How to Create a Welcoming Fall Entry to Your Home
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FINALLY I have been able to do something with my house that isn’t related to the house fire recovery! I’ve been waiting for this day! Ready to feel more festive and normal. And what’s better than turning to my front porch for some fall festiveness?!
The porch has been under repair until last week. The floor got some damage, but because it had to be torn up we couldn’t work on it while we were doing the other fire recovery. That would have caused the rest of the work to stop since we needed to be able to go in and out the front door, duh. So finally after moving back into the house we started work repairing the porch. Most of the floor got torn out and replaced, repainted and now it’s all decorated for fall. I still want to paint another rug on the porch, but it probably won’t happen until next spring.
I had to really search locally for mums and pumpkins. Here in South Texas it’s still pretty hot and they haven’t hit the stores yet. But we were hosting a bridal shower last Saturday and I really wanted to get the porch fixed up before the shower. That way it would be ready for fall and I would have a welcoming shower entrance.
I love that this is the first thing you see when you walk up to the house. I want friends to feel welcome to stop by anytime! If we’re not home just sit a spell and relax. 🙂
My prayer is that everyone feels welcome. Sure we may be crazy, but it’s a good crazy. And we always have something yummy to drink and games to play.
I took an old, worn out looking fake pumpkin and woke it back up with black and white paint. I didn’t have any white craft paint so I just used the paint from the trim inside the house to paint it all white. Then I went back with black craft paint and a foam brush and freehanded squares to create a checkered pattern. I don’t mind that it’s kinda messy because it only took me a few minutes. I like a lazy project!
At the top of the steps next to the little bench is a sign I made that says, “We are thankful that you came for a visit”.
For the wall sign and the little pumpkin chalkboard signs I used my new fun discovery, Chalk Couture. I love chalk art but find it hard to do since I’m not that good at drawing or handwriting. I’ll share more details about that at the bottom of this post.
As you turn toward the door there are more mums & pumpkins are waiting to greet you.
I found that little vintage shopping cart years ago at a flea market and I fill it with seasonal décor. It just makes me happy for no particular reason.
Even if you don’t have a big porch like I do, you can still create this feeling. It’s not about the porch itself, but how you present it. Get some pumpkins (at least half of these pumpkin on my porch are fake) and some mums and scrounge around Hobby Lobby for buckets or baskets to put it all in. Find a great quote and put it on the wall by your door or on little chalkboard plaques attached to the pumpkins. You can even buy pumpkins that are already painted with dots or checks or stripes if you don’t want to paint them yourself.
I discourage you from painting real pumpkins. I know that you see it all over Pinterest, but in my experience when you paint a real pumpkin it compromises its strength and they wither and rot quickly. So I leave the paint to the fake ones.
Like I said, I used Chalk Couture products to do the signs. Instead of chalk, its a chalk paste and super easy to use! For the little signs I used their Fall Florals transfer with paste colors: Pumpkin Pie, Buttermilk and Garden Herb (you’ll also need the little squeegee to apply the paste). For the sign on the wall I made a word stencil with my Cricut and used the chalk paste called Garden Herb. I got the blank sign at Hobby Lobby (be sure to use your 40% off coupon!). The little chalk signs will erase with water and I can use them again for other things. The wall sign won’t erase well, but I don’t care because I wouldn’t want to change it anyway. I just hung it with Command Strips so I can just change the sign instead of changing the words.
Go get some pumpkins and mums and do something pretty with the entry to your home. It’s affordable and so easy! Once you’ve gathered all of your pretty things, search Pinterest or study what you like about my porch and copy it. There’s no shame in copying someone else’s porch décor. It will still look like you because you can’t copy anyone else exactly.
And when you’re finished post a pic on social media and tag me in it. We can be fall porch buddies!