Decorating Tips for a Fabulous Fall Table

1) Warm wood tones are perfect for fall decor-- show off your wood table by using a runner instead of a tablecloth.

2) Wrap greenery or a garland of fall leaves or berries around a candle centerpiece.

3) Tuck mini pumpkins, gourds, nuts, acorns, or pomegranates into your fall garland for added interest, color and texture.

4) Keep the centerpiece low so people at the table can converse easily. Use short pillar candles, votives and low, short vases of flowers instead of taller candles and vases.

5) Do use candles-- warm candlelight will make any event feel more festive.

6) Use fall colors in the place settings: for example: brown leather placemats and cloth napkins, terracotta-colored ceramic plates, and green glass water goblets.

7) Include a mini pumpkin nestled in some fall leaves at each place setting. Guests can take the pumpkins home as favors.

Home Decorating Tips from Model Homes

If you're like me, you like visiting model homes to get home decorating ideas. I recently visited a new development in Livermore, California just to check in and see the 2009-2010 home design trends in action. Here's a list of my observations with ideas you might be able to incorporate into your own home:

• Popular paint colors and color schemes: In models, you will notice that the designers select three or four colors and use them throughout the entire home. This gives a feeling of consistency and flow through the home, and instinctively makes a house feel pulled-together. The first house paired a warm honey wheat color with navy blue and cream. To use this technique successfully, use all the colors in each room, but in varying concentrations. For example, if the living room has honey-colored walls, cream sofas and navy blue drapes and accent pillows, then the home office can have navy blue walls, cream colored shutters and trim, and honey-colored upholstered chairs. Other color schemes to emulate: The second model home had similar honey-colored walls, but the accent colors were rust and dark brown. The third house accented tan walls with pops of red, purple and gold. And the last house used pumpkin, green and cream to enhance the neutral tan walls.
• Wallpaper: The model home designers used dramatic large print wallpaper to tie all the colors in the house together. Used mainly in the bathrooms and laundry rooms, the wallpaper patterns brought lots of interest to the spaces, while serving the important purpose connecting all of the colors in the home's color scheme. For example, the master bath in the first house featured a beautiful wallpaper with a navy blue brocade print with flecks of cream and honey. Wallpaper can be intimidating to some people, but learn from the model homes-- a little wallpaper can make rooms, especially smaller rooms, look very grand and striking.
• Natural Materials: Natural stone or wood on the floor, granite counters, glass tiles in the kitchen and baths, woven wood Roman Shades-- all of these natural materials give a home an upscale, warm, and inviting look. Natural materials will never go out of style. Use natural materials whenever possible.
• Patterned Carpeting: When carpeting was used (mostly in the upstairs living spaces), it featured subtle patterns and textures to keep the look interesting and up to date. Besides being attractive, patterned and textured carpeting helps disguise footprints, dirt, and other evidence of wear.
• Mismatched tables: Designers today think about coordinating, rather than matching, their furniture pieces. For example, instead of matching night stands, use a small chest of drawers on one side of the bed, and a round, fabric-covered table on the other side. The days of the all-matching bedroom suite are over. Coordinated furniture pieces look more interesting and personal, like they have been collected over time. They can also help serve different purposes. For example, if one partner needs more clothes storage, it makes sense for her to have a chest of drawers. If the other partner needs space for books and magazines, give him a table with a shelf below. This creates a space that not only looks beautiful, but also meets a variety of needs.

Visiting model homes is a great way to get decorating ideas for your own home.