Painted White Leaf Plates and a Simple Fall Centerpiece

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Madigan made… white leaf plates and other simple fall decor for the kitchen.

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me/ Fluttering from the autumn tree.” -Emily Bronte

What are signals in your home that fall is (almost) here?

To me, I know autumn is around the corner when these items arrive in our home:

– Seasonal fruit (Monday I showed you how I started introducing fall decor into our home with seasonal fruit.)

– Fall food (Hellooo, pumpkin anything!)

– Mulled and spicy scents (mmm, cinnamon)

– Autumnal colors and decor (warm colors, leaves, pumpkins, etc.)

– Fall cleaning and organizing (Hey…this is a craft/diy blog. Let’s not talk about that right now!)

I warned you that leaves and gourds were coming out soon… and this post does not disappoint!

I broke out some autumn leaves, gourds and loads of white accents for our kitchen table and chalkboard wall.

(If you are new here, hi!! Every month I share a new quote and sometimes I share seasonal decor for my kitchen chalkboard. Well, almost every month!)

If you followed this blog last fall, most of the decor pictured here you’ve seen before. I just mixed things around a little for a fresh look and added a couple of new, inexpensive updates.

Remember that gorgeous fall wreath I had on my front door last year? I love that wreath!

I did not make the wreath…. it was a bridal shower gift and I get sooo many compliments on it every year.

This season I decided to bring the wreath inside so that we could enjoy it in the kitchen. I flipped it on its side as a centerpiece. A glass domed cake plate (that I found at the Philly I <3 Thrifting Day) and my painted ceramic white birds sit in the center of the wreath and are just enough.

To coordinate with the colors in the wreath, I changed the place mats to these chocolate brown faux silk ones.
OK, those are new! But can you believe I found them at the dollar store?

And what about those new leaf plates on the wall? Well, those are new, too! ;o)

But those plates did not start out looking like that! They originally were clear glass leaf shaped appetizer plates.

I found the plates recently at a thrift store for about a $1 a piece and could not pass them up. I toyed with the idea of using gold leaf on them (Remember, I’m loving gold and brass hues for fall) but since they were going to be in the kitchen, I used a classic, glossy white instead.

I think the white looks crisp and coordinates with the other creamware that’s in the room. I decided to paint the bottoms of the plates (vs. the inside).

Tip: There are a few tricks to spray painting glass. First, clean your glass really well (I use isopropyl alcohol). Next, when you spray paint, use very light and frequent coats. Finally, allow the paint to dry for several days before touching it much… this gives the paint time to cure thoroughly.

In order to mount the plates on the walls, I cut out a square of scrap wood with jigsaw for each dish. I used a strong adhesive (ie. E6000) to glue the wood to the inside of the glass dish.

The depth of the lumber pieces were the perfect size. The wood ended up being flush with the edge of the plates. All I needed was a Command picture hanging strip on the wood to hang each plate on the wall.

I love how using the back of the plates creates a 3-dimensional relief effect off of the wall. The plates almost look like ceramic leaf plaques.

I purposely hung the plates in a random orientation on the wall to look like scattered leaves. (Confession: I also was not sure I could hang them all evenly in the same direction!)

I’m a big fan of simple fall transitions in the home. These few accents on and around the table are just enough for me to feel like autumn is around the corner.

Of course, lighting a pumpkin spiced candle always helps, too!

But where are my white pumpkins from last year, you ask?

I moved them out of the kitchen and will display them in another area of our house. Stay tuned!

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P.S. Did you know Madigan was not my real name??

I enjoyed reading every one’s guess for my name this past week. The guessing contest is now closed but I can safely say that SOMEONE did guess my name correctly! Woohoo! 🙂

P.P.S. Don’t forget: Please consider becoming Google Follower or Facebook fan of Madigan Made! We are getting sooo close in both forums!
Once we hit 1000 Facebook or Google Friends – the 1000 Followers Meet & Greet starts! AND at the end of all of it, I will formally introduce myself and announce the winner of the name guessing contest!