More Fall Ideas

I spent a good part of today sanding the dining room table that I'm hoping to reveal soon.  I say "hoping" because I have been working on this thing on-and-off since last Spring, and it's just been one disaster after another.  In the meantime we've been living with no dining room table because I sold our set on Craigslist right about the time I started on the table.  I was sure I was going to whip that baby out in a few days.  I was wrong. So ... very ... wrong.

Living without a dining room table hasn't been that big of a deal since we usually eat in the kitchen anyway.  But I'm hosting a board meeting next week for a group I belong to, and I need the table for the potluck -- let alone the fact that it's kind of embarrassing to have a bunch of people over with an empty dining room (although it has come in handy as a storage space for furniture I've found and need to paint!). So I'm getting my patooti in gear and getting it done.

When I got sick of sanding I took a break and looked through my latest issue of Southern Living for some Fall decorating ideas. The leaves are starting to turn here and the gourds and mini-pumpkins are out, so I want to add some more elements to the Fall fluffing I've started.  I found a couple of creative and easy (I'm big on easy) ideas I've never seen before, so for those of you not in the south who may not see Southern Living I thought I'd share.

We've all seen painted pumpkins before, but I haven't seen the rectangular treatment like this one:

When combined with the striped pumpkins and pumpkins with circles it makes a nice display.

I think this would be great on my buffet table for the board meeting, and it's easy-peasy.

This is my favorite.  Rather than use a real pumpkin though, I think I'm going to try it with a "Funkin" so I can keep it through Thanksgiving and re-use it next year.

You can find the instructions for all of these in this issue of Southern Living or online.

I love the combo of the kale and pumpkins on the cover too!