Touches of Fall Décor
It’s finally fall! The weather is getting cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and all I want to do is decorate! Even in a downsized house, there are lots of opportunities to create touches of fall décor.
Let's start with the door wreath
In our downsized house, it’s important to remember that all purchases need to be intentional, especially seasonal. We spent so much energy getting rid of unnecessary stuff, that it just doesn’t make sense to go out and replace it all. If there is an opportunity to repurpose something, that’s always my first choice. One thing I saved from my extensive fall décor stash was the door wreath. It’s been packed up for a year and needed a refresh.
Last year's wreath
Here is last year’s wreath. It had a metal turkey in it which I must have sold. The leaves looked tired and wrinkled and several of the sprigs were bent. I started off by pulling out all the leaves.
fall stems
My favorite refresh for an old wreath is to just buy a couple of new stems at Hobby Lobby. The assortment is endless and I always find something that will work.
Pumpkin Bags
Pumpkin fillers are also at Hobby Lobby, and perfect for a million projects. I knew I would use these either on the wreath or around the house. They look great in bowls or in my case a lantern.
Wreath Transformation
Step 1: Remove all the old leaves from the wreath and fluff the bent stems.
Step 2: Add the new stems to the wreath. It’s as easy as sticking them into the base. Space them out evenly throughout the wreath.
Step 3: Add a focal point. I chose to use these pumpkin stems. You could also use a little wooden fall sign or a flower stem. Get creative!
Outdoor Touches of fall décor
Creating a fall look by the front door is fun, especially in a sea of townhouses that all look alike. It’s your guests’ first impression of your style and it’s a way to express who you are to a passersby. It also just makes me happy eveytime I come home.
I had an old lantern that I used to have on my kitchen island. It’s way too big for that now, so it’s been moved to the outside. The pumpkin bags that I bought from Hobby Lobby are what I used to fill the lantern up, in addition to some pine cones I had from last year. The doormat came from Target as well as the rug I used to layer underneath. I love shopping the end caps at Target for seasonal items! The little barrel table came from Target too, but during the summer clear out. I plan on that being a mainstay and changing what sits on top with the seasons.
Indoor Touches of fall décor
The kitchen is the hub of our downsized home, so I focused my indoor decorating there. This tray sits on the kitchen island and changes with the seasons. For fall I fill a glass candle holder with pumpkin and pinecone fillers. The Pumpkin came from Target. The skeleton rat was last year’s purchase from Grandinroad (my favorite seasonal online magazine). In addition to those I add fall colored candy in a Halloween bowl and glass jar. My kids always loved the candy part.
Another favorite purchase from Grandinroad are the eyeballs that I use each year in a glass vase with inexpensive moss from Hobby Lobby. Around the vase I just fill in more pumpkins, pinecones, and fake leaves. This wooden tray serves as the centerpiece for my big farmhouse table.
The coffee station is a two tier metal tray that changes with the seasons. In the fall, my gnome coffee cup comes out with a paper Mache pumpkin and pumpkin coffee syrup.
Halloween Touches of fall décor
Just because you are an empty nester, does NOT mean that you don’t get to decorate for Halloween! In our last house we had a huge tree in the front yard that we posed our skeletons on. We may not have a big yard or a tree anymore, but those skeletons made the “downsizing cut” and needed a new adventure! I can’t wait to see if we have any trick or treaters this year, but if we do, I’m ready!
