Elevate Your Front Door Design for Fall

Whether your home is currently on the market or you simply want to celebrate the season, dressing up your front door with a fall flare is a great way to create a festive and welcoming vibe.

While it’s important not to overdo it, a few of the following easy but effective front-door decorations from Better Homes & Gardens offer a great way to get into the spirit of the season.

Play with pumpkins. Create a welcoming front entry by displaying pumpkins of various sizes and shades on your front stairs or stoop. Try stacking them, using the widest and flattest pumpkin on the bottom. Instead of the traditional jack-o-lantern, etch a “Welcome” message on a pumpkin, extending its use as a seasonal greeting.

Arrange fall grasses. Add an elegant touch to your seasonal entryway by arranging decorative grasses in shades of brown, beige and green in a container by your front door. Use tall, galvanized buckets filled with leafy branches and ornamental grasses, which provide a neutral backdrop for colorful mums, gourds and pumpkins.

Try a neutral palette. While the classic pops of orange, red and gold are always welcome in fall, experiment by decorating with a more neutral palette at your front door. Utilize vertical space by flanking the door with tall corn stalks, and when it comes to pumpkins and gourds, opt for a softer, more muted color palette of whites, creams, light orange, pinks and greenish-grays. Top off your soft color scheme with potted white mums. This look is especially effective against dark or boldly colored homes.

Display your hydrangeas. While most of your blooms have long since faded away, fall is a great time to make use of the hydrangeas that have dried on the bush. Cut and arrange them in stone or metal containers on either side of your front door. Or add them to a grapevine wreath to adorn your front door. 

Personalize a welcome mat. A hand-painted welcome mat can make your porch pop with seasonal spirit as soon as autumn weather hits. Use pumpkin and leaf stencils and tape them against a plain coir doormat. Once the shapes are in place, use a foam brush to dab paint over the design. After the mat dries, scatter pumpkins around the porch to get the full fall effect.