It's the 4th Friday of the month and you know what that means! It's Farmhouse Friday!
This month's theme du jour (or whatever is French for the word month) is APPLES.
OK, I just Googled how to say "month" in French and it turns out to be "mois" which is way too close to the word moist. I don't know about you, but the word moist totally skeeves me out. Shudder.
Back to un-moist apples. Love them. Love to eat them. Love to use them in my fall decor.
Why?
They're inexpensive. They can be found anywhere. They come in all different shapes, sizes and colors.
Red, green, yellow, pink . . .
These babies are Gala apples. Beautiful and tasty Gala apples.
Heck, you can just run to the grocery store and buy a bag. Throw them in a ironstone soup tureen
on top of a bushel basket lid and you're good to go.
Instant inexpensive fall centerpiece.
Sure it's more festive to drive out to the country to an orchard, get dressed up in your new boots and plaid scarf, eat a few dozen powdered donuts and pick them yourself.
But in the end, an apple is an apple and they pretty much look the same as the ones at the grocery store. Although I do like to support my local farmers, so there's that.
This week, while recuperating from the broken arm I decided to add a light early fall look to my dining room.
Besides the apples, I added some dried hydrangea to my buffet table/dresser.
If you haven't dried hydrangeas before, I discussed my super easy and scarily simple way to dry them in my Lazy Girl's Guide To Drying Hydrangeas.
The vase is setting on my horse statue that I bought last year at a garage sale.
I guess it used to have a clock next to it, but I just stacked some books with fall colored covers next to him and put the jar of hydrangea on top. And added an apple and a wooden block and tackle pulley thingie.
On the other side of the room next to the windows I put this heavy barn vent on top of a more formal looking cabinet for an eclectic farmhouse look.
I bought that thing five years ago and never really knew what to do with it. If I had only known it would look cool in the dining room with a homemade boxwood wreath on it, I could have saved myself five years of tripping over the stupid thing.
BTW, don't tell my husband or my doctor, but I hoisted that incredibly heavy wooden vent up onto that cabinet all by myself. Broken arm and all.
I had it stored in my office upstairs, so I drug the thing to the top of the steps with my one good arm, tied a rope to one end of it and then proceeded to slide the thing down the steps very slowly, holding onto the rope so it wouldn't go too fast.
Then I wrangled it into the dining room by scooting it inch by inch by inch.
Once in the dining room, I then lifted it up six inches onto a stool and then from there onto the top of a chair, then onto some books I had placed on top of the chair. And then finally lifted it the last few inches up onto the top of the cabinet.
I can't normally lift 50 pounds with one hand, but I could lift it six inches or so. Took probably an hour to get it there and a little bit of swearing, but darn it looks good!
- Gala apples and a gigormouse pumpkin were the stars of my fall porch a few years ago.
- I used apples as early fall decor last year on my kitchen table by putting them in a vintage Fire King apple bowl - Festive Fall Apple Vignette.
- I even used one in my The Early Fall Home Decor Dilemma (back-to-school) vignette last week.
- And no need to stop at the apples, I showed you how I used the spring blossoms in my decor in my Jadeite Green And Crabapples post.
Seriously. Apples are the inexpensive fall decor idea of the century!
Now enough about me, run over and visit the other Farmhouse Friday ladies and see what they are doing with their apples.
I hear it's some ap-peel-ing stuff! (Didn't think you could get out of here without a bad pun, did you?)
Susan McInnis
Really attractive and applely! Could add an apple on top of the vase under the boxwood wreath for an apple trio! Totally enjoy and look forward to receiving your blog. Hope your arm is mending. Take care with the lifting.
Kathleen @ faded charm
I love soup tureens and filled with these apples, it makes a perfect centerpiece!
Enjoy your weekend!
xoxo
Kathleen
Joanne Noragon
I know you've said from time to time about photographing one of your vignettes, we don't know what the rest of your house looks like. Well, I think you have a most cheery house!
Pam
Thank you! I normally only photograph my living room, kitchen or dining room. I can only manage to keep a few rooms clean at a time 🙂 Hope you're enjoying the cooler weather. If only it would last!
Leslie harris
What a wonderful post Pam. I also have a special place in my heart for apples. Lots of great ideas here. Your dining room looks so warm and elegant. It makes me excited for Fall. And what happened to your arm?! I need to go back and read about that. So sorry to hear, wishing you a speedy recovery.
Pam
Oh, I was being a klutz and tripped on my back porch. So now I have a radial head fracture (it's right below the elbow). At least I can type with it. If only I could figure out how to apply eye makeup and blow dry my hair, I'd be all set!
Michele @ The Vintage Vixen
I fill an Ironstone bowl with crab apples, acorns and a few cinnamon sticks every November and put it on my coffee table for the whole month. I love decorating with natural items!!! Isn't this funny??? Like minds and all that. Glad to see you are still decorating despite your injury!!!
Pam
That sounds pretty. I can't wait 'til it gets a little closer to fall. Of course I'll have to talk my husband into climbing up into the crawl space to get some of my fall decor down for me. So it may just be 100% natural for me this year!
Barb @ The Everyday Home
Baby Galas are one of my faves and we usually bring back of bushel of them from the mountains every year. Too funny about the french word. I laughed at that. It was fun to take part in this month's Farmhouse Friday with you. I adore the bowl of apples on your table. Have a great weekend, Barb
Pam
Thanks! I really enjoyed seeing Cleetus all dressed up for fall! Much cuter than my dead deer head hanging in my living room.
Fonda Rush
I don't know where you get your apples, but here in coastal NC we pay about $1.49 to $1.79/#, depending, and double that if we want to try a new pink kind, which we won't! The last time we bought a 3-pound bag of Galas, it was $2.99, which is a little better.
I love the barn vent. The texture it provides is wonderful, and I love the wreath in front of it. Sorry to hear of your broken arm. I'm way behind in my reading, so when I go back, I'll probably figure out why and how. Best wishes toward a steady healing!
Pam
Tripped on back porch. Broke it by the radial head (close to elbow). End of story 🙂
BTW, the farmer's market close to here is ridiculously priced and they don't even have locally grown apples yet. I'm pretty sure I saw a UPC price sticker on them! I don't mind paying more for locally grown fruit, but if it's the same stuff as at the grocery store, then right now I'll just buy them at the grocery store.
Bernadette
As an aside, I love the Demilune chest in your dining room. Where did you get it?
Pam
I bought that at J.C. Penney probably 8 years ago. It was at the outlet store and really really inexpensive. If you open up the doors to it it's actually a bar cart. It has little shelves on the door to hold liquor bottles. I've never used it for that, but it does work well for holding my mother-in-law's good glassware 🙂
Bernadette
🙂
chris aka monkey
love your tureen full of galas... around here though they would be gone in two days my grandsons love them so do i heck all of us do lol and your remark about cleetus made me spit coffee ha ha xx
Pam
I think I may have to get my own pig. I've seen cow heads like that too, but for some reason the pig looks so cute.
Erica
So I still have my 4th of July decorations up 🙂 Hopefully this post gets my butt moving!
Erica
Pam
Maybe you're just ten months early!
Yvonne @ StoneGable
What a pretty centerpiece! Those baby galas are amazing! They found the perfect home in your soup tureen!
Pam
Oh, thank you Yvonne! I love the Galas for their fun color.
Becky Cunningham
That tureen is gorgeous! Oh, and the shutter is amazing 🙂 Love your pretty photos! Have a great weekend!
Pam
Thank you, Becky! I watched your Periscope this morning and I loved it. You have some great ideas!
Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces
SO pretty, Pam! I have apples on my mind, too. I can't believe how you got that big piece on display! It is AWESOME.
Pam
I was determined to finally use it!
Stacey
Apples are perfect right now. It's definitely still summer here in Texas with not a pumpkin in sight for another 30+ days.
Pam
I've been antsy to start fall decorating this year. It might have something to do with our unseasonably cool temperatures the last few days. A couple days this week it didn't even get out of the 60's. Probably a tad bit cooler than in Texas 🙂
Musings from Kim K.
Ok. I'll do it. I'll take down my beach vignettes on the fireplace mantle this weekend. Time to drag out the fall decor! PS. I'm so behind on blog reading with new semester start-up at my university. How did I miss you broke your arm?
Jennifer @ Town and Country Living
Gala apples! My fave!! You know I love ironstone and your tureen is to-die-for! Love all your Fall vignettes, Pam.