“Fall colors are funny.
They’re so bright and intense and beautiful.
It’s like nature is trying to fill you up
with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.”
– Siobhan Vivian
“Give me juicy autumnal fruit, ripe and red from the orchard.”
“Two sounds of autumn are unmistakable…
the hurrying rustle of crisp leaves blown along the street…
by a gusty wind, and the gabble of a flock of migrating geese.”
As autumn arrives on Saturday, I’m kicking off the celebration a few days early in order to get the most out of this lovely time of year.
“Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature.”
– Friedrich Nietzsche
Early perhaps, but wishing my fellow fall fans a happy first day of fall is a Places In The Home tradition- one deeply rooted in the love of friends and all things fall.
This fall decor preview is a love letter to cozy at home. So many of us find such joy in decorating home and hearth with seasonal accents and accessories rich in color, texture, pattern, warmth, and comfort- the hallmarks of fall times spent cozy at home.
Elation is the word of the day courtesy of the “cold” front with no humidity currently in place over our little corner of the world.
Recent conversations around Places In The Home include how the bright white light of the afternoon sun together with cooler mornings and evenings indicate fall is in the future.
We joke about Louisiana’s false fall (which is an actual season in these parts), and my son can’t believe there was a prolonged fall season 40+ years ago when I was in high school. Mid-September through November saw sweaters, flannel shirts, and wool suits the favored Friday night football games fashions.
Good times and great weather!
“By all these lovely tokens, September days are here. With summer’s best of weather And autumn’s best of cheer.”
In the world of seasonal decorating it’s the small touches that count.
Small touches make a big impact on your dominant decor style which in turn accomplishes the intended purpose of seasonal decorating- to create standout statement vignettes, spots, and corners ready to capture the eye and the essence of the current season.
Developing, baking, cooking, and tasting new recipes spotlighting seasonal spices and seasonings rich in flavor and fragrance is one of the very best parts of the fall festival.
1 3.5 oz box vanilla instant pudding & pie filling
1 15 oz can 100% pure pumpkin
½ cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, add pure pumpkin, vanilla pudding mix, coconut, ground cloves, ground nutmeg and pumpkin pie spice. Using a wooden spoon, stir ingredients until combined.
Next, add vanilla and whipped topping. Fold until incorporated. Spread the pumpkin fluff mixture into the graham cracker crust; cover with plastic wrap.
Chill covered pie for at least 4 hours to set. Before serving dust the top of the pie with additional pumpkin pie spice.
Similar enough to bring back memories, this Pointers in the Field digital print reminds me of the oil on canvas painting of a hunt scene hanging above an antique table in my paternal grandparent’s den.
Crisp fall days into nights supply the seasonal backdrop that inspires cozy times spent outdoors.
Dining al fresco under a harvest moon is one of the highlights of the season and a perfect way to cozy at home.
Flannel fabric remnants become a tablecloth, a copper pot or cauldron filled with faux or real seasonal stems and branches a stunning centerpiece, candlelight the night light of choice, and the good china a fitting addition to a fall under the stars tablescape.
Under consideration for a big ticket purchase is the gorgeous Alana Lawson Accent Arm Chair Metal Casters.
Fawn brown velvet complements the light birchwood legs with front casters.
Funny how the shift in sunlight, temperatures, and spirit alerts the senses to autumn’s arrival. I feel it, I see it, and I love it!
Too much of a good thing is a great thing when it’s another fall decor preview. It’s one of the best ways to get the decorating wheels turning towards the next season of seasonal updating house and home.
Football and tailgating season is here, and we’re a nation of football enthusiasts who live for this time of year when fans gather together with the common interests of good times, great eats, and victorious scores.
There’s no way to eloquently put it- the Deep South is one hot bowl of summer heat and humidity until it decides it’s not.
The 12 seasons of Louisiana:
Winter
Fool’s Spring
Second winter
Spring of deception
Third winter
The pollening
Actual spring
Summer
Hell’s front porch
False fall
Second summer
Actual fall
Currently we’re between hell’s front porch and false fall, but we don’t let it discourage we the football faithful; we simply dress cool, decorate even cooler, and forge on.
Bringing a festive tailgating-homegating event together requires thought and time to plan, and everyone has a method to their tailgating madness.
Successful tailgating times is defined in may ways, but festive camaraderie in late summer, cozy days of fall, and chill of early winter is the common ground game goal of all.
Initial costs ding the wallet at first, but grant bang for your party buck satisfaction for tailgating seasons to come.
Burlap fabric remains a great option of neutral and inexpensive for table covering needs. It comes in a good selection of colors allowing you to go with team colors game to game.
In season local fruits and vegetables make excellent table and centerpiece decorations.
Stack on risers and in crates.
Crates turned upside down or stacked on top of each other make great display options while adding height to your tablescape presentation.
Stems and branches denoting regional and seasonal beauty in varying heights and colors gathered together in vases or free form vignettes achieve the look of effortless style and casual elegance.
Vintage or in the style of vintage football items such as a letter sweater, trademark fashions, programs, books, and figurines become super cute centerpieces.
Simply embellish in team colors to tie it all together.
Homecoming turns into a true tailgating extravaganza in true seize the moment to gussy up fashion.
Urns make the trip from patio to tabletop becoming an elegant beverage bucket, a holder packed with LED pillar candles and/or a stunning silverware caddy.
Tailgating treasures tip:
End of season clearance sales result in some mighty fine finds with price points to match. Don’t overlook the aisles and the shelves of big box and resale-vintage-thrift stores.
Home improvement stores hit the nail on the head as sources of complementing pieces such as ceiling medallions, decorative ceiling and floor tiles, and floor model fixtures.
Antique shops come in as hubs of history where unique and eclectic pieces come to live another life as tailgating decor must haves. Flea markets, estate, and garage sales source vintage dinnerware perfect for mix and match presentation, cast iron cookware, copper kitchen wares, cake stands, Tupperware, table linens, cutlery, holiday decorations and the like.
Centerpiece ideas center around grocery store floral departments and my forever go-to, nature’s floral department. It’s always open, and the prices can’t be beat.
Regional and seasonal come together to make a scenes from home tailgating centerpiece statement.
Uses include flanking table ends, candle rings, stunning base for a beverage dispenser(s), and placed on tabletops to complement nickel plated iron serving trays from Dollar Tree.
Shake several splashes of Pickapeppa sauce, celery salt, and a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice into mixture. Stir well. Garnish with a spicy bean garnish and it’s game time!
Speaking of sauces…
Louisiana hot sauces kick up the fun and the flavors- two things necessary at a Louisiana tailgating get together.
Pour up hot sauce (or any other type sauce or dressing) into clear disposable plastic cups with lids for individual servings. The deals are better on large containers, and individual servings sizes ?
Pickled Dilly Beans for the tailgating condiment win!
Charcuterie boards score big points with the tailgating and/or homegating crowd.
Country Living – Photography by Brian Woodcock
Caramelized Onion Dip with Crispy Shallots
Ingredients
¼ cup olive oil, divided
3 large sweet onions, chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 shallots, sliced into thin rings
1 (16-ounce) container sour cream
1 tbsp. chopped fresh chives
Pretzels and potato, beet, and sweet potato chips for serving
Directions
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are a deep golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate with a slotted spoon; cool completely.
Combine sour cream and onions in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Top with crispy shallots and chives. Serve with pretzels and chips.
1 teaspoon fine black pepper, or to taste*
**Substitution: 1 teaspoon Créole seasoning for salt and pepper
½ cup white wine or to taste
4 green onions, chopped
Roux
Ingredients
1 cup flour
1 cup vegetable oil
Directions
Heat oil in a black skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add flour in gradually, stirring well. Reduce heat to low. Stir/whisk the mixture constantly until it reaches a rich brown color, approximately 30-40 minutes. You must stir/whisk constantly to prevent the roux from burning.
Gumbo Directions
Slice sausage into ½ inch pieces. Using a seasoned skillet for optimum taste results, cook the sliced sausage over medium-high heat until browned. Transfer cooked sausage to plate lined with paper towels, allowing excess grease to drain. Set aside.
Place chicken breasts in Dutch oven or stock pot, add water, and bring to a boil. Add celery seed, ½ tsp. salt and ½ tsp. black pepper.
Stir and reduce heat to medium low, cooking chicken breasts until done, about 1 hour. Transfer chicken breasts from pot to large mixing bowl. Shred chicken breasts and return to broth.
Turn heat back to high and bring to boil. Add roux to broth and chicken mixture, whisking until roux dissolves. Reduce heat to medium and add minced garlic, chopped onions, bell pepper and celery, bay leaves, chicken bouillon cubes, remaining salt and black pepper (or Créole seasoning).
Carefully pour in white wine. Stir to blend and incorporate.
Reduce heat to simmer. Simmer uncovered for approximately 2 hours, allowing all flavors to marry. Remove bay leaves and skim any grease that has formed off top of gumbo.
Add chopped green onions and continue to simmer for additional 5 minutes.
Serve gumbo over cooked rice. Top with a sprinkle of filé, more green onions, and hot sauce to taste, if desired.
To the trusty Tiger Bait Recipes we go for Cajun Red Beans and Rice-
Tiger fans making the trek down to Death Valley cross over the Mighty Mississippi River making Mississippi Mud Cake an appropriate sweet treat for tailgating times.
Giving a glance to the recipe below it, I must admit I am intrigued by this recipe for Sausage Cake. It reads like a c’est si bon classic and new fall favorite to include in the recipe box.
Themed tailgating tablescapes along with the perfect decor accessories ensures entertaining success from parking to parting.
Here’s wishing the football faithful a winning and happy tailgating season!
Anticipating autumn’s arrival finds me caught up in the splendor of the third season in the best of ways.
Country Diary: Autumn Puzzle
As the days grow closer to the official first day of fall lovely reminders of its visual and tactile beauty build the excitement.
For some of you the look and feel of fall may be in the air in your neck of the woods, you lucky ducks.
Louisiana will not feel or see signs of fall for a while yet, but until then seasonal glory is found in photos like this.
Although in full anticipating autumn’s arrival mode, I’m opting to purposely slow walk my seasonal decorating in order to get the most out of the last of summer.
Now, ordering seasonal accents and accessories sooner than later to avoid the dreaded I wanted that but it’s sold out, that task, my friends, is in steady progress.
Updating with colors of the season include but are not exclusive to traditional choices with a few not so on the nose contenders.
Among the mounds of fall is fast approaching social media posts making the rounds I found the following a funny little nugget of truth:
Fall fans bout to mustard yellow, olive green, pumpkin orange
and cinnamon spice us to death.
For every season there is a palette and a presence association that is instantly recognizable thanks to traditional aspects blended with new traditional tones and trends.
Blue is often associated with a spring into summer palette, however, the fall into winter color palette of late embraces this timeless tone-on-tone classic.
House Beautiful
Blue and white shines as a perfectly complementary autumn accent.
Sent this pumpkin woods candle to a friend as a fall is in the house gift and the scent of the season review is in and it’s scentsational.
Glass Pumpkin Woods Candle Brown – Threshold™
Opting to slow walk my fall on parade as not to over saturate is proving difficult, however, ordering seasonal accents and accessories sooner than later to avoid selling out not to mention the super Labor Day sales is warranted.
Visually overwhelmed best describes the dilemma I run into when shopping sites with a gazillion offerings, so my solution is to mock-up a visual board to narrow the scope.
Up first in my let’s decorate for the season plan is a wreath.
Where it’s going to ultimately land will be decided once its complete. I find what works best in my seasonal decorating book of tricks is to let your eye guide your placement.
It ain’t rocket science, folks; what appeals to you is what works.
Every time.
Antique pieces give heart and soul to a space.
Hunt and gather treasures discovered on resale sites are peppered throughout the house with most purchases arriving exactly as described, but every now and then one will arrive clearly not as described.
Decorating with accents in Pheasant theme is my thing at fall, and it is my pleasure to introduce you to the newest addition to the ring-necked Pheasant accents family.
Exactly as described, this vintage Ruebens Originals Pheasant planter is a beauty.
Back in our antiques auctions days I bid on and won a collection of small decorative plates including this Pheasants in flight showstopper.
Disappointment over the pear print at Target I’ve had my eye on selling out turned into oh, this might work when finding this Negative Oranges Framed Art Print on kirklands.com.
I’m not 100% sure this will be just what I’ve been looking for to complete a gallery, but the Labor Day weekend sale price complete with free ship to home convinced me to hit the place order button.
You never know what treasures you’ll find on an afternoon scroll. When this original oil on canvas arrives I’ll share a photo and the backstory that goes with it.
Cozy is wonderfully achieved through deep rich colors, layers of texture and pattern, and the creature comforts of house and home.
“Ah, September!
You are the doorway to the season that awakens my soul…
but I must confess that I love you only because
you are a prelude to my beloved October.”
Pumpkin may rule the season and seasons, but easy with a side of impressive puts the spice in my fall recipeapalooza.
Hearty stick to your ribs dishes and delights just seem to be called for on a crisp evening when day turns to night right about 5:30 p.m., warm fuzzy socks take the place of shoes, and you have a craving for an easy dish big on cozy and delicious.
Food cozy?
Absolutely!
Take heart and soup stock, my fall loving friends, cozy and delicious soup weather is coming.
Every season is soup season at Places In The Home, but we especially associate fall with a hearty soup for supper meal.
Great Northern Bean and Chicken Soup
Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
½ teaspoon minced garlic
2 cans Great Northern beans
1½ cups cooked chicken, shredded
1 32 oz. box chicken broth
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 cups water
Directions
Melt the butter in Dutch oven (or just toss the butter in with the veggies like I do). Add the sliced carrots, chopped celery and chopped onion. Sauté until onions become translucent.
Once a good bubbling boil is reached, reduce heat to low and allow soup to simmer for 45-60 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf and serve with crackers or cheesy cornbread.
Fall recipes of the not soup, but oh, so tasty type are of particular interest to the something new, something easy, something fantastic side of the menu.
Being a natural born multitasker, I decided to throw a bit of WordPress dashboard housekeeping into the mix and perform a self-migration from Linux hosting to cPanel.
What was I thinking?
By the Sunday night of the Labor Day weekend things went South. By Monday afternoon I had lost my site, my religion, and my patience.
My determination to DIY this particular project was to show myself I can do this.
Note to self: You can not. Call in the pros.
I want to thank each of you for your patience with this process. For those of you who subscribe to Places In The Home, the testing testing 1,2,3 emails delivered to your inbox should be all done.
Thanks again for your understanding and for not unfollowing me.
Originally short for fall of the leaf or fall of the year, fall is the preferred term in the United States to best describe the season between summer and winter.
The term autumn was originally derived from the Old French word for autumn, automne, in the 15th or 16th century.
Autumn found favor in British English, however, fall has become prevalent in British publications.
Vibrant, fiery, deep, and vivid- the hues and tones present in the colors of fall lend decorating inspiration to everything from page to project, palette to plate.
Across the pages of social media platforms, portfolios, and shelter magazines, the styles and works of talented interior designers and decorators give good inspiration.
Oftentimes when we see an impressive color palette, furniture placement, or accent piece, we borrow from the look; fashioning the decorative elements towards our own style.
This show and tell features modern, traditional, new traditional, and rustic chic interiors bedecked in the best fall decorating colors.
The long awaited where have you been old friend crisp fall air whispered in my ear the time is now for fall decorating around the house.
More and more I find my taste aligns with simple, natural, and the work with what you have aspects of seasonal decorating.
Simplicity is defined as the quality or condition of being plain or natural; a thing that is plain, natural, or easy to understand.
Putting together an arrangement of pine cones and various leaves rich in fall colors is about as natural and easy as it comes.
There’s a time and a place for everything, and with the hustle and the bustle of the holiday season soon to arrive, this year’s fall decorating around the house look is brought to you by the need and the want to showcase decorative items germane to individuality, simplicity, effortlessness, and nature’s beauty.
Mama Places In The Home calls me from one of the hobby and crafts store we frequent for fall into holiday decor.
She is happy to report the entire stock of fall swags and wreaths is currently marked 70% off original price.
Sold!
Try, try as I may, I could not capture a good picture of the swag. The combination of a cloudy day, funky angles, and wth? exposure settings does not do it justice.
Some of my best shopping comes via the Facebook pages of local shops and boutiques.
See it.
Send a message.
Pull it and I’ll be right there.
Exactly what I did with these gourds.
We’ll call this one fresh flowers and framed memories.
The year was 1998, and the event was one of the many school events-carnivals-fundraisers-assemblies- open houses we attended at our son’s elementary school.
Twenty+ years and two hair colors ago.
Simple ideas, thoughtful touches steeped in warm and cozy overtones, inspired choices, natural elements, accessories, collectibles, and souvenirs near and dear to your heart and taste beautifully work the room and welcome fall into your home.
Although there’s no hard and fast scientific proof certain foods and food pairings simply taste better in a particular season, my taste buds attest to the fact baked pork chops paired with green apples, brown sugar onions, and sliced sweet potatoes dusted with ground cloves and fresh orange deliver the taste of fall.
Place pork chops on baking sheet and top with apple slices.
In a small mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, Creole seasoning, nutmeg, thyme and hot water.
Pour over pork chops.
Bake in preheated oven for 45-55 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the chops has reached 145 degrees F (63 degrees C).
Sweet potatoes grown in South Louisiana bring the taste of home to plate and table.
My mother-in-law always said sweet potatoes taste best after the first frost, but cravings won out over first frost patience.
Wash and cut six (6) medium sweet potatoes into thirds. Place potatoes on baking sheet.
Sprinkle with ground cloves and drizzle olive oil over sweet potatoes. Slice an orange in half and squeeze juice from one orange half over potatoes.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until tender.
Cloves and oranges = fall aromatherapy.
A new addition to my taste of fall side dish rotation is brown sugar onions.
Easy.
Delicious.
Did I mention easy?
Peel and slice 3 large onions. Place onions in medium saucepan. Add 1/3 cup brown sugar and ¾ cup water, stirring to combine. Bring to a boil.
Reduce to medium and cover with lid.
Cook until onions are tender.
Sweet, savory, and spicy blend, mix, and marinate together to produce a fall dish full of seasonal flavors, comfort, and tradition fit for a crisp fall day or evening meal.