parsons dining chairs (sources and roundup in this post)

Woven blinds

Curtains

Brass lanterns – Mary and Martha

Hammered copper planter

Kitchen sources

My House Tour

Summer Decorating: Finding Joy in Simplicity

We are coming up on our two year anniversary of moving into our home! Even though in many ways it feels like we’ve lived here for a long time, in other ways I feel like this home and property and I are still getting acquainted.

I was thrilled last summer (our first summer here) to find a giant old lacecap hydrangea bush growing in our backyard. It felt like a gift! We had a large blue hydrangea in one of our past gardens, too. I had missed it so much.

The bush is blooming and so beautiful right now, but we aren’t able to see it from the yard or house because the whole bush is hiding behind a large hedge. It obviously would have been ideal planted within view of the windows or patio, but instead I can just take a walk to visit the hydrangea as if it is blooming in a secret garden, tucked away so its joy can be discovered.

I think every house I have lived in has taught me a little something about life and design. Do you find that to be true where you live, too? This house is already shaping my perspective in many ways, as it inspires me to embrace its simplicity and find joy in what that brings to my life.

Part of what will make a home beautiful each season is just slowing down so you can better appreciate what is already there. What your home offers or already has available may not be on everyone’s list of “must haves” but it’s something you happen to love or can grow to feel or find happiness in. Slowing down involves simplifying, so you can actually see the beauty around you.

The beauty found in simplicity may not even be obvious at first glance, especially to anyone else. Simple joys are found in our surroundings are not because they necessarily shout “look at me, I’m amazing!” but because they quietly delight you. Delight is what you feel when something wonderful takes you by surprise.

Simplicity is subtle, so the joy found in it can sneak up on you. It’s like an unexpected gift you receive only when you are paying attention to how you feel in your surroundings. To me simplicity doesn’t have to be defined by a certain color palette or decorating style. I think of it more as what you might miss out on if you are distracted by stuff that is shouting for attention. It might be clutter or accessories or colors or really anything that distracts rather than delights you.

What distracts you in your home may be different from what distracts me in mine. Photos can’t even really capture what simplicity feels like in a home, it’s such a personal thing.

Simple joys in a home are found through experiences like the warm sunshine streaming through a room on a cool morning, or the delight of a breeze gently blowing curtains through an open window. Simple joys can even be discovered through the serenity you feel when your counters are clean, or the deep breath you can take after you’ve decluttered a long-neglected closet.

Even the sound of laughter in the house on a lazy summer day is a reminder that it’s not the material things we have or add or buy that transform our home. It’s simple joys that can change us from the inside out.

Perhaps (like me) you want to feel a sense of delight in something as simple as placing a freshly cut bouquet from your yard in a lovely vase. Like I do, you might have to pare down, slow down, eliminate the unnecessary, or put forth a little extra effort to get to that place of simplicity. But, I think it’s worth it.

Our simplified surroundings invite those bright blue hydrangeas to really show off and take a place of honor in the room all summer long.

Simple joys, friends, Simple joys.

PS. If you missed my latest news, I’m writing a fun new book on decorating. But, I need your help! This book will feature questions and answers on decorating. The cool thing is the questions will be from YOU, my online buddies! YAY! Can you think of some decorating or style questions you’d like me to answer in a book? Questions can be submitted via the form in this post. Thanks, friends! <3

Dining room sources: