It’s official – it’s the first day of fall!  It may not feel like fall outside, but inside it’s cozy, colorful, and ready for baking season.  If you’ve stopped by to explore the Design Challenge posts, hello!  Thank you for stopping by.  My friends and I are sharing fall vignette ideas with trays.  And I’m starting with 5 simple steps to a vibrant fall kitchen vignette.  Let me show you how. 

 

5 Simple Steps to a Vibrant Fall Kitchen Vignette

If you’re new to a Design Challenge, it’s a group of bloggers using the same inspiration photo (found on social media) to recreate or style a vignette or space each month. The fun part is seeing how everyone puts their own spin on it to fit their home and personal style.

Inspiration Photo by Mathilde at Brocante Majolie

This month, our inspiration photo comes from Mathilde at Brocante Majolie.

What I like about Mathilde’s image and what I will incorporate in my vignette is: 

• the tray
• the layered backdrop
• the crock with utensils
• pumpkins
• flowers (wheat)
• a towel hanging over the edge 

Simple Step #One:  Choose a base.  In our inspiration photo, Mathilde has used a galvanized tray, but I don’t have one.  And because my goal is not to make additional purchases, I will use what I already have.  What I have is a scalloped wicker tray I found several months ago at HomeGoods.  It’s a great base to begin warming up the kitchen.

Fall colors of browns, golds, maroon, and greens

Step #Two: Choose a color scheme or theme.  Because right now, it’s my favorite time of year, my go-to theme is autumn. I love the vibrant colors, plus I have a lot of pieces I can grab from a cabinet to use.  You can go with anything that works for you.  If it’s during the holidays, try a silver or brass tray or any color that coordinates with what’s going on around the rest of your home. 

Step #Three:  Add a tall anchor piece.  I’m keeping the glass lamp with the green ribbon shade and the boxwood wreath that have been on the counter all summer long.  Those make great anchors and a great backdrop to build on.  You could use a wooden cutting board like in the inspiration photo, a painting, a vase of flowers, or a stack of cookbooks.

Step #Four:  Vary your heights and start layering.  In the inspiration photo, Mathilde added a framed picture of a flower in front of her cutting board.  I chose to use the wreath and add a fall plate in front of it.  It was a bit harder to vary the heights in the back because there’s only so much space under a cabinet.  But so far, so good.

Instead of using a crock, I am using a vintage cookie jar for the utensils.  Honestly, this was a little difficult.  I don’t like my utensils out and prefer keeping them in a drawer.  If I actually cooked, I’d probably want them out to keep things easy. 

Look at all those warm colors together!

The next layer is the smaller things in front.  The faux hydrangeas in a glass vase work to fill up the left corner.  Now, a lot of people would tell you to leave empty space inside the tray so things stand out more.  I feel that when you fill up a space, it’s a little more cozy.  But the best part of a Design Challenge is that you get to do what you want and make it your own!

Texture gives your vignettes character!

Simple Step #Five:  Add texture.  Instead of the tea towel, candle, and beads, I kept it practical (one of my decorating faults) and used beautiful fall napkins instead.  We will use them and the fabulous flower bowls all season.  They are perfect for a handful of nuts or my favorite chocolate-covered cherries or blueberries!

The textures come from the cloth napkins, the bumpy ceramic flower bowls, the velvet pumpkin inside the bowls, the smooth plate, and the frayed ribbon on the lamp, etc.

Now, step back and take a look!

Lastly, step back and look at it.  Do you see your anchor piece?  Are the colors cohesive and to your liking?  Do you see various heights inside the tray?  And do you love how it looks and feels?  Are you happy with it?  Sometimes, you need to leave it overnight and look at it during different times of the day.  You might walk around your house and see something you’d like to add or switch out.

I walked into the kitchen to turn off the light before bed, and the tray felt overwhelming.  Just too much stuff.  So at about 1:45 AM, I played around with it until it was what I wanted.  Do you ever do that?  It was good that I lived with it a little while.  I saw it multiple times, then turned it into something I liked much better.  Do you do that?  It’s great advice if you doll

Thank you for joining us today!  

I hope you try a Design Challenge soon.  As well as 5 simple steps to a vibrant fall kitchen vignette.  The challenges are so much fun and they stretch your talents.  You’ll quickly see that having an inspiration photo as a starting point keeps everything from feeling overwhelming or complicated.  And remember, it’s never finished until YOU say it’s finished.

If you are going in order in the challenge lineup, next is Missy at Sonata Home.  I love her bright, cheerful, colorful home.  It fits her personality and smile.  You can see the other links below.  Enjoy!