Do you believe it is officially time to do all the fall things? What is your favorite space to decorate for fall? I would say mine is my two mantels, my kitchen open shelves, and my front porch. A front porch is such a fun place for your home’s first impression to guests. I cannot tell you how many UPS/Instacart/Door Dash people have come to my house in the last six COVID months and have told me how much they love my house (can we just start calling this period of time C-times to make it easy btw 😂👍🏻?). These people don’t even come in my house- they are talking about my front porch!! I was so excited to make my front porch festive and pretty for fall this last week!
During my C times desire to lighten and brighten everything around me (remember my posts about my fireplace refresh, bathroom remodel, and board and batten obsession??) – my front porch was also not safe from this desire. In case you didn’t catch on to my round about way of saying it- yes I painted my front porch white… Frazee (now Sherwin Williams) Whisper to be exact. Painting has been my coping mechanism for 2020 🤷♀️.
Therefore all of my photos from pre-COVID times are pretty much outdated as no room has been safe in my house from this lighten and brighten desire 🤪.
Here is my 2019 fall front porch pre-white paint:
This year, it looks so different with the white paint! I also painted that rocking chair and mini table and replaced the table on the right with a white bench…
Cute backstory on the rocking chair and mini table:
My dad made this mini table for me when I was around twelve years old. I used it to sit on the floor and put my makeup on 🙂. He loved wordworking and making simple furniture. Sadly, this is the only piece I still have that he made. He passed away in 2006 so clearly this is one of the most treasured items in my house 😍.
My husband was a grad student in NY from 1993-1997. We had our first baby in 1995 right at the start of his third year of school. If any of you have been poor grad students- you know that adding a baby to the mix just makes your finances even more stretched. We also decided that I was going to be a stay at home mom because the cost of child care for our first baby was going to take up almost 75% of our income from my job and we figured we can figure out how to decrease our living expenses to survive without my income. While this was a tough existence- neither of us have any regrets about making those sacrifices. Our rent was covered by student loans so we just needed to live off our savings for groceries and a small income my husband was making as an assistant anatomy professor at his school. My sister had two boy babies before me so I got all her hand me downs for my new little girl (yup- she mainly dressed in little boy clothes unless her grandmas sent her cute dresses 😂).
Sorry- that back story was a bit long! Cutting to the chase- our college best friends were now living in Rhode Island and were visiting us one weekend. Our apartment had a great view of an awesome tree in the courtyard but also the dumpster next to it 😳. My husband was still studying and we were looking out the window waiting for him to come walking home. I saw a rocking chair at the top of the dumpster and said well that looks cool. My friend asked- you want it Pash? And I was like- YES! So Jimmy ran out to the dumpster, picked it out of the can for me and the rest is history… Twenty-seven years later, and I still love that rocking chair and its story :). Oh- and the friendship with those friends is still going strong ❤️.
FYI- that cute apple pillow is from one of my favorite pillow Etsy shops Faith and Chloe Designs.
Okay- now back to how to make your front porch festive and pretty for fall!
This year, I still purchased the hay bales at Hobby Lobby but since I no longer have that table on my porch- I had to figure something else out for that space. I honestly have never been one for live plants on my front porch (well anywhere in my house if I am being 100% honest with you). I just never EVER remember to water anything… but last year I was so inspired by all the mums and daisies I saw on everyone’s fall porches on Instagram that this year I figured- why not at least give it an attempt??
So here I am – with a bunch of mini pots of mums from a local nursery and a big pot of daisies…
Over the years, I have gathered quite the collection of faux pumpkins – mostly from Pottery Barn, Hobby Lobby, and Amazon. They are quite helpful in decorating a front porch before the local pumpkin patch actually opens on September 18th or Trader Joes finally gets their pumpkins in! FYI- those are the only two places I will buy real pumpkins…
Over this last weekend I decided I did not want any of my faux pumpkins to be orange so I spray painted them white and the mini ones champagne gold :).
In fact- this year, since none of my kids will be home for Halloween- I will probably only be buying the Cinderella type of real pumpkins for my outdoor decor. They don’t rot in the San Diego fall heat which makes it super easy to decorate with them for two months straight!
The leaf garland and door wreath are from Pottery Barn from quite a few years ago however they have some really pretty ones this year that I have linked for you here! I also have a whole LiketoKnowit post with all my favorite fall wreaths for you to check out 😊.
The cute round letter board is from Krumpets Home Decor and can be used all year round-it’s such a fun addition to my decor this year! I get most of my festive pillows from a favorite Etsy shop called Faith and Chloe, and those fun wooden pumpkins are from another favorite Etsy shop called Rustic Occasion (she is currently on a break though so I can’t link them here 😬).
Have you joined the band wagon on putting a 3 x 5 rug below your doormat yet? It is honestly one of my favorite decor tips from 2019! I think it was started by Studio McGee so you know it’s a great idea! Click on the links for where to get my rug and doormat.
I will be changing this porch up a little bit for Halloween in a couple of weeks by adding some skeletons and maybe a few other spooky items! This is such a fun time of year for a front porch- isn’t it? I hope you got some inspiration on how to make your front porch festive and pretty for fall and make a great first impression!
[…] While we are discussing my wreath on my front porch – you can check out my post on everything I did to make my festive fall porch here! […]
[…] a first impression. My front porch is hidden from the street (which I mentioned in my post about my fall porch here). Which basically means not too many people see it.. but that’s okay- I still enjoy […]