Front Door Decorating Ideas for Fall

Pumpkin Lanterns

Brighten your entryway with this festive DIY front door pumpkin décor. Paint the lanterns onto white pumpkins, or create the look by carving. If you carve, cut away the interior sections of the lantern where you'll want light to shine through, and place a battery-powered votive candle inside to create a fall-inspired light. Rest the pumpkins on tall, black candlesticks.

Basket Case

For a country-chic look your neighbors will envy, fill large metal baskets with small pumpkins. The pumpkins hold steady a mixture of curly willow, twigs and fall leaves that add a punch of autumn color.

Circle of Gourds

Fashion a fall wreath using mini pumpkins, gourds and faux leaves. Start with a straw wreath form. Tap a nail into each pumpkin and gourd to create a small hole. Remove the nail and insert a toothpick into each hole; coat other end of the toothpick with hot glue and insert it into the wreath form. Fill empty spaces with hot-glued silk leaves.

Candy Corn Fun

This candy corn-inspired porch promises fun for kids of all ages.

For the pumpkins, add a glossy finish to matte or satin paint by spraying clear polyurethane over dry paint.

For the wreaths, wrap thick synthetic-blend yarns around durable foam wreath forms. We used 20-inch tubular forms, but flat forms would work, too.

Welcome Basket

Spray-paint a quarter-peck basket white, then place flower foam in the base. Insert dried bittersweet, ginkgo branches and white-painted dried pencil cattails. Tie on ribbon and twine adorned with Chinese lantern pods. Hang it from burlap ribbon wrapped around the basket handle.

Fall Foliage

Nature abounds on this colorful fall porch. A mix of textures, including spiky grasses, mounds of mums, fluffy 'Magic Carpet' spirea and ruffled kale, fill rustic containers. Pack planters full and water only occasionally because plants grow slowly in cool temperatures. Mingle orange carving pumpkins with unusual varieties of gourds and squashes. Wrap a thick rope with outdoor string lights and grapevine balls to create a festive garland to welcome visitors.

Dried Flower Wreath

Three groupings of dried hydrangea, grasses, berries and blossoms are attached with wire or hot glue to this grapevine wreath base.

Farm-stand Fresh

Do you love apple-picking time and cruising local farm stands for end-of-season produce? Use ideas from both for this display. Fresh-picked apples fill vintage harvest baskets (stuff bottoms with newspaper). Dried cornstalks, attached to porch posts with wire hidden under burlap, add sizable impact. Indian corn, various gourds, and an old rake and pitchfork round out the country theme. Unite this riotous mix with pots of red mums and red fall leaves (we used fakes!).

A Step at a Time

Looking to make a big statement on your front porch or back deck? Repurpose a ladder as shelving by displaying a variety of pumpkins on the steps. For a touch of whimsy, nestle mini pumpkins inside terra-cotta pots.

Spirited Entrance

This combination of easy-to-make decorations (such as black-and-white painted pumpkins) and crafts store finds (like the black leaf garland) creates a cheerful entrance that welcomes visitors with the classic colors of the season.

Go Batty

This front porch scene mixes the traditional elements of pumpkins and mums with an unexpected bat greeting on the front door.

To create the look, look online for bat patterns and then cut out bats of varying sizes from black paper. Tape to your door. Cut out yellow cellophane to fit the door, then tape in place. Spritzing the cellophane with water and smoothing it with a squeegee will help remove wrinkles.

Nature's Artistry

Maybe you love long walks in fields and woods, watching leaves change and discovering small bits of nature. Bring those elements home with cut branches wired to climb one side of the door frame (we attached gathered fallen leaves) and big pots of grasses.

Spooky Style

If your fall is all about anticipating Halloween fun, then create a door that sets the proper mood. The centerpiece is an eye-catching, life-size removable tree decal. (Similar decals available from Dali Decals).