Do you want to create a charming farmhouse fall-themed table setting that looks high-end and doesn’t break the bank?

I’m going to share with you nifty decor ideas and tips for creating a fall-inspired farmhouse tablescape for your dining room. We’ll be going through my design process step-by-step in my home to show you that creating a chic, seasonal look doesn’t have to be expensive.

Let’s get started!

Bring Natural Elements To The Design

Whenever I think of autumn, the changing leaves, crisp air, rustic textures, and muted colors come to mind. These natural elements in fall are what I’m going to use as inspiration for creating my farmhouse fall dining table.

On a recent visit to the grocery store, Mother Nature’s beautiful autumn colors inspired me. I decided to use autumn’s bounty to bring my design to life using burnt orange-colored pumpkins, dark green gourds, violet plums, and pears.

Natural textures such as wood, linen, and ceramics help tie the theme together here too.

Shop At Home First 

When it comes to creating seasonal looks in your home, you might be tempted to hit your nearest home goods store right away — before you do that, I encourage you to shop in your home first.

I rummaged my cupboards and storage closets for things like neutral table linen, woven baskets, wooden breadboards, vases, bowls, and candlesticks I already have that I can use to create a fall look to match my existing farmhouse decor.

Not everything you use for your tablescape needs to be brand new or specifically fall-themed.

Use A Linen Runner As A Foundation

Table runners add color, texture, and interest to the table and are an elegant way to build upon your tablescape design. They also function to protect the table’s surface from dripping candle wax or water spillage from your floral arrangement.

I’ll start with a white linen table runner at the table’s center to begin my tablescape design. This heavy linen texture is perfect for fall and can be reused going into the holiday season.

Ground Your Tablescape With A Focal Point

When creating a balanced tablescape, I always start in the center and work outwards.

This beautiful bowl I found in my kitchen is what I’m going to use to hold the pretty fall gourds, pumpkin, and squash from my grocery store haul.

Large bowls are versatile decorative vessels that you can use in any season.

Create Height To Your Fall Centerpiece With Vases

Vases are a great way to add height and dimension to any tablescape design and are excellent vessels for displaying decorative elements.

Here, you can see that I’m placing these beautifully etched vases with gorgeous antique gold detail on the opposite ends of my fall tablescape. I love the mixture of rustic meets glam in my designs, and I think that gold detail tries that in so well here.

Don’t be afraid to take up space on the table. To make this design look balanced, I don’t want these vases too close to the center bowl.

Choosing Florals For Fall Farmhouse Decor

Image name: Fall floral arrangement for farmhouse tablescape

Alt text: Placing fall floral arrangement in a vase for farmhouse-inspired table design

Adding seasonal botanical elements to your design is an easy way to sprinkle in autumn’s rich colors and textures.

I’m using wheat stems, palms, olive branches and leaves, and burgundy-tipped hydrangeas for my tablescape.

Other fall floral elements that work beautifully include chrysanthemums, pampas grass, purple hazel leaves, broom corn, blackish dahlias, and purple artichokes.

I’m going to start filling in the vases with the hydrangeas (about 3-5 stems). When placing your florals, you want them to make an hourglass shape by crisscrossing the stems in the vase to stop the arrangement from toppling over.

Fill Up Space With Breadboards, Baskets, Platters

Sometimes, the ends of the table can end up looking a little neglected.

This is where breadboards, smaller baskets, and platters come in to help fill up space. Again, I’m using neutral colors to help ground the design with a sense of cohesiveness.

Can You Call It Fall Decor Without Pumpkins?

For my rustic fall decor I love using both real pumpkins and velvet pumpkins — it creates contrasts in color, sizes, and textures.

Start from the middle and work your way out by laying down the pumpkins in sparse areas.

If it were up to me, I would keep adding decor, but we have to make room for the table settings and dining at the table.

At this point, I would bring in the tableware to make sure I can accommodate everything on the table.

Choosing Plates & Servingware

When it comes to plates and serving ware, I like to keep it simple. Avoid buying plates with fall motifs such as leaves or acorns. It’s better to have elegant, higher-quality tableware that you can use for many design looks.

Styling Bread & Sweets

Now it’s onto the good stuff — let’s start adding in the food.

I like the lay linen cloths or handkerchiefs into bowls and baskets before placing bread. It adds a nice little piece of fabric detail to the overall design.

On the wooden boards, I’m going to place this delicious pie, making it easy to cut the pie on and pass it around the table.

Finishing Up The Fall Tablescape Design

You’ll see that everything eventually comes together in the details.

As you finish up your tablescape, take a step back to see if there are any sparse areas or a grouping of elements too close together.

If you’re choosing to add candlesticks and votives to the table, you want to add them in a zig-zag pattern down the table’s length to create a sense of balance.

I love adding candlelight to dinner settings, especially in the fall, because it adds a bit of warmth and glows to the table that is always in-season.

There you have it.

We’ve just created an inexpensive fall farmhouse-inspired tablescape.

If you end up recreating this look, please be sure to send us a photo — we love seeing your creativity come to life.

You can shop all of these gorgeous looks at our Houston Store, Village Antiques located at 1200 Blalock, Houston TX 77055. Out of town? You can shop our Instagram page @villageantiques or give us a call 713.468.3931

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With love,

Amitha