Lifestyles by Estelia… Thanksgiving Decorating Ideas

Indoors:
• A Harvest Table: Set a celebratory table with bold splashes of color from the garden or farmers’ market; gourds, fruit, and nuts come in gold, yellow, orange, and a range of brown and green. Transform a variety of dried gourds into tableware by hollowing them out and piling them high with pears and walnuts as centerpieces; fill others with candles in glass votives, and still more with salt and pepper. Napkin rings of small grapevine wreaths (available at crafts stores) tied with velvet ribbon are unexpected and simple to assemble. For a feast with just a few friends or a crowd, this attractive setting inspired by nature will evoke the warmth of the season.
• Embellish Your Mantel: Decorate the mantel for the occasion with a pair of cinnamon-colored candles in hurricane lamps; anchor a group of pumpkins and gourds set among bittersweet, Chinese lanterns and autumn leaves.
• Put Your Finery on Display: Artful abundance should be the dominant decorating theme throughout the house at Thanksgiving. Transform an antique secretary or serving sideboard into an overflowing buffet with russet and cream-colored transferware and a cornucopia of autumn produce.
• Horn Of Plenty with Plenty of Style: Don’t confine the iconic cornucopia to the dining table. Cornucopias are warm, welcoming arrangements in a front hallway or guest bedroom or on a broad kitchen windowsill. Smaller versions — loaded perhaps with cookies, jams, chocolates, teas or coffees — make much-appreciated gifts.
• “Faux-liage”: Add an autumnal touch to an open bookcase with silk fall leaves, which you can find at your local craft store. Whether they’re pressed inside a picture frame or strategically placed along the shelves, autumn-colored leaves are sure to pump up the fall factor.

Outdoors:
• Wheelbarrow and Harvest: Fill an old wheelbarrow about halfway with straw, and top it with piles of dried corn, pumpkins, gourds and apples so it looks as if it you just wheeled it out of a garden filled with autumn’s bounty. Tie a big orange bow on the handle of the wheelbarrow and arrange large pumpkins in loose straw around the base to resemble a pumpkin patch. Add a hand-tied sheaf of corn stalks for an extra field-like touch
• Apple Baskets: Fill small half-bushel baskets with straw (so you will not need so much fruit) and top with artificial apples. Place one basket near the railing on each step leading to the front porch or put one by the front door. Twine a garland made from silk autumn leaves and bittersweet around the rail, and echo it with another garland to frame the top of the doorway. Put an individual apple here and there around the baskets
• Wreaths: Warmth” and “welcome” are key words for the holiday season. Instead of waiting until Christmas to decorate, take the lead at Thanksgiving, and fill your home with these lush, surprisingly easy-to-assemble wreaths. Fresh flowers make these projects perfect for when company is coming. After the blooms fade, replace them, or fill in the blank spots with colorful leaves and dried grasses.
• Do the Door: Reasonably priced chrysanthemums make a wreath an inexpensive yet stunning Thanksgiving greeting. Don’t think for a minute that these are ho hum flowers. They offer several endearing qualities. Color variety tops the list, but a close second is their stamina. Some of the longest-lasting cut flowers, they are great for a project such as a door wreath. A good rule when choosing mums is this: Smaller flowers such as button, cushion, and daisy mums live longer (up to 10 days with adequate moisture). Larger blooms–‘Red Rover,’ football, and Fuji mums–hang in for about a week. Add moisture to the florist foam daily using a turkey baster. Choose an oval grapevine wreath for a slightly different spin on the classic shape. You’ll find this and other options at crafts stores.