Layer in Texture

Nature offers up the best Thanksgiving decorating ideas, and you can often find what you need in your own backyard. Fill glass hurricanes and clear bowls to the brim with earthy acorns and pine cones. Try bundles of wheat in glass or ceramic vases of various heights to create your own amber waves of grain. Place rattan baskets in unexpected places—among books on a shelf, on one side of a console table or on the counter in a bathroom—and fill them with small red apples or ears of dried corn. Hang a seasonal wreath on the front door to greet your guests and set the tone for the holiday. On your front porch, fill planters with colorful mums or create stacked pumpkin topiaries. For a farmhouse look, place a scarecrow on a distressed metallic chair to welcome guests.

Soften the Light

Everything looks better bathed in a warm glow. Candles can go way beyond the dinner table, so try unscented tea lights flickering in brass-toned holders on coffee tables, among casserole dishes on the dining room buffet, along high window sills and even lined up behind the kitchen sink. Use classic metal lanterns to display larger candles outdoors or wherever you have extra pockets of space indoors—inside a fireplace, for instance. In smaller spaces, such as bathrooms, scatter a few miniature pumpkins around a scented candle in a metallic or glass hurricane. Play a soundtrack of solo classical guitar music, dim the lights and start burning candles just before your guests arrive to your newly decorated Thanksgiving home.