Growing up, I wasn’t the biggest fan of fall. Oh, I loved the hot apple cider, wearing sweaters and boots, and of course the changing colors of the leaves…but sweaters turn into coats, leaves need to be raked and before you know it, winter is upon you! At the first sight of mums in the grocery store I would be resigned to the fact that summer was truly over. Maybe that’s why I never really caught on to fall decorating (and I still don’t like mums!) I also never really cared for “fall colors” anywhere except on the leaves of the trees. Nope, fall and I just didn’t really get along.
All that changed when I moved to Santa Barbara. Sure, the nights get cooler and mums can still be found at the grocery store, but there is no bitter cold impending winter and certainly no snow or ice. I can still wear sweaters and boots, I just don’t need that winter coat! Alas, we don’t get the beautiful autumn foliage, but a trip to the East coast in early October can fill that void. I prefer to do autumn in a simple Cali style…at least that’s what I’m calling it!
In summer, it was all about the blues…
When I spotted my first mini white pumpkins of the season at my local grocery store, I was ready for a more neutral color palette for fall.
Of course white is my favorite palette, but with a bit of black, some green and textural whites, fall feels very different than the one I remember in my childhood!
If you have been following this blog or my Instagram, you know that when it comes to entertaining, I like to keep it simple. Hosting a dinner party for six on a beautiful September Santa Barbara evening, I wanted to keep with the white, green, and a bit of black theme. So I kept the runner and the mini pumpkins on the table, added votives, hydrangeas, green wine bottle glasses, and some gorgeous oversized linen napkins from Hudson Grace. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Of course then I actually had to make the food! I almost always set the table the day before or in the morning to free up my time preparing for the actual meal. It makes life easier.
While I’m on better terms with fall, I still don’t know if I will be buying mums anytime soon. 😉
