90+ Fall Decorating Ideas for a Beautiful Autumn Season

September 19, 2012
Helen Norman

Bring the warm colors of fall into your home with these beautiful and simple decorating projects.There are so many ways to decorate your home in a tasteful and festive way for fall. Pumpkins, gourds, fall foliage, and pinecones are a handful of popular themes that can serve as inspiration. You can mix all of these elements together across your mantle or you can stagger them artfully down your front steps. You can make a fall wreath out of miniature pumpkins. Use all cream for a more modern look or brightly colored orange for more Halloween-centric curb appeal. We love a garland made out of oversized pinecones that incorporates fresh magnolia or greenery secured with florist wire. Take the fresh elements off the pinecone garland before storing during the off season in a plastic tub. When decorating for fall, it is best to get the most bang for your buck and pick one look that will carry you through the tailgate, Halloween, and Thanksgiving seasons. There's no need to be too holiday specific.

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Try Out These Easy DIYs to Decorate Your Home for Fall

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Simple 10-Minute Rustic Mantel

Photo: Laurey W. Glenn

Simple and rustic, this quick-to-make arrangement delivers what Southern Living floral genius Buffy Hargett Miller calls "an easy wow."

How To Do It:

Wrap twine several times around votive holders(similar votives here) and colorful fall leaves, and then secure with a knot. To construct different heights, top the votives with varying numbers of small white pumpkins. Add a touch more autumn dazzle to your display with this simple addition: Gather an assortment of colorful fall leaves, and use wire to fasten them to a length of rope to form a beautiful seasonal garland. Using temporary adhesive hooks, attach the garland to your mantel.

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Fall Pumpkin Tableau

Laurey W. Glenn

Bring fall into your foyer with a simple tablescape.

How To Do It:

Pick a few branches of colorful fall leaves, and arrange simply in a tall glass vase filled with water. From this bold focal point, build out the rest of your tabletop display. Gather an array of seasonal gourds in a mix of colors, sizes, and textures for variety. Stack flat gourds of graduated sizes, and top with a large glass cloche (available at crafts stores or online). Fill another smaller glass cloche with bleached pinecones, and invert; we used it to top one of our flatter pumpkins, but feel free to improvise. Add a potted plant (we used a small olive tree) to the arrangement for texture. Place small gourds around the larger items, and scatter more bright fall leaves along the table.

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The 25-Minute Centerpiece

Photo: Laurey W. Glenn

A smart mix of green tones, white, and flashes of fall color make this centerpiece feel like a fresh, modern cornucopia.

How To Do It:

Take a round or oval container, and fill it with potting soil. Plant a mix of succulents (such as echeverias) toward the center of the bowl, leaving plenty of room around the edges. Nestle small orange and white pumpkins into the soil. Add seasonal vegetables like kale, radishes, and eggplants. Use bundles of fresh herbs (such as rosemary and sage) to fill in any gaps. Surround with more pumpkins and votives.

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Step-By-Step

A smart mix of green tones, white, and flashes of fall color make this centerpiece feel like a fresh, modern cornucopia.

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Pumpkin Votives

Photo: Laurey W. Glenn

Feel free to skip the container and scatter the votives anywhere that could use a little fall glow.

How To Do It:

Fill a rustic container two-thirds full of water. Use a craft knife to trace circles a little larger than the bottom of a tea light into the orange mini pumpkins. Cut and carve out the circles to allow a candle to fit inside comfortably. Insert tea lights. Float pumpkin votives as well as whole pumpkins in water. Using the photo as a guide, add bright fall leaves and sprigs of herbs for color and texture.

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Incorporate White Pumpkins

Photo: Laurey W. Glenn

White pumpkins add an unexpected and elegant twist.

The 25-Minute Wreath:

Start with a store-bought grapevine wreath. Pick an odd number of white mini pumpkins. Attach pumpkins to florist picks, and then work the picks into the wreath, making sure to space them evenly. Secure pumpkins to the wreath with wire. Using additional florist picks, attach seasonal greenery (we used smilax) and bittersweet (available at your local garden center), filling in the spaces between pumpkins. Add an assortment of fall leaves to wreath with picks and wire for a colorful finish.

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Tabletop Pumpkin Topiary

Photo: Laurey W. Glenn

Raid your kitchen cabinets to gather the elements for this fragrant display.

How To Do It:

Start with three bowls of graduated sizes. Place wet florist foam in each bowl, and trim, as necessary, so the top of the foam is even with the top of each bowl. Stack the bowls with the largest on the bottom. Using florist picks, secure white pumpkins and artichokes in an asymmetrical arrangement to the foam of each level. Take a mix of fresh herb and pepper plants out of their pots, and wrap in plastic bags so they can be replanted later. Attach berries (we used brunia) to florist picks. Working one side at a time, use herbs, peppers, and berries to fill in the spaces between the pumpkins and the artichokes. If desired, create smaller accent pieces with single bowls, sprigs of herbs, and individual pumpkins.

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Carve Out a Mumkin

Photo: Hector Sanchez

What do you get when you combine the fun of a pumpkin with the beauty of a mum? A "mumkin," of course! Fill smaller gourds with containers of pansies to create a trio of trusty sidekicks.

Get the Step-by-Step: Mumkin Container

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The 10-Minute Fall Apple Centerpiece

Photo: Laurey W. Glenn

We'll show you how to whip up a striking seasonal tableau with bright green apples at its core. Trust us, this one's easier than it looks.

Watch the full tutorial: The 10-Minute Fall Apple Centerpiece

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Fall Foliage Arrangement

Photo: Helen Norman

The key to arranging leaves is to group them by size and color as you would flowers. Fiery red maple makes a beautiful focal point when countered with the feathery foliage of dawn redwood laden with globes of gray-green fruit on the fringes.

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Line Your Steps

Photo: Helen Norman

There's a reason you see mums each fall—they work. Once buds begin to open, you're guaranteed blooms whether your display is in sun or shade. To prolong the show, water when dry and remove spent flowers. Pair with Mexican sage and boxwoods for this stunning display.

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Pile Them On

Photo: Laurey W. Glenn

For a quick and easy approach, group your favorite tiny pumpkins on a side table, and let the collection speak for itself. There is no right or wrong way to create this display. This arrangement looks unintentional, adding a carefree, casual seasonal touch.

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Blooming Pumpkin

Photo: Jim Franco

To make this arrangement, choose your favorite pumpkin (we like the flat-bottomed Fairytale) and pick up some violas, pansies, red and green leaf lettuce, thyme, and rosemary to decorate. Clean the pumpkin with a Clorox wipe, cut a hole in the top, and scoop out seeds. Line with aluminum foil or a plastic bag, and fill three-quarters full with potting soil and plants. We used Sorbet violas and Crystal Bowl pansies.

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How To Make A Blooming Pumpkin:

Give your fall decor an upgrade this year!

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Natural Tablescape

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Simple white plates paired with timeless flatware and thin stemware keep this more rustic setting looking elegant. Bold orange napkins give the setting a pop of seasonal color.

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Make Pomanders

Photo: Ralph Anderson

Display oranges studded with dried whole cloves for a festive and fragrant addition to your fall decor.

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Fun Serving Pieces

Photo by: Helen Norman

Topped with silver serving pieces, pale gray and green pumpkins add interesting height to your buffet.

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Pumpkin Topiary

Photo: Helen Norman

Vertical displays make a big statement at the front door. Tucking in cool-weather edibles such as ornamental flowering cabbages, kale, and bay leaves adds a distinctive twist. To create topiaries, sandwich bay wreaths between pumpkins stacked in concrete urns, and top with a small pumpkin.

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String Together a List of Blessings

Photo: Jennifer Davick

Print out individual words on tabs, and fold them around twine. Weave the twine along the center of the table.

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Welcome Friends

Photo: Jennifer Davick

To arrange the perfect Southern table, keep these tips in mind:

  • In the napkin arena, nothing's nicer than a generous 22-inch hemstitched piece of white linen, monogrammed and crisply ironed.
  • Create a look that is "uniquely you" by combining simple stemware with more decorative china, or vice versa.
  • Try to incorporate as much vintage silver as you can find - they add sparkle to a table.
  • Don't forget to set place cards with your own handwriting for a personal touch.
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Make Custom Candleholders

Laurey W. Glenn

Transform mini pumpkins into luminarias by cutting a 1-inch-wide circle into each pumpkin, scooping out the centers with a tablespoon, and inserting votive candles.

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Shed New Light on Canning Jars

Photo: Laurey W. Glenn

Peel off the labels of pickle and okra jars, and use a cord kit (paperlanternstore.com) to illuminate each one. Equipped with a dimmer and hung at varying heights, they provide the ideal mix of rustic and industrial.

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Front-Door Harvest

Photo: Helen Norman

Pair pumpkins with potted kale to create a warm welcome. Grace an entry with a garland made of clippings from the garden.

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Fancy Pumpkin Display

Photo by: Helen Norman

It’s simple to decorate pumpkins with just a few supplies from the hardware or crafts store. Create stylish seasonal decor with some gold and black paint and place them all around the house.

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Rustic Centerpiece

Photo: Helen Norman

Naturally shed antlers lend a new twist to table decor. Pile them up with different-colored pumpkins, pine cones, and loose nuts and bring the outdoors in.

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Make an Impression

Photo: Helen Norman

Double the impact of an arrangement by placing it in front of a mirror, like this one made from a barn window.

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Add Height to Your Pumpkin Display

Photo: Laurey W. Glenn

Arrange branches, dried grasses, moss, squash, and small pumpkins in a vase as you would a traditional flower display. Then, choose a single pumpkin with an interesting shape or a twisted stem to showcase. Place it on a smaller table or stool to help set it apart from the rest.

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Pumpkin Carving Idea: Message Pumpkin

A picture may be worth 1,000 words, but a few words can have major impact. Use this pumpkin carving idea to carve a message on your pumpkin. Southern Living Associate Garden Editor Rebecca Bull Reed created this work of art and added the wise words “Spooky is what you think you see.” What do you see?

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