You Win Some, You Lose Some

It's fall right? 

Finally!!

I decided to get into the fall spirit and do a bit of decorating. We are on a tight budget right now, so I wanted to gussy things up without spending a lot of money. Dollar Tree to the rescue! I always love Dollar Tree as a resource for decorative items on a budget. 

As I was walking around, I spotted these paper doilies  and came up with the idea of putting them all together and creating a runner. For three dollars, a half hour, and some tape I had on hand, I figured I could create a great piece. I was inspired by this runner by Ashley Ann and thought that I may be able to recreate. 

My first attempted involved layering them. I would overlap them and just sort of put them together at random. Whatever I thought would look good. Well, I ended up getting rid of that. It was too...cluttered.

Then I decided to put them together with more space in between them. It turned out better and I put it on our buffet and proceeded to accessorize. 

 I went around the house collecting a bunch of things that I thought would work for a fall-ish feel. I gathered a few accent jars I had on had, a bunch of candles, some fall decorations from last year, a bag of split peas, a bag of popcorn, and some decorative squash that I picked up from a local produce stand.

Then I just started layering them on the buffet and worked with things until I had them the way that I wanted. I also kept in mind that I didn't need to use everything on the buffet because I wanted to put some stuff on our coffee table in the living room too. The result was satisfactory enough. I wasn't sure how I liked the runner that I had made, but I decided to live with it for a day and then decide.

In the basket I crinkled up some paper and then layered the decorative gourds on top. I followed that by putting the two scarecrows, that I had, in the back. A set of Fiesta salt and pepper shakers made the perfect compliment to the pitcher on the other side of the buffet.  Then to top the grouping off I used a mason jar, split peas, popcorn, and a candle to create a fun decorative piece.

On the opposite side, I used a large glass vase I had leftover from our wedding and a small votive, to do the same decorative element I used with the mason jar. I decided to move the pitcher with flowers from its spot in the living room, because the colors worked well with the overall scheme I had going on. I also decided to utilized the 'fall' decoration I had purchased from Christmas Tree Shops on this end as well.

It all came together in the end. The colors from my mom's picture, that hangs above our buffet, and all the colors of the adjoining rooms seem to compliment everything nicely.

Then in the living room I decided to do a small arrangement and I used some more doilies, a wood chicken (left behind from the previous owners of our house), a couple of glass votives, a decorative tray, and a pumpkin I had on hand from last year.

The goal was to do something simple, but fun. I attached the doilies to the bottom of the tray, with tape. Then I layered in the chicken and candles. The pumpkin went on the bottom shelf. I also love how the baskets I have holding our magazines, are made with chicken wire. In the end, there was an overall country theme that I didn't plan for!  :)

This is where I was originally planning on ending the post, but after living with the doilies for a day, I decided that I wasn't a huge fan. So, I removed them from the buffet and this is what it looks like now.

I like it a lot better... I think. Oh! I forgot to mention that I also put our ipod and its speakers back on the buffet. Function is way more important than beauty, around here. 

So, what do you think? Do you like the display better with the doily runner? or without? Honestly, I'm not 100% convinced either way. I'm thinking that I might try to make a new runner with just the sunflowers or the leaves and see if I like that better. Some input would be greatly appreciated :)