Autumn Decor – Decorating a Mannequin and a Pumpkin Obsession

This week’s blog looks at halloween decoration ideas and crafting with mannequins…

Recently Mr M and I enjoyed a week at home with The Spotty One. We were determined that work life would not interrupt us as so often happens when you enjoy a staycation. And since in our part of the country at least, we are enjoying some unseasonably warm weather with only the gentlest of breezes, we planned several days out in the fresh air. We marched out a brisk walk on the beach and savoured delicious lunches at quaint and cosy pubs.  Just a short journey from our home, we are lucky enough to have a beautiful walk which comes into its own in Autumn. So one morning we packed up the car with basket and dog and set off. Mr M was intrigued to know the significance of the basket. I have learned over the years to share ideas I have like collecting colourful leaves, when we get there. It’s best that way…

It’s at this time of year I notice more, the similarity between nature and the home decor and outfits we choose. Ordinarily I’m not a vibrant red or ochre kind of girl, yet when nature’s carpet is offering its own autumn decor, it gets me thinking outside my box.

I decided I wanted accents of these earthy shades in my life, although how I would do that without changing my neutralish decor or buying a whole new wardrobe was a dilemma. That is until I remembered Doris and I began gathering just a few of these abundant crispy leaves with my helpers and loaded up our basket.

Autumnal walk accomplished, we made our way home and thoughts turned to my autumn decor. Work quickly began on Doris’ seasonal skirt. I started at the bottom, poking the large red oak leaves securely into the chicken wire skirt and worked my way up towards her waist layering as I went. My aim was to complete the look using the smaller fiery red Maple leaves, to just below her waist.

I then used a beautiful silk scarf with complementary tones for the waistband, pinning in place as I worked my way around.

With her skirt complete, I attached an old and simple heart stone to an off-cut of brown leather string as a necklace and called it good. Then out came the camera for Doris’ autumn decor catwalk.

Over the next few days, the skirt took on a more crinkled look as the leaves dried out. Perhaps most of you would expect that to happen, I however did not. No matter, I am enjoying the non-ironed look and the crunchy noise the skirt makes as The Spotty One’s over active tail brushes by.

There were a great many leaves left over and I continued the autumn decor around the rest of our home. I rather like this seasonal look for my hurricane lamp.

And we gathered pine cones and acorns too..

So all in all it was a morning well spent foraging and a most enjoyable afternoon faffing. There will be more posts involving pine cones in the run up to Christmas, so keep reading for easy inexpensive style tips for your homes.

If you follow me on Instagram you will know by now of my fondness for a pumpkin or two in my autumn decor. We are currently enjoying this earthy look on the dining table and previously this soft velvet pumpkin in an old garden sieve took centre stage. And in this post I showed you how I used orange pumpkins for halloween decoration ideas.

I think I may have mentioned before, my decor is not always about thrift. Sometimes there are treats too. Recently I bought myself these three cute linen pumpkins from angelstores.co.uk whose feed I can recommend on Instagram. The neutral colours and size of these beauties make them easy to use in the autumn decor of any room in the home. So far they’ve stolen the show on my dining table with theses wonderful spear tealight holders from the lovely Karen at sagegreeninteriors.com whose beautiful Instagram feed and website offer a treat for those hunting out pretty home accessories. And currently I am enjoying the trio teamed up with candles and cones on my sitting room windowsill.

Another delight I treated myself to this autumn, is this gorgeous soft pumpkin from pinksandwhites_vintage who again can be found on Instagram. As with the linen pumpkins, the neutral colours of this beauty offer versatility and so again, will work in many a room and as such offer wonderful halloween decoration ideas. So far the master bedroom has been graced with her presence and now she’s enjoying a spell in the sitting room complimenting a recently renovated chalk pink storage box. I got to choose my colour preference for the delicate leaf detail on this beautifully made pumpkin. All these pumpkins make the most elegant halloween decoration ideas and it’s well worth a look at Natalie’s pretty Instagram account too.

And there you have this weeks post. A home full of pumpkins and leaves, thrift and treats. If you’re planning a touch of autumn decor anytime soon, I do hope you have as much fun as I’m having and as always, thank you for reading my blog x

And of course, if you have any Halloween decoration ideas, do share them comments below…