Browsing Tag

Design Inspiration

Fall, Seasonal

The Perfect Spots To Incorporate Pumpkins Into Your Home

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Bree here, from Home Zone Furniture.

Treat your home to some fall flair this October with the perfect array of pumpkins! These decorative gourds are an inspired addition to any room, not just the front porch. The possibilities are endless, but these are my personal favorite ways to display pumpkins in my home this autumn.

On the porch

The traditional way to incorporate pumpkins into your home is with a beautiful porch display. Whether you go for classic orange pumpkins or prefer the trendy white or striped varieties, pumpkins are an easy way to decorate because they fit everyone’s style and budget.

Carving a few pumpkins is certainly an October tradition, but leave a few untouched so they’ll last you until Thanksgiving. Instead of carving, you could also try painting the pumpkins with autumn motifs. It’s a kid-friendly craft that will also lengthen the lifespan of your pumpkins.

In the kitchen

Nothing says autumn like the scent of pumpkin spice wafting from the kitchen. If you carve your pumpkins, save the seeds, wash them off, sprinkle them with salt and stick them in the oven for a salty snack. For delicious baked goods, try pumpkin bread, or treat your family to pumpkin waffles. When cooking up your pumpkin favorites, don’t forget to add in cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. These three spices will immediately remind you of autumns past and make you long for fuzzy socks and a crackling fire!

Centerpieces

Whether you’re entertaining or not this season, an autumn centerpiece with pumpkins is a rustic addition to any central surface. Creating a pumpkin centerpiece for your table is largely a freeform art and works best with easy-to-maneuver mini pumpkins. Start the centerpiece with some thick greenery, then add in the pumpkins and other seasonal blooms until the arrangement seems complete and complements the room it’s situated in.

Serving dish

Hosting a Halloween party? Try using a pumpkin as a serving platter. To do this, cut open a pumpkin just as you would if you were carving it, and scoop out the insides. Once the pumpkin is cleared, fit a plastic serving bowl into the pumpkin — you might have to adjust top cutout of the pumpkin accordingly. This little entertainment trick will keep your food from tasting like pumpkin and create a festive serving dish!

Accent colors

Show your seasonal spirit by incorporating pumpkin accent colors throughout your home, from the living room to the bedroom. Traditional colors inspired by the pumpkin patch, like burnt orange, golden yellow and hunter green, will automatically bring a sense of warmth to your space and will last you all the way until the holiday season. In order to make these colors easy to swap out, use them sparingly. Try accent pillows on the couch in the den, a throw blanket at the foot of the bed, or a tablecloth on the dining room table.

How do you bring the beauty of the autumn landscape into your home?

Bree

Decor, Interior Design Ideas

Arranging the Perfect Vignette

Bree here, from Home Zone Furniture.

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When it comes to decorating your home, furniture is only part of the equation. To bring your interior design to life, it’s important to add personal touches here and there. One of the best ways to incorporate some personality into your home is to craft a charming vignette on an empty shelf or tabletop.

Vignettes take all kinds of forms and utilize a variety of objects, but the goal is to add character and tell a story about you and your family. Vignette-arranging is a freeform art, but there are certain styling tips to stick to in order to make your vignette aesthetically pleasing.

Items needed

Objects commonly used in vignettes include lamps, stacked books and picture frames. These are all safe choices, but don’t stop there! As you plan your vignette, consider the room in which your vignette will go and the mood you hope to create. Vignettes are self-contained displays that should tell a story that complements the room. My favorite vignettes are ones that effectively combine old and new: the coffee table book du jour paired with a great-grandmother’s knick-knack, for instance.

As you gather your objects, try to choose items of different shapes, sizes and textures. Make sure your selection of items is diverse, yet complementary. The items should have a sense of commonality and work well together, yet be different enough to create dimension and interest. Whether you favor a succulent in a vase, a jar of shells or a timeworn trinket, there are no wrong answers!

Placement

Vignettes can be placed in any room on any empty surface, such as a mantle, shelf or table. Experiment with arranging a vignette in both a formal and informal space. Vignettes in formal spaces might feature more delicate, decorative items such as porcelain vases, while informal spaces might tell a casual story about family or lifestyle.

As you select the place where your vignette will go, try to avoid busy wallpaper backgrounds. No matter how masterfully your vignette is arranged, a bold wallpaper pattern will make the vignette look like clutter as opposed to a thoughtful cluster. Mirrors, on the other hand, serve as a great background to a vignette. A mirror will reflect the vignette, giving it dimension.

Arranging

Once you choose your items and your setting, there are a few things to keep in mind as you arrange your vignette. Think about balance and proportion in terms of your space and the vignette itself. Start with a “hero item,” or your biggest, most visually heavy piece. Next, form an A-shape, with your hero item as the peak. This strategy will help direct the eye when looking at the vignette and create a visually pleasing hierarchy.

While this is a tried-and-true way to arrange a hierarchy of different objects, remember that differently shaped vignettes will work for different rooms. A formal room mantle, for instance, looks best with two symmetrical groupings on either end. A family room bookshelf, on the other hand, will easily house an asymmetrical vignette.

Spacing

A key styling tip for arranging a vignette is to pay careful attention to spacing. If items within a single cluster are too separated, the vignette will look like clutter as opposed to an organic grouping. As you work your vignette, remember that odd numbers and varying heights work best. For instance, if you have three smaller items combined with several stacks of books, put two of the small items on top of the books and leave one on the surface. It takes practice, but the perfect vignette walks the line between looking styled and natural. The goal is an organic arrangement of your favorite items.

While furniture is difficult to move, it’s easy to change up your vignettes whenever you want! Rearrange your vignette if it needs tweaking, or mix and match objects to create new arrangements. Remember: there is no right or wrong when it comes to a vignette. It’s about what pleases your eye and encapsulates the personality of your home.

Which objects will you be using for your vignette?

Bree