Decorating an Antique Secretary with Pumpkins
Do you love decorating with pumpkins? Me too! Whether real or faux or DIY’ed, there are many pumpkins I love to decorate with. My parents’ antique secretary desk is one of my favorite furniture pieces to decorate. I piled it high with pumpkins, new and old, real and faux. And I love the seasonal explosion vibes it exudes. This antique secretary desk gets styled in many ways during the different seasons, and I’m loving it with all the pumpkins.
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Inspiration for the Antique Secretary with Pumpkins
After Halloween I cleared out the witchcraft apothecary styling on the antique secretary desk, and it left a barren spot. I wasn’t ready to turn the page to Christmas. It’s too early for me so instead I piled it high with pumpkins galore for the upcoming Thanksgiving Holiday. I love Thanksgiving and like to give it the attention it deserves.
I actually have a few more Thanksgiving posts coming your way before it’s all about Christmas all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love all things Christmas, but Thanksgiving seems to get pushed aside in some regards. I am here to make it as special as possible.
How To Decorate an Antique Secretary Desk with Pumpkins
The antique secretary desk always has books of some sort as the foundation. Vintage books really shine and make themselves at home on the chunky old secretary. From there I always layer seasonal goodness depending on theme or holiday. I really didn’t have a master plan for this styling since it was a bit spontaneous, but books and pumpkins are the main event.
Start with a Clean Slate
Like with any project, it’s best to start with a blank slate and build layers from there. I removed everything from the secretary desk and gave it a good cleaning. I call this eliminating the noise, which allows clarity and focus on given project. From there I start layering elements and adding pieces as they speak to me.
Books and More Books
Many of the vintage books have been collected through thrift shopping excursions. I love the texture and character beautiful old books add to home decor. I love stacking them any which way. They also create great risers, providing height and pedestals for decor.
Pumpkins Upon Pumpkins
Pumpkins are the star of the show here, and I scattered them across the shelves on the desk top and around the vignette. I kept the color palette on the secretary desk in the creams and whites. There’s a couple of rattan pumpkins and the basket on the stool underneath the desktop holds pumpkins in the gray color family, which is also neutral but in a different direction.
Accent Details
The styling would fall flat with just books and pumpkins, and that’s where the accent pieces come in. Brown transferware is great any time of year but I really love it for fall decor. A couple of thrifted baskets in the arrangement compliment the rattan pumpkins and offset the shine and hard surfaces of the silver pieces and cloches, which are also thrifted finds by the way. A petite, glitter Thanksgiving sign and a vintage Thanksgiving postcard stamp the theme on the vignette.
Edit by Moving and Adding and Deleting
When I am done adding all the pieces, I take a step back and look at the entire composition from top to bottom and side to side. This is when I move pieces around. I might add something if I find something lacking or might remove a piece if I find it’s too much. I am not sure what I like better, putting the vignette together or editing it when it’s done.
Personal Note: The picture frames of my babies always sits in the secretary desk so I incorporate them most times. I inherited this antique desk from my parents’ home and it always displayed a picture of my mother on her wedding day during my childhood. I have continued the tradition with pictures of my littles, which are my two greatest masterpieces. These littles inspired this blog many, many years ago. And here we are. (For the sake of my new readers, and who might not know, my littles are 22 and 20 now).
Closing Thoughts
I love how the antique secretary looks with all the pumpkins. The majority of the pumpkins are DIY projects I have shared here before. There’s also some real pumpkins, velvet pumpkins and rattan pumpkins, which I love how they all mix and match. If you are interested, you can see the pumpkin DIYs here {Easy Boho Pumpkin DIY}, here {5 Easy Ways to DIY pumpkins}, and here {Toile Decoupaged Dollar Tree Pumpkin Sign Craft}.
I hope this inspires to decorate for Thanksgiving and give it the love it deserves. There’s another Thanksgiving styling scheduled plus a project and tablescape as well. Hoping it all happens in time with much Christmas magic sprinkled in between. Although we will not put the Christmas tree up until after Thanksgiving. Mainly because we use a fresh tree, and it’s a huge family tradition I do not dare mess with.
I always look forward to Thanksgiving. It’s a day full of family, food and football. We have hosted at home for many years now, and some years there’s more of us and sometimes there is less. This year it will only be the four of us, and I am ok with that. I am looking forward to a relaxed day with my favorite people. What are your plans for Thanksgiving? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks so much for visiting me today.
Shopping the Thanksgiving Vignette Look
- This is a great collection of Neutral Velvet Pumpkins
- I absolutely love, Love LOVE these Champagne Velvet Pumpkins
- This Mini Straw Pumpkin is adorable
- This is a great Collection of White Pumpkins to alter or use as is
- If you don’t have any vintage books or want to add to your collection this is a fabulous place to start
- This is another option for book decor by color family
- This Spode Brown Transferware Nut Bowl is a great accent piece
- This Spode Transferware Gravy Boat is absolutely stunning
- Love this Spode Woodland Creamer too
- If you love basket decor as much as I do, this is a great option; and so is this and love this too
- The look of these Vintage Thanksgiving cards would make great place setting place arts on any Thanksgiving table
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Every pumpkin deserves to shine.”
Marion Meister
Love the combination of books, brown transfer ware and an exuberant display of pumpkins. The color palate is in keeping with the secretary respecting its age and vintage look. Always fun to see what you are doing. Have a great week.
Lynne
Thanks so much Lynne. It was a fun project. Just sort of happened lol. XO- MJ
Cute display! I like the neutral color palette. I’ve always liked brown transfer ware too. BTW – Those baby pics are adorable! I agree with you – I don’t want to jump over Thanksgiving and decorate for Christmas too soon but they always seem to overlap, and once Thanksgiving is over it’s always a rush to get ready for Christmas. We should have spaced those two holidays out a little bit more. 😉
Thanks Susan. I know! I was always a holiday traditionalist, you know one before the next but this blog game changes everything. lol. I always try to honor Thanksgiving since we host. Thanks for the visit. XO- MJ
Love the pumpkins and book print. I was drawn to the basket. I love baskets, especially odd shapes, but they take up so much room to store. It’s hard to find a good willow basket today. Recently, I realized how much our old baskets are worth.