The Rural Voice, 2001-10, Page 43Home Decorating
October - the month of bounty and beauty
By Patti Robertson
Ahhh ... October! This month
definitely comes to Canadians with
abundance, bounty and beauty!
I always look forward to October
with all its reasons to celebrate with
easy and cost-effective seasonal
decorating to make both the exterior
and the interior of my home put on a
fall show. I usually start outside, in late
September so I'm well prepared to
welcome Thanksgiving, then of course
it's on to the inside.
I revamp my table linens featuring
fall colours. I sort through my serving
dishes, (my very favourite is a hand -
painted platter featuring acorns and oak
leaves — smashing to serve fall
goodies upon), all my baskets, buckets
and bowls in order to provide the
optimum containers to serve and to
display my fall goodies in. I become
downright analytical as to how and
where, in and around my home, I will
add the fall touches that will celebrate
this month to its fullest extent.
Pumpkins with their vivid orange
coats are both inexpensive and showy
additions (truth be known I also like to
incorporate unripened green pumpkins
too). I tuck a bevy of pumpkins in and
around my entrances, cluster them on
bench seats and turn them into lanterns
using my trusty drill, an apple corer
and orange,or amber Christmas lights.
Pumpkins look great staggered down a
stairway either inside or out and have
great impact clustered in baskets and
wheelbarrows. Add cornstalks from a
local farm to your grouping and you've
doubled your decorative impact. Attach
a few bows and some artificial fall
leaves or sunflowers and you'll be the
hit of the neighbourhood.
Reinventing how I utilize my
everyday items within my fall decor
adds interest and a continual "new
look" to what is readily at hand. Often
I'm able to incorporate summer
planters that are still full with vines and
trailers. I position gourds, zucchini and
squash where the flowers used to be,
and I have a real eye-catcher. I keep
my eyes open, not only to see what my
neighbours have come up with, but
also for ideas from folks and retailers
in other areas. Often you can borrow
an idea from someone else and with
little twists in colours and theme make
the idea your own.
Some time ago I became bored with
the standard yellow and orange cobs of
corn and started experimenting, and
came up with a gorgeous deep
burgundy hue that is both classy and
rich with our home's deep colours. I
actually found that a heritage mustard
colour was also delightful so I've got a
colour waiting in
the wings when
I'm tired of the
burgundy. I
highly
recommend that
one always works
with one's
home's exterior
colour scheme for
ultimate impact
and harmony in
the presentation.
Subtle twists and
turns to seasonal
colour combos
can be achieved
to work with any
Nature
provides fall
decorations
of today's exterior schemes.
While on the subject of colour, let's
just think for a moment about what
colours fall harvest brings to us for
consideration: cranberries, blueberries,
mulberries, Granny Smith green.
golden Delicious, spaghetti squash, and
look to the sky for some of the year's
most beautiful blues. Nature herself
can often guide us with colour schemes
more interesting and adventurous than
we could imagine on our own!
Inside I've found that I can reinvent
a bed sheet (I used burgundy, of
course) into a tablecloth to drape an
extended festive dining table.
Bandanna neckerchiefs make great
napkins that are inexpensive and easy
to care for, and that a wonderfully rich
squash soup looks earthy and appetiz-
ing when served in my deep dish
wooden salad bowls. Home -baked
breads and buns are presented in an old
pickling crock which, of course, also
works as a great way to serve corn on
the cob.
• I love to set out a collection of old
baskets in varying shapes, sizes and
textures and into these add nuts. fruits.
popcortl and chips for snacking. Even a
lowly canning jar takes on nostalgic
charm and appeal when a cluster of fall
asters, mums. sedum. bittersweet and
cattails are arranged within. I spread all
these touches of fall throughout my
home to capture the spirit of the bounty
of fall.
Although we can easily purchase
our fall decorations from the ev e i -
increasing array offered to the
consumer from nearly every retail
outlet, I personally feel we get much
more personal satisfaction and impact
by taking a walk through a local bush
in search of fall offerings of leaves,
vines and weathered twigs and
branches. Visiting a local farm market
or a farmer's field to gather cornstalks,
pumpkins. gourds and apples adds
great interest and satisfaction to a
warm fall day.
This time of year is infused with a
coloured array of decorating
possibilities, a time of year that
expresses how incredibly blessed we
are with bountiful harvests. How
fortunate we are as we stoop. bend,
gather, preserve and yes. decorate our
home with the overflow that will see
our home ablaze with colour and
bounty!O
Patti Robertson operates Classic
Interiors in Winghant.
PATTI ROBERTSON'S
Unique Residential and
Commercial Interiors
135 Victoria St., WINGHAM
357-2872
• Custom-made Window
Fashions, Bedspreads
& Accessories
• Fine Domestic &
Imported Fabrics
• Select Wallcoverings
• Furnishings, Lighting
& Artwork to suit
any interior...
OCTOBER 2001 3r+