Best Fall Primitive Decor Ideas: Decorating Vintage Finds

Ready to start planning some fall decor ideas? Take a peek at some of my favorite ways I am using vintage treasures to inspire beauty in our home for the fall season! Plus, keep reading for even more fall decorating inspiration from the Thrifting with the Gals!

If you were following along on The World’s Longest Yard Sale 2023, you couldn’t help but notice what I kept finding. There were just a little bit of primitive, natural elements, and rustic objects that I was drawn to while we hunted up and down the 127 corridor! I’m excited to be using some of them in my primitive fall decor ideas this year!

Even though the weather tells a different story, the autumn months will be here before we know it. At the same time, with school resuming, it’s just a lot easier to go back to school if we pretend it’s fall and not still summer, right?!

While I haven’t pulled out any white pumpkins yet (and probably won’t for awhile yet), I am definitely starting to creating my decorating look for this cozy and beautiful time of year! For me, creating a base of neutral decor with natural elements is the perfect way to set the stage for fall decorations to come. The good news is you don’t have to go all out on fall to get started.

Today, I want to share some easy ways that you can start using some of your vintage treasures to create your own neutral decorating look. Then, when the autumn months arrive, or whenever you’re ready, you can start adding those orange pumpkins and having fun with the actual fall decorations!

Thrifting With The Gals

First, though, let me introduce you to the Thrifting with the Gals! Each month, we get together and share some of our thrifting finds, tips for easy crafts and DIY projects, styling ideas for our favorite rustic objects, and even ideas for where to find your own vintage treasures. I love seeing what each friend finds throughout the month and then how they use their finds in their own homes to go with their decorating look.

Kristin from White Arrows Home
Ann from Dabbling and Decorating
Rachel from The Pond’s Farmhouse
and our guest host this month, Michele, from Vintage Home Designs

There is loads of inspiration on these blogs and you’ll love the intentional decorating styles, especially with the thrifted and vintage treasures!

What is the earliest you should decorate for fall?

I get the same question about Christmas decor. My answer is always the same: You decorate whenever you want to decorate!

For me, a lot of my decorating falls around our school schedule since I am both a mom and a teacher at the private school where my children attend. As I said, it’s hard to go back to school when it feels like it should still be summer break! For us, the back to school season is the best time of year to start easing into some subtle fall decor.

Traditionally, most people start decorating for fall around the first of September. However, I know the fall season is an absolute favorite for so many people. It makes total sense why a lot of people like to get a head start on all things cozy around their homes!

Ready for a sneak peek of my World’s Longest Yard Sale favorites?

Since I brought back so many great primitive pieces and rustic objects from the 127 yard sale, I thought it would be fun today to give you just a sneak peek of how I’ve started playing with them in our home.

I don’t even know if they will stay in these spaces! However, I’ve had fun taking a few moments here and there to start getting some decorating ideas for these vintage treasures!

Best Fall Primitive Decor Ideas: Decorating Vintage Finds

Primitive Fall Decorating Ideas for the Front Door

A great place to kick off some fall decorating is by adding some fall hues to your porch and front door. You can see my fall porch from past years over on THIS post for ideas of how to decorate a front porch or front door with fall colors. Since I want to use a more subtle fall touch right now, I started with inspiration from the 127 yard sale!

I picked up these gorgeous, handmade corn husk wreaths from a vendor. Can’t you just picture them with bales of hay on the front steps, a primitive pumpkin, and twinkle lights for some cozy front porch decor in the fall season?!

However, since I don’t know how well they will hold up in our still-very-hot and still-very-humid South Florida weather, I decided to hang this fall wreath inside instead. Instead, I found THESE similar ones. I love how they create a subtle fall focal point while blending with the primitive fall decor I want to add to our front porch decor a little later in the season.

Here are some other ideas for fall porch ideas that I will incorporate for a finishing touch in the autumn months:

Bales of hay
Wood crate
String lights
Corn stalks (brown floral wire works great to secure them to porch posts and will last all season; I usually get mine in late September!)

Primitive Fall Decor DIY Idea

If you’re up for a little DIY, dried corn husks are perfect for a primitive crafts or a DIY project! I think this wreath would be an especially gorgeous DIY wreath. Unfortunately, I don’t have corn husks down here but some of you may be able to get them where you live!

What I do have are dried banana leaves, though! If you want to see the finished product and how I used dried banana leaves and other stuff from my yard in my fall decorating, check out THIS post. Best part? It was all FREE!

For more fall porch decor ideas, check out THIS post where I share some easy ways to style front porch decor for the autumn months. There are so many beautiful ways to use primitive fall decor ideas in your front porch decor!

Primitive Fall Decorating Ideas for the Living Room

What are some fall decorating ideas?

You all know how much I love my wood tones and woven textures! On my coffee table, I combined my huge dough bowl for wood tones with a bit of a rustic, western style. This large elk antler was another fun find on the 127 sale. Even though the majority of my Instagram story community voted against the antlers, I just couldn’t refuse them.

Maybe it’s the fact that the western decorating look is trending again in interior design. However, I think it is really due to how inspired I was from our RV road trip out west over the past two summers!

I loved the buffalo, elk, and other wildlife we saw. Of course, the gorgeous terrain and laid back living adds to the overall feeling of west too!

Steer skull hung on white wall styled along with gold vintage frame and vintage books

As we get further into the season, I think I’ll add a plaid blanket under the elk antler in the large dough bowl. I love adding fabrics for quick and easy seasonal decorating touches!

Some white pumpkins or earth-toned dried gourds added around the antler will give a more full look to the dough bowl for the harvest season style.

Also, they will add even more seasonal decor for the autumn seasons! Plus, it blends perfectly with primitive fall decor ideas!

If you want even more dough bowl decor ideas for the fall season, check out THIS post! I share some really easy ways to use primitive fall decor with a dough bowl as a base.

Other fall decorations that I keep on hand for an easy decorating look are:

Candle holder
Faux stems in fall hues
Battery operated realistic taper candles
Large tray
Vintage books
Glass cloche
Architectural salvage

20201117 - Vintage Christmas Collections (4)

How to Use Primitive Fall Decorating Ideas in the Dining Room

How do you decorate subtly for fall?

One of the best ways to decorate subtly for fall is to mix neutrals, earth-tones, texture, and natural elements. Wood tones are wonderful to add some depth and character too.

While this looks beautiful for the “in-between” time to decorate in August, between summer and fall, it also creates a perfect base to add more fall touches throughout the autumn months.

As I said before, I haven’t added the pumpkins…yet. However, the dining room is a perfect way to feature my favorite Halloween crafts of all time! I’ll go ahead and mention them in this post because you might want to get a start on your Halloween crafts! Actually, I don’t really decorate for Halloween other than some cute jack-o-lanterns.

This DIY concrete pumpkin candle holder is still a favorite and I love pulling them out each year. They blend perfectly with my natural elements for the fall season. Of course, they are also cute mixed with a primitive pumpkin, mini pumpkins, or even orange pumpkins or dried gourds if you want more fall colors! You can find all of the details for these Halloween crafts HERE!

Tip: Mix and match primitive fall decor with straight lines and smooth finishes of new pieces as well!

So far, I’ve used some of my 127 yard sale finds on the dining room shelves. A mixture of antlers, woven textures, and patina of stoneware are working together to create a decorating look for primitive fall decor that I just LOVE!

How can I make my house look autumnal?

Tip: Creating a neutral decorating look like this sets the stage to add more seasonal specific decor, such as corn husks, mini pumpkins, white pumpkins, or even orange pumpkins in the autumn months!

Using primitive fall decor ideas on my dining room table, I will add a place setting at each seat along with handmade name tags for the fall holidays. However, for our busy, everyday lives during the autumn months, I filled this huge bowl with a quick and easy DIY, mixed with some more of my 127 sale finds!

How to Make a Primitive Fall Decor Centerpiece

First, I filled the bottom with crumpled brown kraft paper. It’s an easy filler and the paper blends in with my next layer. No one knows my bowl isn’t actually full of beautiful, natural elements!

I got this bowl from a boutique vintage shop. However, there are some great bowls online. A wooden dough bowl like THIS would be beautiful for a dining room table centerpiece!

Secondly, I added a bed of pine needles. Using natural elements is a great way to bring in budget-friendly or even FREE decor for fall decorating!

Once I added the pine needles and finished my centerpiece, it just wasn’t doing it for me. I went back to step two and added in a vintage grain sack. I like this look a lot better!

Third, I added a bunch of antlers that I collected throughout the 127 sale trip. I knew I wanted to try and create a fun centerpiece with them so I was definitely on the lookout for them! If you live up north, you may even be able to find antler sheds for free in the woods!

You can also buy naturally shed antlers by the pound HERE!

Final verdict?

Well, this centerpiece is still causing a discussion around our home. However, I’ll leave it for just a little while because we all know centerpieces get switched often around here! If nothing else, it was a creative experiment for sure! Haha!

More Fall Decorating Inspiration

Before you head off to start creating your own decorating looks for the season, check out this inspiration. Make sure and visit these bloggers for more vintage and primitive fall decor inspiration and ideas!

Rachel from The Pond’s Farmhouse

Ann from Dabbling and Decorating

Michele, from Vintage Home Designs

Kristin from White Arrows Home

Are you getting excited for fall decorating?

Thanks for visiting stopping by today! If it is as hot where you live as it is here, hopefully this post has given you a glimmer of hope for some cooler days during the autumn months! May they come sooner rather than later. Haha!

I have so many more vintage treasures to share from the World’s Longest Yard Sale. However, I haven’t even gotten them all out yet. So stay tuned! Lots and LOTS more vintage and thrifted fall decorations to come this season!

I have started adding my favorites over on my storefront, so keep an eye on THIS LIST too!