lovely, easy & festive decor

I know, Thanksgiving is tomorrow and you have either already decorated your home or you weren't planning on doing anything special. But, I'm sure there is someone out there who wants to do a little decorating for Thanksgiving — on a buffet, entry table or on the dining table. There's still time and maybe these photos will inspire you.

(Treasured copper container filled with gourds, pine cones, wheat, candles and an urn.)

Take a peek at a few things I've done over the years to set the stage for my Thanksgiving feasts. I have 2 young daughters, so my decor is limited to few places and it's simple and easy. Really!

(Same display, different view!)

I enjoy using outdoor items — gathering leaves and pine cones from the yard and maybe some fruit or gourds from the local nursery. I also gather up a few candles, containers, candle sticks, silver pieces and sprays of wheat and start playing!

(Same container, from a past Thanksgiving.)

You can do the same with items to match your color scheme or style. All cream or metallic pieces would also look lovely. You can create sophisticated and elegant displays the same way I've created my nature-inspired looks.

(The beginning of my display. I raised the urn with a box and covered that with pine cones. Start with your favorite things and build around them.)

(I turned a glass container upside down, filled it with pine cones and topped with leaves and pumpkin. Easy!)

Start with a container, platter, urn, mirror, tray or basket to hold your items. Make sure you've gathered fillers with varying textures and sizes. You'll need tall, medium and short items. Shiny and rough textures will be pleasing to the eye. You can use fabrics to soften displays or place underneath your objects. You can boost items with small books or shoe boxes and then cover with fabric (or pine cones in my case!)

For my table I like to set up several small displays that run the length of the table. We usually host 18+ people, so there's a lot of food passing going on and I don't want anything to get in the way of that! I try to do something different each year depending on what strikes my fancy in the months prior.

(Silver pitcher filled with sunflowers. I placed several of these down the middle of my long dinner table last year.)


(Fruit and wheat in silver serving bowl. I like to keep things low so food can be passed and people can see each other across the table.)

Another tip. Once you set up your display let it be. Don't keep fussing with it and obessesing over how it looks. It's lovely and the most important part of the day is that you enjoy your blessings (and pumpkin pie)!

Happy Thanksgiving!