3 Easy Tricks to Bring Big Fall Charm to a Small Front Porch

Inside: No Pinterest-worthy big front porch to decorate for fall? No problem. With these simple tips for decorating a small front porch, you can create a welcoming entrance with impact!

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Downsized home, new decor challenge.🤔

I had more porches than I could ever get around to decorating at my last house. But my new downsized villa has a front door with zero steps or sidelight windows. Just a door and a brick rectangle that’s pretty much all walkway space.

The porch is never going to grow. So instead of bellyaching about its size, I’ve changed the way I think about it. A tiny porch is not a decorating problem—it can be an opportunity. Because less real estate in this area means less work, less time, less money, and more impact!

How to Decorate a Small Front Porch.

I’ve used three secrets to decorate my new smaller front porch for fall that I’ll be able to use any time of year and for any season.

1. Create a Cohesive Color Palette.

Because seasonal decor will be so close together, a color plan helps the porch look planned and visually pleasing, instead of chaotic and junky.

This year instead of the traditional fall colors, I leaned into more muted tones and added purples and greens, which echo what I did inside. I love how these different colors are a fresh take on fall!

SH&H Tip: Make sure the colors of seasonal decor stand out from the house. Dark colors against a dark house are a waste of time and money.

2. Go Outside the Lines.

Make the most of the outdoor space around the porch—you are not limited to the confines of the concrete pad. Decorate the walkway in front of the porch, and let it flow over into the flower beds. The result is much more dramatic and really welcomes you into the entrance of the home!

I’m able to take advantage of the sidewalk and driveway in front of the entry:

3. Create levels and layers with accessories.

The challenge with decorating a small porch is not only the small space to work with, but there are usually no steps which places everything on one boring level. While I have a whopping brick width of a “step”, it’s not even enough to twist an ankle if you don’t notice it, much less create levels for decor.

But there are some tricks to avoid having seasonal porch decor disappear into one level:

• Create interest: Use decorative items in a mixture of textures, heights, and colors.
• Use the walls: Hang garlands over the door or wall planters or signs on the side walls.
• Include “thrillers”: Incorporate tall items like corn stalks, pumpkin topiaries, or wooden signs. Or decorate with a lantern, ladder, wheelbarrow, wagon, or barrel.
• Elevate some of the decor: Lift accessories and pumpkins with baskets, wood crates, or haybales. Or bring a small table or plant stand out to the porch.

Decorating Accessories for the Fall Front Porch.

Dress the Door with a Wreath for Fall.

If you do nothing else, a seasonal wreath on the front door is a must to welcome fall.

I pulled out the old fall grapevine wreath and added a few light green flowers and the same burgundy picks from my inside fall decorations to make my color scheme flow all the way out onto the front porch.

See this year’s tour in the post “Fall Decorating Ideas With Moody Colors + My New House Tour“.

Change Out the Door Mat.

A seasonal welcome mat sets the fall scene. This “hello fall” doormat was always kind of puny, especially when I had double front doors. I beefed it up this year with a cute cozy plaid layering mat.

Pumpkins and More Pumpkins.

What’s a fall front porch without pumpkins? I decorate in early fall and live in Texas, so I gave up on real pumpkins long ago.

I’ve amassed a collection of faux pumpkins over the years—orange pumpkins, white pumpkins, white pumpkins that used to be orange, and a few green pumpkins for good measure. I thought I was crazy keeping them all in the downsizing move and planned to clean them out when I decorated for fall. Nope—I used every single one of them out here (except for the white ones inside).

See how I made some of them look a little less fake in the post “How to Make Faux Pumpkins Look Like the Real Deal“.

Fall-ify the Foliage.

Any respectable fall porch should have some fall foliage to add color, usually in the form of mums. Again since I’m in Texas, I’ve broiled too many real mums because we don’t get consistent cooler weather until November, and they can die in one hot day if I miss watering.

I felt like my faux yellow mums from the last few years didn’t jive with the rest of more muted colors. So I “planted” these purple mums from Amazon in my large planters and a couple of baskets. They’re vibrant and meant to use outdoors which makes them look a little plastic-y up close, but from a little further away they are perfect!

Small Porch Fall Decor Ideas.

My porch is so painfully small the only accessories I used for the fall season were a lantern and some stacked bushel baskets.

But here are a few accessory options to get you thinking about what you can use on your own porch:

• Classic fall natural elements (other than pumpkins) like Indian corn, corn stalks, or hay bales
• Scarecrows
• Galvanized buckets
• A faux fall tree (see an easy DIY in the post “Make This Dramatic DIY Fall Tree For Under Ten Dollars“)
  

SH&H Tip: If your porch allows enough room for seating areas, add a fall pillow or a cozy throw to a bench or chair

Decorating my new-to-me smaller front porch was done in a snap! While I miss my gracious Southern front porch (I’d always wanted a porch I could put a rocking chair on), there’s a lot to be said for the impact less decor can have in a small porch space!

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