Get inspired by the natural beauty around you, and deck your home in leaves, pumpkins, and more!
With golden leaves falling all around, we have the perfect opportunity to enjoy the magic of autumn and participate in the wondrous beauty around us by decorating our homes in seasonal colors and textures. In this guide, you’ll find inspiration to help you create enchanting fall displays for both inside and outside your home!
An Illinois Guide to Outdoor Fall Decor
Our porches, gardens, and back and front yards are canvases begging to be decorated with the colors and patterns of the fall. From outdoor seating to porch displays, here are some of our favorite ways to adorn your landscape with the golden-red beauty of autumn:
Seasonal Wreaths
Your door is the center point of your home; it’s the gateway to your living space, the threshold you and your guests pass through daily, so treat it with the respect it deserves and let it exude the joys of fall by hanging a seasonal wreath! While you can purchase one from any home decor store, we like to give ours a personal touch by crafting it with our family using found materials from our gardens. Leafless branches, colorful leaves, dried flowers, twine, acorns, and ribbons are key components of this fall decor centerpiece.
Creative Pumpkin Decor
Pumpkins are fall’s ready-made outdoor decor. These eccentric vegetables make a statement even without any extra help from us and bring the spirit of the harvest right to our front porches. With that said, you can also carve them, stack them, or turn them into compelling pumpkin planters for some extra autumnal pizzazz.
Pumpkin Planters
Pumpkin planters combine the brilliance of fall flowers with the seasonal personality of pumpkins. Simply put, a pumpkin planter is a carved-out pumpkin in which you plant your favorite seasonal flowers. The end result is a unique display that is perfect for your front porch, back patio, or anywhere else in your landscape that needs a bit of extra fall charm! Just remember to drill a hole in the bottom of your pumpkin for drainage when carving your own.
Fall Porch Displays
When it comes to your fall displays, remember that pumpkins are just one of the hundreds of options available to you; straw bales, scarecrows, pitchforks, festive blankets, cornstalks, gourds, and wooden stumps all make fantastic seasonal additions to your front or back porch’s seasonal decor. Look around and let the beauty of autumn guide you as you set up your unique display.
Cozy Backyard Fall Seating
With temperatures dipping, now’s the perfect time to transform your backyard into a warm, cozy sanctuary, perfect for relaxing and enjoying the cool fall days and evenings with friends and family. Warmth and comfort are key to creating a pleasant fall experience for you and your guests, so think Adirondack chairs around a firepit, rugs around your seating area to keep your feet warm, and benches with seasonal cushions and blankets.
Seasonal Outdoor Lighting
With the sun setting sooner, seasonal lighting adds an element of warmth to your backyard seating. Try your hand at installing string lights, or use lanterns, candles, or the orange glow of Jack-o-lanterns to infuse your outdoor space with a uniquely autumnal ambiance. When setting up your seasonal lighting, keep in mind that brighter is not necessarily better; ideally, the flicker of low lights will still allow you to enjoy the glow of the moon and stars.
An Illinois Guide to Indoor Fall Decor
With so much fall beauty surrounding us outside right now, there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy it indoors, too. Here’s how to bring fall colors and the spirit of the harvest to your tables, mantelpieces, and indoor living spaces:
Festive Dinner Settings
The cornucopia is a staple of fall dinner decor, but it’s not the only way to tablescape your dining room this autumn; miniature pumpkins, gourds, fall leaves, and acorns all work just as brilliantly as centerpiece elements for your next fall feast. Try arranging them with candles and ribbons, and—for a unique touch—mix in some meaningful personal items from the fall, like your favorite photos, postcards, and souvenirs.
Decorating with Warm Textiles
It wouldn’t be fall without the season’s signature palette of beautiful colors and textures, so use them to underlay your home’s displays. Vermillion, gold, scarlet, bronze, sky blue, ochre, and yellow are all mainstays of the fall palette, so incorporate them into your coffee table, mantelpiece, and dinner table decor with napkins, tablecloths, and other interesting textiles.
Fall Leaf Garlands
Sew together fallen leaves into gorgeous seasonal garlands to grace your doors, banisters, and walls with fall color this year. It’s best to use colored leaves that are still attached to their branches, as these will still be pliable and strong enough to string together. Hang your wreathes in areas where they won’t be easily disturbed, as they will become fragile as the leaves dry out.
Cut Ornamental Grass
If you have ornamental grasses growing in your garden, a handful of cut stalks make fantastic cut flower substitutes! No need to put water in the vase; simply arrange the grass stalks in an empty vase of your choice and enjoy their luxurious golden beige and burgundy accents.
Pumpkin Spice Everything
Pumpkins are just as stunning inside as they are out! Miniature pumpkins and gourds can be placed on tables around your living room, dining room, and front hall, while full-sized pumpkins and squash can be enjoyed in any corners or empty floor spaces that need a touch of harvest magic.
We hope our 2023 fall decor guide got your creative juices flowing, and that you’re excited to start decorating your home! However, if you’re still looking for inspiration, simply go for a walk in your neighborhood, around your local farms, or in the local countryside, and let the natural world guide you. For supplies or more expert fall decor tips to help you get started, come visit our garden centers in Bloomingdale and Carpentersville!
Platt Hill Nursery is Chicago’s premier garden center and nursery.
