FALL ORGANIC DOUGH BOWL IDEAS

A dough bowl is a beautiful thing! Especially if it is filled with seasonal organics! Fall is the perfect time to grab a pretty bowl and make it the star of a fall coffee table or any other flat surface! Let’s style a pretty fall organic dough bowl. Here are some easy ideas!

I love posts like this!

With just a little know-how you can make and remake an arrangement that is a real show-stopping centerpiece of the season.

I’m working on a big fall dough bowl but you can take these tips and tweak them and create a centerpiece for any season or holiday!

Here are some ideas to help you create the best fall organic dough bowl…

CHOOSE A DOUGH BOWL THAT WORKS WITH YOUR DECOR.

You might think this is a no-brainer! However, just think of all the options you have to put beautiful fall items in.

I love a dough bowl for its beautiful, warm wood and charming shape.

But not all dough bowls are alike. Yes, we may want that gorgeous vintage piece of art but many of us don’t have the funds to buy the real deal. No problem! There are so many beautiful mass produced dough bowls that are true stunners for a fraction of the price.

And now we can find dough bowls in interesting shapes and even different colors.

What if dough bowls are not your things. Then use a large bowl that works with your decor and create a more modern version of these wonderful natural arrangements!

I found the big beautiful dough bowl above that has been whitewashed to let the beautiful blond wood show through. I knew in an instant that it would be perfect for my home! And it was very reasonably priced! Score!

As you can see my new dough bowl is a very long dough bowl! I thought it would look great filled with fall natural elements on my coffee table for fall.

You can see my dough bowl HERE.

You might like these dough bowls…

WHAT DO I FILL THE DOUGH BOWL WITH?

Anything, really! But for me, I like to use mostly natural items and organics if I am using it as an arrangement!

A dough bowl is a perfect container to hold the beauty of what nature is offering outside.

I keep my organic fall things in plastic boxes and keep them from year to year.

Because I know what colors I like to use and what will work in my home I add to my stash year after year. After collecting for almost a decade I have lots of pretty fall naturals and great fauxs to choose from. Here is just a few boxes of what I collect!

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You might like to fill your bowl with these…

• hydrangeas
• pinecones
• mini Indian corn
• mini pumpkins
• gourds
• dried sunflowers
• real seed pods
• willow balls
• moss balls
• cat o’ nine tails
• bittersweet
• leaves
• acorns
• velvet pumpkins
• brambly vines
• fillers

Think about collecting and using large, medium, and small naturals for your arrangement.

Can you think of other natural and faux items that are quintessential fall to put in your arrangement? Share in the comments, please!

Here are some of my favorite fall organics…

CREATE A FOUNDATION FOR YOUR NATURALS

When I was decorating a centerpiece years ago I realized that when I was styling my naturals in an arrangement lots of them ended up on the bottom of the bowl and were hidden. What a waste. I wanted all my pretty decorations to be seen.

Then I had a big lightbulb moment! Why not fill the bottom with something that I did not mind hiding as a foundation for the pretty things I wanted to put on top?

I tried a few different things for a base until I came up with the idea of using pinecones! Yes!!! Pinecones are a perfect foundation for a natural arrangement.

Pinecones are cheap or free, they are easy to lay down as a foundation, and their scales sorta fit together to create a springy and sturdy first layer! And if some of the pinecones show they look great too!

So all my centerpieces with any depth have pinecones as a base. I hope this little idea helps you as much as it has helped me!

AN EASY FORMULA FOR STYLING FALL NATURALS IN YOUR DOUGH BOWL

Learn and practice these easy steps and you can create and recreate lots of beautiful arrangements!

Here’s a VERY IMPORTANT thing to remember…

You might not be able to see the beauty of the fall arrangement until you are almost done styling it. Don’t worry and just stay with it! The better you concentrate on each layer of your dough bowl arrangement the better the final product will be. Trust me on this!

DECORATE THE ENDS OF THE BOWL

No matter the shape of your bowl start styling at two opposite ends of your centerpiece.

If you have an oval container then the ends are obvious! But if you use a round bowl just pick two opposite sides. These will be the “long side” of your fall natural arrangement.

Start with decor that is elongated and light enough to hang past the edge of the bowl.

I love mini Indian corn or faux leaves on stems for that! This will elongate your centerpiece and make it look very pretty!

HOW MANY SIDES WILL BE SEEN?

At this point, you want to know if the centerpiece will be seen from all sides or just from the front!

If it can be seen from all sides you must decorate a dough bowl with this in mind. Make sure you are styling the dough bowl by turning it around, making sure it looks pretty and balanced from all angles.

If the back of your arrangement cannot be seen then focus all your decor in the front and on the sides. Just make sure to fill it. It needs to look great from the top too!

FIND THE CENTER OF THE BOWL

Once you have decorated both ends of the dough bowl it’s time to find and fill the center of your arrangement!

Choose the center of your dough bowl and put a beautiful natural elements there. Dried sunflower heads or a couple darling white baby boo pumpkins, or a fascinating gourd would be perfect.

I chose three dried sunflower heads for center my arrangement.

The rest of your naturals will be arranged around the centerpiece and the end decor of your bowl.

Remember not all the decor you put into your dough bowl needs to face up. Cocking pumpkins at an angle and mini birdhouse gourds on their sides will add lots of interest to your bowl.

FILL IN THE DOUGH BOWL WITH LARGE ITEMS FIRST

Now fill in your dough bowl with your bigger items first.

I find this is not a once-and-done activity. This is a creative endeavor! Enjoy the process!

Play with the large decor until you are pleased. Remember you don’t have to fill in every space with large items. You should have smaller bits of natural decor to add in too! There is a lot more to add to the arrangement yet!

Just a note- I wanted to add real baby boo pumpkins but the there was only one in our local Amish farmer’s field. So I took the one he had and when the rest of the baby boo’s are harvested I’ll replace the faux pumpkins with real ones.

ADD SMALLER ITEMS

After you like how the bigger items look, now tuck in smaller decor. I like to add smaller pods, willow balls, smaller gourds and the prettiest pinecones.

Don’t add the smallest naturals like acorns until the very end because they usually fall down into the bottom of the bowl.

Just remember to keep playing with the naturals until the arrangement in the dough bowl looks pleasing to you.

THE IMPORTANCE OF “FLUFF” IN A DOUGH BOWL

My favorite part of styling any arrangement is adding “fluff”. Here are some things I consider fluff…

• small snippets of pretty greens
• leaves
• pods or flowers on stems for height
• anything that can spill over the sides of the bowl
• brambles

Fluff is small bits and pieces of naturals and great looking fauxs. Fluff has a few very important job!

1. It fills in the gaps in an arrangement and covers any bald spots.

2. It spills over the hard edge of a dough bowl and softens it.

3. It adds height to an arrangement.

Now, using fluff work on filling in the gaps of the arrangement, add little bits and pieces to spill over some of the edges of your dough bowl, and add a bit of height by using longer stems and brambly pieces that are light and not heavy!

I used brambly faux bittersweet and leaves and lots and lots of snippets of green leaves tinged with a bit of burnt orange.

REARRANGE AND ADD ACORNS OR TINY NATURALS

You are almost done, friend!

It’s time to rearrange anything you feel is not looking its best. Just keep working on it. And add any little tiny fall naturals, like acorns now. Sit acorns on top of the decor so they don’t fall down to the bottom of the bowl.

A LITTLE STORY WITH TWO BIG LESSONS

I used to take painting lessons. And these lessons were not for the faint of heart. Once in a while, during class, I would hear frustrated sighs and and other sounds of angst breaking the silence and classical music wafting throughout the classroom.

But I was the most relaxed, happy painter. Why? Because I had such low expectations for myself! I knew I was pretty terrible. And I also believed I just needed to keep working at my craft. I knew in my heart I would get better! And in the greater scheme of life, this was not that big of a deal!

I wanted to have fun and learn!

LESSON 1

A fall natural dough bowl is not rocket science. It will not ruin your life or hurt your family. Just enjoy and learn the process. The more centerpieces you make the better you will get! And I’m sure you are a much better fall dough bowl arranger that I was a painter!

Our wise painting instructor asked us to leave the art we finished and took home in our car overnight. So I stuck my artwork in the trunk of my car. And guess what? Something magical happened overnight!

My art looked amazing when I took it out the next day! Why? Because I was looking at it with fresh eyes! And I did not have all the other paintings in the class to compare it to!

LESSON 2

Try putting your centerpiece away somewhere where you don’t look at it for 24 hours. Then look at it with fresh eyes. You will be surprised! And you won’t be comparing it to my dough bowl. I bet your’s might even be better than mine the next day!

Sometimes we get so worked up about being perfect when what we really want is beauty! And many things are beautiful and not perfect, right?

ONE MORE THING

When you put your gorgeous fall organic dough bowl on your table or wherever it’s home will be, try placing a couple of the elements that are featured inside the arrangement on the table itself. It is a lovely visual to have a pumpkin and a few acorns next to your centerpiece.

My dough bowl was too big to have a few things “spill out” of it. You can see other dough bowls I styled below that have some pretty organics next to the arrangement.

A LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT FOR YOU

It thrills me to break down decorating into easy, doable process you can repeat again and again! Decorating is part science, part materials you work with, part technique, and lots of fun creativity!

Work your craft!

MORE DOUGH BOWL IDEAS…

Here are a few dough bowls I have created over the years…

EASY 10 MINUTED FALL BOWL DIY

AN ASYMMETRICAL FALL ARRANGEMENT

EDIBLE THANKSGIVING ARRANGEMENT

SOFTER SIDE OF FALL TOUR WITH MY FAVORITE ARRANGEMENT

Practice and enjoy the process and the fall natural dough bowl you style! And use these techniques and tips for other seasonal arrangements too.

Send pictures of your dough bowl, following these steps, to stonegable333@gmail.com and I’ll choose some to post on my Facebook page!

Happy dough bowl decorating!