Fall. It’s the best. When you live in Texas like I do, it’s the best for a lot of reasons. Namely, you’ve just come out of what was quite possibly the hottest summer you’ve ever experienced (even though you say that every year) and you’re so desperate for relief that when it finally comes, all you can say is, “Thank you, Jesus!” But aside from the falling temps, there is something so magical about this time of year to me. Maybe it’s that the days are getting shorter and the nights are crisp. Maybe it’s the pumpkins and general feeling of harvest comradery. Maybe it’s the gorgeous colors appearing on all the trees. Whatever it is, I can’t get enough of autumn. And every year it comes it brings a new sense of magic to my heart.

Now that we’re finally in a house, I am stoked to do Martha Stewarty things like decorate my front porch. I’m still cheap though, so I always look for ways to make as much as I can and/or repurpose what I already have. This year, the decorations have manifested themselves in a couple of ways: the white heirloom pumpkin we carved for our wedding (fake, of course) made its way onto my porch as a classy jack-o-lantern of sorts. I decoupaged, painted, and decorated a giant “F” (you decide if it’s for Farris or Fall. I’m cool either way.) for my front door. And the garland around the door and in the pumpkin pot are dollar store/Hobby Lobby clearance specials. All in all, I decorated the porch for less than $20. Oh, and there’s a stack of 5 pumpkins on the corner of the porch which didn’t make it into the shot. So that added another $20, but those will become jack-o-lanterns in another week or so as we approach Halloween. (In Texas, you can’t carve too early or you will have pumpkin mush where your masterpiece once stood. It’s just too warm for those poor pumpkins to survive more than a day or so carved.)

So there you have it. My first porch decorating. As always, I will add to this collection over the years. I’m sure within five years or so it will look like a Fall Carnival dumped their leftovers on my front lawn. But that’s how I roll, people. Go big or go home.

You can head over to the Projects section to see a close up of the “F” and a not-so-cropped image of the whole porch.

Happy Autumn!