Say Goodbye to Dollar Store Picks With These Unique DIY Fall Decor Ideas

When making DIY fall decor there are two important factors to consider. The first is that you’re saving money. While fall decor, such as fake pumpkins, dried ornamental grass, or faux plants may not be that expensive, when you buy them in batches for both interior and exterior use, they can get pricey. So, making the decorations yourself is a fantastic way to save money that you can spend on more pumpkin spice food.

The second great advantage of creating your own fall decor is that you create something more personal than those tacky plastic and rubber toys you’d purchase at a dollar store. They are unique, reflecting the personalities of you and your household who had a hand in their creation. The human eye is quite good at differentiating between something that was manufactured to appeal to the most basic “cuteness receptors” in our brain versus something that has a lot of heart and soul in it.

With all that in mind, let’s consider all the unique DIY fall decor ideas you and your family could try out when colder weather, school, and seasonal holidays are right around the corner. So get your glue gun ready, as well as some string, a few old books, and a lot of pumpkins.

Decorating with Corn

When it comes to fall shapes and forms that we are all too familiar with, corn is really indicative of the season and pretty much all the seasonal holidays. We recognize the cob with the tiny kernels on it, the yellow hue contrasting the green husk. But what about using entire corn stalk decorations? It’s a very simple decor idea, but one that adds a lot of charm to your home’s exterior.

All you need is to purchase a corn stalk, which you can usually get in a bundle of 10 to 15, and set up the stalks all around the house, preferably in places where its height is accentuated by nearby design elements. For example, place it next to the front door with other classic fall decor and watch as your entrance turns into a gateway to an autumn paradise. Just make sure to not move them around too much as they are somewhat flimsy and can flake all over the place. It’s better to find a spot for them where the wind won’t blow them away, since, despite their height, cornstalks are quite light. 

Laying Your Head On Something Familiar

Seasonal Pillowcases and What You Need to Make Them

Pillowcases or covers add a surprising amount of character to your interior. While you could argue that the couch does a lot of the heavy lifting in your living room set, the pillow covers add just the right amount of personality to give the living room some extra flair and charm. The problem with pillow covers is that many homeowners settle for whatever the manufacturer provided with the pillows or couch themselves. But if you go that extra mile and design something that is closer to home, your fall pillow covers are going to be much more than your average pieces of fabric.

Get some seasonal piece of textile and wrap it around your pillow to see how it looks. Linen, for example, is a great material for fall decor as it’s a rustic material that invokes the feeling of being in a farmhouse or cottage. If linen is not available, you can also go for a checkered pattern. If you have some old unused checkered flannel shirts laying around the house, reuse them instead of throwing them out or turning them into rags. Use extra pieces of fabric to cut out seasonal shapes, such as maple leaves, pumpkins, or acorns to add some playfulness to your pillow covers as well. 

The Literal Season’s Greetings

How to Give Your Guests the True Season’s Greetings

Wraiths are more than just a mere decoration: they set the mood for your guests and let them know what to expect once they set foot into your home. It shows just how much you enjoy the season with all its holidays and literally gives them a season’s greetings. And while we usually associate seasonal wreaths with the winter holidays, fall wreaths are very much a thing and you can make them yourself.

Now sure, you can buy them from a dollar store for $3, but why do that when you can make your own personalized ones. Gather some loose, dried-up branches from your lawn and tie them together into a circle using some thick yarn. Use a glue gun to attach some colorful leaves from your lawn, a few tiny fake pumpkins, and gourds, and if you want to make it something truly personal, you can even attach pictures of your family. This makes your fall wreath seasonal, cute, and most importantly personal. 

Creating the Perfect Fall Garland

Garlands and Streamers Are Beautiful for the Fall Holidays

Streamers are something we are used to seeing decorating homes on the winter holidays, but nothing stops you from creating them for your indoor fall decor. All you need are some faux leaves, flowers, and plastic floral filler, as well as floral wire onto which you can assemble the garland.

Braid the faux flowers and little ribbons onto the floral wire. Using a glue gun, stick some acorns and pine cones onto it as well. If you happen to have small gourds or other kinds of squashes, you may also glue them onto the garland. Just make sure they’re not real so they don’t rot and are not too heavy for the garland to hold up. Drape these over the top of your curtains, focal points of the room, or simply drop them on the edges of the floor near sliding glass doors. They offer a lot of creative freedom for you and your household, and for less than $10, making them a very cost-effective fall wall decor DIY project. 

White Pumpkin Decor for Just About Anything

The Rise of White Pumpkin Ornaments

Faux pumpkins are nothing new. Since this particular fruit is strongly associated with the season, it’s natural that pumpkins would be a staple in autumn decorations. But while we’re all very used to seeing ripe orange pumpkins outside of people’s homes or decorating the interior, nowadays, white pumpkins have been making quite an appearance. 

With the expansion of fall’s color spectrum beyond the traditional orange, yellow, and brown, there are other neutral hues that make their way into the cornucopia of seasonal colors. White pumpkins are a testament to this and are a unique take on the traditional squash we are all used to. You can even find cute wooden pumpkins that you can paint any color yourself to give it an even more personal touch. 

Don’t Forget the Fireplace Mantel

Make Your Fireplace Mantel the True Focal Point

There’s really no forgetting the fireplace. It’s one of the coziest corners of your home and can be the host of long hours of family time. It’s amazing how a little insert in the wall where you can burn wood is able to create such a captivating area for the whole family to sit around, enjoy the warmth and the sound of crackling wood. The mantel above the fireplace also gives you plenty of opportunities to decorate your living room and give it more personality.

Fall decor for the fireplace mantelpiece is among the most charming out there. The pumpkins are a given, of course. But what else could work really well are dried sprigs of ornamental grass? Fountain Grass, for example, with its bushy florets that droop over the sides of vases, is great for the mantel and offers some rustic vibes that are a staple of fall motifs. Get some branches with colorful maple leaves on them and use that as fall mantel decor, allowing the branches to droop over the sides, giving your mantelpiece a more natural appearance. Find a fake plastic lantern from a dollar store, fill it with some acorns, pine cones, and leaves, place it in the center of the mantelpiece and you have yourself something that is infinitely superior to any cheap fall decor you would have gotten from a shelf. 

Table for a Festive Feast

Fall Tablescape and Centerpiece Ideas Are Limitless

Finally, we come to the most memorable part of any holiday out there: food. Not exactly food, but something having to do with the dinner table. There is at least one big holiday feast that you may be hosting throughout the season. Aside from the delicious-looking food that you will have on the table, you also want some other things to help your feast pop out in the eyes of your guests.

Enter fall table centerpiece and tablescape decor. Small fake pumpkins, small real pumpkins, modern minimalist takes on the cornucopia, as well as some dried ornamental grass, and faux (or real) flowers are all great examples of how you can give your dinner table an autumn touch. The sunflower can be an unusual addition to your tabletop repertoire as most people are used to seeing it in the summer, so it’s a nice change of pace. You can also try various hues of marigolds, which will surely brighten up your table with their rich orange and bright reds. And if you want to go for some harvest motifs, consider drying a few pomegranates and placing them around the table with a small assortment of flowers. Their slightly muted red hue from the dryness can be a nice contrast to the vibrant fall table decor that surrounds them and the bulbous shape is a great way to add more dimension and form to the table.