As the temperatures drop and colors change, families tend to spend more time inside at home. You can enjoy the fall colors and natural elements in your home by bringing the outside in.
Adding the color and textures of the seasons is easy with natural fall decor and winter decorating ideas. Our natural winter decorations and homemade fall decor are either inexpensive or even free, making it affordable and easy to feel warm and cozy as the seasons change.
1. Play With Colorful Chrysanthemums
Chrysanthemums are everywhere when the calendar flips to fall. These affordable potted flowers make lovely porch decor, and you can cut stems to bring them inside for centerpieces. Add bare branches to the pots or scatter hay bales and pumpkins around the pots.
Your mums will last longer if you water them daily and remove the dead flowers. You don't have to remove them from their plastic pots, just drop the plastic pot in a larger one and fill the space between them with leaves, twigs and small pumpkins.
2. Carve Pumpkins, Jack-o'-Lanterns and Gourds
Nothing says natural fall decor like pumpkins and gourds. Buy a bunch in a variety of colors and sizes. Leave some whole, then get creative with the others. Rather than cutting a typical face into your pumpkins, consider cutting shapes like circles and stars. Then, drop in a dollar-store twinkle light and watch it shine through. You can also add interest by removing the top half of the pumpkin and cutting a decorative edge to resemble an all-natural tealight holder.
3. Decorate With Branches
We also love the look of branches in the fall and winter. While you're on a hike enjoying fall colors, look for branches with leaves, berries or drying flowers. Bring them inside and put them in interesting places: over a decorative mirror, above doorways or on a sideboard. This natural fall decor is completely free and adds a natural touch to your home but make sure to follow any local regulations about removing foliage from its habitat.
4. Make an Outdoor Found-Object Centerpiece
Pine cones and other found objects make interesting centerpieces. Choose a favorite bowl and add pine cones, colorful leaves, dried flowers, and tall branches to share your favorite natural fall decor with your family. Your children can help find outdoor objects for the centerpiece and change them as they find new items.
5. Fill Glass Jars With Acorns, Nuts, and Candles
Shop your favorite craft store for canning jars and other wide-mouth jars to use as found-object candle holders. Place a candle (in its own glass jar) in the bottom of the jar, then drop acorns, nuts, and small items around the edge. Use twine to tie leaves around the perimeter of the glass jar and get creative with other outdoor elements. Be sure to keep the flammable items away from the candle flame!
6. Add Winter Greenery to Your Porch Pots
After you've cleaned your porch at the end of the summer, leave the porch pots for winter decorating with the greenery you find around your home. Use pine cones, evergreen branches, and bare twigs to add substance and height. This easy natural winter decoration adds interest to your porch. You can also add garlands and twinkle lights for variety throughout the winter.
7. Create Ambiance With a Tealight Log
On a fall-colors hike, keep your eyes peeled for a small log you could put on your mantel, coffee table, or sideboard. The log should be big enough to drill several tealight-sized openings. Before you make the tealight log, let the wood dry. Remove the bark or keep it on — based on the natural winter decoration style you want. Battery-powered tealights look just as good as candles with real flames.
8. Display Pine Cones on Interesting Candle Holders
Gather your favorite silver candle holders in a variety of sizes. Place them on a silver or white tray. Find several pine cones and spray them subtly with silver paint. Display the pine cones on the candle holders and scatter other favorite elements like colorful ornaments, small greenery, or tiny twigs on the tray.
9. Spray Your Fall Pumpkins and Gourds
Give your natural fall decorating ideas new life by changing their color. If you have a bunch of gourds and pumpkins that you haven't carved, spray paint them your favorite winter colors, like various shades of white, gray, silver, and gold. Create new vignettes with greenery and other natural winter elements. Place them in or around your houseplants to give them a winter flare.
10. Make Craft-Stick Snowflakes
Craft-stick snowflakes bring the outdoors inside. You'll need glue, craft sticks, an X-ACTO knife, and paint. Buy craft sticks in a variety of sizes, and use the knife to cut interesting shapes. Consider tying your snowflakes to yarn to create a garland for your mantel or staircase railing.
