Neutral Fall Decorating at 422 13th St.

Over the past couple years it's been my misson to paint and re-vamp and decorate our home to be as neutral as possible...and this fall is no exception. There are no leafy orange garlands above my windows...no glittery orange pumpkins scattered across my buffet...no bright fall colors anywhere.

At first I was a little bummed I'd decided against color a few months ago (I have two totes FULL of beautiful fall decor in the basement as I type this), but I think this year might be one of my favorites for fall decorating EVER. Our house is easier to keep clean (do you know how hard garlands are to dust under/around??), feels WAY less cluttered, and when I pull the Halloween stuff out in a week or two, it won't seem as INSANE as it usually does (I am not a Halloween decorator by choice...Josh is obsessed with Halloween so I have some One Spot stuff I get out to make him happy).

Here's a glimpse of the inside of our home this fall...white/gray/cream became my best friends, and I only struggled a couple times to say 'no' to some of the crazy adorable fall stuff in Target's Threshold aisle. Ok that's not entirely true, it's an ongoing struggle to say 'no'...but so far so good.

OUTSIDE...

I nabbed that giant mum for $15 when it was one of Hy-Vee's 'Hot Deal's' then traveled to Manson for crazy great deals on all my pumpkins and gourds. My old, rusty barn star got a fresh coat of cream spray paint earlier this summer...and that's pretty much all it took to get rid of all the color from my outdoor decor.

I WANT ALL THE GRAY PUMPKINS.

I *may* have an unhealthy obsession with cotton.

The $50 cotton wreath I somehow managed to buy during an amazing sale  (that I didn't even know about!) for $10. 

Ignore the steps that need a fresh coat of paint...I ran out of steam on projects this summer...and we need a new screen door...but here's our little front porch for fall. ;)

Decorating with different shades of white is so different than what I've done in the past but it was a fun challenge.

This picture was taken prior to the squirrels destroying my beautiful Indian Corn, but this is what it originally looked like. ;)

I always like to make sure our shed gets a little love...hanging this feeder trough and changing the Dollar Tree flowers every couple months makes it easy to keep it cute. 

I don't know why decorating with neutrals is so hard for me...it literally couldn't be easier. An old wooden gray chair + one white pumpkin = DONE!

If this looks more like I just threw a bunch of crap in a pile and called it decorating...that's because that's exactly what I did. I try and 'arrange' this area, but it always falls over when it storms and then the chair falls apart even more and the ground is uneven and just when I'm about to give up on it, we come home from a walk and it sort of looks cute. I don't even know anymore.

INSIDE...

That was a super cheap, orange foam wreath...I spray painted it cream with leftover spray paint from my buffet project and hung it up with twine!

The only color I allowed this year! I fought for this 'B' pumpkin SO HARD a few years ago at Hobby Lobby (did you know B's are like an insanely popular letter?!) and I love it...so it's sitting atop a cake stand I scored FOR LESS THAN TWO DOLLARS. 

Dollar Tree flowers are at it again...these look pretty fake, but I feel like they add something to this corner of my kitchen.

If you haven't made a trip to your closest TJ Maxx for some wandering...do it SOON. This is a $20 candle I got for $5.99. I know. Just go. 

Today when we had our vents and air ducts cleaned I ended up having to move about four doors in our house...not real doors to rooms...huge heavy ones that are purely for 'decorative' purposes...but it's worth it, right? This beauty is my pride and joy.

It's possible I went a little overboard with the fake flowers this year...but bringing real stuff inside in the fall makes me sneeze...so fake $1 flowers it is.

My afternoon view most days...

The closer we get to Thanksgiving, I think I'll swap these hydrangeas out for bundles of wheat...but for now they're workin' for me.

More TJ Maxx candles and in five days that Cottage magazine will be replaced with Magnolia Journal...I WILL BE AT TARGET TO BUY ONE AT 8:01.

My goodness...why didn't someone tell me less is more YEARS ago? Keeping these shelves light and simple makes me happier. And it's easier to train Maverick when nothing I own is too precious for him to bang around while he learns what 'no' means.

I spray-painted my One Spot pumpkins last year...turning them from metallic orange to cream and now I'm thinking about doing it to ALL of my pumpkins. I hesitate because I know someday I might want to decorate with orange again...the jury is still out.

Trying to grow my old book collection...they're so perfect for a pop of color or height where I need it.

A few years ago when I told Josh I wanted to nail this piece of ceiling tin to the feature wall in the living room he hesitated but said fine because he likes old stuff. When I told him I 'got such a good deal on it, only $19!' He looked at my like I was crazy and said, "We paid MONEY for this?! It looks like debris you pull from a field after a tornado." Haha oops? I added a cotton garland for fall, swap the pictures out every couple of months, and it's one of my favorite walls in our house.

Jamie said I might be over-doing it with cotton, but I promptly ignored her. I need a few more books to add some height under that picture frame on the top shelf, but this is what it looks like now. Painting all my black furniture white wasn't easy (and I'm not sure I would even recommend it) but I love the results in our living room.

I added little more color than I wanted to with a couple fall canvases... but I couldn't just leave them in the basement. They're too pretty! I add a few more to my collection each year when I make a trip to Real Deals in Fort Dodge and Josh loves that I'm decorating with pictures of barns...so it's a win win. 

There it is! Simple, neutral, classic, fall decorating at our house. What are your favorite ways to decorate in the fall??

MmB