There’s no way to deny that summer is officially over any longer. With shorter days, crisp mornings and cooler evenings, I’ve been wearing sweaters, boots and snuggling under fuzzy throws. We’re still trying to hold off on setting the thermostat to “heat”…it feels too early! But, I’m warming up to the idea of lighting spiced candles and making home more cozy. Once I unburied the dining room this week, I started a little autumn decorating {it’s the only room I really decorate for fall}…

I am so excited to be hosting the Countdown to Fall linky party today! It’s my turn! I’m having so much fun joining my friends from Domestically Speaking, Sand & Sisal and It’s So Very Cheri as we celebrate all things fall! {See their projects at the bottom of this post.} And I took a little break from apartment renovating and decorating. I even cleaned up my dining room for your visit today. Welcome! Well, at least what shows in the pictures. Shhh – Don’t tell. 

I was ready to add some rich color to our dining room for the autumn season. So I started with painting a fall leaf onto an old cork board. It still has the pin marks and scars from previous hanging. Anyone else find imperfection charming? Now it’s dark teal, rich red with coppers and golds…”warmth”.

Obviously I’m not an artist. DIY skills and creativity do not = artistic talent for me. Mr. DIY loves the “lion fish” I painted. What?! Okay, I have to agree that as a leaf, it’s a little sad and after a Google image inquiry, it does sort of resemble a lion fish.

my leaf painting…

lion fish…

But, you know what? We embrace imperfection around here and I love the colors. Besides…it’s art. Unique. One of a kind. It’s precious, right? {you can lie if you feel you need to answer that. lol!} I guarantee no one else has a painting of a leaf from a lion fish tree…I like being different. 🙂 

I’m still playing with it all and next week, you can bet it will all look different but the colors, the theme and that lion fish leaf painting are staying. I do love to rearrange though.

Don’t these colors look amazing together?

Materials: “etc.” was a clearance Target find earlier this year, the red and aqua vases are from JoAnns, the orange silk Chinese lanterns in the aqua vase were from Michael’s a few years ago, the silver dollar branches in the red vase are from our yard, the old turquoise insulator turned votive holder is a thrifted treasure, the mini chalkboard is a Shaw Floors/HGTV Home design challenge souvenir, the metallic faux pumpkins are from my long time fall collection. 

Still loving my pallet insert for our faux fireplace too…

If you’d like to see more, I shared some more of my fall decorating earlier this week at the DIY Fall Festival…

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We all would love for you to join the fun, if you haven’t already. We want to see your fall décor, fall crafts, delish fall recipes, fall traditions… anything that is fall related ! There are currently over 200 fall goodies to inspire you!

Please place the Countdown to Fall button in your post with a link back to this page so your readers can find the party too!

MaryAnn from Domestically Speakingfollow shared her fun fall craft when she kicked off the Countdown to Fall party a few weeks ago.

A special thanks to MaryAnn who organized this fun fall event and for inviting me to participate! The second week, hosted by Kim from Sand & Sisal welcomed us with a festive fall front door…

And last week, Cheri from It’s So Very Cheri baked a delicious autumn recipe for the Countdown to Fall get-together. Delicious!