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The Frugal Homemaker

Your guide to turning your house into a home... one DIY project and yard sale find at a time

20+ Fall Decor Ideas

November 12, 2015

Hey all!  I am glad to be back after taking a bit of a break after the 31 days series in October.  I always give myself a little grace and just allow myself to take some downtime/take time off/catch up on regular life after the month of October.  I actually unexpectedly took on a pretty big project in October which was a bit crazy to balance  – can’t wait to share more about that later.  

And I am so excited that the holidays are just around the corner – I can taste that Thanksgiving turkey and pumpkin pie already and then the fun of Black Friday shopping and full fledge Christmas season begins.  I know some love or hate Black Friday shopping but it just a fun tradition for me and I look forward to it every year.  Not sure I even have much on my list this year but it just gets me in the mood for the hustle and bustle of the busy Christmas season! 🙂

I am trying desperately to wait until very close to Thanksgiving or after to share for those of you that prefer that everything Christmas doesn’t happen until the turkey leftovers are in the fridge 😉 , but I might have to sneak one or two in beforehand to just start getting you inspired for Christmas decorating.   So I thought before we move on to Christmas decor and all kinds of projects I already have in the works, I would recap all my past Fall and Thanksgiving projects.  So many of you have joined since the last fall season and especially since the previous 2-3 year so some of these you may have never seen.  And maybe you will get a last minute ideas for something you can do or add to your home for all the guests coming over Thanksgiving week.

I loved looking back at all my Fall mantels… I have blogged about 5 of them now as I entered my 5th year of blogging this fall.  Each one is a bit different and I can see my style of decorating and level of decorating change with each one.

This was my 2011 fall mantel – my favorite part is the “Give Thanks” DIY banner that I added later in the season.  

Fall mantel

In 2012, I made a pallet wood backdrop to feature on my mantel and then a “FALL” DIY burlap banner.  

Fall mantel with DIY pallet wood backdrop

My mantel in 2013 has been my most popular fall mantel, actually any mantel, of all time.  Featured on Country Living site and and facebook page multiple times and shared literally hundreds of thousands of times.   It’s just a collection of lots of thrift store and yard sale finds all grouped together and I still love all the textures and colors and the little touches like that tiny little “Fall” banner on the shutters.

Fall mantel decorated with lots of yard sale finds

Since I loved my 2013 fall mantel so much and everyone else seemed to as well, I just made a few simple changes for 2014.  That white pumpkin and the thrift store flannel throw along with the chalkboard is my favorite from this mantel.

Fall mantel with chalkboard

And in 2015, I completely changed it up with a much simpler look and lots of rustic wood accents from several DIY projects I did.  You can find the tutorial for the wood pumpkins here and the DIY barn door shutters here.  I am thinking those might get flipped over and painted white on the other side and used for Christmas this year 🙂  

Fall mantel with DIY rustic barn door shutters and DIY wood pumpkins

This DIY candle centerpiece was one my first blogging projects, a knock off of a project done by Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick.  

DIY fall candle centerpiece

I use this burlap wreath every year through different season someplace in my house.  Changing up the ribbon can make it look springy or perfect for fall or Christmas.

Burlap wreath (rolled book page style)

And sadly the attic heat has not been kind to the hot glue on my Cinnamon Stick wreath but I think I can do a bit of repair and still get a few more used out of this cinnamon stick wreath – another favorite.

DIY Cinnamon Stick Wreath

I shared lot of fall printables in this post – perfect for a quick and easy way to add some fall decor to your home.

Free fall printables

I made this Pumpkin Topiary pre-blogging days after seeing one my mother-in-law had bought at a store that I loved.  It’s such a fun centerpiece.

DIY Pumpkin topiary

LOTS of ideas for your Thanksgiving table in this post – easy and inexpensive!

Fall Table

This easy (and free) fall leaf wreath is a fun project that even your kids can do – and you can clean up some of those leaves in your yard in the process too. 

Fall Leaf Wreath (made for free)

On a whim I grabbed all the fall picks and flowers in my stash and put them all together in a fall wreath – I call it “the day fall exploded all over my front door wreath.”

Fall wreath

Want some fun ideas to keep the kids occupied and make a special table just for the kids on Thanksgiving?  20+ Thanksgiving Kids table ideas and lots of free printables in this post.

Kids Thanksgiving table ideas

Here’s another fall/Thanksgiving table idea.  I love those Better Homes and Gardens plates – they were available at Walmart several years ago – but not now.  If you really want them you may be able to find some on ebay.

Fall table with BHG fall dishes

This was my fall porch back in 2013.

Fall front porc

I made a bit simpler fall wreath that year with some fall flowers on a grapevine wreath – easy tutorial here.

DIY Fall Floral wreath

Did you know you can make your own mercury glass with a speciality spray paint?  You sure can!  All the details can be found in this post.

Mercury Glass Pumpkin tutorial

Painting pumpkins can add a fun touch to that traditional fall decoration.

Painted pumpkins with Behr paint

This year I created a DIY painted wood sign to dress up my fall porch – link to template and tutorial here.

DIY painted fall sign and fall porch

I also have tons of ideas for decorating natural elements like pinecones, pumpkins, acorns, corn husks, dried corn, pumpkins and so much more in my 31 days of fall inspiration series.  You can find all the details and links in this post.

Happy Fall!  Enjoy these last few days of fall in November and any fall colors you still have on the trees!

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Comments

  1. Robyn says

    November 13, 2015 at 12:18 PM

    I am glad that you took a break but am so happy that you are back! I missed you! I love all your mantles. Easy to do but beautiful. Thanks for inspiring.

    Reply
  2. Lanita Anderson says

    November 14, 2015 at 10:21 AM

    Hi Christina,
    Hope you enjoyed the break after a great 31 days series….it was one of my favorites! I’ve missed you on the blog, so it’s great to have you back and it was great fun looking at all of your “fall posts”. Fall is my favorite season of the year, and it was nice seeing a recap of your great ideas. I’m still planning to do a pumpkin topiary….. Thanks for sharing! Hope you have a great weekend! Can’t wait to see your Christmas ideas….
    Blessings,
    Lanita

    Reply

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Hi!  My name is Christina . . .

I love doing simple, frugal things to make our house feel like HOME! Come learn along with me how to have a beautiful home on a budget.

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