Celebrate autumn! These DIY projects reflect the season’s vibrant colors. Here are some ideas to get you started.
- 1. Dryer vent pumpkins
Go to your local hardware to buy dryer vents in different sizes. Cut them with scissors or wire cutters in lengths that will allow you to bend them into a full circle. Glue ends together. Once you have them shaped like pumpkins, you can paint them and add stems. Put them on display in the living room or the porch. - 2. Mailbox décor
Make sure your mailbox is fall-ready by decorating it with cornstalks, burlap, pumpkins – anything that announces the coming of autumn. Get as creative as you like. You can also keep it simple by placing a rustic container with gourds beside your mailbox. - 3. Pumpkin burlap wreath
Few materials are as evocative of fall – take some burlap and make a fine wreath out of it. Loop the material or cut it into several segments. A wire frame will help give it a round shape. Use staples, glue, or thread to hold the fabric in place. Decorate it with cotton, hydrangeas, twigs, autumn leaves, and other embellishments. Hang it over your front door or your front gate. - 4. Cinnamon stick candle holders
Candles can set the mood and add warmth to any room. Take it up a notch this fall by making cinnamon stick candle holders. Place a rubber band around your pillar candles. Gather cinnamon sticks of similar length and insert them one by one into the rubber band, keeping them in an upright position. Once you’re done, tie a ribbon around the pillar candle to conceal the rubber band. - 5. Tree stump candle holders
If you have a stack of wood lying around, you can use some of them as candle holders. Cut the logs at differing lengths – three, five, seven, and nine inches – so that you’ll have varying heights when they’re upright, making for a more dramatic arrangement.
Cut off any protruding branches and drill a hole into the top of each log, half an inch in depth. This allows you to place tea light candles on top of each log. - 6. Pumpkin flower planters
Go to the dollar store and pick up some plastic pumpkin trick-or-treat baskets. Use them as flower planters to give your front yard that autumn feel. Simply fill the plastic pumpkin with soil and fall flowers like mums and you’re good to go. You can also repurpose your plastic pumpkins by wrapping them with burlap and other materials. - 7. Owl mason jars
Customize your mason jars with some glitter, metal leaves, beads, and artificial flowers. Choose colors that are evocative of fall. For the owl, you can use a metal embossing sheet for the beak and glass marbles for the eyes. Use hot glue to keep the materials in place and add a few drops of glass glue for extra hold.
- 8. Fall baskets
Gather some wicker baskets of differing sizes. Fill them with floral foam for flower arrangements, and add some fall flowers. Decorate the baskets with burlap and other accents using a glue gun. Put the baskets on display on your front porch.
- 9. Candy corn ombre bottles
Nothing says Halloween like candy corns. Repurpose some glass bottles by painting them the same color as candy corns, using an ombre effect that recalls these Halloween treats. Use the bottles as vases by placing fall flowers in them, or use them as a straw holder for the dining room.
- 10. Wood-cut pumpkins
Cut logs into flat pumpkin shapes, about an inch thick or so. Paint your wood-cut pumpkins a bright orange, and spruce them up with some glass beads and burlap. Use these to decorate your kitchen or dining area. You can also use them as coasters if you cut them thinner.
With these DIY ideas in mind, your home will be ready for fall in no time. For more ideas, visit the Michelle McQuade Real Estate Group blog.