HomeGoods recently asked me if I’d be interested in shopping one of their stores and coming up with a creative Fall tablescape and highlighting some fall entertaining trends. Um… lemme think about that for a sec? Just kidding… YES, please! ;)

If you’ve followed the blog for a while, you probably already know that HomeGoods is already one of my standard go-to places for party decor and has been pretty much since I first set foot in one. Obviously the prices are the initial attraction – which is great because I rarely feel bad about modifying certain pieces with a coat of paint or some rhinestones to get them “party theme ready” – but you can also find so many different kinds of things in one place – from vases and interesting figurines & statues for centerpieces to dishes and linens, frames, pillar holders, holiday decor & more. The pieces I’ve scooped up at HG can be spotted throughout countless past blog posts and party themes… from pretty much every single apothecary jar in all our candy buffet set-ups to to the flamingos, tea pots, and cool “face silhouette tea light holders” from Wonderlandia that were “blowing butterflies” at the party! Oh, and of course the $10 flying pig garden statue from Wonderlandia that we dressed up with some bright pink and metallic gold spray paint! She sits on a shelf daughter’s room now and still makes me happy every time I walk in there. ;)

Anyways, back to the present day and the focus on Fall/Holiday… there were some gold and white pinecone plates I’d just spotted & fell in love with at HomeGoods even before getting the fun email from them, so my mind immediately went there, but I wasn’t sure what else to surround them with yet for the rest of the table…. so Sonny came with me to the store with the camera to document the “finding” process.

The neutral palette of the plates made them an easy fit with several centerpiece design options, so the only difficulty with the shopping trip was keeping this one from literally jumping out of the cart at every turn since she would’ve much rather been grabbing at all the pretty things there were to look at!

In keeping with the nature of the blog, (and how I usually do things myself anyways) I wanted to make sure that the final Fall table incorporated some things I already owned (acrylic chargers, utensils, wine glasses) + some new finds (see below) + some DIY/crafty elements (manzanita tree, ribbon accents, place cards) so that readers can easily replicate this look at home. (It actually would work well for both Thanksgiving & Christmas!) So without further adieu, here’s a photo recap of the shopping trip, followed by shots & details on how the final table design turned out at home…

The plates that started it all… a.k.a. the “inspiration piece” for the tablescape. These were $14.99/set of 4 and I picked up 2 different sets with coordinating patterns. I tried to stand out of the frame of these pics, but the pregnant belly kept working its way in :0

Next up: pretty Ralph Lauren napkins ($9.99/set of 4) + table runner ($9.99) in coordinating colors…

And now for the “stars” of the centerpiece… these “rock owl” statues were just way too cute & cool to pass up! The neutral palette also makes them great for year-round home decor, not to mention the face that they make for a very long-lasting centerpiece. ;) I paired them with a simple DIY manzanita “tree” on the actual table. More details on that below…

Last but not least, some coordinating serving pieces & accent decor for the hutch behind our dining room table…

One of my many attempts to distract Macy from grabbing at things on the shelves by letting her dig through my purse. Note to self – not the smartest idea ever… we almost lost the car keys this way!

And now for how it all came together…

For the centerpiece, the “rock owl” statues sat next to a $12 metallic gold vase that I also picked up on the shopping trip. DIY: I spray painted a manzanita branch white to stick in the vase and decorated it with a few small gold leaves for a mod-minimalist look. I actually cut up a big gold leaf from a past party to make these smaller leaves, but you can could always buy gold leaves or cut them from shimmery gold scrapbook paper too.

The wooden metallic gold garland surrounding everything was a $10 find from the HomeGoods holiday decor section. I cut up another one of these to decorate the chairs. (More on that below.)

DIY: For the “place cards” I used pieces of twigs to prop up glittery gold chipboard letters. You can find these letters in the scrapbook section at Michaels or at most craft/scrapbook stores. The letters are attached to the twigs with Pop Up size Glue Dots.

Above you’ll see the 2 different patterns on the plates, which alternated at every other place setting. I also used acrylic gold chargers that I already owned and altered those as well, since I only had 4 of each design (ribbed and solid). Mixing & matching what you already own to get enough of one type of item is always a great budget-wise tactic!

The napkins, wine glasses, and gold vase were embellished with black and white striped ribbon. That might seem like an odd choice for a gold, white, & beige palette, but it really higlighted the black in the eyes of the owls, and I love experimenting with patterns that might be a little unexpected!

DIY: I cut the 2nd metallic gold garland (the same design used in the centerpiece) into 6 pieces to make “ornaments” for the chairs. Decorating chairs is one of my newest obsessions lately… it really helps tie everything together!

Here’s another close-up of the smaller rock owl since he’s just too cute not to give sufficient camera time… ;)

We lined the back of the dining room hutch with gold and copper wrapping paper to give it a warm, festive holiday feel. I mixed a few vases I already owned with some of the new finds from our shopping trip, including the gold leaf apothecary jar which also got a mini makeover with black & white ribbon.

Some of the leftover gold twigs from the cut-up garland found a home here as well…

That’s it for Part 1 of the HomeGoods challenge! Stay tuned for part 2… which will highlight more of the general finds from our time in the store + a mini-theme I’m working on inspired by these 3 finds from this same trip:

This mini theme wasn’t part of the “challenge” but I just couldn’t resist after finding the $10 birdie jewelry holder pictured at left + another 2nd version that matches…I’m thinking rustic-mod fall bridal shower with burlap & lace details. We’ll see how it comes together this week. :)