As the leaves start to turn, you can enjoy the cool, crisp fall air on your porch. Now, you just have to get your seasonal decorations in order. With these 11 fun fall styles, your porch will be the hit of the neighborhood.
Small Porch Décor
If you have a small space, you might be tempted to think all you have room for is a couple of pumpkins. By getting a little creative in the way you position your decorations, you can definitely have a fabulous fall porch without having to buy a whole new house. Take a wooden crate or box and turn it so that the footprint is on the smaller side. You can convert it into a table for lanterns, pumpkins and more. Place pumpkins and baskets of flowers on your porch steps, but avoid using both sides. Adding too much to the walking areas can make the space feel cramped or crowded.
Farmstead Fun
With a larger garden, you don’t need to go far to find fabulous and colorful sources of decoration for your fall porch. Go for a farmstead theme with bundles of cornstalks, fresh flowers, pumpkins and popular farmhouse décor. Select a few colors to suit your theme and add some seating to make the porch the ideal fall hangout. Red is reminiscent of fall and barn chic. Rocking chairs stained red, perhaps with a pale yellow table, bring out all the lovely shades of fall. Add a tied quilt or a knitted afghan to wrap up in on a cold morning or afternoon, and you are set.
Budget-Friendly Fall Décor
You want your porch to be creative and inviting, but you don’t like breaking the bank every season to make it happen. Fortunately, there are plenty of inexpensive fall designs you can make yourself at a fraction of the cost. Start with floor décor. Once pumpkins are in season, you may be able to purchase even larger ones for just a few dollars. Shop around the local farms for the best deals, and save them to use as jack-o-lanterns right before Halloween. Nothing is easier than adding fresh flowers, and chrysanthemums show the brightness and beauty of fall. Add an easy homemade fall wreath, and your porch is ready for visitors.
Elegant Fall Porch
Do you feel like some porch designs have too much going on? For a more elegant and simple fall porch style, pick one or two colors in a muted palette and select décor to match. For example, gold and brown look so lovely, but they don’t distract the eye from the delightfulness of your home. Collect maple or oak leaves and spray paint them in gold to add to a garland or wreath. Wicker pumpkins add appeal without too much color. Add a hay bale for a background that can show off white candles or dark lanterns.
Floor-Free Fall Décor
Although most fall porch styles call for putting some items on the floor, you’re not bound by any décor diva pledge to take up valuable real estate on your porch. Nor are you limited to simply hanging a wreath on your door. Wall sconces can be a perfect place to put bright fall foliage. Add a couple of hanging baskets for mums or sunflowers. Install a lantern or two to upgrade your porch lighting options from boring to beyond fabulous. You will have a lovely porch design, without any worry about clutter.
Kid-Friendly Halloween
Halloween is one season where the kids definitely want to get involved in the décor. Stock up on black paper, orange crepe paper, some fake spider webs and let the kids go to town. Spray paint foam balls and stick pipe cleaners inside to create easy spooky spiders. Googly eyes add to the fun. Trace and cut bats out of black paper or lawn and leaf garbage bags, and tape them to your front door. Forget the mess and stress of carving jack-o-lanterns. Have the older kids to paint their pumpkins, and use Mr. Potato Head pieces for toddlers and preschoolers. You will have tons of Halloween fun without creating too much extra work for you.
Spooky Fun Halloween
Making Halloween decorations that take the spookiness up a notch is not hard and can be a lot of fun. You have to be willing to increase the creepiness factor just a little. Pay a visit to the Halloween pop-up store and buy a few disembodied hands. Stick the wrists into pots of soil and you can have your own zombie graveyard right on the porch. Purchase a large package of spider rings and cut off the rings to make a creepy spider trail that spreads across your door and inside the house. An old shirt, a long wig and some stuffing might be all you need to create a character straight out of your nightmares.
Frankly Freaky Halloween
OK, you might say. Spooky is fun, but you need something really freaky. You want styles that are built for adult-sized nightmares. For this, you probably need clowns. The freaky funhouse is a surprisingly underdone theme in Halloween porch décor, so you might be the only one in the neighborhood who tries it this year. Make your front door the mouth of the clown. Paint a frightening clown’s head on a sheet, and position it around your doorframe. Drape black sheets of fabric or plastic in front of your door. Lay out a short, rounded red carpet for the tongue, and you will have a front porch that only the brave may dare to enter.
Halloween Porch Chic
Fortunately, Halloween does not have to be kiddie in appearance to be totally appropriate. These chic Halloween porches are both grown-up and celebratory of the season. If you have a long staircase, consider building toward a pumpkin patch at the bottom of the stairs. Arrange Jack B Littles at the top, with a Big Max or two after the last step. Paint your pumpkins in colors to match your style, choosing white or other elegant shades. Add hanging lights or LED tealights to your trees and walkway, for a safe, well-lit space that invites one and all to come in and enjoy.
Harvest, Thanksgiving Style
Thanksgiving is a celebration of the harvest and a way to say thanks for all those who have contributed to your life in the past year. The symbol of plenty at this time of year, of course, is the horn of plenty, or cornucopia. You can add a cornucopia to your porch without a lot of work or expense. As Halloween starts to wrap up, be sure to purchase pumpkins and decorative heirloom corncobs. If you do not have a wicker cornucopia, you can easily turn a produce basket on its side and wrap the opening in wicker for a similar feel. Fill the opening with the produce, allowing it to spill out in a casual manner that reflects the wonderful harvest this year.
Give Thanks for Pie
One of the most popular things to do at Thanksgiving is to sit and eat delicious pumpkin pie with friends and family. You can share your enjoyment with your visitors by selecting porch décor that suits the theme of the best meal of the year. Choose sturdy pie pans made from aluminum or ceramic. Fill them with small pumpkins to indicate what you plan to do with them very soon. Hand-paint a sign that visitors can read indicating the role that this holiday plays in your life.
Welcome Fall to Your Home
Fall is a great season to take your porch style to the next level. With these ideas for seasonal decorations, Halloween décor and Thanksgiving beauty, you will pass through the season with delight every time you walk through the door.