A dollar store fall wreath

How to make a fall wreath with dollar store materials 

Hellooo there! I’m finally pulling out the fall decor this week! This is SO late for me -- usually I’m itching to get it out in August! This year I wanted to make sure I was completely done going through the basement before I started lugging the (cough. numerous.) bins up.

One of the projects I wanted to tackle this year was a DIY fall wreath. I was inspired by this one last year:

But because I was too cheap impatient lazy to come up with a rectangle shape, I just did a smaller, round one. It’s pretty darn cute, but also a bit wimpy. So this year, I was determined to make a large, square, fluffy fall wreath.

Start with your base
I started with some thick foam core board from Hobby Lobby for $5 – it was half an inch thick and it was already 20 inches wide, so I cut it down to 20 inches in length as well:


Btw -- you can easily use foam core from the dollar store, this is just thicker.

I wanted it to be four inches thick, so I marked a square in the middle accordingly:


I used my jigsaw to cut it out (it cut like butta!), but you could probably get away with cutting it with something else (especially if you use a thinner foam board – I use scissors.)

Remember it does not have to be perfect – you won’t see the exact shape when you’re done!
I did a really quick spray of the edges, (with red because it was the closest I found) just in case they'd show through at all:


They don’t, so you can save the two minutes and skip this step.
You’re welcome. :)

Add your leaves 
I was trying to think of a cheap way to do this project and I remembered some packets of leaves I bought at the Dollar Tree a few weeks ago for another project. I absolutely loved the colors, the texture, and they were large – perfect for this project!
WHOO!!

I started laying them out to see what I liked:


Hmmm – it wasn’t random enough for me. So I tried a willy nilly way:


MUCH better, but the leaves were a bit flat for my liking. I wanted some POOF.

Because they’re made with wire, that was an easy fix – I crumpled up a few at a time (gently) and gave them some dimension:

(I ended up snipping off the wire stems.)

I fired up the hot glue gun and started placing them here and there, filling in any empty spots:


There was no rhyme or reason to it – just stick ‘em on!

And less than an hour later, I had just what I was looking for!:


(Our door always photographs blue, but it’s a dark brown.)

I love love LOVE these leaves! They look so real! They are made of a material that reminds me of crepe paper – but not nearly as delicate:

You do have to be gentle with them though – they tear if you’re not careful. I didn’t mind though – it made them look more real.  ;)

If you have a door that’s exposed to the wind, you’ll want to add weights to the “frame” because it is very lightweight. We don’t have that problem, but I may add some sticky tack to the back just to make sure it stays put. And I’m not sure how these leaves would hold up to the elements – so you may want to test out a leaf or two.

Last year some of you suggested using a large frame as the base, and I thought that was a great idea – it would be heavy enough too!

I absolutely LOVE it – lots of color, texture and it’s simple. The best part is that it only cost $11 total! (Five for foam and six packages of the leaves at a dollar each.) And that’s only because I got the thicker foam – if you got a thinner piece from the dollar store, you’d get this done for well under ten bucks!:


It's gonna look FAB with the rest of the fall decor on our porch! I’ll share that with you next week! (Click here for our fall porch tour!)

It’s getting just a bit cooler here…slowly but surely. It was in the 80’s today but there was so little humidity, it felt pretty fantastic! Yay…it’s coming!! :)

Modern home tour with beautiful neutral accents

Hello there! I'm back with another home tour from our local Home-A-Rama in Indy. This home was one of my very favorites! 

I took a ton of photos of this one (didn't realize till I started going through them all) so I'm dedicating this post to one house. I'll finish it up the tours with the last two houses in the next week or so. 

I shared the decor trends I noticed at this year's event in my last post -- see the first two luxury house tours here! Those trends definitely carried through this home too. I had two favorites on the tour (one I shared in the last post) and this one!: 

The builder of this home is Executive Homes. 

When you walk in the staircase was a stunner: 

I love the windows in the stairway! 

The basement was very cool, but I especially loved this TV. How cool is that? You can watch numerous shows at one time: 

This kid space in the basement was fun too: 

Remember how I mentioned there was a ton of wallpaper? It was used a lot on accent walls behind beds:

I loved this little nook they turned into a homework area with doors: 

Not sure it would be used much -- but it would be a quiet, designated spot closed off for concentration! 

I also mentioned last time how much gray was used -- I know many want of you don't love it, but I think it's going to be trendy in some form or fashion for a long time. 

It was used in the textiles throughout this bedroom: 

I thought this was a brilliant idea -- if you have a big closet but still don't have a ton of room in the middle for a table, using a skinny sofa table instead is super smart: 

I loved the gray walls in the bedrooms -- they all felt so cozy!: 

This bathroom tile was so pretty! I loved it with the dark gray vanity: 

This bathroom layout reminded me of ours -- if only there was a way to paint our tub black. ;) 

This plaid tile was so fun too! I don't usually love the stacked subway tile, but I quite liked it in a couple houses on this tour. I think it was because they were combined with more traditional accents: 

I don't think I'll ever fall out of love with a light gray and wood tones. They are a lovely combination!: 

The trim in this room was so simple, but I loved it. I broke up the walls just enough: 

This was one side of the office on the main level -- you guessed it! More gray! 😂 I love how the trim is the same color as the walls:

Remember my DIY photo shelves? That's basically what they did here, but keeping them the same paint color keeps it soothing. And now that I see all of these spaces all together, I realize there was a TON of gray in this house. 😂 It really didn't feel like that as I walked through though. (I'm not sharing a lot of the house, there were plenty of rooms without it.)

The family room and kitchen in this house were my favorites. The family room was SO pretty and serene, but also cozy feeling: 

I just loved the neutral, pretty touches in these rooms. It all worked together so beautifully: 

The kitchen was an absolute stunner. That wood vent hood!: 

I loved the stone on the backsplash. The more I see this done the more I love it: 

The cabinets look gray in some of these photos, but in real life they were a light taupe color. It is a very trendy cabinet color right now: 

Gorgeous right? It was one of my favorite kitchens by far! 

The outdoor spaces weren't quite as elaborate this year, but I did take a picture of this because I thought it was so doable: 

It was just pea gravel with pavers around the edge -- the square shape gives it a more modern feel. You could easily add a DIY fire pit like we did on the patio! :) 

There you go! My second favorite house! Do you have a favorite room in this home? I'll share the remaining homes soon! Don't forget to visit the first home tours if you missed them. 

See more of our home here. To shop items in our home, click here! Never miss a post by signing up to get posts via email.