I love to look for ways to stretch my design and decor budget – especially when it comes to seasonal decor. I enjoy sourcing cast-off faux pumpkins, Christmas trees, garland and kitschy dishes from secondhand stores and garage sales to keep things out of the landfill, but also because buying new and paying retail can eat up our budgets quickly.
But I also love decorating with real flowers, real plants, and this time of year – real pumpkins. Yes, I have a bin full of faux pumpkins (that I purchased in January for 90% off at Hobby Lobby for 25 cents a piece…) and of course my disco pumpkins that I’ll pepper in to my displays between now and the next 365 days of the year because, disco… But there is nothing like an array of pumpkins in several varietals, mixed in with ornamental gourds to get a girl going in the fall.
A Stairway
Last year I decorated our stairway in our foyer with an assortment of enchanted pumpkins, white pie pumpkins, fairytales and more.
As the fall season morphed into Halloween, I added orange fairy lights to “up” my spook.
The Kitchen
A few weeks later I realized this time of year especially, I spend more time in our kitchen then I do in our foyer and while I loved the fairytale vibes of the pumpkins stacked romantically on our round staircase under the leaded glass windows, what I really needed was them keeping me company in our kitchen, under our white brick range hood.
To place pumpkins in tight spots, work with things you already have around the house to give some variation in height. I stuck a pillar candlestick in the back on one side and placed a pumpking there, and a large thrifted, pedestal bowl on the other where I stacked some pumpkins like a cute topiary. I used a black painted terracotta flower pot and put another pumpkin on it. I placed a few in front, right on the counter and it created a cozy cocoon of pumpkins where I spend so much time.
Guess what? The orange fairy lights made their way into the kitchen, too – right before Halloween!
I love reminding people when decorating – none of this is permanent. We aren’t picking life partners here. Your holiday (or any) decor can, and I would argue, should be moved around as your interests and needs change throughout the season. It’s all about bringing joy anyway, so if you can shuffle and rearrange the things you purchased and get even more enjoyment from the same purchase, let’s do it!
Outdoor Fireplace
This fall, I first decided to dress up our stone fireplace in our backyard with my usual suspects pumpkin lineup – but this year I actually discovered a brand-new-to-me varietal with these cool ombre style stripes that morph from orange on white to green on white and they’re HUGE! Statement making pumpkins have my heart. They’re called “One Too Many Pumpkins” and their sort of apropos name sort of have my heart, too.
I flanked the vignette with perfect-for-fall, cooler weather Crotons, and a set of four grapevine lanterns I somehow scored at The Goodwill.
As homage to our favorite falls spent in New England, I placed a little row of mini pumpkins on the fireplace ledge.
Front Porch
Inching further into October, I really wanted to get with the fall porch program that my neighbors were on. My parents will be visiting for Magnus’ birthday and I want a super festive porch to greet them while they’re here, coming and going so I decided to relocate the pumpkins – even the Crotons and lanterns – to the front of the house.
Our front steps are now full of stacks of staggering pumpkins, two bales of hay and four, oversized, battery-operated candles that I have used on end for over three years. Well worth the money spent!
I purchased the hay bails at Hobby Lobby for 40% off and immediately stored them in big garbage bags. My hope is that if I take good care of them and keep them stored in the bags, I’ll be able to use them for a few years.
The trick with making any amount of pumpkins and gourds look plentiful is to layer to give height and create depth by placing smaller ones in front. You can use anything to layer and give height – you don’t have to spend more money on pumpkins for the back row where really, that’s just where you just need height. You can place pumpkins on top of upside down, empty planters leftover from your summer porch, even an upside down utility bucket from Home Depot with a piece of burlap, black fabric or fabric paint dropcloth.
It’s October 10th and I can already tell some of these pumpkins will be taking up residency in another new locale soon because – why not? If something is serving you but you wish it were some place else – negotiate with yourself a little bit! Of course you can run out and buy more pumpkins. But you can also reimagine your design, borrow from Peter to pay Paul, get creative, and come up with something else! Give yourself a chance to stretch a little bit! Your creative self, and your wallet – will thank you.
