Pressed Leaf Gallery Wall and Fall Entryway

An entryway decorated for fall with a budget-friendly way to use leaves and flowers from your own backyard for free art and decor.

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!