Falling into Autumn

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Photo 2017-09-12, 4 12 12 PM

If you are coming here from Happy Haute Home, hello and welcome to our blog. It’s always wonderful to have new faces around here 🙂 Today we are excited to share with you our autumn tablescape which includes a fun and simple DIY table runner. Autumn is such a lovely time of year and I really wanted to create a space that celebrates the beautiful colors of the season while inspiring quiet introspection. Each season offers plenty to reflect on but there is nothing quite like reflecting on your harvest (physically and spiritually) and thinking about what can be improved upon for the next cycle when you begin anew.

“Every tree, every growing thing as it grows, says this truth, you harvest what you sow.”-Rumi

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If you haven’t guessed already from our latest home decor posts and Instagram feed, we are a tad into the bohemian look. Taken to it’s extreme, however, the boho theme can tend toward maximalism and appear a bit cluttered for our taste so I sought to create a clean design based on some of our favorite bohemian colors and elements: greenery, gold, yarn, textured glass, palm leaf, and patterned fabric.

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To pull this look together, I relied mostly on what I had lying around our home. For each place setting, I simply layered palm leaf placemats with gold chargers, white plates, and checkered napkins atop. For the centerpiece, I placed a small glass cup filled with eucalyptus and sage in the middle of a black candle dish and arranged white pumpkins, faux florals and pears, and real plums all around. For colorful touches, I included teal glassware, textured crystal, and gold flatware. I used my old amber essential oil diffuser bottles to showcase the dahlias and sage from our garden. The only thing I purposefully purchased for this tablescape (other than pumpkins) were the napkins. I really liked the flannel pattern and the farmhouse vibes they exuded, not to mention they were fairly inexpensive. For your convenience, I’ve included a list of the main sources down below for the all items I knew off the top of my head.

 

 

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Of course my favorite part of this whole tablescape is the table runner that I made. I am happy to report that the finished product turned out exactly as I had pictured: an oversized tassel. All you will need to make this table runner is wool yarn and scissors. Simply unspool the yarn and cut into strips longer than the length of the table. The hardest part is making sure not to tangle the yarn as you lay the pieces side by side. When you’re happy with the width of your table runner (I used three rolls of yarn) then tie each of the ends together and voila!

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Sources:
Checkered napkins: Target |$3
Faux Pears: Target|$5
Palm Leaf Placemat: IKEA|$3
Gold Charger: Dollar Store| $1
Eucalyptus: Trader Joes| $3
White Pumpkins: Farmers Market| $2

What do you think of the final result? I know it doesn’t include the fiery red, yellow, and orange hues normally associated with fall but we actually find it quite refreshing. I’ll be using this very same color palette to make an autumn wreath early next month so stay tuned for that. If you’re looking for more autumn decor inspiration that’s subtle and beautiful then you’ll definitely want to head on over to my friend at Harlow and Thistle and see her creative display. Also don’t forget to check out the rest of the stunning tablescapes in the Falling into Autumn Blog Hop linked below!

 

 

Happy Haute Home | Harlow and Thistle | Mint Candy Designs | Live Laugh and Craft | The Cozy Home Chronicles

Getting the heart and home ready for Ramadan

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It’s been a busy year for us and we are very grateful for all the fun projects and renovations we were able to do. However, with Ramadan just around the corner, we want to wind down a bit and focus on family and spirituality. It’s hard to believe that our babies are growing so fast (our son is turning two in just a month and our daughter will be turning 7 months) but now that they’re more attentive and communicative, we want to make the month extra special so they can grow up with fond and happy memories of our Ramadans together. For us, Ramadan is a month for reflection and growth. We enter this month as warriors, much like Paulo Coehlo’s Warriors of Light:

“Warriors of light are not perfect.Their beauty lies in accepting this fact and still desiring to grow and to learn.”

I wanted to capture this free-spirited approach in decorating our home and this sort of transformed into a colorful bohemian style tablescape since the dinning area is really where the family comes together to break bread and unwind after a long day of fasting. In this post I’ll be sharing some decor inspiration from our Ramadan preparations, including a family-friendly DIY project and a free printable you can frame to either hang up or place on your dinning table.

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This tablescape looks a lot fancier than it is. At the heart of it is a DIY Table Runner which is super easy to put together. I even had my son help out with the painting and he had a blast! All you’ll need is an inexpensive white table runner, a mandala or doily stencil, acrylic paint for fabric, and stencil brushes. The rest is self-explanatory. I probably could have done a much better job but I was painting with a toddler so we got a little carried away with dipping the brush in paint.

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Besides the table runner, all you’ll need to achieve this look are a variety of colorful vases (and/or ornate lanterns) filled with fresh summer flowers. The vases you see in the images are ones that I thrifted from a local Goodwill for $3 total. The spirit of Ramadan is also about humility so I didn’t want to create a space that was too extravagant or wasteful. I arranged the vases along the table, intertwined with crawling vine garland ( I bought on clearance) and in between these pretty palm leaf placemats. I also created a framed quote art out of one of our favorite supplications that we listen to just before iftar time. I wanted it to be a reminder on the table that aside from all the delicious food we get to eat, Ramadan is so much more than that. It is about reconnecting with God and softening our hearts so that we can be better, more empathetic human beings.

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In the home, I hung up lanterns and garland from the ceiling that I had purchased in a hanging decor kit from Michaels. The colors matched up very nicely with the bohemian color palette I had saved on Pinterest. Decorating with family is such a wonderful way to build memories and traditions. My son was very excited about standing on the table with me to hang these up and it put the biggest smile on my face seeing him gush with joy as he pulled out the tape from the dispenser in an effort to “help me.”

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On the wall behind the dinning table, I hung up a Ramadan advent calendar that I purchased from Handmade Beginnings. Not only is it beautiful but it’s perfect for making each day interactive and for making the countdown to Eid fun and exciting for little ones. Since my children are still young, I am choosing an activity that is simple and age appropriate. I found these free Ramadan coloring pages on Crayola’s website so what I plan to do is get a 30+ count marker or crayon set and put a different color in each  of the calendar’s pouches. Each day we will pull out a new color and work on our Ramadan page and hopefully by the end of the month (and just in time for Eid) we will have a pretty piece of art to hang up 🙂

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There you have it. An expensive and simple way to add a colorful touch to your table and home for Ramadan. I really wanted a space that was special, vibrant, and cozy for our family and our dinner guests and I’m really happy with how it turned out.

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What do you think? What are your favorite ways to make Ramadan special for your family?

Free Download:  Ramadan Printable_Color |Ramadan Printable_Black

 

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