Fall Front Porch

Does it feel like fall where you live? Is your front porch or yard already decked out or are you a procrastinator like me?

It’s finally starting to cool off in my neck of the woods. Yay!

I’ve been itching to get my front porch decorated. But before the décor, came the cleaning….and now you know why I’ve been procrastinating.

This summer, I’ve really let it go. You should have seen the state of my porch. No, actually you shouldn’t have….it was totally embarrassing. Just a couple of half dead ferns, some mud dauber nests, and a whole lot of dirt. Not exactly welcoming.

Ok, just one ugly before pic…

See? Just keepin’ it real;)

Ok, cleaning time!

First, we took everything off of the porch and swept it out. Next, my husband power washed the whole porch and all the furniture and stuff that came off of it. Then, I took the glass from the light fixtures inside and washed them in the sink. I also re-sealed the travertine that makes up the floor of the porch. It hadn’t been sealed in awhile and definitely needed it.

Whew, that was a job! But now it’s clean and ready to be dressed up.

Time to decorate…

 

I already owned most of the décor. The real pumpkins (only 3 of the pumpkins in this photo are real!), the pillows, the plants, the straw bale, and the glass vases inside the pumpkins by the door are the only things I purchased this year.

Oh, I also purchased the small baskets, but that hardly counts because they were less than a dollar each. I discovered that the thrift store is a great place to find inexpensive little baskets.

For the left side of the porch, I just added a couple of pumpkins to the metal chalkboard box that always sits there on top of that antique stove. Then I added a small hay bale and some pumpkins, pinecones, and mums.

 

 

 

On the right side, I added a couple of pillows from Hobby Lobby, some more pumpkins and mums, a canvas I painted a few years ago, and a faux cabbage (also from Hobby Lobby).

 

 

I wanted to use some cool colors (namely blues and purples) on this year’s porch, so I put some little blue faux flowers in the statue’s vase…

 

And I added a few more sprigs of the same blue flowers to a wreath I made awhile back….

Related: See the original wreath here.

 

The urns that flank the front door, got updated with grapevine wreaths, some mini corn, painted gingham/buffalo check pumpkins, and candles.

Related: You can see my gingham tutorial here.

For these foam pumpkins, I did the same technique (as in the Related link above), but I just brushed the paint on free hand, without using any tape. I cut off the tops of the foam pumpkins, filled them partially with sand, and inserted a tall skinny vase with a simple white candle.

 

 

 

 

 

On a totally random side note…

This photo of my front door was so hard to take. My reflection showed in the door if I took the picture straight on. So I tried taking the photo from one side, but when I checked how it looked, you could see crime scene tape and a severed hand in the reflection! Ha ha! I’m not so into Halloween decorating, but my husband and sons love it. So it’s cute fall décor on the porch and gruesome Halloween decorations in the yard.

Oh, well. To each his own;)