Gather Around The Table

I am so excited to be a part of the Gather Around The Table campaign being sponsored by West Elm.  They have asked bloggers to talk about their traditions and favorite things about the holidays and share how they incoprorate some of their products with those traditions and ideas. I visited the West Elm Market store in Brooklyn in the Spring and was so impressed with the store and products.

In South Texas, we often have warm weather off and on throughout the fall so dining on our porch is a wonderful tradition this time of year.

We are finally getting a break from the heat down here and its a great time for my family to enjoy this space in our home.

I also love using heirloom pumpkins in my fall decorating every year as well as my favorite Spode dishes. And every fall and winter we love to gather items from our family land for decorations whether its leaves, Christmas trees or berries.  I love your using things from nature in our decorations and going out in the nice weather to hunt for the best of nature’s bounty. My hubs might have even snapped photo of me driving our “mule” to gather leaves for this project.  Honestly, not something I do too often (are you shocked); Maybe I will share it on the next post or instagram, but for now let’s keep moving with the good stuff;

So along with the leaves and pumpkins, I decided to use Shanna Murray plates from the West Elm collection with my Spode plates.  I like the idea of using something traditional, something we always use, with a fresh new accent from a more modern store like West Elm and West Elm Market.  In case you don’t know, West Elm is the hip cousin of Pottery Barn; Or at least that is how I see it…their products are bit younger and more modern…but they mix well with many things. AND I love that they support and feature a lot of etsy artists including Shanna Murray. I was so pleased to see these Shanna Murray plates (and coasters) in their collection and her cute teal towel in the West Elm Market.  I have been following her work for years!

The napkins are also from West Elm’s fall collection, I love the red stitching. My mom often used cloth napkins when I was growing up and I love doing the same.  Not every night I admit but often.  And these have a casual enough feel they work with my pine table.

 Speaking of pine tables, I have rustic farmhouse tables both outside and in our dining room.  I love the patina and finish of the wood so I rarely if ever use tablecloths or even runners, these plaid blankets from the Brown Shed worked great to add some warmth to this table but not totally cover my beloved pine.

These old tables are a part of our family traditions as well as daily life. I love that my kids are using old items daily and are engraining a sense of history into their “growing up”memories and traditions.

I am also adore how the Shanna Murry plates and West Elm napkins are working with my other fall decorations I already had like my burlap banners and also my new Lindsay Letters canvas. I love to change it all a bit each time so it’s great it all mixes well.

 My new canvas is really for Christmas, its a verse from Silent Night, but I think words are perfect for fall and Thanksgiving too..being grateful for those we love and gather with to count our blessing and remember what is truly important. It used to annoy me how the seasons mingled this time of year.  More and more I am okay with it as I understand the joys of fall and gratefulness and how that all CAN and SHOULD mingle with the coming celebrations that are the core of our faith and our family.

 I will be back to share a few more of the fall touches on the porch…and later in season I will share another festive table setting.

 Thanks again to West Elm for sponsoring today’s discussion on fall decor and traditions.  What is your  favorite tradition or thing to use in decorating this time of year?