We have been adding autumnal touches around the house these past few weeks. Pottery Barn’s seasonal decor ideas are increasingly my favorite resource. Not too mod (ala some of the most popular craft blogs)and not too cheesey. As Goldilocks would say, they are ‘just right’ for my taste.  Not quite as right for my budget comfort, however. We have solved this problem rather easily though. Enter Walmart. <g> Literally and figuratively. 

Perusing the home, floral, and craft aisles netted several knock off’s for next to nothing. A ‘for instance’ – we picked up this wooden dough riser/kneader piece for $5. It looked just like the one featured as a centerpiece in September’s Country Living mag. We filled it with some tiny pumpkins.

In the floral aisle they had many shapes and sizes of glass vases similar to those in the PB pages.  I can’t see any measurable difference in a $5 glass container vs a $25 version. It is what they are stuffed with that makes them attractive. A bag of cranberries costs less than $3 at the grocery. We had some time while the kids were in choir practice on Sunday so Kieran and I gathered a bagful of pinecones from under a tree in the planter outside. They look stunning in those oversized glass vases or in open bowls. Walmart had several wood bowls in the kitchen/dishware section as salad bowls. They would make really classy  displays of natural fall-ish stuffers. Their pillar candles would look great stuck inside those glass vases with stuffers like berries or acorns surrounding.

I am finding with this many people in the house my tastes are leaning towards the clean lines and simple graphic-style displays vs lots of small stuff which is soon tipped over or dusty.  In fact, anything with ‘clean’ in the description fits the bill. ; )   I far prefer using these natural materials to the  cartoonish commercially available holiday standby’s.

Oh, another project in the works here are the rattan chargers shown at left. (from PB too) I thought they would look so nice on our mission cherry table.  We spotted some round placemats in the seasonal sale section at Walmart. (below)I have seen them paint these on HGTV and think that a coat of walnut paint would produce a lovely set of knock off chargers for waaaay less than $18ea. I will keep you posted : )