Power Home Solutions: Decorating For Fall

Welcome to my favourite room in my house. What's ironic is that this "room" is actually outside of the house. It's my front porch!

The front porch is probably one of the key features of Victorian architecture that really needs to make a comeback. In this high-tech world that we live in, a front porch helps keep us in touch with our neighbors. It's more than just a transitional space from the street into the home. It's an open-air parlor that can be suitably furnished for entertaining and allowing family members to get a daily dose of fresh air.

I love sitting on the porch, reading a good book, watching friends and neighbors walk by. Most years we even end up having a "porch cat" to keep us company. Sometimes it's a neighbor's cat that comes to sit with us, sometimes it's a stray that we feed. We had Mortimer, a stray cat that got out as a kitten when his owners were moving, come for about 3 years. We could not get close enough to pet him but if we were sitting quietly he would sit within a couple of feet and purr as we told him what a good kitty he was. We were not the only neighbors that fed him either. He was one of the fattest stray cats I had ever seen!

This weekend I got the urge to do some fall decorating. I will tell you right now that I am not a Halloween person. I think that most people fall into two categories; Halloween people and Christmas people. I am firmly in the latter and view Halloween as something that cuts into my Christmas decorating time. However, fall is my favourite time of year and I wanted to make the porch look special.

It started out rather bare. I had Mr. P take down the lovely hanging baskets last week (they were starting to die off). But it didn't take long to transform it into a lovely fall room.

We added a bale of straw (I had no idea that bales of straw were so messy when I first had this idea!) and a few little Halloween decorations. I made the flower arrangement with some cheap flowers from Walmart and the dollar store. I think they turned out pretty good.

I added a couple of large mums on the pillars because it just doesn't look like fall without some mums.

I always keep a couple of throws just inside the front door in case anyone gets cold. Even in the summer, after the sun has gone down, it can be a little cool.

With a scary wreath on the front door (more about that in my next post) the porch was complete. After dinner I took the time to put my feet up and enjoy a nice, homemade, pumpkin spice latte.

With the throw around my shoulders and a cup of something warm and wonderful it was the perfect ending for a long day!

To test my theory - Are you a Halloween person or a Christmas person?

Note: That is my home pictured at the top of the blog but since that picture was taken we've made a few minor changes. We removed the rotted spindles on the balcony and replaced them with some ornamental cresting. We searched long and hard for it and ended up driving 4 1/2 hours one way to pick it up. While there we found that awesome gate! We couldn't say no so we bought it too and brought it home. Mr. P had a point when he said that we couldn't put up a gate with no fence on either side, so I had Mr. P build one out of gas piping that we painted black. I think it sets off the corner perfectly now.