We’re one week into September, which means that it’s the perfect time to start gathering fall décor inspiration!
For 2021, I chose to embrace my favorite fall themes: buffalo plaid, pumpkins, maple leaves, and pumpkin-flavored coffee.
Front Porch
This year, I spent a lot of time debating on how “extra” I wanted to make my fall porch décor. Ultimately, I chose to keep it pretty light to allow room for Halloween decorations! I love a decked-out house for Halloween, and I felt it was best to keep my fall décor simple so I could add on to it later.
Because they were so cute, I reused my two fall porch signs from last year as well as my fall wreath. However, I added a cheerful pumpkin welcome mat from Michael’s.
Living Room
For 2021 I took my fall living room design to the next level. Since I loved my buffalo plaid theme from 2020, I chose to amplify it by adding orange plaid pillows in addition to black ones. A black buffalo plaid blanket served to tie-in my theme as well as being extremely comfy!
I laid a simple plaid table runner from Etsy across my coffee table to serve as a base for my fall centerpiece. While I kept it similar to last year’s, I added a fall leaf pillar candle to make it extra chic. I added a dramatic maple leaf garland to finish it off!
It was a challenge to decorate my living room this year. In about 3-4 weeks I’m scheduled to receive an entire new set of living room furniture, so I had the added difficulty of finding décor that worked for both my current living room setup as well as my new one. Luckily, the décor I chose should work with both sets of furniture with only minimal rearranging!
Mantle
While the rustic, ancient fireplace is my least favorite part of my rental home, it is the most fun to decorate!
This season, I placed a charming pumpkin wall sign on the center of my mantle. Because I’m obsessed with decorative candles, I artfully arranged a few fall leaf pillar candles to frame the sign. A few burnt orange candles added some color and provided a nice contrast to the leaf candles.
Finally, you can’t have fall without decorative pumpkins. I framed the mantle with two floral decorative pumpkins and placed a couple of miniature buffalo plaid pumpkins to tie in to my farmhouse theme.
Bedroom
This year, I decided to extend the fall celebrations to our bedroom.
An elegant velvet pillow from Michael’s served as the centerpiece to my simple, yet festive bedding. Two burnt orange chenille throw pillows framed a single buffalo plaid pillow to create a trendy farmhouse feel. Finally, I laid a rust cable knit blanket from Target across the foot of the bed to tie the room together.
Dining Room
Like my living room, my dining room décor closely echoed my design from 2020.
A buffalo plaid table runner served as the foundation for my cheerful fall tableau, with some fall florals for and added pop of color. To amplify the farmhouse vibes of the buffalo plaid, I placed a vintage fall truck and a rustic pumpkin on each side of the floral centerpiece.
Since pumpkin flavored coffee is one of my favorite parts of fall, I decided to pay homage to the classic seasonal beverage with a two tabletop signs from Michael’s.
In 2020, I created a similar tableau on my dining room table. However, I used significantly more pumpkins. While my dining room table looked charming, the amount of décor I used wasn’t practical. Every time I hosted a dinner, I had to move what felt like a million pumpkins- to make it worse, I had to put them all back afterwards!
For 2021, I cut the number of decorative pumpkins I used from 12 to 3. My table looks less cluttered and, in my opinion, has a better aesthetic.
