An Autumn front porch

Something about Autumn makes me itch to decorate my front porch.  Perhaps it's seeing all the inspiring images online and in magazines.  Or maybe it's just that I'm glad for the temperatures to finally be cool enough to make being outside pleasant!  Whatever the reason, here's our house all decked out for Fall.

I made a swag for our front door this year.  I've been reminiscing a lot lately about my childhood, and the cotton fields white for harvest are paramount.  Believe it or not, my grandfather (my dad's father) was a sharecropper, and my husband's grandfather was a tenant farmer.  We are definitely not from wealthy families!

I made this swag simply by stacking leaves, twigs, and other fallish elements, then wrapping their stems tightly with wire.  After everything was secure, I wrapped those wire-bound stems with jute and fashioned a hanger by tying a piece of jute into a loop.

I made a burlap bow for the swag.  The burlap reminds me of cotton bales tightly bound for transport.

Here's the front door area in all its Autumn loveliness:


 

The lanterns were a Hobby Lobby find that I filled with gourds (you can read about that little project here).  One mum I stood on a small pedestal to achieve some height; the other I wrapped with burlap.  The demijohn basket was a Pottery Barn find years ago; I think it looks very fallish.  And of course I had to have pumpkins!

Now for the sitting area, which is especially nice this time of year--perfect for enjoying a cup of coffee and a good book.

Details: I removed a couple of my regular pillows and replace them with my DIY Autumn Leaf pillows (you can read about those here).  For the lamp table, I added a large green pumpkin and a small wire pumpkin filled with dried hydrangeas.

The little blue table just got a small white pumpkin.  Simple.

And my DIY chalkboard got a little fall message as well.  

One more look:

Thanks for taking a peek at my autumn front porch.  Next Friday, September 27, I'll be joining a great group of bloggers from All Things Home an Autumn tour of my home.  It's going to be such fun; I hope you'll come back! (Update on 9/27: click here for my full home tour!)

I'm joining these wonderful parties:

Open House Party at No Minimalist Here
Fall Nesting Party at The Inspired Room
Weekend Bloggy Reading at Serenity Now
Link Party Palooza at Tatertots and Jello
Outdoor and Door Decor at Southern Hospitality