Fall Decor

It's fall!  My absolute favorite time of year.  I love everything about fall - the weather, the outdoor activities, fall baking, and of course, the decorations.  I couldn't wait until the cooler months to get to work.  I usually start about mid-September, but as we were away during that time, I was about a week or so late.  

My decorating process starts with me taking everything out of the boxes and spreading it all out on the floor.  Sometimes you have to make a mess to get organized.  So I schlepped down to the basement and grabbed the fall box and a few odds and ends I thought might work.  Luckily, our fall decor is housed in one box unlike our Christmas decorations which have now spread to four.  Anyway, I took everything out and laid it on the floor.  I like to see what I have before deciding on where everything will go.  I also like to switch things up and not just put things in the same place each year.  Once this was done, I started decorating where I always do...the mantle.  It's always my main focus and the one thing I spend the most time on.

I left the white mirror we repainted last year as the focal point of the mantle.  It works in that space and I don't feel the need to move it, so I work around it.  Last year, a neighbor was throwing out some old shutters so we picked them up.  My original thought was to paint and distress them, but when I put one on the mantle to see if the size worked, I liked how the wood popped against the tan wall, so I left it as is.  As for the rest of the decorations, the only new thing here was the star.  It's defintely more of a Christmas decoration but the black, along with the other orange accessories, works for Halloween.  I picked it up for $5 at our local consignment shop.  Everything else we already had so it was just a matter of figuring out where to place everything.  It took awhile, but I finally got something I was happy with.

A lot of people ask where I get my decorations and the answer is, anywhere and everywhere.  Some of these things I bought, but most were given as gifts or were things others didn't want anymore.  For example, we found the pears while helping a friend's mom clean out her garage.  I saw them and immediately thought fall,and since she didn't want them anymore, she gave the to me.  I think they work pretty well here.

Now that the mantle was done, it was onto the area in front of the fireplace.  I had seen something on Pinterest a few weeks earlier that I fell in love with and realized I had most of the things in the picture.  I collected everything and put it all together.  I had never really focused on that area before, but it really made a difference.

 

I generally use that lantern around Christmas, but when you add in red details with some orange and yellow, it screams fall.  Next I focused on our two coffee tables.  I used a wooden serving tray to house some coasters and a bucket of Halloween candy and put a potpourri pumpkin and candle on the other table.  Have I mentioned how obsessed I am with Bath and Body Works new fall line of mason jar candles?  They smell amazing and are so cute!

Now that the living room was done, I used the remaining items in the kitchen and mud room.  The mud room only has a small table that I wanted to keep simple, so that was pretty easy.

 
Then it was onto the kitchen.  We have a shelf over our kitchen sink and then a dish rack/shelf in our dining area.  Here's how I styled those.

This was just the leftover stuff I didn't use in the other rooms, but I think it all worked out well.  The green apple plate is one of my favorite finds that we got at a winery a few years ago.  I found the long brown paddle board at a yardsale over the summer for 50 cents.

With the inside done, it was time to focus on the outside.  Over the summer, we had found a little table while visiting my in-laws up in New Hampshire at a discount store for only $20.  It sat on our front porch for months with nothing on it, so I was excited to finally decorate that little corner.  I picked up a few mums at Market Basket along with some inexpensive gourds.  Then on a family trip to the pumpkin patch, I got two pumpkins for the stairs.  I stole borrowed the hay from my parent's house and used it to give some height to the smaller mum. 
 

Our front porch (if you can even call it a porch) is tiny, but I realized over time that there was room to at least do something cute.  I love how this came together and now we can enjoy it all for a little while longer before it's time to decorate for Christmas!

Be well,