Natural autumn styling with a dried wreath & pumpkins

When you think of autumn styling and Halloween decorations, you probably think of vibrant reds, oranges and golds. They look stunning, of course, but this year I’ve chosen to do something a little different and opt for shades of green, beige and off-white instead. It’s a softer, more muted and textural take on seasonal decor, and I think it works beautifully in my calm, minimalist home.

My inspiration came from the autumn wreath that I made during a press trip to Tudor Farmhouse Hotel in the Forest of Dean last week, when Jo Thompson of Wye Valley Flowers hosted a workshop using naturally dried flowers and foliage from her own farm. My creation incorporated wispy grasses, gypsophila, Lunaria (the pearlescent disc-like things), Phalaris, thistle heads and a sprinkling of Sanguisorba, with a sage-green silk ribbon to finish things off. The colours happened to tie in perfectly with the cushions, books and pale oak accents in my living room, while the Lunaria reminded me of the New Works ‘Tense’ pendant light hanging over the coffee table. So, I decided to hang the wreath on the living-room door and carry its textures and tones through to a mantelpiece display within.

For the basis of the mantelpiece display I used a trio of gourds: a dark forest-green ‘Kabocha’ squash, a small white ‘Ghost’ pumpkin and a pale green ‘Crown Prince’ squash that closely matches the hue of the ribbon on the wreath. Arranged around these are branches and dried grasses that I happened to have in the house, together with some Sanguisorba from my own garden. I also salvaged some sprigs of gypsophila from a bouquet of flowers that my lovely husband gave me a couple of weeks ago and let them dry out overnight before adding them into the mix.

If you want to have a go at creating a display like this yourself, it really isn’t difficult to do. The weight of the pumpkins can be used to hold everything in place, so there’s no need for any tape or wire. And as everything is dried, you don’t have to incorporate a water source such as chemical-packed oasis foam. Don’t worry about making it too neat, either – you want it to look natural and imperfect, and the wilder the better in my view. I opted for an asymmetrical display at one end of the mantelpiece only, but you could go bigger and bolder and run it along the whole width if you prefer.

For the final touches to my autumn living room, I arranged more mini ‘Ghost’ pumpkins in a wooden bowl on the coffee table and dotted a few candles here and there (all positioned carefully to avoid any risk of the dried foliage catching alight). And voilà: a simple, sustainable display that brings seasonal nature indoors, made from things I already had to hand. And the best bit: all the foliage can be reused in other arrangements afterwards, and the squashes cooked up into something delicious once Halloween is over!

For more autumn and Halloween styling inspiration, take a look at how I decorated my home in previous years here and here.

All photography by Abi Dare

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