60 Fall Decorating Ideas for a Beautiful Autumn Season

Step one of fall decorating is adding a seasonal wreath to the front door. This one incorporates white pumpkins, which are a favorite for the fall season. If you're up for a quick DIY project, we suggest trying the 25-minute wreath below—it starts with a store-bought wreath, so you know it's easy! 

How To Make 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.

Much like adding a wreath to the front door, decorating a seasonally-inspired table is a way to make your home feel fall-ready. Your foyer is a great place to start with a simple tablescape. We especially love the use of glass cloche containers and terra cotta pots for a touch of garden flair. 

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.

Let's not forget about the mantel! 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.

If you're having any sort of fall festivity at home, add this easy DIY project to your to-do list. Pro tip: 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.

A smart mix of green tones, white, and flashes of fall color make this centerpiece feel like a fresh, modern cornucopia. Make this centerpiece your own by adding succulents, fresh veggies, or any other decor that feels right. Here, anything goes!

How To Make the 25-Minute Centerpiece:

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.

Raid your kitchen cabinets to gather the elements for this fragrant display. Perfect for the kitchen, it incorporates fragrant herbs, pumpkins, artichokes, and our favorite—white pumpkins. 

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.

What do you get when you combine the fun of a pumpkin with the beauty of a mum? A "mumkin," of course! To execute, carve out a medium-to-large pumpkin to fit a store-bought pot of mums. Then, simple place inside as you would a pot. To maximize the look, fill smaller gourds with containers of pansies to create a trio of trusty sidekicks.

Apples are the core of any fall centerpiece. Why? They're in-season, relatively affordable, and colorful. Here, we created a "gathering" basket of sorts by lining Granny Smith green apples alongside moss, rocks, and green berries on the inside of a long basket. On the outside, we added a single-line border of green carnations and spider mums. 

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.

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 to recreate this stunning display.

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.

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.

For a natural tablescape that feels equal parts rustic and elegant, pair simple white plates with timeless flatware and thin stemware. Bold orange napkins can give the setting a pop of seasonal color, if you're into that.

Display oranges studded with dried whole cloves for a festive and fragrant addition to your fall decor. These can be hung from a mirror or mantelpiece, or displayed in a pretty bowl as shown here. Bonus points for something copper or wood in color as it picks up the brown hue of the cloves!

Topped with silver serving pieces, pale gray and green pumpkins add interesting height to your buffet. To execute, simply find Cinderella pumpkins that are as-close-to flat on the top. Then, just cut off the handle of each pumpkin and place a serving tray atop that is as close to the pumpkin's circumference as possible. 

Vertical arrangements make a big statement at the front door. To create topiaries, sandwich bay wreaths between pumpkins stacked in concrete urns, and top with a small pumpkin. Tip: Tucking in cool-weather edibles such as ornamental flowering cabbages, kale, and bay leaves can add a distinctive twist or a fun shake-up if you're keeping this up for an extended period of time.  

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. Finally, don't forget to set place cards with your own handwriting for a personal touch.

Want your front porch to feel more fall harvest than Halloween party? Pair pumpkins with potted kale to create a warm welcome. Grace an entry with a garland made of clippings from the garden.

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. 

How To Do It: 

Stick round labels on a pumpkin and trace the shape with a pencil. Remove the labels and paint inside the traced circles with gold paint. For another effect, apply labels to pumpkin, and then cover entire pumpkin in gold paint. Remove the labels when paint is dry.

Want to add some height to your arrangements? 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.

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?

Construct an easy-to-assemble Indian corn garland beginning with a piece of sisal rope. If you like, dye it dark brown or a golden maize shade. Wrap it with broomcorn, corn tassels (stalks are available at farmers markets), or other dried grasses. Place corn along the rope single file or gathered in bundles of three. Wire corn securely in place, and then tie raffia on top for a finishing touch. Hang your garland across a door or from your mantel.

Don't limit yourself to just traditional orange in your display. Orange and yellow pumpkins really pop when mixed with bright greens. Try using small green plants as well as gourds and squash with green tones.

For an elegant fall dinner, emphasize the beauty of the meal by serving it on gold and glass dinnerware. Pro tip: Let your menu influence your decor. For instance, this menu includes berries (hello, pies!) so we selected seasonal flowers in deep pink and berry tones. 

To make these festive party decorations, pick up a carving or soft-skinned pumpkin, an awl (pointed tool), and some cut mums. Using the awl, poke a hole in the pumpkin and fill it in with a mum stem. Repeat this process until the entire pumpkin is covered. To help extend its life, keep this decoration in the refrigerator until party time.

Terrariums are an easy way to grow plants indoors. Start by choosing a clear glass container with a wide opening. Gently add fine gravel to your container. Top with a thin layer of aquarium charcoal. (Both of these items can be purchased at a pet store.) Then add moist potting soil. These miniature landscapes can hold a collection of colorful plants for display or just show off one plant. Good choices include ferns, peperomias, succulents, begonias, Irish moss, miniature orchids, kalanchoes, and African violets.

Celebrate the bounty of fall with multiple show-stopping arrangements. Orchids, lotus pods, rose hips, and cattails brighten this dining room. The symmetry of the two makes for a perfect pairing on the mantel.

Announce your address in style by cleverly etching your house number (or your initials or name) into a pumpkin. You can pile a combination of traditional and heirloom pumpkins on your front steps, and top with your etched design.

Etching will leave an artful design on your pumpkin. The technique allows your pumpkin to last longer and is less messy than traditional carving.

A neutral backdrop of white linens and dishes puts the focus on punches of orange and green, as shown with the colored glassware, mini pumpkins, linen napkins, raffia-wrapped water glasses—and, of course, seasonal leaves. 

A coat of metallic gold spray paint upgrades a grouping of glass candlesticks (thrift store finds!) and heaps of large North Carolina apples. Feel free to do this with fake produce, so you can keep from year to year. 

Want to know a secret? Upholstery tacks lend a graphic look to plain white pumpkins. Mix up the sizes and shapes of the tacks to create different patterns.

Easy-care succulents, such as sedums, echeverias, crassulas, and more, are all the rage. We love the idea of creating an actual green tabletop with a bed of moss and variety of succulents and seasonal gourds on top. 

How to Do It:

Punch three holes in the bottom of a boot tray with a hammer and large nail. Fill the tray about three-fourths full with a premoistened mix of 3 parts potting soil and 1 part sand. Position two or three bricks in the center. Plant an assortment of succulents shoulder to shoulder around them. Fill crevices with Scotch or Irish moss, which thrives in well-drained soil in sun or part shade, as do succulents. Top the bricks with pumpkins. Water when the soil is dry to the touch. This display will withstand light freezing temperatures, so it's okay to keep it outdoors.

A stark color contrast gives your fireplace mantel an animated, playful feel, and the branches and moss add height and dimension. Use small containers in a black or dark wood finish along with items such as horns, crooked sticks, and Spanish moss. The darker colors will help the bright orange pumpkins stand out.

How to Do It:

For a more traditional pumpkin arrangement, choose an assortment of small pumpkins and squash in muted colors that complement the surrounding style of your fireplace mantel. Bring in other items from around your home that you wouldn't normally think to pair with pumpkins, such as julep cups and old books covered in elegant paper. The key is to keep the look simple by sticking to the same basic color tones.

This buffet of sweets features store-bought goodies that guests of all ages will enjoy. For a unified look, place desserts on a collection of white cake stands and platters.

Black and white 'Lumina,' 'Moonshine,' and 'Jarrahdale' pumpkins set a mysterious air in your garden. Cluster them on your steps or pile them up on a table. If you can't find white or gray pumpkins locally, try spray paint.

Write the name of each guest on a leaf place card attached to a little felted acorn that doubles as a fun party favor. Scatter loose felted acorns—or real ones—up and down the table to play up the natural theme.

Take the Thanksgiving feast outdoors. But don't host your friends and family on folding chairs and paper plates―bring the good stuff outside. Surprise guests with a perfectly set table in the garden.

Look to an heirloom china pattern for inspiration, like this palette of champagne and gold with subtle touches of pink. Don't be afraid to combine old with new, traditional with modern, and heirloom with inexpensive.

The plumes of eye-catching purple fountain grass become more numerous as fall nears. For a stunning arrangement, flank it with another explosive favorite, 'Fireworks' gomphrena, which is great in the ground or a pot. Add three 'Bandana Red' lantanas for bright blooms and two 'Margarita' sweet potato vines to trail—and voila! 

Create a functional but beautiful sideboard by grouping simple fall arrangements, like these bouquets of orange dahlias, red and yellow roses, and calla lilies, with festive plates and serveware. It makes for a stunning statement piece and is also functional as a serving station for a meal or snack. 

For an arrangement that will last through Thanksgiving, place a potted oncidium orchid in a large, lined cachepot, and surround it with water-soaked florist foam. Insert cut fall foliage into the foam along with dried crepe myrtle pods and rose hips. Then add stems of orange dendrobiums in water-filled florist tubes.

Host a stylish autumn get-together without breaking the bank by recycling things around the house. You can fill an oversize jug with branches of leaves cut from the yard for a free centerpiece. Then, simply set the table however you'd like and drape some blankets on the back of chairs in case guests get cold. 

To accent the door knocker, zip-tie two crookneck gourds together, and then zip-tie them to a foam-core oval about 5 inches long. Cover ties with ribbon. Working at an angle, hot-glue sprigs of coontie palm, croton, holly fern, asparagus fern, and abelia to cover the foam core. Loop wire through one of the back ties, and hang above the door knocker. The hardy foliage will last about two weeks in cool weather and can be replaced.

If you're looking for a wreath that'll go from Halloween through Thanksgiving, consider doing it with mini pumpkins and gourds that act as a fall neutral. Fill in the gaps with moss to make it feel fresh and full. 

How to Do It:

To make the pumpkin-and-gourd wreath, first cover a 20-inch foam form with sheet moss, using a glue gun to hold the moss in place. Loop a 3-inch-wide burlap ribbon over the wreath to create a hanger long enough so it can reach the top of the door and allow the wreath to hang at eye level. Insert wooden florist picks into the bottoms of pumpkins and gourds, and hot-glue the connection to secure. Once the glue has cooled, stick pumpkins and gourds into the wreath. Fill in with more moss, using a glue gun. To hang the wreath, secure the burlap ribbon with an upholstery tack hammered into the top edge of the door.

Decorate the porch with pumpkins, gourds, and hay bales for a look straight out of the pumpkin patch. The hay bales are great for adding height where needed, as are baskets and pots. Pro tip: You want this set-up to feel symmetrical but not perfect so start with the same base on either side—here, the hay bales, baskets, and boxwoods—then fill in with no pressure to match perfectly. 

Create a dazzling kaleidoscope of colors on your tabletop by mixing bunches of blooms and foliage in a rainbow of hues. The savory scents of the dried herbs will subtly enhance the aroma of a special meal. To illuminate your table, just add a glass hurricane and candle to the middle of the wreath. After displaying it flat as a centerpiece, you can hang it from a pretty ribbon to enjoy it from a different perspective.

How To Make It: Dried Flowers and Herbs Fall Wreath

Doing Thanksgiving outdoors? Don't underestimate picnic tables if you have them. You can do them up for a holiday or party with rustic centerpieces, like the ones here at Blackberry Farm that line the center of tables with an array of colorful gourds.

It's cute as can be, but don't call it pumpkin! It's actually pumpkin-on-a-stick eggplant (also called scarlet Chinese eggplant), which turns a brilliant red-orange color when it matures and begins to dry. Look for it at farmers' markets or in the floral sections of large supermarkets, or grow it yourself from seeds.

How To Make It: "Pumpkins" and Acorns Fall Wreath

Give your outdoor space the feel of a dining room by surrounding a rustic picnic table with upholstered chairs like the orange wingback options used here. Pro tip: Don't worry if you don't have a full set of matching chairs, either. As shown here, the eclectic mix of different styles can create a welcoming, "gather as you are" vibe. 

Embellish a store-bought garland by adding bittersweet, fall foliage, or dried hydrangeas. Finish the look with pumpkins and cabbages on the steps and a pine-cone wreath (accented with leaves and flowers on the door. Tip: Prolong the life of greenery with spritzes of water; coat pumpkins with Mod Podge.

Cast an inviting glow on your steps using paper bags stenciled with the shapes of fall foliage taken right from your own trees. This can be a fun project to do with your kids, as it only requires paper bags and scissors—and if you're going fancy, a stencil or decorative scissors. Oh, and sand and votive candles to make them shine. 

How To Make It: Paper Bag Luminaries

Tamale wrappers create a hot look that's sure to spice up your entry. Simple corn husks are folded into loops for a ruffled effect that softens the straight lines of the paneled door. A bold chartreuse bow echoes the greenery in the pedestal urns.

How To Make It: Corn Husk and Ribbon Fall Wreath

Use pumpkins as risers to elevate appetizer plates. Serve the crackers on the lower level and a variety of cheeses up top. Create a simple look by piling pumpkins in a Champagne bucket and weaving branches of berries around the rim. To avoid pumpkin overload, add a cut-flower bouquet arranged in a pitcher. Tip: After your party ends, fit these pumpkins into other displays around the house.

Plan ahead for plantings that will transition through the holidays with a few additions. Start with ornamental cabbage, bittersweet, pumpkins, dried hydrangeas, artichokes, and ivy, then add in gilded branches and berries to suit the season.

Tip: To withstand October's lower temps, plant window boxes with cold-hardy cabbages and ivy. Add the largest items first; then nestle in smaller things, such as branches of bittersweet. If it's a dry fall, water weekly.

Look to the land for seasonal table décor. Remove the top of heirloom pumpkins to create a trio of festive vases. Fill them with bouquets of roses, persimmons, wheat, dried lotus pods, hydrangeas, fern fronds and oak leaves.

Tip: Keep all eyes on the showy centerpieces by pairing the bold blooms with simple dishes and linens.

Create a festive retreat for guests with lots of plush seating and a mantel swathed in a foliage garland made from a combination of oak and magnolia leaves. Swag only one side of the fireplace for a modern feel. Complete the look with simple and weighty pottery crocks filled with autumn leaves, hydrangeas, and berries.

Tip: Dry your summertime hydrangeas to use in fall arrangements.

Rake in the compliments with a wreath featuring brilliant autumn leaves. This works with maple, oak, sweet gum, hickory, dogwood—whatever is putting on a show in your yard. You can also make it with preserved leaves purchased at a crafts store or online.

How To Make It: Colorful Foliage Fall Wreath

Ribbons of burlap create a rustic background for iconic fall plants that are bundled into sheaves to form decorative accents. These look great when hung on a front door, in each window, on top of columns, over a mantelpiece, you name it. 

How To Make It: Indian Corn Badge

Bring the season to the table with a decorating recipe that calls for pumpkins and mums in warm shades of paprika, cinnamon, and curry. Add a helping of Indian corn on the side, and don't forget to sprinkle in assorted pecans, hickory nuts, and a few acorns gathered from your yard.

How To Make It: Harvest-Inspired Patio Decorations