The Cheap Secret to High-End Fall Decor

The secret to high-end fall decorating is not spending a lot of money, and it's probably not what you expect. It really came to me when I went out thrifting for fall, and I found that I was not attracted to the usual autumn and pumpkin decor. Instead, I was drawn to rich, nature-inspired colors like warm browns and deep greens, and I gravitated towards traditional metals like copper, brass, and iron. Together, those tones and textures were the inspiration for what I'm calling a cozy, timeless, and a little unexpected. So let me show you what I thrifted and how I'm using those items to create a refined, rustic look in my home. So some of these items came from traditional thrift stores like Goodwill, but a few of the items came from consignment slash antique stores where the prices are a little bit higher. So the first thing are these flying copper birds, this plant stand that looks like twigs and vines, an old birdcage that has no bottom, and this beautiful castle print, which is not necessarily very fall, although I feel like the colors are rather moody. And I love the gold frame, and this was only $35, and I felt like the frame alone was worth that, but I absolutely love the print inside as well. Not sure where I'm going to put it, but I definitely have to find a spot for it. I really don't need any more Abe Lincoln memorabilia, but I loved this copper figurine, so I figured I could find space for just one more thing. A little brass trivet, an old hurricane lamp that is missing the top globe. Oh, this one was from Goodwill, so it does still have the price tag $7.99, and I've tested it out, and it does still work. This is probably the most traditional item that I got, a gourd that is cut out with a handle, and it does kind of look like a pumpkin, but I love this muted terracotta color. Two bundles of turkey feathers, I believe I paid $2.50 each, so $5 for all of these beautiful feathers. This old wood bowl, it was also a really good deal, I don't remember, just a few dollars, as was this brass plate with fruit. If you've been watching me for a while, you know that I love fruit still life paintings, and I have several in my kitchen, so I just thought this would be a nice compliment to them. And is this a pheasant? I don't want to say the wrong kind of bird. I should have looked it up before I started the video. I think it's a pheasant, but it's a bird that's associated with fall, and he's pretty chipped up, so again, he was not very expensive, but I thought he was very pretty. Here is a little brass oval frame, and it is real brass, not just painted to look like brass. I'm not a fan of the little cherub-like children prints that you see in some of these older frames, so I will probably change that out, but I will leave that original print in there, because you never know. This frame, which looks like real wood, but it is actually plastic, but I'll tell you, in the 60s or 70s, whenever this was made, they really did a good job of making plastic look like real wood, I think, and that was a very good price as well. I think that was $35, which for a vintage mirror, I think is a fair price. This brass, it's probably an umbrella stand, although it's actually not very big for umbrellas, so I will probably use that as a vase, and then this is wrought iron that has been painted green, and I'm not a fan of the green color, but I just thought it was very unusual with this one little arm holding a little votive candle, so I'll be doing a DIY on this. This blackbird is definitely giving off Halloween vibes, but it's also giving me Edgar Allen Poe vibes, and so I thought I might be able to incorporate him into some little vignette, just for a touch of flimsy. Like the large art print, this jewelry box doesn't really scream autumn, but there are stalks of wheat here in the picture on the top, and again, the colors are just very moody. I think this is actually a paper mache'd vintage jewelry box. The inside, the silk or satin fabric is in really bad shape, as is the little mirror, but I just thought that was very precious, and the last thing is this wall pocket, probably intended for magazines, maybe homemade, probably homemade by someone, and then they put a frame on the front, and there's a little slot here so you can slide a picture into it, and it was just unique, and never saw anything like this before, so I think I'll find a spot for this as well. So I have ideas for some of the items, but others, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with them. Like this lamp definitely needs some upcycling, and I'm not sure if I'm going to keep it as a lamp or not. All right, well, let's see what we can do with these thrift store finds. You're probably not surprised that I started with the copper birds. I couldn't wait to see how they would look flying across the ceiling of my library. I decided to hang them from a beam rather than the actual ceiling, because as I stood on an upper rung of the ladder, that seemed the safest option. I marked spots to attach two picture hangers, and very carefully hammered them in place. Then I balanced the metal framework connecting the birds through the two hangers, and luckily it held in place. What do you think? Is it too much? I love the metallic warmth of these thrifted birds. I think they hint at autumn in an elegant way that is both unique and timeless. You know I'm always looking for ways to make my home feel warm and welcoming, and that doesn't stop with decorating. It's also about the food we share with the people we love. That's why I'm so excited to partner with Wild Brain, the first bake from frozen subscription box for sourdough breads, artisanal pastries, and fresh pastas. Wild Grain partners with small bakers and pasta makers across the country, so everything tastes like it is fresh from the bakery. Seriously, everything I've tried has been beyond delicious. What I like most is how simple it is. Everything goes straight from the freezer, to the oven, to the table in 25 minutes or less. No mess, no cleanup, just delicious bakery fresh food in under an hour. This fall, Wild Grain has seasonal favorites like apple cider donuts and pumpkin cinnamon biscuits. I just baked a batch of the biscuits, and right now my house smells amazing. Another thing I love about Wild Grain is that for every box ordered, they donate two free meals to a non-profit. So if you'd like to give Wild Grain a try, click the link in my description box and use the code Canterbury Cottage to get $30 off your first box and free croissants for life. Next, I wanted to see what I could make with this old hurricane lamp. I began taking it apart by loosening the nut on the bottom of the lamp. As the base came loose, I discovered that there was a small candelabra light bulb inside the glass globe, which gave me an idea. I would remove the main light socket and just use the globe as a fun nightlight. Unfortunately, the candelabra bulb was wired into the main socket and didn't have its own plug, so I grabbed a light from a Christmas village house to use instead. I didn't care for the flower design and wanted to remove it and add something different. Usually, some goof off and a razor blade will remove painted appliques like this, but this time it didn't work, so I decided to try citrus paint stripper. I spread it around and let it work for over an hour. Then I used some steel wool to scrub off the flowers. I couldn't find a pair of rubber gloves, so I did my best to keep the stripper off of my hands. Although most of the design did come off, it didn't look great, so I decided to paint the globe orange. I gave it a couple coats of Rust-Oleum's cinnamon spray paint. Once the paint was dry, I reassembled the lower portion of the lamp. I found some metal leaves in my stash that came off of an old dollar tree pumpkin. I wrapped one of the leaf wires under the knot and tightened it. Then I pulled the plastic stem from a styrofoam dollar tree pumpkin. I used a utility knife to trim down the plastic prong at the base of the stem so that it would fit inside the lamp pipe. The brass base is so pretty, I think it looks like something from an upscale boutique. This is what I love about thrifting. You can take something inexpensive like an old hurricane lamp and turn it into something totally unique for the season. Here in the kitchen, I want to use the vintage brass plate and the gourd basket. This little grouping is a good example of refined rustic, mixing more elegant elements like metals with natural pieces to create a warm and seasonal vignette. When I bought this birdcage, I was envisioning using it here on the library table as a cloche because it has no bottom, but I'm not really sure what I'm going to put in it just yet. Then I was thinking maybe putting the pheasant in front of it. I also want to add a vase of branches cut from a flowering tree in my yard. To keep them looking fresh as long as possible, I sprayed them with a floral preservative before bringing them inside. I also added the stems to a vase of water that I put inside my large wicker vase. The combination of the water and the spray preservative will keep these branches looking nice for several weeks, even after they start drying out. The scale and texture of this vase of branches instantly makes the room feel luxurious and I didn't spend a cent. I rescued this nest from one of the bushes in my yard a couple weeks ago and I put it in the freezer for a couple days to kill off any little bugs that might be hiding in it. I stopped at an estate sale the other day and bought a few things including this carved wood bird for two dollars. I twisted some florist wire around its feet so that I could attach it to one of the branches for a whimsical touch. On closer inspection, this brass frame is even older than I originally thought. I love its aged patina and the cherub picture might be original to the frame because it looks equally old. I'm going to save it but for now I want to add a more autumnal image. I printed out a copy of a watercolor painting that I found in the public domain and trimmed it to fit in the frame. I placed the cherub picture behind it so we'll see if I remember that I put it there. I placed the frame in the birdcage and styled it with some dried gourds and a few of those turkey feathers. I had also recently thrifted an antler at Goodwill for six dollars and added it to the vignette. I was noticing that my previously thrifted wreath was looking sad so I decided to give it a little refresh. I just added some acorns and sweet gumballs that I had collected on walks in my neighborhood, hot gluing them to empty spots in the wreath. I also added a burgundy bow to coordinate with the berries on the tree branches and to eventually coordinate with my Christmas decor. I plan to use a lot of burgundy accents this year. I love how this vignette turned out. Every piece was thrifted or found free in nature, but styled in a way that feels warm and cozy, just like autumn. Rather than adding the new Abe Lincoln figurine to my already crowded Lincoln shelf, I placed him on the shelf below my antique memorial lithograph of 19th century presidents. To add an unexpected element to the desktop, I opened a book of poetry to Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven and attached my thrifted blackbird to the open page. I just love using thrifted finds to stage a little story like this. I'm loving the color green right now, but for some reason, I don't like the shade of green on this iron candle stand, so I want to give it a more rustic appearance. I brushed on a coat of Dixie Belle's bronze paint and let it dry. Then I added a second coat, and while the paint was still wet, I sprayed it first with the green patina spray and then with the blue patina spray. To speed up the process and to increase the amount of patina, I dried the candle stand with my heat gun. Once it was dry, it had a very realistic verdigris finish, and that's a green shade that I love. My taper candle didn't want to stay upright in the oversized candle cup, so I used a little stick-em on the base of the candle. I find this works much better than melting wax into the cup, which eventually always comes loose. I added a few small pine cones collected from a neighborhood walk to the dish at the base of the candle stand. I think this works perfectly as both fall and Christmas decor. Even though this built-in bar cabinet has a mirror, I like to layer vintage mirrors in front of it to add depth and dimension. For me, decorating for autumn is all about bringing in cozy organic elements. Even though my new mirror is plastic, it looks like carved wood, which adds warmth and texture to this space. Although pussy willows are usually associated with spring, I think dried pussy willows with their soft muted tones and interesting texture make a perfect addition to fall decor. I want to replace the gold candlesticks with something more rustic, so I'm going to try repurposing that old iron plant stand. I was pleased to discover that the plant bowls were just screwed onto the stands, so I was able to easily remove them. And once they were off, I could see that there was a nut welded to the bottom of the bowls. This gave me an idea, so I grabbed my drawer of nuts and washers and found two nuts that fit perfectly on the threaded rods of the plant stand. Then I grabbed two wood drink coasters from my stash and glued the nuts to the bottom of each coaster with e6000 adhesive. While the adhesive dried, I got to work on the plant stand. I wanted to use the Dixie Bell patina paint again. However, I discovered that the vines wrapped around the iron structure of the plant stand were real vines and not metal as I had originally thought, so I needed to apply a base coat of chalk paint before applying the first coat of patina paint. This time I decided to use the iron paint instead of the bronze. Then I applied the green patina spray, which causes the iron paint to rust. Once the paint was dry, I screwed the wood coasters onto the threaded rods. I thought about painting the coasters with the iron paint too, but I actually liked the contrast of the wood and metal. This was the first time I had used the iron paint, and while it does create an aged, rusted patina, I think I prefer the effect created by the bronze paint. I still needed to find a spot for that piece of vintage art, so I decided to try it on the mantel. I'm lucky to have a huge mantel, so even though our tv is hung above the fireplace box, I still have room to decorate on either side of the tv. The vintage picture depicts a summer scene, but I think the muted colors and aged tones, along with the gold frame, make it versatile enough to use year-round, and by changing out the decor I place beside and in front of it, it can feel at home in any season. I added the brass umbrella stand full of dried hydrangeas from a neighbor's yard, a few vintage books, and an old thrifted clock. For something unexpected, I bundled the books together with a velvet ribbon and tied on the thrift store brass trivet. None of these pieces are traditional fall decor, but together they create warmth, texture, and a collected look that feels high-end and whispers autumn. Because I have a large round coffee table, I usually decorate it using the circle rule of thirds, three items or groupings of varying heights. This time I'm using my thrifted wood bowl filled with some pretty glass acorns, a small stack of books topped with the vintage jewelry box, a great place to hide the remotes, and a large brass vase filled with fall stems. This arrangement creates balance without feeling cluttered. This vintage wood wall basket was probably meant to hold magazines or books, but I'm going to use it primarily as wall decor in my English country style living room. To fill the attached frame, I printed out an autumn hunting image I found on a public domain website that I think coordinates well with the fox hunting art throughout the room. So what is the cheap secret to high-end fall decorating? It's about looking beyond the seasonal aisles at retail stores and instead using what you have, bringing in nature, and mixing in unique thrift store finds in a way that makes your home feel cozy, collected, and timeless. You may have noticed that this channel is about to reach 300,000 subscribers, which is just way beyond anything that I ever dreamed of. And so I just want to take a moment to sincerely thank each and every one of you who have supported me on this journey for the past four and a half years. And as a tiny little token of my appreciation, I am offering 30% off your entire order from my online store canterburycottageshop.com. Just use the code CC30 at checkout. And as always, thank you so much for watching today. Hope to see you next week.