Warm & Cozy Fall Porch | Farmhouse Style

Try my 5 easy steps for a warm & cozy fall porch farmhouse style and see how quickly you can get all the fall feels. Friends and family will feel welcome in no time!

Last time I did a porch makeover it was for summer and it was my back porch. That has been my most popular YouTube video to date so I thought it might be time for another porch makeover since everyone seemed to enjoy the last one. Today, I’m making over my front porch in a similar farmhouse style for fall.

Welcome Fall Blog Tour

And I am excited to be joining a couple of talented blogging friends for a special Welcome Fall Blog Tour today. If you’re visiting from one of their blogs then I know you’ve already been inspired and I thank you for joining me here at my farmhouse today!

If you haven’t seen them yet, be sure to click through to the links at the bottom of this post. Now, let’s start the fun and inspiration with a little fall porch decor update.

Fall is just around the corner

Ok, friends, it is late August and fall is really on the way! Living on an apple farm, the feel of fall always begins for our family when the apple harvest begins. It is such a wonderful thing to walk out into the orchard and pick a fresh apple to eat…or to decorate with!

And this week, we just picked our first apples of the season. It is a delightful beginning to a wonderful season!

Once apples ripen, the fairs are over and the kids get back to school it isn’t long until we think of leaves falling, cable-knit sweaters, hot cider, cozy quilts, crisp mornings, pumpkins, bonfires, and harvest gatherings!

But, before the harvest gatherings begin it’s time to set the tone for a warm welcome with a warm & cozy fall porch. I love it when family and friends gather on the porch for food and fellowship and spill into the front yard. It is too early to put out pumpkins but it is certainly time to start decorating with apples.

Follow my easy steps below and before you know it your porch will be cozied right up and ready for some early fall gatherings.

1. Clean and Clear Away to make room for the new season

Before embarking on any new large decorating project it is good to clear the area of any out of date decor and give everything a good cleaning. If your porch is like mine, by this time in the summer it is looking a little tired, has gathered some cobwebs and a lot of dust.

I like to completely unload my porch a couple of times each summer and just give it a good washing down. You may live in the city, or in a wetter climate and may not have this much dust. But where I live, here on the farm in the dry desert of eastern Washington, it is super dusty and we have to sweep the porch and furniture every few days.

2. Pick a key decor piece to set a warm & cozy fall porch theme

I like to pick a key decor piece any time I start to re-decorate an area. When I start with this piece in mind it quickly defines my theme. Then I am able to keep a cohesive look that is easy to pull together.

Sometimes this key item finds me. Sometimes one specific seasonal decor item, a piece of furniture, some seasonal flora or even a blanket will just grab me. At other times I have to go ‘searching’ for a central idea or key piece.

My key item was actually three key items this time. Green apples from the orchard. My sun-loving “limelight” panicle hydrangeas that I cut each year in late August and then let dry down to use all fall. And new dusky blue pottery bowls I just picked up on vacation.

3. Pick a neutral color scheme for a cohesive look for your warm & cozy fall porch

Often my color scheme comes from my key item or those things in abundance at the farm. That is exactly what happened this time. The pottery, hydrangeas and the apples are dusky and warm and sort of neutral like earth and sky.

Of course, my whole home has a blue and neutral color scheme so this doesn’t surprise me.

These colors go great with my home colors and other natural pieces like my wood and rattan furnishings and my old green trunk. Accents come from my galvanized end tables I already have on my porch and our farm’s vintage apple buckets.

I usually start with one key color and build out from there. If I have the color and the key items above in mind I can quickly pull items that either coordinate, complement or contrast this color, depending on the look I am going for.

If that is hard for you I suggest using this great color calculator to help with your color theme. You simply put in the starting color, then pick your accent colors with their harmony tool. You can choose coordinating, complementing or contrasting colors to find a scheme.

Or try this color scheme generator to quickly find whole color palettes that work together beautifully.

Because my color scheme is fairly neutral I will be able to easily slip in some white and green pumpkins in late September without changing anything out.

4. Be resourceful – scour your home for supporting decor pieces and think outside the box

With 6 kids still at home, my budget doesn’t allow for much ‘extra’ shopping. Mostly, I save a little birthday cash, and other little extra windfalls of cash that unexpectedly find their way to me for my thrifting and junkin’ fund. There is no ‘decorating’ budget and I hate to store seasonal items so avoid buying them anyway. So, that means I must be creative with the materials at hand.

This often means I use the abundance of the yard, garden, and fields around me in my decorating. Branches, twigs, greens, flowers, produce and other natural things often find a place in my home.

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating here. Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose! I often use items from other areas of my home, or from the back of the garden shed, that have not been used in a while. They can be just the item I need to get the whole thing rolling or to give it a finishing touch.

Here I repurposed a windmill clock that had quite running. I just removed the clock hands and center screw to make it simple wall art for my porch.

And I pulled out some of our vintage picking buckets from our farm. They were perfect for the apples, of course.

5. Add these extra things I used to make this warm and cozy fall porch farmhouse style

Layers of linens –

Quilts, wool blankets, and knit pillows bring instant warmth and coziness to any scene. Layer them on thick, pile them high, and make a cozy nest that draws you in. And don’t forget to add them to the ‘hard’ furniture to soften the scene.

I won’t be able to leave these linens out all the time, but I can certainly put them out when we have a plan for a porch gathering.

Neutral, nature-inspired colors –

Apple greens, creamy hydrangeas, and the vintage woods of my vintage farmhouse table and quilt ladder bring natural color to my porch. They are all fairly neutral and they work well with my blue door and furniture.

Warm lighting –

Add in warm lighting with vintage light strings, outdoor lamps, and galvanized lanterns or buckets with real or LED candles. String lights warm up the scene for a large group and smaller lights strategically placed near seating areas invoke a more intimate setting.

The popular Edison light strands are brighter and are perfect when you want to host a larger group. If you want more soft lighting in a string light I suggest fairy lights. You can get battery operated or plug in and they give a nice soft, intimate glow for a smaller gathering.

Galvanized pieces-

And don’t forget to add some old galvanized pieces. The soft grays of timeworn galvanized pieces will give your space a comfortable timeworn feel and mimic the look of old utilitarian pieces that abound at old homesteads.

Pick up vintage galvanized buckets, sinks, barrels, watering cans, troughs, oil cans, trays and washbasins at yard sales and antique sales. Or you can buy newly made to look old pieces. These items are all perfect for outside on the porch.

Texture –

Rough branches, sisal rugs, thick knit throws, pretty quilts and dried hydrangeas are just the beginning of the things you can add for texture. Varying textures bring contrast and interest to the scene. They draw the eye and the hand. They bring relief to your eye from smooth hard surfaces like the porch boards, tables, and wooden chairs.

Intimate seating

Pull up the benches, circle up those chairs, drop in ottomans and bring a long bench up to the table to make room for more people. When seating is close it brings an instant intimacy and coziness to the gathering.

Get the Warm & Cozy Fall Porch Farmhouse Style look with these similar items

Pin this to your Fall Decorating Pinterest Board

Warm & Cozy Fall Porch Farmhouse Style Video

Thanks for joining me at the farmhouse…now join my friends!

Regardless of your design style, updating your porch for fall is a great way to make your home feel fresh and new and ready for the next season.

And fall is a great time to try something new. Maybe a new color scheme or just adding a bit more warmth and coziness with candles, throws, and pillows.

I’m hoping this post and video have given you new inspiration to create your own warm and cozy fall porch. And if you haven’t yet enjoyed all the blogs on this tour…turn up the air conditioning, grab your favorite quilt, a warm cup of coffee and follow the links below for some fall feels!

Jenn, from the blog The Everyday Farmhouse, is sharing How to Make Crates from Scrap Flooring and Lumber. I can see a new woodworking project with my son in my future. I can think of several places in my home that these crates would come in super handy. And their made with leftover laminate flooring! How super is that?

Elise, from the blog Le Petit Saint Crochet, is sharing her Favorite Fall Crochet & Knitting Projects and boy are they cute! I might have to try the crocheted pumpkin. Love her style. And she even has a link to a Pumpkin Spice Chai Tea Latte recipe!

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