When the fall season arrives, do you feel the sudden urge to redecorate with darker tones, rich woods, and deeper textures?

Usually, I tend to lean towards the softer color palette, but this year I was yearning for something different.

Follow along as I transform my monochromatic dining room with rustic farmhouse elements, featuring punchier, high-contrast colors that are unique to the beautiful autumn season.

Click play to watch this week’s episode

Switch Out Your Wall Art

When decorating a space to fit a seasonal aesthetic, people often overlook wall art.

Paintings are such an easy way to change the room without spending too much money or undergoing a drastic redesign like painting.

Before you go out to buy anything new, shop in your home first.

I’m switching out the wall art here for another piece I had in my home with colors that match the fall aesthetic. If you’re looking for new pieces, we have a fantastic selection at Village Antiques that fit perfectly into the farmhouse aesthetic.

Available at Village Antiques

Available at Village Antiques

I chose this piece because it has the blue, rustic frame, muted colors, and I love the rusty tone of the boat on the river, which will ground the more saturated colors I’ll be using on this project.

Shutters Are The Perfect Farmhouse Decor Element

Available at Village Antiques

Shutters are such an easy way to transform any room into a rustic-chic farmhouse.

I’m using shutters to flank my buffet table and to add an interesting texture to the walls.

Displaying old shutters like this is a fantastic way to reuse your old shutters, and a simple enough DIY project to recreate with the right supplies.

I spotted these old shutters at my shop the other day. I love the warm wood tones and the rusty pieces of hardware that add to the rustic charm of the space.

Shop For Decor At Your Grocery Store 

Yes, you read that right.

Bringing beautiful outdoor textures into your home in a subtle and elegant way is the goal of this project.

Since most of my inspiration for fall farmhouse decor comes from nature, there’s no better place to shop for fall decor pieces than your local grocery store.

Usually, I chalk paint traditional orange pumpkins, but this time I was able to find creamy colored pumpkins that look like they’ve been painted Chantilly White, which saved me some time.

I also grabbed some wheat stalks, palms. And darker hydrangeas from the floral section of my grocery store.

Other fall harvest items that make for excellent farmhouse decor include, artichokes, squash and gourds, pears, apples, and cinnamon sticks.

Now that you have your decorative elements, where do you start?

Use A Basket To Display Items

I grabbed some imperfect, rustic wicker baskets that I had at home, but you can easily source this at a home goods store. These are great home decor because they add a lot of texture to the design and are so versatile and practical, and are a great backdrop for adding more farmhouse fall decor.

I like how this basket is shallow, so I can display my pumpkins in it without covering the painting behind it.

Add A Pitcher For An Unexpected And Versatile Design Element

If you don’t know this about me, I love pitchers!

They’re such beautiful pieces of functional decor that can be used all-year-round in a number of styles.

I found this pitcher for water (or margaritas), with this nice detail that’s going to tie in all the brown-earth tones in the shutters and painting.

Use Symmetry To Create Balance

Symmetry is found everywhere in nature, so it makes sense that we’re drawn to symmetrical designs because it gives us a sense of harmony and order.

I’m placing my basket in the center and in front of the painting on the buffet and building out the design from there.

Since my pitcher takes a significant chunk of space to the left, I’ll need something as equally substantial on the right side. Rather than placing another pitcher, I’ll add this large pumpkin, which takes up a similar amount of surface area.

Fill In Space With Decorative Pumpkins 

Arranging with pumpkins is a matter of trial and error.

A key design tip to keep in mind is to make sure you don’t have two of the same colored pumpkin right next to each other, so you get that nice contrast in the design.

How many pumpkins should you use?

Working with odd numbers is a good rule of thumb. Odd numbers force your gaze to move around the grouping, making it seem more dynamic and natural. I tend to work with 6 or more whenever I’m styling with pumpkins.

Adding Floral Pieces

Now that I have my pumpkins added in, I’ll go in with my fall florals and stems.

When I placed my wheat stems in the pitcher, I didn’t like that they came up short. To fix this, I added some crumpled up craft paper to the pitchers to make them stand taller.

For my leaf stems, I collected some mason jars, jugs, and vases from around my home in neutral or fall colors to match the design aesthetic.

Autumn decorations and floral pieces add dimension with height and textures, and it’s a wonderful way to bring the colors inspired by the outdoor fall season indoors. I just grabbed these stems from off of my front porch!

Adding Finishing Touches To Your Design

When I was shopping around my home for a painting to place on the buffet, I spotted these metallic bird statues that I thought would make the perfect finishing touch. It feels like harvest season right on my buffet!

The last thing I do is arrange the candlesticks to bring in more height, interest, and light.

And there you have it. Your rustic fall dining room is ready to sit back and enjoy with a glass of apple cider!

We’d love to know what you think about this rustic decor set up. Leave a comment below or send us photos if you recreate this design.

Want more design tips and easy DIY tutorials sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for your newsletter for more design inspiration.

You can shop this look at our store, Village Antiques in Houston located at 1200 Blalock, Suite 350 Houston, TX 77055! Or just give us a call if we can help. 713-468-3931!

With love,

Amitha