Fall Home Tour: 4 Ways to Beautify Your Home for the Season

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I’ll admit it was a bit early, but this year I’ve been dreaming about it since early August. Finally, the newly-crisp mornings whisper that our family-filled houses are almost here. In the weeks ahead, we will warm our ovens, mix our casseroles and pies, and gather around the table. Soon enough, we will have guests coming to celebrate the seasons with us.

So, 90-degree afternoons or not, I’d love to show you how I’m sprucing up for fall. Here are 4 easy ways to beautify your home as you prepare for the time together to be about more than simply the gathering.

1. Welcome well. Autumn is a special time of year when the crisp air sends us crunching over vibrant leaves to the coziness of indoor spaces. As we enter homes across the street and invite loved ones into ours, a warm welcome is key. My favorite porch decor is a vibrant-colored mum set in a galvanized pail. Our local grocery story has a bin of different colored and textured pumpkins. I picked up a few white ones to offset the yellow flowers. IMG_0222I added a personal touch with a handwritten welcome note.  In This House Chalkboard But before you get out the dust cloths and buckets of Clorox, remember that true, meaningful hospitality is not about inviting people into your perfect home, it’s about inviting them into your imperfect heart. This subtle whisper of gratitude can be a reminder of the gospel that an open home is simply the doorway to an open heart.

2. Set the scene. Consider for a moment what story your home is telling. Milk-splattered walls and toy-scattered floors might whisper tales of little giggles erupting from behind bouncing baby curls. Shoe-strewn doorways and teetering laundry towers might speak for a tired workweek just passed. Or you might have neatly swept walkways and crisp, clean sheets waiting on beds that guests will soon fill, like how I’ve been getting a guestroom ready! 291261 But there’s more of the story that needs to be told. In the midst of daily living, add something that centers your family on Christ. Here’s an easy way to get started with the Leave Him Thanks wreathLeave-Him-Thanks-wreathsI hung three of these across my favorite place in our home, the sunny window seat, to create a natural, farmhouse feel. What I love about this wreath is that it’s about more than looks with the hymns and scriptures imprinted on the maple-shaped paper leaves.

I might like it too much because I also found a spot for it in my entryway, nestled with some branches from my yard and a few more white pumpkins. Wreath

3. Craft conversation. Fall festival block parties, Thanksgiving potlucks, elementary class pilgrim lunches, and more offer countless reasons to grab a friend and get together! Don’t miss these opportunities to truly connect. I’m already getting my dining table ready!

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As you gather and are tempted to talk about this year’s hot toy on the market or that family member you’re dreading seeing at the holiday meal, take the time to go deeper. Offer to have the party at your house to get the guests sharing about gratitude. Add a vintage feel to your table with these 12 muslin napkin ties. Loop each tie around a silverware serving set and get your guests talking.Untitled design Each ribbon is imprinted with a question like, “What little things are you thankful for today?” or, “Name a person or event before your time for which you are thankful,” to invite heart-bonding conversations over ideas that really matter.

4. Leave room for reality. I have to show you my living room because when all my kids are home with my 22 grandchildren we snuggle up in every nook and cranny. I don’t do a lot seasonally here to ensure that this is a kid-friendly, family-friendly, mess-friendly room! But I did add some of the outdoor branches to my mantle vases and I want our family to know that we will stand the test of time, so I have a We Still Do pillow in a lazy chair.

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Dennis’ deer head over the fireplace is year-round decor, but since it’s almost hunting season, I’m classifying it as festive and autumnal. How’s that for letting my husband work a piece in?welcome-fall

It’s a delight to welcome a long-awaited Autumn after a blazing summer. It’s refreshing and renewing to come back to the traditions and gathering and gratitude. Fall, I’m glad you are here!

I pray that as the leaves turn and the change blows in that you’ll be reminded of God’s faithfulness in every season.

If you’d like to get the look for readying your home for fall, click on each picture to take you to the link in our store. 

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5 thoughts on “Fall Home Tour: 4 Ways to Beautify Your Home for the Season”

  1. Katherine whitfiels

    Dear Barbara,
    I had just had the thout this past week that I might get bold neough to ask that you share pics from your own home’s interiors! Your style and all your choices for Ever Thine Home as such a spirit-lifter for me!!! Your words of teaching and encouraging as part of the Family Life Today ministry make my days exciting as a wife and homemaker. Blessings upon you ALL as you continue. Oh, so excited about Laura’s wedding. Thank you for allowing me to feel a part of all the special times. I have no weddingds of children and you and Denise have become family to me.

  2. This is so encouraging and helpful – I especially like the pictures. As a home-schooling mom of six, I’m just not “feeling” the energy needed to decorate for the holidays but I my heart is yearning for a chance to be creative! Now I have an idea in my mind to get started. Thanks!

  3. Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! I love the little chalkboard sign that says “In This Home We are thankful for Our Favorite Family!” So sweet! I love the “We Still Do” pillow as a bed pillow! And, the 3 wreaths in the window are absolutely stunning! Your statement that, “meaningful hospitality is not about inviting people into your perfect home, it’s about inviting them into your imperfect heart”, made me tear up. It is definitely not too early to be decorating for Fall. Since I don’t decorate with anything spooky for Halloween, this is when I start putting out my Fall decorations. My trick-or-treaters are greeted with sunflowers, pumpkins and signs of blessings on my front steps, and they receive Thanksgiving, fall & faith-themed crafts along with their candy. I don’t share gospel tracts, but I like to include a Bible verse on the gift bags or somewhere. This year, I am printing part of Psalm 139 on a small scroll held together with a wedding party-favor ring with a little cross charm I added to it, along with their crafts and candy. Today, I am in the middle of celebrating The Feast of Tabernacles week; this is when God designated that his people, the Israelites, should celebrate their Thanksgiving. I also believe that Jesus was born on the first day of the Feast, and circumcised on the 8th day, so my decorations are a mixture of fall décor, Nativity scenes, and things that remind me of going through the wilderness to the promised land, looking forward still to the promised land that is yet to come when Jesus returns and we will finally be in our permanent home that he has prepared for us. So I’ve got a basket of manna with a little quail, and I’ve hung palm branches and olive branches in my ‘tabernacle/booth/stable’ on my back patio, along with a fall fruit wreath and signs of thanksgiving. I love this celebration and the wonderful reminder that it helps me to joyfully contemplate God’s provisions and his glorious majesty. You’ll probably remember that the transfiguration of Christ also occurred during the Feast of Tabernacles, that is why Peter offered to build booths for Moses and Elijah. So, fall and thanksgiving are definitely in the air here and in many Christian homes at this time! Thanks for sharing your wonderful ideas. I might have to go shopping and add some of these wonderful faith-filled little beacons of hospitality to my décor.

  4. I loved all of your fall ideas. I am definitely want the Give Him Thanks Wreath. Look forward to receiving your blog.

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