Happy fall to everyone, my favorite seasons of the year are upon us so let’s see decorating shelves for fall. Yes friends, you heard correctly, this girl is all about fall and colder weather.

How Do I Begin Adding Pieces To This Space?

Decorating shelves for fall normally begins with adding acorns and other natural elements. By the way, where we’re located in NJ acorns are the first sign of fall. The chipmunks and squirrels begin to collect them for the winter.

Also, they may occasionally drop one or two on our heads, little rascals.

So, for me decorating shelves for fall with acorns seems fitting.

I have collected many over the years. As a result, I have 100’s and here’s how they stay perfectly.

How to Preserve Acorns

After collecting acorns give them a good wash in warm soapy water and lay them on a towel to dry.

Next, preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Meanwhile, take out a sheet pan and lay the dried acorns in a single layer. Put the sheet pan into your preheated oven for one hour. This step is important to kill tiny bugs that may be hanging out inside the acorns.

Lastly, spray the acorns with polyurethane and they will last for years. My acorns for example, are six years old and look perfect so this step is well worth the time.

Other Elements for Decorating for Autumn

Besides decorating with acorns, I add other natural elements such as dried lavender with old fabric I cut into small pieces to add texture and a collected look. The antique butter pats inside an ironstone soup tureen and a gilded walnut add a pretty touch.

Reeses is helping.

You will also notice dehydrated orange slices with acorns in my Florentine cherub dish leftover from my citrus wreath  I made earlier in the month.

This shelf is filled with many pitchers I have found thrifting and a few from a favorite Etsy shop.

The real small branches with acorns were preserved as well so look for these when hunting for acorns. Adding dried artichockes inside a French wire basket also adds another natural element as well as another texture when decorating shelves for fall.

I enjoyed finding all these pitchers, however, the ironstone syrup bottle in the back corner was a special and rare find dating from the early 1800s.

I also used some French antique books which are pink and add texture, interest as well as color.

 Adding dried hydrangeas is a must and will be seen in our home throughout the season.  As a result, you will see them often as I share our home for the fall and may enjoy this post using a small French market basket from Target. 

In addition to decorating with acorns, walnuts are a beautiful natural element to add too. They are rustic and when gilded is elegant a favorite combination. Because of the gilding, they’re perfect for Christmas by adding a thin layer of Elmer’s glue and glitter for some sparkle.

Besides adding hydrangeas and the other natural elements, adding pumpkins adds a beautiful fall touch and fake or real would work.

Pumpkin Painting Tutorials

Because I purchased this larger pumpkin at the end of fall last year I will share a quick painting tutorial.

First the Larger Pumpkin

First, the larger pumpkin doesn’t have a realistic paint treatment at all, so I lightly added Jolie Vintage white paint. After drying I used a stipple technique to add some texture using the same color. Stippling also adds a realistic look.

Next, I mixed moss green craft paint with a tiny dot of black to mix a deeper green you see in real pumpkins at our farmers market, I forget the name of them so if anyone knows to leave a note in your comment, thank you.

Lastly, I applied a layer of light brown wax to the pumpkin especially to the seams. Adding the wax gives the pumpkin a similar look to real pumpkins found in nature.

I also glued a real stem I saved from last year. Saving these is a great idea because they can bring a faux pumpkin alive.

Second Pumpkin

For the second pumpkin, I simply dry brushed with Jolie Antique white paint. Also for the stem, I dry brushed it with Jolie Farmhouse Beige since I didn’t have a real stem. This is a great way to add a realistic touch to a fake stem.

Another Etsy shop I have found larger items for my décor in years past had this adorable blue mustard pot that is a rather new piece and it works well with the other blues on the shelf including an old cement finial given to me as a gift years ago.

A few of the other pieces I found you can read about in this post along with some interesting history about my double handle sugar bowl.

Decorating shelves for fall or any time of year can be fun and allow you to be creative. Before you begin make sure you remove everything from your shelves and begin fresh. Also, be sure to add texture to keep things interesting and most of all, have fun.

How do you begin decorating for fall and do you have any special pieces you use every year? I’d love to hear what elements kick off your simple fall touches.