Fall Porch 2012

Hello everyone, we're just popping in to share our Fall porch with you. 

Sorry, we didn't get dressed up :)  Our stay home attire is usually shorts and a t-shirt. I've always envied those women who have immaculate homes and also manage to look all dolled up everyday.  I'm convinced they've got magical powers they're keeping from the rest of us. So just as a warning, if you ever drop by unexpectedly, you can expect to find me in sweats and a tank top, with my hair up in a messy bun. Nothing fancy here, though I aspire to be like Bree Van de Kamp someday.  

Anyway, back to the porch.  I finished it last night, but had to hurry to the fabric store, so I didn't get around to taking pictures til this morning.  

In my first Fall decor post, I told you all I wanted to use barrel-like baskets to replace the Spring flowers pots we had outside.  I found these small baskets at Michael's for $2.50 (they were half off).

The small mums are from Walmart.  They've marked them down to $2.99, probably because it's so late in the season.

I was wanting outdoor lanterns sooooo badly, but couldn't see myself forking over $30 for each one over at Home Goods, even though they were still much cheaper than the ones at Hobby Lobby.  Then on the way back from Louisiana, we spent the night in Houston at my cousin's house.  I decided to stop at IKEA to pick up some goodies and found these lanterns for $14.99!  They required very minor, easy assembly.

Each lantern received pumpkins and a candle.  I need to get some bigger pillars, I just used some extra ones I had here at home.

The large pumpkins will be carved this weekend.  I've learned not to carve them too early or else they get really, really gross.  It's too hot and humid in TX. The small pumpkins are from the pumpkin patch we took Eva to this past weekend.  I'll share some pictures with you later on. 

  

Walmart had these huge mums for $10.  I bought one in purple and one in white.  Then I put them in baskets from Hobby Lobby.  I bought the baskets about 3 weeks back at $5 each, but you can get them for $2.50 when they have their basket sale.  

Anyway, so the baskets were stacked on the front porch and they were getting wet each time I watered our flower bed. As I was separating them on the driveway to let them dry out, I went to flip one over and a huge scorpion ran out.  (I tried to kill it, but it ran off into the grass where it was camouflaged.  That's one of the reasons I wear thick gloves and heavy rubber boots when I'm gardening.  They're everywhere in TX, especially near flower pots, since they're after water.)

Here are the light purple mums:

white mums:

The old bike needed to have its baskets cleaned out, so I added in some white pansies to all three.  

The succulents that were on the front porch got moved to the top basket:

I combined all my double impatiens that used to be on the black rack in individual pots, and put them in a large basket.  I used the fourth basket for my hydrangea.

The hydrangea is dried out, but I've read that some types of hydrangeas bloom on their previous blooms, so I've been afraid to cut it back.  

The double impatiens are still doing well:

I had already shared a picture of our painted pumpkins:

You probably noticed these wreaths above the flowers and pumpkins. They're just $3 grapevine wreaths, which can be found at any craft store. All I did was make bows for them from chevron-printed burlap.  They were actually meant to be hung on either side of the garage door, like the ones I put up at Christmas, but they were too small to fit over the light, so they found homes on either side of the front door.

Our flowers are loving the lower temps.  I may put a mini garden in the bird bath. No matter how many times I clean it, the dish always looks dirty.

There's also a vine growing on top of all the rosemary.  It's the same type as the one in my back yard, but the flowers are purple not blue.  They open up beautifully in the sun, but were closed up today since it's cloudy.

I'm not really sure what was going on here:

She was just being nosy :)  She can't help it, she gets it from my mom. 

That's our Fall porch, we hope you like it!  I usually decorate with cutesy Halloween stuff outside, but I decided to keep it simple this year.  Bye for now! 

Linking Up:

Savvy Southern Style

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The Shabby Creek Cottage

The Vintage Farmhouse

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