Fall Porch Tour 2017

We’re friends, right? So I can tell you what REALLY happened when I decorated my front porch for fall this year?

Awhile back I had this crazy idea to use an old chippy white door as the centerpiece for the porch. My husband and I brainstormed how we could anchor it so it wouldn’t blow over, and I began to plan what else would sit in front of it. The best part about fall decorating is that your decor comes mostly from nature, right? Well, I spent the weekend being 1 hay bale short of glory. 😉 I’ll tell you what that means in a minute.

This last Saturday, we headed to Bauman Farms in Gervais, Oregon, to get our pumpkins. (Have you been? It’s a little slice of heaven!) I was so excited to get home and decorate the porch! We cleared off the summer decor, and started with a fresh slate. Here’s the blank canvas:

Don’t worry, sad little porch, here comes the FALL!

We unloaded the truck and set everything out to begin the process. Little did I know it would take THREE attempts to get it right. Yes, THREE. Ugh.

The front door area was easy. I attached this cute little “Harvest” cut-out, made by Niki at Carpenter Farmhouse, to the basket on the door, and filled in with our farm finds! Mums, hay, corn stalks, and pumpkins…ahhh, yes!

But then. The trouble began.

We anchored the door, and placed a sweet little bistro table in front. I filled in with pumpkins and LOTS of other things, and it was ONE. HOT. MESS. Oh my goodness. TOO MUCH STUFF! It gave me a stomach ache. You know when something just isn’t right? We had to hit the road for a football game, so there was no time to fix it. Nope. I’ll just stew over it all night, K? (I’m gonna show you a pic. But promise you’ll still love me.)

Don’t say “It’s not THAT bad!”…Trust me. It didn’t look good in real life. The bistro table looked too “light” in weight in this scenario, and didn’t make enough impact. Plus can you even DEAL with all of the skinny legs everywhere? It’s making me cross-eyed! 😉

Sunday arrived and after church I decided to FIX IT. It was windy, rainy, and COLD, but I ripped it apart and added a different table (one with more “presence”). Nope. Still bad.

On Monday, it hit me. Maybe if I remove the jumble of decor from under the table, and replace it with one simple hay bale, the look will lock in for me? YESSSSSSSSSSSS. That was it. The hay bale.

Adding something from “nature” was the ticket, and kept it from looking like I was trying too hard. Ya know? So now let’s chat about the other details.

-THE SIMPLE LIFE sign. I have been on the hunt for just the right fall porch sign for awhile. I never found what I was looking for, so the night before we got pumpkins I took matters into my own hands. 😉 I scrounged up a raw board in the garage, put some letter stickers on it, and painted over the entire thing with black craft paint. Then I just peeled the stickers off, and VOILA! Free sign!

-The pillows. I like to think I’m fairly realistic when it comes to decor. I knew I would NEVER find the pillows that were in my head, so I decided to DIY those as well. I ordered some plain burnt-orange outdoor pillows, and stenciled them with white craft paint. Bam. Fun & easy!

-The vintage throw is something we’ve had for years, and I seem to use it every fall in some way. 🙂

-The striped outdoor rug. This little cutie is here pretty much year round, and makes any decor pop. It has never faded and I love it! You can find it here. (Note: this rug is often out of stock, but be sure to sign up for the alert for when it’s back in stock!).

The lesson here? Decorating is all about trial and error. That’s ok. That’s normal. And sometimes all you need is a bale of hay. 🙂