Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make A Fall Wreath

I don’t know if it’s the crisp autumn breeze or the explosion of all things pumpkin on Pinterest, but a few days ago I woke up jonesing to make a fall wreath. Yes, some people have chocolate cravings, but I have craft cravings. Come to think about it, I also have chocolate cravings. Is there a correlation? Someone needs to study this.

Some of you have even been requesting more small crafty projects (like these) which have always been in the mix, but lately we’ve been so busy painting, stripping wallpaper, & renovating the sunroom that little homemade updates seem to have fallen by the wayside. But not anymore. The truth is we’ve missed them too! So I thought a cheap and easy fall wreath would be a fun place to start. Heck, even if the house behind this door is still half wallpapered, that doesn’t mean the door has to whisper “there are five seashell sinks going on in here.”

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This entire thing only took about a half hour to make, and I got all of my supplies to make a nice big 25″ wreath for under 15 bucks (all of which are faux, so I can break this baby out year after year). So let’s call this a naptime project. Or a do-it-at-11pm-while-you-watch-Scandal project.

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Here’s what I bought: a 25″ wreath for $6.99, a plastic pot of faux orange flowers for $4.99, and a stem of orange berries for $2.99, all from Garden Ridge (they actually have a pretty exhaustive faux flower section, and the prices seemed lower than some of the stems/plants I’ve seen at Michaels).

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My first step was cutting all of the flowers off of the plant and clipping each of the berry branches off of the stem, so everything was freed up to be stuck into the wreath.

Wreath2

I ended up removing the green leaves (just clipping or pulling them off as I went) since it looked a little too jungle-ish (and not very fall-ish) with them on. Then I just stuck the larger flowers around the wreath, using their stems to hold them in place by shoving them into the wreath. You might notice that there are 15 flower-bunches in the wreath on the left of the picture below, but there are only 8 of them above on the table. Well, I realized that each bunch on the table could be further pulled apart, to make smaller bunches that could be somewhat evenly spaced around my wreath. At this point it was looking a little more Hawaiian than I hoped, but I thought the berries might fall things up once I removed their greenery and shoved them around the perimeter.

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There’s definitely a little noodling that happens between spacing everything out the first time and calling it done…

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… I moved some berries and flowers around for about ten more minutes, just to come up with what I thought looked nicely spaced out. I liked when some of the berries spilled over the outside of the wreath for that whole autumn/abundant/Thanksgiving vibe.

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Admittedly with a cheerful blue door, the bright orange wreath feels pretty happy (as in, it probably could work for spring or summer as well) but when you get closer and see those berries there’s definitely a nice fall-ish feeling. And as for how I hung it, I just used one of those 3M wire Command hooks (the ones that stick to the door and can be peeled off later without harming the paint).

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Oh yeah, and our little porch annuals bit the big one a few weeks back thanks to some pretty cold nights…

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… so two potted mums from Home Depot brightened things up. We’re still hunting for a new light fixture and a wider door mat, but the wreath and those mums definitely add a little more “welcome” to our porch in the meantime.

Mums After

Just pretend you don’t notice those two foot tall weeds hiding behind the bushes in the background of this picture. They can be our little secret, right?

What little crafty projects are you guys doing these days? Is there any other fall decorating and wreath making going on? It feels so nice to dive back into these quick and smile-inducing projects again. Sometimes hours spent stripping wallpaper or painting trim aren’t nearly as exciting as a thirty minute craft-fest with some fake flowers.

Comments

  1. Jessica says

    Cute! Love all the wreaths people have been linking too in the comments as well. I always want to put up a wreath, but we have a storm door. Putting the wreath on the storm door looks silly and leaving it on the front door behind the storm door makes it hard to see. Any suggestions? I don’t want to take the storm door down, it’s way too functional (has a retractable screen we’ve been using almost daily in this weather!)

    Reply

    • Elizabeth says

      I use a wreath hanger over my storm door, or a command hook attached to the glass in cold weather. I don’t think it looks funny at all and is so much easier to see from the street! Can’t lose my storm door either, gets too cold here.

  3. Judy says

    I don’t know, guys. I usually LOVE what y’all do, but this time, I’m just not feelin it. The scale of the wreath seems small compared to the larger house you’re in now. Just isn’t as classy.

    Reply

  5. Jennifer R. says

    Where is a wreath hung if you have a clear storm door? Does it look silly with one hung to the outside of the storm door?

    Thanks,

    Jennifer

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      A few people in the comments have shared wreaths on doors with storm doors, and it seems like the majority of people put it on the door itself, so you can see it through the storm door.

      xo
      s

    • Jessica says

      I hang my wreath on my actual door so that it’s inbetween the door and storm door. Unfortunately that means that the wreath is not as easily seen from the road since there’s a lot of relection in the glass during the day, but the wreath is a nice cheery ‘hello’ for the people walking up to my door.

  7. Kate in New Zealand says

    Have you considered a pet door for burger?

    You can get those ones that only open to certain collars/microchips and lock with a remote for when you don’t want him out.

    Reply

  9. Karen in VA says

    I plan on hitting up the dollar store for items to make a wreath. Plus I downloaded some bat and owl templates from martha stewart for halloween decorations..Also saw a neat wreath that had snakes on it and was spray-painted black. I have a double-door, so can do 2 wreaths. Also going to plant some mums in a hollowed out large pumpkin and some pansies in a small pumpkin. Just bought a house in the Shenandoah Valley (haven’t had a real house in 10+ years), so I plan to go a bit nuts decorating for all the upcoming holidays….

    Reply

  10. Amy says

    Clara is 4. Why can’t something simple like putting a wreath together be done while she’s awake? It seems like something a kid would like to help with. Hand Mommy a flower! Where should we put this one Clara? I just don’t get why Every. Single. Thing. has to be done at nap time or in the middle of the night. Frankly, it’s weird. I don’t know any other one child family that operates this way.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Sorry to be weird, Amy! Clara’s actually three, and we do crafts together all the time! I think it’s easy to read a blog and think you know everything that goes on in that house, but yesterday Clara and I painted a birdhouse together for John’s Granny – complete with her hand-prints on the roof. I just didn’t blog about it. And in the case of this wreath, I thought it would be nice to break out the wire cutters when the house was quiet, so I did. Sometimes I’m in a Clara-crafting mood, and sometimes I just wanna do something by my lonesome. I’m sure many moms feel that way, although of course it depends on the person (and the kid).

      xo
      s

    • Carolyn says

      It’s nice for mothers to have some time to themselves to do their own thing. Pretty much the only time we have to ourselves is nap time or when children go to bed in the evening!

    • Ana Silva says

      With a kid around a project that might take you 30 minutes alone could end up taking you hours. Kids don’t have to take over your life completly. I don’t think it’s weird at all but quite smart.

  11. Stephanie says

    Love the wreath – but(t) there’s a huge ad on the right side of your page displaying a lady’s bootay with a hand that “spanks” it. Thought y’all would want to know!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Whaaa? Thanks for the tip Stephanie! Off to try to get that blocked. Do you know what it’s an ad for? Knowing the company/product name helps us make sure it doesn’t pop up again!

      xo
      s

  13. Annalea says

    I seriously feel like I’ve entered the Twilight Zone. lol Life got WAY too much about six months ago, and I pretty much stopped reading blogs . . . and then I see a facebook post about “the new house” (which I SRSLY want, btw. LOVE IT!), and come over to look at YHL, and Clara is about three times as big as she was in March, and your new house has eerie similarities to the last one, and I’m wondering what the heck happened. lolol

    Time to go read some archives . . . and start knitting a thank-you gift for buying a house that looks EXACTLY like the one I want to build, so I can pretty much rip off your floor plan. lol

    Reply

  14. Sarah says

    The pop of orange looks great with the blue door! Are you at all worried the branches might scratch your freshly painted door? Be careful, I made a similar fall wreath and on windy days it would blow a bit side to side and darn thing scratched up our door. I have resorted to a heather gray fall yarn wreath, which I get tons of compliments on btw, and goes easy on the paint job! Just a warning!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Someone else recommended little felt circles on the back which sounds really smart! I have some of those felt pads for under chairs around, so I might try those on the back to be sure it doesn’t rub the door.

      xo
      s

  15. Christa says

    Love the wreath! I made something similar a few weekends ago when I was hit by the craft bug. The mums also add some great color. My mom bought me some mums for our front stoop about a month ago. She assured me they were hard to kill (green thumb I am not), but now they are turning brown. Any advice on mum care?
    Thanks!

    Reply

  18. kellie says

    We are caulking, sealing and painting all the windows and doors on our house right now. Not as much fun as wreath making but I definitely want to get some mums planted this weekend! Love the wreath!

    Reply

  21. Chambrey says

    Looks great $herdog!! I absolutely love how that looks with the color of your front door, reminds me of happy fall days!

    Reply

  24. Amanda says

    Thank you for this, Sherry! I had bought materials last month to make a Halloween wreath, but just needed some fabric to cover it with. Once I saw your uber-cute wreath I had to get on mine! I ran to JoAnn, found some great fabric, and made it! It’s now hanging on my door and I LOVE it. I feel special because now our door is the only one in the entire complex that has a wreath on the door :D Happy Fall/October!

    Reply

  26. Ginny says

    The only new fall decoration I got this year were some artificial pumpkins and acorns, which I layered in a tall, narrow cylinder vase for our powder room. I had some left over so I put them in a vase I had here at home and stuck it in the living room.

    My current crafting is for Christmas: a couple of years ago, I started cross stitching an ornament for our unmarried daughter, our married daughter and her husband, and ourselves (we usually end up with more than one, depending on time). I am thrilled to say that I have already finished stitching two of the three for this year, and just have to create the ornaments from the stitched pieces! I have NEVER finished this early, so now I can move onto handmade Christmas gifts, right?

    Reply

  27. Shannon says

    I am LOVIN’ that turquoise door! The wreath is simple and elegant and the potted mums just complete the porch transformation! Glad I stopped by today from Bloglovin :)

    Reply

  30. Ian says

    I think it’s ok to have a permanent hook screwed into the door, then you’ll be motivated to have something interesting hanging there year round.

    And you’ll never have to worry about anything falling off again :-)

    Reply

  33. Molly says

    Our pansies bit the dust :( So sad, I’ve never been very good at keeping plants alive, but with the goofy weather here in Louisville lately it’s no wonder they croaked.

    I love the wreath! The orange flowers are awesome, I can’t ever find cheap faux flowers anywhere. I made one with black tulle, big deep purple silk flowers, orange ribbon and black glittery ribbon last year for Halloween. I love it. I made a couple wreaths last year… Okay I’m done rambling now. Great job!

    Reply

  34. Ashley Evans says

    Hey! I noticed in the first picture that one of your shutters is bowing away from the brick. Our shutters are doing the very same thing! We’ve tried fixing them, but they are bowing out again. (argh) If you guys figure out a way to fix that in the future, we would love for you to share!! And congrats on a new bean!!!!!

    Reply

  35. Carolyn L says

    The color combination is amazing. Having a BFA (I learned in your book), you know complimentary colors! I love the sub-dued blue with the vibrant, fire-y orange!

    Also, I like to pretend the “baby” in the title is a preemptive pun the day before your big ‘ol announcement. Hehe.

    Reply

  39. Kelly says

    I found myself admiring both the wreath and the door color! What was the paint color used on the front door? It’s beautiful!!

    Reply

  40. Amanda says

    You totally inspired me to make this project. I love it.

    If you didn’t secure the flowers to the wreath you could always pull them out and redecorate the wreath for every season!

    Reply

  41. Laura says

    We were out shopping yesterday and I was going to purchase similar accessories to make a wreath as well. My husband suggested I collect real leaves, twigs and flowers while we took our dog for a walk by the water.

    So I did, and the results were stunning. Not only did we save ourselves spending unnecessary cash on faux plastic flowers, it turned out surprisingly beautiful. Purples, golds, greens, oranges, reds… We found leaves in every colour. I wish I could post a photo somehow.

    Reply

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