FALL DECOR...WHY BUY THE FAKE WHEN YOU CAN HAVE THE REAL STUFF....

So I am a little late at getting my fall decorating done this year.  With putting the house up for sale and completing all the projects that needed to be done beforehand, I have just not had the time until now to worry about any fall decor and if truth be told, this years decor is very simple and unfussy...just the way I like it.

I have to admit that up until the past few years I had pretty much always used those cheap faux pumpkins and brightly colored leaf bouquets from the dollar store for my fall decor.  It's bright, cheerful, festive, inexpensive and there's nothing wrong with that, if you are guilty of using those things too!  However, over the past few years I have decided that I was going to save money and start taking advantage of the plethora of the FREE natural, fresh resources that the good Lord provides.

A few years ago I conned the neighbor into letting me clip a few sunshiny orange leafed branches off the tree in his front yard and last year I picked a nice bouquet of wheat like weeds from the side of the road but I have never used any clippings from my own yard for my fall decor. Why? Well, because I don't have any wheat like weeds growing anywhere and none of the trees in my yard turn a bright sunshiny orange, crimson red or golden yellow in the fall. Our trees simply go from green to brown.  That's it!  So completely disappointing!!...or so I thought.

A few days ago I spied some fallen branches in the front yard blown down and leftover from some strong winds that came up over night, and even in all their bland, boring variegated brown and green blahness, I saw them for the first time as the perfect and most beautiful soft, muted all natural, fresh fall decor. Nothing fancy but truly elegant in their own right. So, I decided to embrace them as the resources that the Lord provided to me. I picked them up, paired them with my everyday candle lantern and a few small tiger striped pumpkins from the grocery for a gorgeous fall vignette on the mantel. So perfect and so simple.  No fuss decorating!!!

I tucked some of the leafy branches in a few other places around the house too which I hope to show you later when there's a little better sunshine for picture taking.  It's been very overcast and dreary here.

Now I don't want you to think that I am too good for or totally against using the fake stuff so I threw together a little vignette in the entry way using some of my favorite faux fall decor...the metal pumpkins and tree.

Festive!

You know it's funny, I have to admit that out of all the fall mantels and vignettes I have put together using real decor (or fake for that matter), I like this years the best...it's not bright or colorful, in fact, it's very toned down and muted.  It's not fancy, it didn't take lots of time to get just right and didn't cost loads of money, yet it's gorgeous and sings all the praises of the fall season. Doesn't it?

Do you use natural elements in your fall decorating?  Would you ever dare use old greenish brown, crunchy leaves?

My mindset on these things anymore is why spend all that money on the fake when you can have the real stuff for free or nearly free.  Besides, when the season is over, there is no storage necessary.  You simply roast the pumpkins with some yummy butter, brown sugar and nutmeg, throw the leaves in the burn pile and your done with it.  Now that's the kind of simple living and simple decorating that I love!

What do you prefer real or fake?