Styling Fall Arrangements in the Kitchen With Items You Already Own

The kitchen is the heart of our home, especially in fall, when we want a warm, cozy space for gathering friends and family. Styling fall arrangements in the kitchen is one of the easiest ways to create that feeling, and you may not need to buy a thing.

Good fall kitchen decor does two things: it makes the room feel warm and welcoming, and it stays out of your way when it’s time to cook. I’ve learned that the prettiest seasonal kitchen is one that still works on a busy weeknight.

This year I went on a little treasure hunt around our house and gathered decor pieces from closets, cabinets, and shelves. Nothing fancy, nothing that screams fall, and not a single pumpkin. Arranged together, though, they clearly say autumn. Why does this work? Because fall decor doesn’t have to be fall decorations.

Below, I’m sharing the five arrangements I created: two for our kitchen corners, two small ones for the kitchen island, and one fall art arrangement for the side cabinet.

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What Makes Fall Decor in the Kitchen?

Autumn decor doesn’t have to mean pumpkins and leaves. Whether it’s your living room, bedroom, or kitchen, fall style comes less from the accessories themselves and more from three things: color, texture, and materials.

Color

Color is your best friend in fall, and bringing nature’s colors indoors is easy. Look for earthy tones and warm neutrals like these:

• cream
• tan and taupe
• camel
• brown
• rust
• gold
• sage
• hunter green
• burgundy
• navy
• metallics: copper, bronze, and brass

Texture

Texture is what makes a space feel cozy. Think woven baskets, nubby throws, matte pottery, and worn wood. The more texture you layer, the warmer an arrangement feels.

Materials

Natural materials like wood, stone, rattan, burlap, jute, and warm metals feel like fall, even in pieces you use all year long.

Non-Fall Decorations That Work for Fall in Your Kitchen

These everyday pieces are a decorator’s secret weapons. None of them are fall decorations, but combine a few and you get arrangements full of fall warmth.

Not every item will work in the kitchen. Make a list of what you have, gather it all in one spot, and pick the pieces that might work together. As you’ll see in my arrangements, it usually takes a few combinations before one feels just right.

Books: Look for covers in brown, tan, beige, dark green, rust, dark gold, or burgundy. I’ve even used a photo album and a travel journal. Swapping book colors, whether in a vignette or on a bookshelf, instantly refreshes the space.

Woven baskets and trays: I keep mine in our upstairs decor closet, so they’re always handy. Their color and texture are perfect for fall, and trays make a great base for an arrangement. Any shape or size belongs on your fall list.

Vases and pitchers: Choose matte finishes in cream, oatmeal, mushroom, or brown. The more texture, the better. (I just bought a new light-brown ceramic pitcher that I love.) Fill them with fresh or faux flowers in soft fall colors. Early in the season, I lean toward wheat and pale rust. I’m not an orange fan, especially this early.

Dishes, platters, and glasses: If you have dishes in cream, amber, or brown, bring them out. Stack a few on a woven tray or cutting board, or let a platter stand in for the tray.

Wooden bowls and boxes: A wooden salad bowl is perfect for holding fruit, twig balls, or pinecones on the counter. Try a wooden box of any size or shape on your table, island, or bookshelf.

Faux or fresh flowers: Florals definitely have a place in fall decorating. It’s more about the color than the type of flower.

Anything stone: A vase, bowl, or sculpture in natural stone fits right in.

Warm metals: Gold, brass, or copper pitchers, vases, and candlesticks add a soft glow. I like to pull out a piece or two of our copper cookware.

Cutting boards and woven trivets: Their natural materials make them an easy fit. Use them as a base for other items, or lean a few against the backsplash. I have a couple hanging on the side of a kitchen cabinet. I recently found a large oval woven trivet in the cabinet by the oven that I’d completely forgotten about. Tucked under the wooden bowl on the counter, it elevated the whole look.

Wooden candlesticks: Any height, shape, or fall shade works. Mix them up and group them for the most impact.

Kitchen utensils: Who can resist an old wooden spoon? Vintage kitchen tools make charming additions to fall decor.

Lamps: Have a small lamp that fits on your counter? Swap the shade for one in a natural color or texture. An older lamp with a gold or brass base and finial works beautifully on a kitchen counter.

None of these items screams fall, and there’s not a pumpkin in sight. They may already be scattered around your home, tucked in a drawer, or hiding in a closet. Shop your house, pull out anything that might work, and keep grouping pieces until, together, they say “fall.”

Where to Style Fall Arrangements in the Kitchen

Keep decor out of the work zone. Seasonal pieces belong on island ends, corners, open shelves, windowsills, above the cabinets, or on a hutch, not next to the range or your prep space. Keep candles, dried stems, and linens well away from the burners.

In the Kitchen Corners

Most kitchens have corners created by the layout of the walls and cabinets. We have three. One is a working corner that holds our knife block, silverware caddy, and salt and pepper ramekins.

The other two are my decorating, storage, and (I hate to admit it) sometimes “stuff” corners. I look forward to clearing them out and creating a pretty seasonal vignette.

What I love about these two corners is that each has a different view depending on where you stand or how you enter the kitchen, and you can see both from the middle of the room.

Fall Kitchen Counter Vignette #1

The first vignette is the most visible. You can see it from the living room and from the butler’s pantry. It sits between our cooktop and our ovens, with about three feet of counter space between them. We rarely use this stretch of counter for prep, but if we need it, we still have a good two feet of counter space.

For this vignette, I started with:

• a trio of vintage wood cutting boards leaning on the backsplash
• one cutting board hanging on the cabinet
• a hanging basket filled with faux stems
• a round woven basket tray

When I was last in Atlanta, I saw a lovely painting framed by an adjustable stand. Both the painting and the stand were out of my price range. I found a reasonably priced stand online, which was waiting for me when I got home. On a trip to a local antique mall, I found this unframed painting on sale for $35. It was a match made in design heaven.

I loved the colors and simplicity of this art. It can lean toward fall or another season, depending on the other elements you use.

TIP: If you can’t find a piece of art you love for your kitchen decor, look at printables online.

Next, I added four fall napkins to the scene. I bought them at an antique mall/flea market store in Atlanta called Westside Market. It’s a great place for furniture, vintage jewelry, clothes, tabletop items, and anything home decor.

My next addition was a vintage copper pitcher I bought several years ago, ironically at the same antique mall where I found the painting. The copper adds warmth, color, and texture. I also moved the napkins to the other side of the tray to allow more space for the pitcher.

The final additions were two vintage rolling pins and a bowl of wine corks. You may notice I placed the bowl of wine corks on a cupcake stand to add height.

I love to use books in my home decor. (See How to Style an Autumn Bookshelf. Because I have so many cookbooks, I chose three of them in fall colors to add to the left of the vignette. I loved the look, but the next morning . . . .

I decided that the books took up too much space on the counter, so I removed them. I added some old wooden spoons. Remember: sometimes you gain by removing an item.

Keep in mind: none of these items are “fall” decor. But together, the whole is greater than the parts:

• wood cutting boards
• woven basket tray
• rustic artwork
• metallics in gold and copper
• fall sage green patterned napkins
• vintage wood rolling pins
• wine corks
• old wooden spoons

Fall Kitchen Counter Vignette #2

On the opposite side of our kitchen, the counter is primarily used as an everyday place for magazines, Nola’s cookie jar full of Cheerios, a candle, or as a serving area when we entertain. But the corner is reserved for decor.

What you can’t see is our WIFI extender. I always keep an arrangement here to hide it.

This is a super simple arrangement:

• an oval wood and metal tray as a base
• brass planter with a “pebble” texture
• faux fall flowers as the main focal point
• a canvas art painted by a dear friend’s mother during a painting class at our church
• five wood pears bought at the same time as the canvas art in the first vignette

The materials are a combination of wood, metal, faux flowers and the canvas. Although the flowers and the colors of the art are perfect together, I wasn’t crazy about the overall arrangement. It seemed a “bit much” for the space.

The great thing about vignettes is that you can easily change them if you’re not happy with the result.

The wood and metal-handled tray stays, but I swapped the brass planter for faux flowers for a textured light green planter with real Trader Joe’s flowers. The vintage brown-orange box is one that Sweet Shark brought home from his office. It has an interesting weaving on the top and bottom.

I brought back the five wood pears.

I like this arrangement better because it’s not so big, but it still has fall colors and materials. At the last minute, I added the antique French coffee pot that I ordered years ago from a lady I met at Round Top who had an online shop. I’m not sure if it will stay, but I’ll try it out for a few days.

On the Kitchen Island

Another simple arrangement sits on one side of our kitchen island. This area looks out on our backyard and is rarely used for food prep, but often has a seasonal arrangement.

For this vignette, I used simple elements:

• another old wooden cutting board to act as a base
• a favorite wine decanter that I gave Sweet Shark as a Christmas present years ago. I love the leaf motif etched on the glass. it makes a perfect clear vase for flowers.
• faux fall stems
• three of my twig nests filled with green moss

TIP: If your vase is clear, add water to make the faux flowers appear real.

The nice thing about this arrangement is how easily you can swap the parts (swap the nests for mini pumpkins) later in the season.

On the other side of the kitchen island (our sink is in the middle), I keep a small tray with seasonal soap and lotion and a candle or other scented container. My favorite hand soap and lotion come from Michel Design Works. I love their seasonal scents and the product labels.

Side Cabinet Art Display

This isn’t a vignette or arrangement, but we have a side cabinet that faces the living room. I like to hang seasonal art or signs there.

When we visited Bentonville, Arkansas this summer, the restaurant at our hotel had the most interesting menus. One side was the menu and the other side was a beautiful botanical print of local fruit. There were three different versions: apple, black apple, and pawpaw. I asked, and the manager gave me one of each.

I knew these would make great displays, if I could find the right frames. Fortunately, during an online browsing session, I discovered these magnetic wood “frames” with leather hangers.

To hang art on my painted side cabinet, I usually use small nails, which I know are not the best for our nice wood. Last year, I discovered these adhesive “nail” hooks that I used to hold garland on our mantel. Now I’m using them to hang the art, as intended.

I have three botanical fruit pieces, but I have room for just two.

That completes my fall kitchen arrangements. I hope they inspire you to shop your own house for fall and use items you find for decorating your home. What everyday pieces would you use for fall?

Here are some more fall arrangement ideas for your home decor tool-kit.

• 17 Cozy Fall Kitchen Decor Ideas
• How to Style Super Simple Fall Vignettes
• How to Use a Confit Pot in a Fall Vignette