Harvest Decor: Burgundy, Gold and Sienna

Autumn to me is a crisp breeze tearing through New England leaves while you sip a pumpkin spice coffee in the Gryffindor common room. I like rich golds and deep burgundies and at heart I'm as basic as every other preppy girl, so obviously I love autumn.

But I have to be honest, Autumn is a decorating battle for me. So much of the popular decor is so intensely, desperately wannabe rustic that I can't get behind most of the craft DIYs. I'm not big on fake flowers and I got over burlap and twine about three years ago. Hence the battle to find subtle, refined but homey choices.

This year my major goal is to add functional decor to the house as opposed to just filling surfaces with random extra knick-knacks. Note, all of my Christmas decor is truly useless so this isn't a new signature rule by any means! So much of the retail choices are tacky that keeping items more functional is one of the best ways for me to segregate the good from the ugly.

So I decided to boil it down to what I do love: plaid, general coziness, candles, real gourds and mini pumpkins all coming together for a vintage feeling harvest mood. 

Plaid does it for me in any combo, but especially with burgundy, burnt sienna, and wheat gold! Leaving extra plaid blankets around makes sense when the air is getting gold, and dressing up the table with a functional cloth seems reasonable.

If I was doing a tables cape, staying focused on white candles and wood pretty much means you can never go wrong. I wouldn't say that the family on the left is cheating, but when you already have a gorgeous beaten up wooden farm table it's easy to extend the decor with your centerpiece. On the right, a homemade little wooden box contains the decor well. 

When it comes to flowers, mums are always the answer in the fall. Such a great array of colors, they last for weeks and weeks, and they're super cheap! I plan to grab some for the stairs leading up to our front door. 

For cute temporary rearrangements around the house, I thought of our bookcase. It's the crowning piece of our dining room, where I keep the books arranged rainbow style to make it seem like a really deliberate eye-grabber. It could be fun to put all the oranges together on one shelf like this: 

I was out shopping with my mother the other day and saw a few little things at A.C. Moore that I actually wouldn't mind picking up! Of course, I can't pay retail ;) so we'll see what ends up on sale in the coming days. These guys are tempting steampunk pumpkins and I kind of need to own them as a little family. 

And at the end of the day, who really cares? Autumn is a fun time of fresh beginnings and resets and we all know that the most important decor season of the year is just around the corner!