If the thought of transforming your home décor for fall makes your eyes glaze over, than I have some good news for you! It’s easy to make your home look lush for the season when you use these time-saving tricks in five key spots.
1. The Front Door
If you don’t do another thing to your home this fall, dress up your door with a seasonal treatment. Everyone who passes by will enjoy this highly visible tribute to autumn. If that’s as far as you want to take your fall décor, no problem. You’ve made your home’s exterior look lovely and put a smile on someone’s face – not a bad return for a five minute investment!
What could be easier than hanging a fall wreath on your door? Wreaths that feature faux fall foliage like leaves, flowers and berries have gotten better and better through the years. I found some exceptional ones at market this year that I’m going to showcase on my own door. Use a length of fall ribbon like burlap, which is my current favorite, and tie a simple knot to secure the wreath to the door knocker or a nail. Click here to check out all the fabulous wreaths available right now at Nell Hill’s Online!
If you are feeling imaginative and want to try something new, how about hanging a piece of artwork on your front door? Maybe a mirror embellished with some fall picks like sunflowers or berries? It would be darling to hang a chalkboard on your door and personalize it with a friendly greeting for guests. (Click here to see the chalkboard I’ve used on my door, now available at Nell Hill’s Online.) If you’re having a fall party and want your door to look extra special, tie a pottery water pitcher to your door using a fall ribbon, then insert some fresh flowers into the pitcher. Click here to check out a white pottery pitcher embellished with leaves that I think would look sensational in this kind of display.
2. A Dining Table
Maybe it’s because I go ape over beautiful dishes and am nearly as nutty about table linens, but one of the first places I focus my energy when I decorate for the season is my tables. Whether it’s a more elaborate display on your formal dining room table, something simple on your kitchen table or a unique treatment for an outdoor table, you can pull together an eye-catching tablescape in a matter of minutes.
The photo above is of the dining table on my screened porch. During the late spring and early fall months, when the weather in Kansas is at its best, Dan and I like to eat dinner on the porch whenever we can. This tablescape I created for my Fall Open House looks lush and layered, but was really a snap to pull together. First, I just covered the table in an amazing tablecloth. Next, to give the display height and drama, I grabbed two silver dessert servers, powerful decorating tools I use over and again when I dress up my dining tables. The background is filled with a tall hurricane holding a big fat pillar candle, and the foreground is set with silverware and dishes. The only fall pieces I added to this table were two pumpkins made of mercury glass, each perched atop a distressed faux-silver stand. This beauty took 10 minutes tops to create and oh, is it lovely!
If you want a simple, clean look on your dining table, just put a line of pumpkins going down the table’s center. Could anything be easier than that? If you are crazy about fall flowers, pull a few interesting vases from your china hutch and place a single bloom in each one then line them up down your table. Right now at Nell Hill’s we have a line of really cute vases that look best holding one solitary bloom – a look I absolutely adore. Or, put three small lanterns, each holding a pumpkin, down the table’s center. Or, try this Nell Hill’s timeless trick: Cluster a group of different sized candlesticks in the table’s center and top them with mini pumpkins and crazy looking gourds.
If you have a round table, put one large lantern in the table’s center. (Click here to see the great selection of fall lanterns available now at Nell Hill’s Online.) Call it quits there or fill the lantern with fall treasures, like sprigs of colorful leaves, branches of acorns or a fall figurine. Another quick but powerful look is to place a pedestal bowl at the table’s center and mound it with gourds and pumpkins.
Cluster three different sized apothecary jars on the table and feature a single gourd in each one. When you use your creativity, the options are endless.
3. The Buffet or Hutch
In general, I’ve gone for a simpler, cleaner look in my decorating these days, but one place I still like to do it up is my dining room buffet. This is a stage waiting for a grand performance. When you decorate your buffet or hutch for fall, start by bringing in some tall pieces that will give the overall display some jaw-dropping drama.
A great place to start is with a pair of fabulous buffet lamps. While buffet lamps by nature are tall and thin, don’t opt for something spindly and under-scaled. Go with a pair that will make a strong statement. Then, all you’ll need to do is fill in the space in between with a few carefully chosen accessories.
If you’re decorating a hutch, like the one on my screened porch in the photo above, just tuck some pumpkins in your existing display. Or, place a bare branch on the top of the hutch, then weave in a few picks of fall foliage. I really like how the branches look coming out from behind the set of earthy jars I keep on top of my hutch.
4. A Side Table
Try creating a quick display on a side table to two. Perfect picks would be a console table in your entry, the coffee table in your living room or a side table in your den. I picked the unusual painted wood table I keep on my screened porch because I love to decorate my outside rooms as much as I do the inside rooms. The eye-catcher in the photo above was crazy easy to do. We just placed one of my favorite garden statues, which features a child with his arms held high, in the background and filled the statue’s uplifted hands with fall picks of berries and leaves.
We could have stopped there and achieved a lovely fall feel. But I wanted to take it one step further. So we placed a pumpkin on a small urn in the foreground and filled an apothecary jar on the left with birds’ feathers. A tiny vase holding a single orange rose, my favorite flower for fall, completed the look. When I get ready to change my décor for the holidays, I’ll simply pull out these few autumn pieces and replace them with holiday or winter-themed seasonal décor, like a spray of faux pine branches, a tree ornament and a red rose. Easy, but powerful!
5. The Garden
It doesn’t take much to create a sharp outdoor fall display, but when your neighbors remark about how great your home looks, you’ll be glad you invested the 10 minutes (tops!) it took. I keep a trio of iron pillars in my garden year round for this very purpose. In fall, I simply top them with pumpkins. If I’m feeling extra creative, I may place a small fall wreath on top of the pillar, then rest a pumpkin into the nest of the wreath. This display is shockingly simple to create, yet looks sensational. Every time I look out my window it greets me like a wave.
Hit your local pumpkin patch this year or grab a few pumpkins and gourds next time you’re at the grocery store then tuck them into your existing garden displays. Sometimes I cluster small pumpkins at the base of the topiaries that flank my front door. I’ll put a pumpkin or two on each step up to my front door. You could also put a lantern holding a pumpkin on your back porch.
Next Week … After years of having nothing but plantation shutters on my windows, this year I decided to cozy up my home with drapes. I am crazy about the look! Come take a peek at them next week and find out everything you need to know to select the right drapes for your home.
Dipanjan Roy says
September 26, 2011 at 11:08 amGreat post, thanks for all the info that you have provided. Flowers refreshes and enlighten your mind, when you retire back to your home after a long tiring day in office. It also enhances the beauty of your room.
Lisa says
September 26, 2011 at 5:49 pmI’m so excited to decorate for the fall. Love your photos and the simple techniques you give to create such beautiful creations. Thank you for all you do to make this world a prettier place.
Lisa
Bev says
September 26, 2011 at 6:34 pmWonderful ideas! Some so simiple I will use some today!! Going to use some today!!
Molly says
September 28, 2011 at 6:11 pmI love your ideas for the outside door.. My home has an exterior double door, however. Any ideas on how to treat those for the fall?
Stacy says
September 28, 2011 at 7:13 pmMary, would you please write a post about your screened porch sometime? It looks amazing, and I’d like to know if you leave the furniture in it in the winter, how you winterize it, and if it’s an additional or original to your house. Thanks!
Kimberly Bagni says
September 28, 2011 at 8:01 pmHi Mary,
Thank you for sharing these helpful tips for fall decor! I’ll be sure to share it on my facebook fan page. Many thanks, Kimberly
Cathy McQuinn says
September 28, 2011 at 9:27 pmWonderful ideas and photographs! Do you happen to carry the trio of iron pedestals you have the wreath and pumpkin on?? Thank you for the time and energy you spend on your blog. I look forward to it each week! With kind regards, Cathy
Carol Haynes says
September 28, 2011 at 11:18 pmMary Carol
Thank you so much for your blog and your wonderful ideas along with pictures of your beautiful home! The visuals are just so lovely and are the next best thing to driving 7 hours to be there. Thank you so much for your generous sharing!
Blessings,
Carol
nickie says
September 28, 2011 at 11:29 pmGreat blog post with all of the links to purchase! Wonderful ideas! I also was wondering if the buffet stays out on that porch all year long? The humidity and winter weather doesn’t bother it? Great idea, I need to try this!
Mary Carol says
September 29, 2011 at 8:14 pmHi Cathy—The iron pedestal is actually a bird bath that I placed the wreath and pumpkin upon!
Sharon Meissner says
September 30, 2011 at 12:53 amMary,
Loved so many of your ideas!! When I visited your home, I spotted the blue table cloth you had on the table on the porch. Do you have it for sale at your store?
Mary Carol says
September 30, 2011 at 9:09 pmStacy—I too, love my screened in porch and it was not original to the house, but there when we purchased the home. The wicker furniture is left there year around and the only thing I do is remove the cushions for the winter then hose it off in the spring. My black bookcase is not a major expensive piece and I take everything out for the winter but leave the bookcase on the porch until I return in the spring.
Mary Carol says
September 30, 2011 at 9:28 pmNicki–As mentioned to Stacy above, I do leave my black bookcase on the screened in porch. Just take the items out before it gets cold and re-visit it all in the spring.
Lisa says
October 1, 2011 at 10:08 pmI just posted my interpretation of Mary Carol’s urns. I loved it. I just did it today. Hope you can see them.
http://www.leeshideaway.blogspot.com
Lisa
sheila says
October 4, 2011 at 12:26 amLove the ideas–Falls my season!!
Mimi says
October 13, 2011 at 3:47 pmI just love the front door decoration. Elegant, simple and unique. Just the way I like it!
Beauty Tips says
April 22, 2012 at 4:47 pmAs a web-site owner I believe the subject matter here is really magnificent. I appreciate it for you time. You should keep it up forever! Best of luck…
Bridget says
October 5, 2012 at 5:55 pmI’m in love with that blue tablecloth on your screened porch. Any idea where I might find something like that?
Agus says
November 21, 2014 at 3:43 pmdanielleMarch 12, 2013Hi Kami. The wreath is aulcalty made using plastic easter eggs from Target! I wrapped each plastic egg in yarn, using a little dab of hot glue to hold the end of the piece of yarn, then wrapped around the egg like crazy. I hot glued all of my yarned wrapped eggs to the wreath in a pattern I was happy with. a0Thanks for your comment; happy wreath making!!