Designing a beautiful fall tablescape does not have to break the bank. You can create this simple, inexpensive fall table with a few items from Dollar Tree and Hobby Lobby.

Seasonal Scapes Under $20 Series

 If you read my About Page, you saw that I am obsessed with dishes and tablescapes. Rather than show you tablescapes with dishes and decor that I have purchased over the years, I thought that it would be fun and more practical to create new tablescapes anyone can easily put together. The best part is that it will cost under $20 with seasonal items I find at discount stores like Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels.

Fall Tablescape Inspiration

Whenever I am decorating, I usually come across one item that becomes my inspiration piece for the project. At the end of July, I was in Hobby Lobby getting some craft supplies for a gift that I was making.

As I was walking through the store, I noticed an entire aisle of buffalo check fall decor. I LOVE me some buffalo check! I immediately thought of my tablescape under $20 series. A perfect excuse to buy more fall decor.

I spotted this tablet of 24 paper placemats for $3.99 plus 40% off, and knew I found my inspiration for my fall tablescape! 

Shortly after finding the placemats, I found these pumpkins at Dollar Tree. I thought with a little white spray paint, they would work as some kind of fall centerpiece. The paint did not soak into the burlap pumpkins very well, so I had to purchase 2 more pumpkins without burlap.

I purchased a few more items in August. After some more trial and error, I came up with one of my favorite fall tablescapes ever! Yes, I know I say this everytime I come up with a new scape!

The Scape

I usually leave my table set with dishes but I love these placemats so much I don’t want to cover them up. I am going to leave my table like this unless we are having guests over for dinner.

 The magnolia garland is from Hobby Lobby. I love the way it looks with the green wreaths on the placemats.

Here is what the table looks like with my favorite white dishes from IKEA. I think everyone should own a set of white dishes. They are so versatile and work with almost any tablescape.

Tammy’s Tips

I made the napkin holders with ribbon from Hobby Lobby and toilet paper rolls. I was pretty excited when I came up with this idea. When I bought the ribbon, I thought I would be able to just tie it around the napkins but that did not work out too well.

To make them yourself, cut the toilet paper roll a little smaller than the width of the ribbon. Then, cut the ribbon in 6 1/4 ” strips. Glue about 3/4″ of the ribbon and place on the cut toilet paper roll. Wrap the rest of the ribbon around the roll. Finally, fold the end of the ribbon so you have a clean edge, and glue it to the toilet paper roll.

You can find mini pumpkins for your scape just about everywhere. Target has cute fabric ones for $1 in the bullseye playground. 

I also tried the scape with some real pumpkins that I found at Sprouts. They were 2 for $3.

I’ve never purchased or have even seen paper placemats before. Once you eat at the table, they will have to go in the trash, but the tablet comes with 24. I actually went back and bought another tablet because we do a lot of entertaining over the holidays. Now I will have plenty and I won’t have to wash them in between uses. 

I took 4 of the placemats to Staples and had them laminated with a heavy duty laminate. It cost a little over $3.00 per placemat. I’m using those on my kitchen table. We eat dinner at our kitchen table every night, and so far they are holding up well. (I forgot to take a pic but will update with one soon.)

My biggest tip is to make it your own. Buffalo check is neutral and will go with any fall decor.

In fact, check out this beautiful fall tablescape. My friend and member of the SGM community sent me this picture after seeing my sneak peek in last week’s newsletter. Marylin used traditional fall colors with her buffalo check and it looks amazing! 

Tablescape Total:

Hobby Lobby: Buffalo Check Placemats – $2.39 Gingham Ribbon – $1.99 Magnolia Garland $7.49 (Everything from Hobby Lobby was 40% off.)

Dollar Tree: 5 Pumpkins – $5.00

Grand Total: $16.87 

I had white spray paint in the garage. If you have to buy spray paint, it will cost an additional $3.83 at Hobby Lobby. 

What do you think about buffalo check? Will you be incorporating it into your fall decor?