5 Fabulously Frugal Ideas for Fall Decorating

5 Ways to Decorate for Fall Almost without Spending A Dime

With the days of summer rapidly passing by, I am starting to make plans to refresh our living space for the next season. Over the years, I have collected a variety of strategies on how to decorate for Fall without spending very much money.

You’ll be surprised by how easy it is to create beautiful Fall decorations simply by using items you already have or that you can find in nature. Simply by reusing, refreshing, recycling and repurposing, you can decorate your home for the Fall season!

Let’s Get Started

I usually start with an idea of how I want the finished space to look. In other words, I create a seasonal theme. Last Fall, my theme was Tallow Berries & Twine. See the pile of twine in the bowl? I recycled that from a package I had received. I hated to throw it away!

Not to get ahead of myself, but I used that twine to cover the handle of this artificial arrangement!

Once I have my theme it is time to go through my house and find things I already have that would work well together. I call this process Shopping My Home.

For this Fall, I want to focus on a more rustic decor and then incorporate some items from nature. I will add a few accents of color by using faux berries.

My Secret Weapons For Frugal Fall Decorating

Living in a smaller home can mean storage is at a premium. Because of my storage issues, I am more focused on reusing my containers and my silk flowers for more than one season than I used to be. If I can use a decor item for more than one season, I won’t have to pack it up and then find a spot for the container it is packed in.

Often times, I may want to change the look of the flowers and containers for the next season. In that case, I reach for one of my secret weapons!

Yes, spray paint can be used to refresh your silk flowers or your containers if you desire! One year, I discovered most of my pine pics I needed for a project were still in Illinois so I got creative and used spray paint and my imagination to make pine pics for my project!

By using spray paint and adding a few more elements that I had on hand, I was able to turn this bundle of silk flowers into something a bit more versatile.

Before:

After:

I used a sprig of the refreshed tallow berry and pine bunches to accent this simple Fall Display.

Another secret weapon is to reuse containers and candle rings from one season to the next. In the photo below, you can see where the tin wall pocket says Spring Flowers.

By strategically placing a bundle of faux flowers in the wall pocket, I was able to reuse this wall pocket for fall and no one was the wiser!

Another spring item I like to reuse is a candle ring. I used a simple greenery ring around the base of this faux pumpkin.

I used a summer candle ring around the base of this burlap pumpkin. The red flowers add a splash of color.

Bittersweet – the Perfect Fall Accent “Flower”

Fresh bittersweet can be hard to find and it is also quite messy as it dries. My solution was to use faux or artificial bittersweet. This particular bittersweet is a very realistic stem. Each individual branch or stem is wired. The rusty red berries are also on wired stems so you can tweak the stems to look even more realistic.

Since we are all friends, I will share another of my secret weapons. The faux bittersweet stem shown below can be taken apart and turned into 5 separate smaller sprigs. Simply gently pull it apart where it is connected to the main stem. I tried to think of an “r” word for this process but was stymied!

Pictured below is what one of the sprigs look like after it has been removed from the main stem. It may be necessary to wrap the stems with brown floral tape. By gently pulling and stretching the tape , it will stick to itself as you wrap it around the stem.

It looks cute just like this but in order to add some whimsy and motion to the final arrangement, I like to make squiggles or pig tails, as I sometimes call them.

For this, you just need a pen or other round object that you can twist the little stem around. In order for this to work, the stems need to be individually wired. After twisting the stem around the pen, gently pull the pen out and the stem will now be twisted in a pig tail.

The berries are individually wired , too so I pulled those out a bit to give it a more natural look. You can twist as little or as much as you want! Aren’t they so much cuter this way?

It takes a little bit of time but for the price of one stem, you end up with 5 smaller stems.

Artfully Arranging the Stems in the Box

Now you can take those stems and use them to fill a wooden box or a wicker basket. I repurposed an old tool box to use as my container. I filled the tool box with brown paper that I had recycled (or saved) from packages I had received. The paper serves two purposes. It helps fill out the space in the box and adds texture to your finished arrangement.

Simply add stems until you get the look you want.

Bring in the Harvest

You can bring out the natural elements in your home with just a few simple changes. Collect leaves, pinecones and acorns from your yard. The acorns can be displayed in a wooden bowl.

Check your spice cabinet. You may have some cinnamon sticks or star anise that would look great in a wooden bowl. These spices would also add a pleasant scent to your rooms.

Star Anise

One Last Look

I hope you enjoyed my 5 fabulous frugal Fall Decorating Ideas! Whether you choose to implement one of them or all of them, I hope you learned at this one thing today! My secret weapons for Frugal Fall decorating include refreshing items using spray paint, reusing your containers and silk flowers for more than one season, repurposing and recycling items and using natural materials that you found in the yard and around your home.

A bonus tip: add a touch of whimsy by adding a garden tool to hold the lid of the box open! You could also use a sturdy twig.