Decorating the back front porch for Fall

Our front door can go months without any use at all.  We hardly ever use it, and instead welcome guests and UPS men to the back door.  It just makes the most sense for the way our house is laid out.  Because of that, I decided to scrap the idea of decorating the actual front porch this year and put out decorations on the entrance that sees the most traffic.

Welcome to The Back Front Porch!

There is one Annie Sloan Chalk painted fake pumpkin hiding in there. Can you spot it? I’ll give you a hint… it’s on the left. You’d never know it wasn’t the real deal if I hadn’t told you, huh? The rest of the real pumpkins came from Home Depot and a few from a local plant nursery along with the pretty topiary shaped plant. The tri colored mums are from Walmart.  The dogs are from a Hokes Bluff backyard many years ago.  I have to admit that they do make great models, even if they are in trouble tonight for covering the patio in chewed up hickory nuts after we spent hours sweeping, cleaning and pressure washing it yesterday.  Warning: Don’t come take your shoes off around my back yard right now.  Walking barefoot on chewed up hickory nut shells hurts like a mofo. Especially if you crunch down on one while you have a camera pressed to your face and you are not watching where you are stepping.

Garrett helped me pick out all the pumpkins and the Indian corn.  He said the corn looked like Pirate teeth.   He also said the white pumpkin looked like a diamond, so we had to have it because mama loves diamonds.  My kid is awesome.

Every Fall I covet those scented pine cones that make the front entrance of my grocery store smell like Cindy’s Cinnamon Rolls.  I’ve never bought any before because my husband is pretty sensitive to smells and I knew he’d never go for that overpowering cinnamon smell filling the house. This year, I couldn’t hold out any longer, so as a compromise I put them in a little planter outside.  You still get the scent of Autumn when you come to the door, but it’s not taking over my whole house.

I also couldn’t resist this cone shaped mass of Black Eyed Susan Vines at the garden center.  It’s an annual so it won’t last long, but they gave it to me for half price, so that helped sway me.

I dug these two old wreaths out of storage.  I worried that they would look weird to my symmetrical self since they don’t exactly match, but I really love the way they look together.  Being too symmetrical is something I struggle with all the time.

Symmetry and hickory nuts… my two evil nemeses.