I have never decorated my house for fall before. Never. Okay, one time we carved a pumpkin…which then sat on our front porch until it rotted. But other than that, nothing.
I’ve never been a big fan of redecorating for every holiday and season change – too much money, too much stuff to store, too much hassle.
But I really enjoyed adding a touch of spring to our home this year, so I’ve decided to go for a bit of fall décor as well. But with conditions – it needs to be super cheap. And it needs to either take up very little storage space or be something that can also be used other times of year.
First up, a little project I’ve been wanting to make for months. As soon as I finished my silver leaf seashell necklace, I knew I wanted to silver leaf some acorns this fall.
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This project is super simple and so beautiful. Every time I walked outside this past week, I collected a handful of acorns that fell from the huge white oak tree in our front yard.
I wanted to make sure I didn’t bring any creepy-crawlies in with them, so I baked them in the oven at 200 degrees for two hours to kill any stowaways. Once they cooled, I used a little white school glue to reattach any caps that had popped off.
I painted them to create a good surface for the silver leaf to stick to and then brushed on liquid silver leaf using a soft brush. Liquid silver leaf is amazing – it gives a gorgeous glow and is excellent at getting down in all the cracks and crevices smoothly.
I used a small craft brush – like the ones that come with kids’ watercolor sets. I would recommend wearing gloves while doing this. I didn’t and ended up with very silvery fingers.
And that’s it! Perfect for fall and just as beautiful as Christmas decor.
Now I can’t wait to tackle project #2! Anyone else starting fall projects this week?
Nicki Rochead says
Gorgeous, they look beautiful. I have linked to my Autumn decor post below. I too have never really managed to decorate for the season before. Maybe it’s a sign that we are finally getting life sussed? (Okay stop laughing now!)
Carrie says
Nicki, yay for fall decor newbies. I don’t know if it means we are getting it together or just adding more crazy!
Krista @ the happy housie says
These are crazy beautiful!! Love them Carrie- and amazing photography too:)
Carrie says
Thanks Krista!
Katie @ Upcycled Treasures says
I recently used gold rub’n buff on some faux acorns, but LOVE how the silver liquid leaf looks on yours. Plus you have real acorns which makes me jealous. I may just have to stalk some squirrels to see where they stash them, lol. Thanks for sharing this over at The Makers!
Carrie says
Thanks Katie! I really love how they turned out too – liquid silver leaf is amazing!
Tracy Lumb says
Love this! Where did you find liquid silver leaf and what brand please? All I see is rub ‘n buff or silver paint. Thanks!
Carrie says
Thanks! I found it at Michaels. I believe it is Plaid brand and they also have regular liquid gold leaf.
Lucy says
These look great! Such a simple yet elegant idea.
Carrie says
Thanks Lucy!
Alina says
Love this idea for the Fall! So easy to do and it fits with my decor!
Heather S says
LOVE those acorns!
Carrie says
Thanks Heather! Me too!
Laura Adams says
I could kiss you! I recently bought 2 pendant lights from West Elm. They were to hang over our island & pretty much be focal points in our new kitchen. They are faceted at the top – hand cut in India – then hand painted over the facets with what looks like silver leaf, except for the brush marks. The bottom edge of the paint is a wreck on both of them – sloppy & crooked. I wrote to West Elm about returning them, even though they were final sale items, which they were hesitant to allow me to do, but I decided to keep them, because I loved them so much. Long story short – after spending hours scraping away the uneven paint, & cleaning overspray off of the clear parts with steel wool & vinegar, I am now faced with what to paint them with to put a straight edge on them. Liquid silver leaf! Who knew? Thank you so much!
Carrie says
Yay! So glad I could help. Your lights sound really beautiful too! Good luck!
Linda says
Love this idea and will be getting some silver leaf in liquid!
Carrie says
Thanks Linda! Have fun with it!