While the calendar page has turned to September, there are plenty of warm, summer days still ahead for us in North Carolina! Fall is my favorite season and I’m ready for all things pumpkin, warm plaid layers, and cozy meals with the flavors of fall on the menu!
And I’m waiting not-so-patiently for pumpkins to arrive at the garden centers and for leaf-peeping weather!
Flowers and pumpkins are two of my favorite things and I love to combine the two for a pumpkin vase centerpiece for fall or Thanksgiving. Since pumpkins aren’t available yet, I repurposed my pumpkin soup tureen as vase, serving up flowers instead of soup for the table!
Sunny and warm is our typical weather pattern for the next month, so cheery sunflowers and a farmhouse plaid tablecloth provide a bright transition from summer to fall for an early September table.
Faux maple leaf placemats frame white chargers and white and gold luxe pumpkin plates. . .
And farmhouse plaid and leaf and acorn napkins are paired with copper pumpkin napkin rings.
Amber stemware provides a golden autumn glow with curved bell-shaped goblets, that mimic the ribs of the pumpkins.
Labor Day marks the end of summer and a last hurrah for weekend boaters until Memorial Day next year, and fall is our favorite time of year to dine outdoors by the water, after the heat and humidity of summer, enjoying a quiet lake view.
To repurpose the pumpkin tureen as a vase, I cut a piece of chicken wire, bending the corners and edges to fit inside to support the flowers stems.
Sunflowers, Alstroemeria, Hypericum Berries and Solidaster from the grocery store, join clippings from the shrubs for filler, to create a blooming pumpkin tureen.
To help your flower arrangements last, condition your flowers before arranging them if possible, as soon as you bring them home from the grocery store or after cutting them. Cut flowers and foliage from your garden or yard in the morning for maximum hydration and when they’re not water stressed from the heat. Strip the leaves that would be below the waterline, removing the excess foliage, and damaged petals and recut the stems at a 45 degree angle for maximum water uptake.
Place them in a clean bucket with room temperature water and some floral preservative and let them sit several hours or ideally, overnight.
If you don’t have any commercial floral preservative to add to your water, you can make your own to help your cut flowers last longer. Here’s an easy formula I use to help prolong the life of cut flowers:
Mix one part lemon-lime soda (regular, not diet) to three parts water, along with 1/2 teaspoon of bleach. The citric acid in the soda helps the water travel up the stems to the flowers more rapidly, while providing food in the form of sugar. The bleach helps fight the growth of bacteria, allowing the flowers to stay hydrated and fresh.
Table Details:
Ciroa Gold Luxe Pumpkin Plates / HomeGoods, last year
Mini White Pumpkins, Tablecloth, Napkins / HomeGoods
Maple Leaf Placemats / Pier1
Flatware / Mikasa Cameo Gold
Amber Goblets / Mikasa French Countryside
Pumpkin Soup Tureen / Better Homes and Gardens, Walmart, several years ago
Gold Pumpkin Napkin Rings / Hobby Lobby
Thank you for your visit, sharing with:
Metamorphosis Monday
Fantastic centerpiece for your gorgeously detailed table, Mary. I made a failed attempt to hit my farmers’ market yesterday (how dare they take Labor Day off!) getting anxious for pumpkins & mums myself, but that centerpiece and those little napkin rings (so cute!) could sure cool my jets a while longer. I bet you’ll be glad to see the water calm from all the boating noise and be able to enjoy that atmosphere as it’s intended to be.
Thanks Rita! We had our fill over the weekend with noisy jet skis and all the Labor Day boaters’ wake rocking the shoreline. It seems wrong to complain about it though with your backyard is water. 😀 ⛵️⚓️🚤🌞
WE ARE IN THE “SAME BOAT!!!” Not much “neighborly” going on when your pier is consistently “swamped”…those Wake Boats…grrrrr…franki
Thank you for sharing your decorating expertise and inspiration! Can’t wait to get to our local farmer’s market to see what gems they have for my Fall tablescape. 🎃
I just love to see your table designs. Todays is beautiful. Your tips on flower arranging are so helpful and we can use things that we have in our yards and what we can get it the grocery store to fill in. One thing that I want to know is where did you get the placemats? Also, I want you to know that your detail to your table linens (always pressed so nicely) make all of your pictures so inviting. Thanks for making fall so beautiful even if the pumpkins haven’t arrived here in the south. .
Thank you Janet! I forgot to add the source, the placemats were from Pier 1! 🍁
Mary, dining next to that view would be wonderful! I love every detail of your transitional table, tablecloth, dishware, copper napkin rings! The piece de resistance is the blooming pumpkin tureen…what a great tutorial included! Happy Tuesday!
YES!!! Just as I was hoping for!!! Your beautiful lakeside setting with your Tablescape!!! And I have to say, once again, MY FAVORITE!!! The most beautiful table! I love everything plaid, so the tablecloth is right up my alley!!! The faux leaf placemats are great!!! I looked at some last week, but they were not near as lovely as yours, Mary. Where did you get them? The small white pumpkins around the centerpiece white pumpkin just set the table off!!! But the lakeside view is always to die for!!! As usual, Mary, a touch down!!! 😉🌻🎃
Thank you Karen! Sorry, I forgot to add the source for the maple leaf placemats, I’ll correct that. They came from Pier 1 a couple of weeks ago.🍁
Loved this post!! I have tried to go to the Mantels on Monday and the other blogs but can’t get any results..can you help with this??? Thank you
Hi Ellen, The Mantels on Monday links and Tablescapes are live, just click on the links provided in the post. Wreaths, Printables, and Porches will be live on days specified, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Mantels: Postcards From the Ridge / The Chelsea Project / The Everyday Home / Shabbyfufu / Atta Girl Says / Stone Gable
Tablescapes: Vin’yet Etc. / What Meegan Makes / Home is Where the Boat Is / Making it in the Mountains
What a lovely table, just in time for Fall. Those plates with the golden pumpkins on them is just stunning! I am looking forward to the real pumpkins hitting my farmer’s markets! Of course your setting is just a perfect spot for showcasing your lovely tables.
Thanks so much Chloe! I always enjoy joining you at the table, thanks for the fun last week!
Beautiful, especially the flowers!!!!!!!! I love the maple leaf placemats! The news reported just this morning on how all these maple are popular this year. Maple flavored everything!!!!!!!! 🍁 🍁 🍁
I love the centerpiece so much!!! I also like the table linens. I wasn’t planning on buying new linens for autumn this year, but I saw the plaid napkins at Pier 1 and I had to have them!
I enjoy every one of your tablescapes, and this one is no exception! I am especially grateful for the information about how to make a pumpkin tureen into a “flowering” centerpiece–have been looking at a few of your tutorials on this. Oh, and you may want to mention in your table details where the leaf placemats came from–I’m guessing it’s Pier 1 because I have them, too, and am eager to use them.
Thanks Maureen, Added! 🍁🍂😀
Your lakeside dining is always so beautiful and it brings back so many memories of fall pontooning. Bob and I found pumpkins at Lyda Farms in Hendersonville yesterday. They had many colors. I was really surprised as our Farmers Market only has a few. I bought a few but will be heading back. Your plates are so beautiful. As always, you have pulled together a perfect table. Dianne
Thanks so much Dianne! I’m looking forward to the arrival of heirloom pumpkins but I’ve a pumpkin I didn’t like!
No matter the season, you do it beautifully. Like you I love the colors and textures of fall, but I do wish it didn’t get here so quickly!
Thanks Lulu! I guess it depends on your perspective. I’m sure arrives much to quickly for Maine but our leaves don’t peak here until the second week in November when everyone else is ready for Christmas. Fall can’t get here quickly enough for me 🍁🍂🐿🎃🌾
Love fall also – my fav. season since we also live in NC. Your pics remind me of Lake Norman? Vacationed there for 30 years when we didn’t live in NC.
Mary, Mary, Mary!! This view has me given me all the heart eyes! And the tablescape is breathtaking. LOVE the centerpiece and will tag this post as a reference for my next try with fresh flowers. Thank you for sharing your beautitul setting with us. Wishing you a blessed and happy Fall. Susie from The Chelsea Project
Ooh, I have an orange pumpkin tureen with a chipped top. You’ve inspired me to make an arrangement in for the fall. Love this idea and your stunning tablescape. I know you are waiting for that gorgeous fall color view.
Over-the-top, once again Mary! Just lovely! I love fall, but it will be hard to put away my Lighthouse dishes and yet when the table is set for fall, I love it too! Ha I am sure you are pleased to have your calm lake again. We enjoyed Houghton Lake all last week while at the cabin. We had some breezy nights and there is nothing better than going to sleep listening to the waves hit the beach.
what a stunning table, the centerpiece is gorgeous, but so is the tablecloth and napkins. The view is unbelievable as well, wish I could join you here!!!
Oh Mary we asked and we received. I always look so, so forward to your tablescapes and you did not disappoint. That view! Oh my! I live on the coast of NC but would love a NC lake view. So heavenly. I can’t believe I passed on buying those placemats. I may just have to make some. :) Thanks for sharing your table and your lovely view with us. ~barb
Here in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, we cannot wait for Fall to come….just like you in N.C.!! I just decorated my house for Fall over the Labor Day weekend to give me that “Fall Feeling.” I always get so much inspiration from your blog posts and this one is stunning!
Your table setting is absolutely gorgeous, Mary! And the view is simply dreamy. The pumpkins and sunflowers are the perfect centerpiece. Thanks so much for sharing how you made it. So glad you joined us on the Fall Ideas Tour!
Another gorgeous table lakeside! The centerpiece is truly Fall perfection. I am going to have to try your chicken wire method…I usually keep a stock of floral foam on hand however, I find myself having to water the container daily. I cannot imagine how wonderful it is to sit by the lake on a lovely Fall evening. Your tables always bring me joy!
Mary you always have a beautiful display. Everything is so lovely.
Marilyn
Oh what a gorgeous display. Autumn is the prettiest season with the best crisp,clear weather. Thank you for sharing your displays.
Joan
This table and all of the accessories are so lovely and elegant. I love those dishes and the soup tureen,especially. You always have a beautiful setting no matter what the season. Autumn is my favorite.
Marion
Thank again Mary for another beautiful table setting and for the recommendations and tips for putting together such a beautiful arrangement. I must agree with many of your followers Fall is a glorious season. We are so thankful to live in a quiet small town in north eastern North Carolina. Yesterday we sailed down river about 10 miles and back and saw only about a dozen other boaters, we felt we lived in paradise as you must.
Gorgeous Mary! You and your magic fingers! This is a great group kicking off fall, I will try to visit everyone~
Jenna
Ooh Mary, I love everything about this table! Your bloomin’ soup tureen is perfect as a vase, and those faux maple leaf placemats look so pretty on the plaid tablecloth. The dishes and goblets are wonderful and the napkins, too. You’re getting me inspired!
So beautiful – perfect for an early fall dinner…. love your pumpkin vase ;)
Mary, Your table is inspirational and your words are contagious. I am also anxiously awaiting the cooler temps and all things pumpkin. The mums are out in our stores but I haven’t seen any pumpkins except faux ones.
I really like your leaf placemats and they look so nice on top of the plaid tablecloth. Your have a talent for mixing patterns and textures so expertly. The Ciroa gold luxe pumpkin plates are just beautiful and all the colors in the tablecloth and napkins pair perfectly with your flowers.
I am racking my brain to think of the name of the scrub you used for filler with tiny cluster of lily like blooms. My grandmother had it in her yard.
Have a great week.
Thank you Bonnie! It’s Kaleidoscope Abelia. The butterflies and bees love the little white blooms too. 🐝
OMG! I would never leave that setting… EVER! It is the perfect table to welcome fall!
You set a gorgeous table with a gorgeous view to enjoy while dining. I love the layers you used with the tablecloth, place mats, chargers, and then the pretty fall plates. Your centerpiece is so pretty and I’d love to make one of my own. Twenty three years ago when my husband and I were still dating, he sent a flower arrangement to my school that was in a pumpkin with a lid. I saved it all these years and now am inspired to dig it out to use for an arrangement of my own. I usually use oasis in it but will try your chicken wire method this time. Enjoy the lake now that it is quiet. We also get driven nuts by the jet skis on busy weekends.
WOW!!!! Love each of your tablescapes everything about them are beautifully designed and with that backdrop of the lake just amazing!! God bless and please remember all those in the wake of the hurricane Texas, the hurricane headed to Florida and the fires in two of our beautiful mountains and the earthquake!
This is pure Autumn perfection!!!! Top to bottom, I would be in pure heaven in this surrounding, I’m so happy knowing you feel blessed in these moments with this view!
Beautiful!! Love the view of the lake. You are a master at table settings!
Oh, Mary, all of your photos are absolutely stunning and I love your pumpkin tureen floral arrangement. Beautiful!
Mary, you and your family be safe. So hoping the newest hurricane doesn’t reach you.
Pat Breyfogle Tucson, AZ
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I LOVE your chairs, both sets! Very fresh, pretty spot.
Love your transitional fall tablescape, Mary – especially the beautiful dishes!! They are so unique and pretty. Thanks for sharing!
Mary, your pumpkin plates are scrumptious! I love how you used the pumpkin napkins on top of the plaid. The table is gorgeous, and your view makes it over the top!
What a beautiful centerpiece and those dishes are absolutely gorgeous!
Mary, I have decided that only flowers belong in a pumpkin soup tureen! Got to find my old one and see what I can do with it! You are always an inspiration!
The tablescape is gorgeous. I really like the centerpiece. It is a lovely arrangement.
Mary, those gold pumpkin plates are exquisite. No longer available at reasonable prices. However Walmart still has the BHG tureen at a very reasonable price. I just got mine in the mail yesterday. A BEAUTIFUL tablescape. Been a subscriber since you first started blogging. You never fail to impress and inspire.