I have been sprinkling Fall fairy dust around the house and I wanted to share today my parent’s antique secretary desk dressed up for Autumn. For other Fall feels around here, I also recently shared my Fall rustic mantel and before that I shared my early Fall foyer. For the secretary desk I used three main components: silverplate, feathers, and mushrooms.
I love my silver and there’s always some pieces on the secretary desk regardless of season or holiday. Many of the pieces here I’ve picked up thrifting mind you. If you are also a silver type of gal or guy you can read more about my obsession journey with silverplate{metals I-silverplate} here and sterling{metals II-sterling silver} here. I love a good shine on silver but the patina and tarnish on certain pieces always gets me every.single.time.
I also love to bring out feathers this time of year. I bought this trophy pitcher a few years ago at the Petaluma antique faire and the gal had it merchandised with turkey feathers. The combination of silver with organic elements also gets me every.single.time. I asked her if she would sell the pitcher with the feathers but she didn’t want to part with the feathers. I totally get it. They are gorgeous.
As my girlfriend and I circled back through the faire, my friend pointed out the pitcher was still there with the feathers. I talked to the lady again and she was super sweet and sold me the trophy pitcher with most of the feathers. She did keep some for herself and she did not charge me extra. Like I said, super sweet. But I understand, having worked these type of events, you want to pack up the least amount of wares to bring back home. That’s why it’s always a good idea to circle back to anything you had your eye on at faires, flea markets even garage sales because towards the end of the day or event is when the real bargains and deals are made.
Besides the turkey feathers, I also have some pheasant feathers, which I absolutely adore, plus some other unidentified, assorted feathers. Like I said before, I love the combination of silver with organic elements. I recently shared my greenery in silver post that touches on this very topic.
Last but not least, for the last prominent element I used my mushroom collection. Ok, this is a weird collection and not one by design, which if you are so inclined you can read all about here{my fascination with mushrooms | fungi | toadstools}.
Anyway, I was filtering through my gazillion e-mails and the one from Terrain {of course} caught my eye and when I opened it up they had all these mushrooms for their Fall collection. It sparked the idea to use them here since I seldom know what to do with all these mushrooms. I love them…but they are not necessarily my normal decor.
I did use some mushrooms in my woodland mantel though. I always think I want to use them for a tablescape but the idea never materializes and I can never formulate a plan in my head. It will take an “aha! moment” or a related item that will make it all click together. For now, they play nice in my antique secretary desk Fall vignette.
I have been itching to get some Fall projects done outside but the air quality in California is still not the greatest {sorry to sound like a broken record}. I did hear the air quality is moderate today which is a move in the right direction.
While I was editing my photos for this post I felt that everything felt really dark and a bit heavy so I made some edits. I like how the tan books and tan mushrooms on the 2nd shelf break this up and give some balance to the darker tones, but it still needed a further level in my opinion. I added some white boo pumpkins and a candle to add some “lightness”.
I had spied pumpkins at Trader Joe’s the other day, so I finally ran over and got these boo pumpkins along with some others big and small, white and green, plump and squat. I love how many different personalities pumpkins have. I will be sharing them real soon around the house and yard. Stay tuned.
Have you started to fluff for Fall yet? If you haven’t, I hope this inspires you. If you have, isn’t it fun? I l.o.v.e this time of year. Growing up it was always my favorite season. I love the temperature change {growing up in the Northeast it’s was far more prominent than in Northern California} and I loved getting back to school with friends and teachers, plus I love all the comfort foods it brings, including the aromas associated with the season.
More Fall feels coming your way real soon.
“As long as Autumn lasts, I shall not have hands, canvas and colors enough to paint the beautiful things I see.”
~ Vincent Van Gogh~
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What a gorgeous vignette and how neat that it was your parents’ secretary desk! I also use feathers. I would have killed for that trophy! xo Kathleen
Yes. I love that the piece was my parents and I remember it in our house growing up. The trophy pitcher is pretty cool but the feather was the tipping point. ; ). Thanks for stopping by.
XO- MJ