My Modern and Cozy Fall Tablescape

Two things are super important to me when deciding how I will decorate my dining table for a holiday. One, it can’t be too fussy and two, it can’t be too expensive.

To keep both of these things in check I like to mix in a few simple DIY projects with some inexpensive store bought items and today I’m going to share exactly how I pulled together this beautiful Fall Tablescape, sources and all.

You may remember a peek at my dining room decorated for fall during my fall home tour and most of the comments I received were about the centerpiece. Ain’t it pretty?

This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure.

The Centerpiece:

I love this centerpiece because well, it looks pretty, but did you know it prompted me to learn how to make posole? Sure did!

How does a centerpiece prompt a new favorite recipe you ask?

Well I was determined to find a big ass tin can and that one right there in the middle was filled with hominy for only 2 bucks! So let’s just say I had some hominy on hand and couldn’t just waste it so I ended up finding an amazing recipe for posole that I made in the crockpot (which usually I don’t get along with at.all) and it was fantastic!

Ok. Back to the easy how to of the fall centerpiece.

So I gathered up some tin cans (the big one was hominey, the tall ones were baked beans, and the others were regular size.)  I took off the labels and used goo-gone to get the sticky stuff off and gave them a nice coat of gold spray paint. Done!

To keep it super simple, but add some nature I filled them with baby’s breath and added some cheap mini pumpkins that I painted white last year.

Lastly, I added my go to orange table runner to bring that pop of orange that I clearly love so much to the center and to anchor the cans.

The Place Settings

For each table setting I picked up some inexpensive placemats that had great texture from Homegoods. I think they were about 5 dollars for a 4 pack. I thought about painting them, but decided that I really like the natural element that they added to the table so I left them alone. (Finally listening to the voice in my head telling me that I don’t have to paint everything 🙂 )

I bought these soup bowls last year and was happy to see that Cost Plus World Market had them again this year in a variety of colors. The ikat napkins are also from World Market (out of stock 🙁 ) and one of only two new purchase for this year’s fall tablescape.  Pretty good huh?

I used my everyday plain white dishes (that I’ve had for years,) and our everyday silverware (Crate & Barrel) and placed a DIY concrete place card holder at each spot.

These DIY concrete place card holders were my first attempt at working with concrete and it was so much easier than I thought it would be. I love the industrial modern look that they add, especially with the gold accent.

I had some reader questions about the place cards themselves.

I literally cut some rectangles from white card stock, wrote names on them with a fine tip sharpie, and did one smudge of orange paint down the side with a small paint brush I found in my little lady’s art bin. I really just needed a pop of orange and this was the result. A very happy accident.

I love the way the orange bowls look against the dark black table.

We aren’t hosting Thanksgiving this year, but since our dining room is finally complete I do plan to have some friends and family over for some fall dinners. Posole anyone?

That’s it! I managed to pull together a really nice fall table without spending a fortune.

I think sticking to just a few inexpensive purchases each year and then getting creative with what you already have and making a few things is definitely the way to go. I’m huge fan of shopping for decor in my own home. Sorta crazy how just using something in a new way or in a different room can make it exciting all over again.

Do you “shop” in your own home?