An entryway decorated for fall with a budget-friendly way to use leaves and flowers from your own backyard for free art and decor.
This post is sponsored by Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart.
And just like that summer melted into fall.
Well, actually we’re in South Carolina so it’s more like summer heat kept raging on through September, but we put out pumpkins hoping no one would notice. 😉
That’s how we do it.
Yesterday, I shared a little peek of an experiment I’ve been doing the last couple of weeks to dry hydrangeas and press leaves.
Today, I finally get to show them off the way I’ve envisioned since plucking them out of our backyard!
I mentioned during our California Casual Powder Room Makeover that I would be partnering with Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart to share lots of budget-friendly ideas for styling spaces at home without sacrificing the high end look.
This month’s challenge was to introduce the fall season… but can I tell you a secret?
I’m not a fall girl.
I know! Strangle me with all the cable knit scarves! Throw your pumpkin spice lattes in my face and call me a traitor.
I blame it on the fact that orange is my least favorite color. Or the fact that the days get shorter.
BUT the thing I DO love… the warm glow of candles, the feeling of being wrapped in a warm blanket by a fire, the smell of a crisp breeze and spiced hot apple cider.
Okay, okay. I kind of like fall.
It always feels weird to me this time of year, when normally, 7 years ago to be exact, I would have been embarking on my 5th and final year as a high school English teacher, my 21st back-to-school day.
A part of me does miss it, but there was always that bigger part of me that knew I wanted to create, design, and build.
I left teaching to stay home with Olivia when she was just a toddler with the plan of returning to education one day.
And then life had other plans. Better plans. Not easy plans, but the good stuff.
The stuff of painting thrift store furniture in our garage to help pay the bills.
The stuff of spilling my heart out to complete strangers on a little one-horse blog that only my mom read for the first 6 months.
The stuff that eventually, little by little, made all of my dreams come true.
I think I have fall to thank for that. For the closing of a season that would eventually lead to a new beginning.
I take it all back. I love fall. 😉
So I stuck my DIY pressed fall leaves in these pretty wood frames, and I tucked my dried hydrangeas into their little woven leather-handled basket.
I tossed a soft throw blanket onto this sleek entryway bench and cozied it up with a classic throw pillow and a whisper of blush pink velvet.
And I thanked fall and all of the ones that came before it.
Here’s to closing seasons to open new beginnings. And all the warm, fuzzies of spending fall at home.
You can find all of the sources I used from Better Homes & Gardens at Walmart below:
Happy (almost) fall! Cheers to free fall greenery in your own backyard. Woot!
I simply put adore this post. I love everything about it. Thank you so much for this beautiful post, but also getting me in the mood for the upcoming seasons.
Thank you so much, Ivory!
Your leaves look stunning. I love that you used only one per frame! Genius! I am having a problem with your website. The photos are huge and there is a menu at the beginning. I guess it is on my end but makes it very difficult to read your posts and see your photos. Just thought I would mention it. Just started a couple of days ago.
And just like that it was fine! ??? Oh well…all is good
I’m so sorry, Vicki! The glitch seems to come and go and I’m so baffled that I’ve now hired a tech guy to get to the bottom of it for me. This part of blogging is not my forte. Haha! We’ll have it back to normal in a jif. Thanks!
So pretty. I love all your posts. I am also having the same issue with the menu and huge photos.
Thank you, Sherrie! I’m working on the tech issues now. Not sure what happened there.
I enjoy your posts & suddenly saw that you were in South Carolina which makes me LOVE your posts! I am a native South Carolinian who relocated to Ohio with marriage in my 20’s. I always have special thoughts of anyone who enjoys my home state.
I too have the menu and huge photos.
Yay! Yes, we LOVE SC. There’s nowhere else we’d rather call home. I’m so sorry about the tech issues. I’m getting to the bottom of it now. Thank you!
So just noticed comments about the menu and large photos – honestly I thought it was my issue and I kinda of quit going to your posts. So I don’t know if you can change whatever you did to make it come back the way it was- I get such a headache trying to read your blog the way it is right now.
I’m so sorry, Vicki. I thought I had the tech issue all fixed but this one is definitely beyond me. I have a tech guy working on it for me now. Don’t give up on me, yet! Ack! We’ll have it back to normal in a jiffy.
I’m having trouble with the blog also. Comes up a HUGE pic and lots of “junk”..lol. I have a MacBook – so wondering if it’s a “Mac thing”. Vicky do you use an apple product also? It’s happened a few other times but then seems to go back to normal views later. Also in instagram, so often the audio isn’t there. I click on it later and it is. hmm… never a problem with other instagram accounts, so not sure why this one is spotty. oh well, always comes back around or I just click through it.
I’m so sorry, Kristine! I thought I had it all fixed but apparently this tech problem is way beyond my wheelhouse. I’ve got a tech guy getting to the bottom of it now. Thank you!
I love this large arrangement of individual leafs in matted matching frames. The mats give importance to each leaf and cause the eye to stop on each one. (How did you align them so perfectly?) As I was looking at the arrangement, I marveled at the differences of each leaf from each type of tree. Like fingerprints, not one like any other, yet all grown from the same type of tree. What a marvelous teaching display for your children to learn about the differences in nature and between us all. We are all unique, yet all individual with no two identical. We are not clones bred from test tubes. We come from love connections. I pray that all the connections in your life come from love. (Oh, I too have tiny print in this post. Just started a week or so ago.)
Thank you, Carol! I really just eyeballed them and tried my best to place them in the center of the parchment paper on each one. I totally agree! It’s a great teachable moment even for me. We’re all different and we’re all beautiful in our own way. 🙂 And thanks for letting me know about the tech issues. I’ve been working on getting it fixed and still haven’t been able to get to the bottom of it. I have a tech person figuring it out for me now.
Lauren, I love to read your posts. Every time I do, I feel I got a snippet of a very good book…….one that I want to continue to read! You have a way with words and also decorating! Love your style that shows in both! Also love the gratitude that shines through!! New growth is the push that causes those leaves to turn colors and fall off. All winter they are working hard to spring forward in exactly 189 days! 🙂
Thank you so much, Barb! That truly means a lot to me. And yes! Counting the days to spring just a little bit. 😉 Haha!
Hi Lauren, really like the framed leaves, they are beautiful! This post made me finally Google Amazon to find out if a person can purchase precut mats and lo and behold there they are and not too expensive, thanks for that! As far as screen problems, everything is bigger but it doesn’t really hurt anything for me.
Wanted to let you guys know I live in way southern Arizona; all the wildfire smoke has been over us for a couple days, blocking a lot of the sun. That is a YAHOO for us but probably really bad for Mamma Earth! I think we should all pray that they get those fires under control and that there are no more lives lost!
Hi Mary! Yes! I am praying hard for everyone out west! And I should have mentioned, the frames actually come with the mats, so you don’t have to buy any separately. 🙂
I’m having the same problem with the website!
I’m so sorry, Teresa. Working on getting it fixed over here. Ack!
I have giant pictures too. I can relate to not being an orange girl. I had collected large orange ceramic pumpkins slowly over the years. When I moved into this house, those orange pumpkins were hideous with the paint here. LOL
Hi Myrna! Thanks for letting me know! I’m so sorry for the tech issues. I’m working on getting it fixed right now.
I am also getting gigantic pictures and wondering why you email now comes in as Lauren Shaver I almost sent it to my junk file. I have enjoyed your site and information for many years keep up the great work.
Hi Sandra! I’m so sorry for the tech issues. I’m working on getting it fixed right now. Thanks for letting me know!
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Such a gorgeous idea. I just completed this (on a much smaller scale – 4 frames) and I am obsessed. Thank you for the idea!!
OMG, I can’t believe this, but at the end of this summer, there were a few red and gold leaves in the yard that I thought was to pretty to discard. I scooped them up, placed them in a book, and said maybe some day I will be able to use them. Thanks to you and your outstanding creativity, that day is here. I love all your ideas/diy’s, and this one so different.