Ways to decorate bathroom: fall autumn Halloween Thanksgiving

Seasons > Autumn > Home Decorations > Bathrooms

A fall wreath is easy to make--just buy “silk” flowers, leaves and fake berries, and fasten them to a vine wreath with florist’s wire. It’s not hard to make the vine wreath if you can find vines, but if not, they are relatively cheap to buy at craft stores. Another source is to buy one at Christmas time when many stores sell them, but instead of decorating it for Christmas, decorate it for fall.

If you are tired of wreathes, a twig frame can be a refreshing change. This one was purchased at a hundred yen shop. But it would not be hard to make one with sticks you pick up off the ground after a strong wind, or to save some from a tree or bush you prune instead of throwing them all away. The leaves, persimmon, and chestnut were all purchased at hundred yen stores.

This bathroom is dressed for fall with a valance and towel in fall colors. Even the soap is decked out in fall foliage. You can make your own decorated soap--cut out fall pictures, stick them on a bar of plain white soap. Melt candle wax and dip the top side of the soap into the wax to protect the picture from water. The windowsill is just wide enough to hold some resin figurines that were purchased at a dollar store. The stockade behind them was purchased at a hundred yen store--the original purpose was a picket fence style decoration to go around a kleenex box or flower pot. My daughter used it for years as a corral for her toy horses. So when you look at items in a dollar store (hundred yen store), let

your imagine run free--don’t restrict them to their intended purposes. The corn stalks were made from green paper cut and twisted around skewers, and the ears made from air drying clay, Hearty, sold at craft stores, (Karui Kaminendo sold at hundred yen stores.) These corn plants would also make cute place cards at a Thanksgiving dinner table.

Fall leaves, a hat with with an orange ribbon, a rake, all evoke images of a crisp fall day with a pile of leaves to play in. These items, purchased at a hundred yen store, are hung on a picket fence that hides the breaker box. The picket fence was made out of sunoko that was cut to look like a picket fence, and painted white. (Sunoko are wooden lattices that are used in Japanese closets to allow air to circulate under items stored in them.) (This one cost 250 yen at Keiyo D2.) The “fence” is hung from two brackets mounted on the wall. The brackets were created for holding a narrow shelf, and were purchased at a hundred yen store.

The felt leaves hung in the window are actually a set of felt coasters that I bought at a hundred yen store. If you like the way they look, you can cut your own out of felt, and use real leaves for a pattern.

An alternative decoration is to hang scarecrows from the fence. These were purchased at a hundred yen store, too. If you can’t find any in a store, make your own. Wrap fabric around a styrofoam ball and paint a face on it (styrofoam balls are sold at 100 yen stores, and craft stores). Or stuff the end of a white sock with batting and sew a face on. If sewing clothes and hats seems too daunting, see if your local hundred yen store (or dollar store) has clothes and hats for teddy bears. Many craft stores sell them, but that can get pricey. Finally, tie raffia (or weeds) where the hands and feet would come out of the shirt and pants.

The items we use daily, such as toothbrushes and makeup, are kept organized in flower pots,( from the hundred yen store, of course.) This frees up some space, so I can decorate on the shelves next to the mirror. On the shelf under the mirror, there is a cute little scarecrow and a patch of candle pumpkins. On the shelves to the right of the mirror, an orange candle is surrounded by cheery sunflowers, and the next shelf down has a black metal tree. All these items were purchased at hundred yen stores.

I even decorate the bath with fall leaves. And when the window gets condensation from the steam in the shower, it looks like a foggy day. I know it’s just fake leaves (I put them there, after all), but when I see it, it feels like I am in the mountains on a chilly foggy day instead of in my Tokyo house with another house less than 10 feet away.

Seasons > Autumn > Home Decorations > Bathrooms