Fall Living Room Decor: Decorating with Pumpkins

In this post: If you’re looking for fall living room decor, these ideas for decorating with pumpkins will help you embellish 3 types of areas in your home.⇒

I often say it’s not all about pumpkins.

I spend lots of time and effort finding ways to decorate for fall with colors that are paler than usual and motifs that are less traditional than what’s common. Using apples, artichokes, acorns and gourds, I’ve gone way out of my way to find imagery that’s a bit out of the ordinary.

Well today I can say unabashedly it IS all about pumpkins, because today I’m sharing my family room all bedecked for fall. Specifically, we’ll look at 3 common areas to decorate, so these ideas can be used in any room that has a similar type of surface.

Fall Living Room Decor

The main three areas I’ll focus on are the coffee table, the mantel and a console table, and they’ve all been treated to a healthy dose of pumpkin decor. 

Starting with the mantel, below, I shopped for heirloom pumpkins, paying attention to size and shape, and designing the display in my imagination, while picking my selection at the store. My choices are still relatively light in color, and I varied the heights and widths, so they’d be able to move almost melodically across the mantel surface.

Tucked into the gaps, I added seeded eucalyptus and sprays of pink floral (not sure what they’re called), taking care to choose items that would dry nicely since they’re not in water.

At the foot of the fireplace, we keep a basket of blankets, and I topped them with wheat stalks for a lovely autumn feel.

Mantel decor “recipe”:

• 6 heirloom pumpkins
• 2 batches of seeded eucalyptus
• 8 pink floral stems
• 1 bunch of wheat stalks

And just to let you in on a little secret, while I did buy 6 pumpkins, I didn’t like the way the sixth one looked, so the little guy on top of the center pumpkin is a faux one from my seasonal closet!

Next I addressed the console table beneath our TV. Because hubby would have kittens if I blocked his beloved television, I keep the decor on the table quite limited and low. I have two shallow bowls on either end of the table, so I filled them with mini-pumpkins, both real and faux. On the near end are the orange ones you can see below, which are a set of craft pumpkin filler wound with pretty paper-like ribbon.

On the floor next to the console table I filled the large rustic urn with faux autumn branches of rust ‘lantern’ blooms. The bowl at the other end holds white baby boos.

Console table “recipe”:

• 1 set of craft pumpkin filler
• 7 baby boo pumpkins
• 2 faux lantern branch stems

On the coffee table I opted for one large centerpiece rather than multiple little piles. This is the direction I’m headed in much of the house, where I prefer a singular bold statement to a lot of smaller scattered clusters.

In this case, I filled the vase that usually sits here with fall flowers and the tray it always sits on with velvet pumpkins. The floral is another mix of real and faux, with real eucalyptus branches and, remarkably, faux hydrangeas. These are the most realistic faux hydrangeas I’ve ever seen, so much so, that I keep thinking I need to clean them out, and then remember they can stay like that forever!

Coffee table “recipe”:

• 3 faux hydrangea stems
• 1 cluster of seeded eucalyptus
• 11 smallish velvet pumpkins in white and shades of mauve

In addition to the three main areas, I added little fall touches around the room. On the sofa I added a brown plaid throw, the perfect accent for cozy fall evenings at home.

A copper tray mirrors the fall palette, serving up a bottle of wine and gilt trimmed goblets.

On the tiny end table I added magnolia leaves to the crystal vase.  These happen to be real, but could easily be faux and lend a lovely note of seasonal color with their two toned leaves.

Despite all the shots of vibrant fall color, when viewed as a whole, the room still has a very neutral feel. Warmed up yes, but still somewhat understated.  This is how I know I didn’t go too far.

These same concepts can be applied to any room, as long as the surfaces serve a similar function. Perhaps a centerpiece on a dining table, a parade of pumpkins on a long shelf or bookcase, or small bowls of pumpkins on a hall table.

Sometimes, it turns out, it IS all about pumpkins!

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