With Fall right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about ways to transform your decor and embrace the autumnal hues, chilly mornings, and shorter days.
Your front porch can do a lot to change the feel of your house. Instead of simply having a few chairs and a welcome mat, you can transform this space into an extra room of your home that turns heads and adds some great curb appeal.
These nine decorating tips will help take the front of your home from stoop to stellar, adding textures, colours, and a cozy vibe that’ll have you smiling every time you walk up your front steps.
Let’s get started.
1. Wreaths
They’re not just for Christmas anymore. A fall wreath that’s built around the neutral colours of the season is a great way to incorporate an inviting centre piece to your front porch.
Whether it’s made of dried grasses, woven branches, or autumn flowers, a wreath will add a welcome bit of texture and interest for anyone visiting.
2. Repaint
This might be a bit drastic, and you’ll have to check with your community guidelines, but adding some colour to your door can go a long way in changing the feel of your porch.
While a wreath can add some fun texture to your porch, a new accent colour to your door can change the look and feel of your entire house.
Fall colours are obviously a great place to start for the season, but you’ll definitely want to consider a colour that’s going to look good every season.
3. Dried Plants and Flowers
Nothing screams autumn like the browns, rusty reds, and creamy neutrals of dried grasses, flowers, and heartier stalks (think corn or wheat!)
As the season of the harvest, Fall has a long tradition of showcasing the bounty of the earth, and gourds, with their oranges, greens, and yellows, like to take centre stage this time of year.
Creating arrangements using these unique elements can set your porch apart from those of your friends and neighbours, and provide you with a sweet reminder of the summer growing season before winter takes over in a few short months.
4. Paint a Pumpkin
Speaking of gourds, Halloween’s best friend can easily be spruced up to provide a unique decorative element throughout the entire year.
Throw a coat of paint over your pumpkins and paint an inspirational quote, your favourite design, or even your house number. There are lots of ways to keep these impressive vegetables working for your porch throughout the season.
If you really want to kick it up a notch, add some glam to your pumpkins by painting them a metallic colour. Bronze, silver, or gold will really set them apart.
6. Upgrade your light fixtures
Lighting makes such a difference to the feel of a space. With the sun going down earlier for those of us in the northern hemisphere, adding some warm and comforting lighting to accent your outdoor space can make your porch feel so much more inviting.
This can be done by adding candles, or packing small string lights or LEDs into mason jars.
Warm, yellow light will cast a particularly charming shadow in autumn’s evening twilight.
7. Accent furniture
While neutral colours may win the day in terms of Fall decor, a poppy piece of patio furniture can take a porch from good to great. Find an old wooden bench and give it new life through a coat of bright yellow or red paint.
Just imagine how a brightly painted accent will make the subtle hues of pumpkins, sunflowers, and chrysanthemums come to life.
You don’t have to be a DIYer to create accent furniture either. Lots of patio furniture these days will give you options for including brightly coloured cushions that can accomplish the same thing.
8. Fabrics
Outdoor rugs, pillows, and blankets can add a deliciously cozy vibe to an outdoor space. Look for rugged fabrics that can stand up to rougher textures of outdoor clothes, shoes, and coats, but also ones that bring in the cozy colours of the season to add texture to the space.
The simple addition of an comfortable rug to an outdoor space an make a porch instantly feel like another room of your house. You might have to pay extra attention to the weather report, depending on where you live, and take your fabrics inside if there’s frost or rain in the forecast.
9. A New Welcome Mat
Simple—but oh-so-fun!—a new welcome mat is a great way to add some of your personality to a space. These days there are so many interesting, quirky, and unexpected welcome mats that you can find for your home. Look on-line for one that speaks to you, and lay it down in front of your door as the pièce de résistance of your beautiful new outdoor entrance.
Beautiful!
