Fall front porch, a mix of DIY and rustic decor

Hi guys, I am coming to you on this Friday evening for a special reason; I am sharing my Fall front porch, a mix of DIY and rustic decor! This is also a big deal because I am linking up with a group of bloggers all sharing their fall outdoor spaces as well for this outdoor spaces blog hop, fall edition. Yep, pretty much my favorite way to spend a Friday night, immersed in home decor and stalking other peoples homes!

You will be able to see all of the outdoor spaces blog hop, fall edition bloggers at the bottom of this post. I shared my fall home tour earlier this week, you can see it here if you missed out on that post. I talked a lot about making my year-round coastal loving style blend with my fall specific decor. I gave a ton of ideas and tips. Well none of that will be happening in this post. When it comes to my front porch and outdoor decor I like to go bold, year-round bold and colorful is the way to go.

My Fall front porch is no different. This time of year nature explodes into a stunning show of red, gold, yellow and orange. I let my fall outdoor decor reflect that.

Which means lots of colors, and more of the traditional fall feel. I did add a little blue this year, and some neutral or lighter colored items as well. Really I was just having fun layering things onto my front porch and went a little crazy. A lot of my decor here is what is here year-round. The chair, table, and even the wooden boxes are there all the time. I just change up what is on top of the table and inside the boxes. Next week I will be sharing how I layered all of this. I will also be sharing the easy way I transition my home for fall, with little alterations to my existing home decor items.

I also went a little Mum crazy this year! I wanted bright colors, and these Mums gave me the chills, the really good kind. I know it was not the cold weather here in Wisconsin, because like everywhere else right now we are dealing with a massive heat wave here. I think it is supposed to break this weekend, which I am all for. It has been miserably humid for weeks. I have been watering these flowers twice a day to make them last all fall long.

Yes, that is a line of rocks in front of these rustic barrel crates. This is courtesy of my youngest son. He loves to collect rocks, and we asked him to clean out his bedroom and only keep his favorite rocks. Well he asked if he could set them outside as decorations. I said sure, as long as the rocks do not make it into your bed anymore (true story). This seemed like a good spot to him, and I am not moving them. I love little things like this in my home, a row of rocks neatly lines up from my youngest, scarecrows set out by my daughter to greet people, and my other son likes to set pumpkins everywhere this time of year. It is the sweetest reminder ever that this home is my families!

No amount of “decor” will matter as much as those random things set out by my kids. If you take nothing else from my blog, I hope that it is seen that my home is lived in, we love here, yell here, learn here, giggle here, and have a rock collection that is out of control. This is our safe haven and we do a lot of living here.  Do your kids get in on the decorating?

My daughter made this little door decoration. She tied some fake leaves to rope and then tied it around the door knob. I love it so much! We all know I like me some good ‘ole fashioned nature decor!

Pumpkins! You cannot have a fall front porch without pumpkins, just the law… or something. I don’t think you would get arrested, but definitely fined 🙂

OK, here is the perfect example of me making what I already have work for fall. I painted these wooden planks to use as a small decoration in my back yard. Well it keeps getting knocked over by wind and eventually the three boards broke apart from each other. I set them on my front porch and nailed this “fall bucket list” sign that I purchased last year. Boom, this add some color, a little fun, and also hides the spider webs that always congregate in the corner of my porch! I will let those bad boys free in a few weeks when I decorate for Halloween, but for now it is classy, cozy and warm fall decorations. No room for spooky spider webs.

With it being so hot I do not have much to show off with the rest of my yard. I have a lot of big and beautiful trees that turn bright red and gold, but they are not doing that yet. The only sign of fall I have outside (other then my front porch) are these burning bushes on the side of my house. They sure are pretty!

Decorating hack time, I went through a scarf phase. I was fancy and wore a cute peacoat with a scarf every day, I was still cold but man I looked good! Then I had kids and now wear what can only be described as a marshmallow inspired winter coat, over my sweatpants (no bra, let’s keep it real) and boots thrown on for the morning drop off at my kids school. I kicked “the fancy” once I embraced “the Mommy.” I kept a few scarves to use occasionally, and they also work for layering during fall with decorations. I added two scarves to this chair and it is such a warm little nook now.

I have sate here every afternoon waiting for my kids school bus to come and it is such a relaxing little nook on my front porch. 

I almost forgot, apples are another great fall decoration! We go apple picking every year around this time and it is a really fun family tradition. I also love the pop of deep red that these little fake beauties give off on my fall front porch. 

I keep these cute wooden boxes on my front porch year-round because they add such a great rustic feel to the space. The dark wood goes with every single season. They are really easy to change up with different decorations for every season. Quick and easy decorating hacks like this allow me to keep my sanity in tack with all of the changing of the seasons and holidays this time of year.

My kids fell in love with these scarecrows at the store, and I am a Mom that cannot say no. These are doing more than just being cute, they are also hiding my dead flowers. This time of year, in the transition between summer into fall my flowers do not look the best. Some are limping along and some have given up hope, resting until they grow back next year. So these scarecrows hide the big barrel full of dead flowers that I am unable to move from my front porch.

These Mums, I am loving! I have never seen one with a mixture of colors, but when I saw this at the flower shop I had to have it. I did not plant these like this, I have a green-ish thumb but this is next level gardening.

The one thing I love the most about my fall front porch is how cozy it feels. This time of year is a breathe of fresh air to the hot summer, and knowing the holidays are right around the corner. We always have a lot going on, three kids, two working adults… things get hectic. I like our home to be that comfortable oasis we go to block out the noise. My front porch is the first thing we see, and what greets other people to my home. So I like to go big and bold with the fall theme.

I also love that it is packed with DIY and simple decorations. Like I said, out life is hectic. Just because decorating is technically my job does not mean I have infinite time to do it all. I need quick solutions, simple crafts, and DIY ideas to keep my decorating budget down. This is what allows me to go all out for each season and holiday, cutting corners where I can, layering in store bought with DIY items is the happy balance for my home.

Whelp, I hope this extra special evening edition of my  Fall front porch, a mix of DIY and rustic decor was worth it! I know all of you lovely people get me you are my fellow decor loving crazies. So spending a Friday evening perusing other blogs, getting some fall inspiration sounds like a good time. For the next few weeks I will be breaking down a lot of my fall decor. I get a lot of comments about my home and questions asked about how to get started. I will be de-constructing my decor, showing how I make small changes to transition my home for fall. Sometimes the big picture of a full home tour can be too much, so let’s break it down and get this so everyone can decorate!

Be sure to check out the other bloggers sharing their fall outdoor spaces!