No "Mums" about it...dress up that front entry! We are decorating our homes in the Charlotte Metro area. Seasons are changing from summer to fall, don't leave your front entry naked...dress it up! I'm searching for some new ideas for a client's home in Charlotte, NC that we are adding some seasonal decor and decorating it for the Thanksgiving holiday. Holiday decorating can be affordable says, "Tonia Mosteller with Innovative Interiors-Charlotte, and the best thing...you can be creative and think outside the box." "The key is look for items that can carry over from one holiday to the next, you want your seasonal decor to be worth the investment." Once again, thanks to our fantastic group at BHG.com they share helpful photos and articles on how we can dress up our front entry using many things from mother nature.
Let the natural elements of a fall harvest inspire your front entry decorations for the season. Stuff the bottoms of vintage harvest baskets with newspaper and fill them with fresh apples. Attach dried cornstalks to porch posts with wire hidden under burlap, then use Indian corn, gourds, and vintage rakes and pitchforks to add to the harvest theme. Pots of red mums and red fall leaves add vibrant color, straw bales add layered height, and the front door wreath -- a head of kale surrounded by faux apples, seedpods, and leaves secured with florist's wire to a foam base -- brings the natural look together.
Antique Key Fall Pumpkins
These key-encrusted pale pumpkins are the perfect addition to a natural-color fall entry. To get the look, arrange four pumpkins on a side table, and spell "fall" using antique keys secured with long straight pins.
Pumpkin House-Number Sign
Greet guests with a fun house-number sign made from pumpkins. To make, stack small, medium, and large Cinderella pumpkins (removing the stems of the two bottom pumpkins) and trace stenciled number outlines using a crafts knife. Scrape the pumpkin skin from the stenciled numbers to reveal the lighter pumpkin flesh.
Entry with Mums and White Pumpkins
Give your home a symmetrical look by incorporating overflowing potted mums and pumpkins, plus a pretty wreath. Place two pots of burnt orange mums on every other step and line with simple white pumpkins. Hanging planters and Chinese lanterns is an easy way to finish the autumnal look.
Decorative Fall Urn
This gorgeous arrangement is freewheeling and creative -- perfection not required. Build a mound of cut plastic florist's foam pieces inside a plastic urn. Cover with Spanish moss (available at crafts stores), keeping the moss in place with green pins. Make a collar of burlap around the urn and build your arrangement with artificial leaves, berries, Chinese lanterns, dried lotus pods, and other fall favorites from the floral selection of your local crafts store. Green pins help keep everything in place.
Editor's Tip: Take your arrangement inside if you're expecting rain. It works best on a covered porch.
Leafy Front Entry
Love natural fall elements, such as gourds, cattails, and leaves? This display includes them all. The collection of fall elements fills out the steps while fake, oversize gourds welcome guests with carved grins.
Leafy Fall Wreath
Artificial leaves and berries ensure that your wreath-crafting effort lasts for years. To make this, cover a foam wreath with Spanish moss. Alternate the leaf colors as you build the wreath in a circle. Use green pins to keep leaves in place. Attach pepperberries with pins to finish.
Colorful Fall Porch
Take a color scheme through the season with pretty, inexpensive fall accents. Outdoor pillows add pick-me-up to a porch swing while a small throw rug keeps the palette going. Make a simple table by sandwiching two colorful tubs between slabs of wood. We added wheels to the base board to make it mobile.
Pumpkin Stepping Path
Squatty, tall, colorful, or scarred: All pumpkins are stars when you line them up along your walking path. Fall guests will enjoy traversing your hand-selected patch. Add white candles in small clear jars to light the way at night.
Decorative Bucket on Door
Seasonal freshness comes courtesy of live hydrangea and hypericum in this hanging bucket. Simply attach a decorative hook to your door and hang an antique bucket filled with water and the fall blooms. The seasonal display stays fresh for a few days -- enough time for your big fall gathering or to greet your unexpected fall guests.
Pumpkin-Filled Wheelbarrow
Fill an old wheelbarrow with an assortment of gourds, pumpkins, and bittersweet for a sweet decorative touch. Choose orange, bronze, yellow, and creamy-white mums to pair with decorative pumpkins and gourds.
Wreath and Natural Elements
A full and flush front entryway doesn't need much to give it a hint of fall. Large pumpkins do the trick in turning your front porch into an autumnal paradise. Pick a few bright and hefty pumpkins and place them on your front step. Add a seasonal wreath that complements your door and voila! You have a gorgeous fall entry.
