The Best Of Martha Stewart's Fall Decor Over The Years

Martha Stewart is a household name best known for her skills with home decor, cooking, and gardening. Her humble television show focused on crafting, eventually became a lifestyle media juggernaut. Stewart's lively, aesthetically alluring brand includes multiple magazines, books, and lines of merchandise like paint, craft supplies, clothing, and home furnishings. Though her popular magazine "Martha Stewart Living" is no longer in print, her influence on home decor endures after several decades (her Instagram has almost 6 million followers), and her unique style has been widely imitated. People continue to be inspired by her many fall decor ideas, such as her fall-decorated porch, which is so simple, anyone can do it.

Stewart's Halloween decor, recipes, and ideas for entertaining (not to mention her costumes) are practically legendary, and her Thanksgiving holiday ideas are widely shared and appreciated. But her approach to autumnal decor embraces the entire season, not just these two holidays. Despite the common criticism that Stewart's detailed approach to crafting is too time-consuming, as years went on, she offered more simplified ideas. These simpler seasonal decor projects are also very affordable, often utilizing found objects foraged outside.

Her approach to autumnal decor has certain recognizable qualities that make it easy to emulate. There's an emphasis on color, echoing the changing hues of leaves in the Northeast, where her estate and gardens are located. She also makes displays using seasonal produce (like pumpkins, apples, and squash), and some are even edible, so that her kitchen wizardry is a theme in her visual creations. Here are some of her most iconic and lasting fall decor looks you can try at home.

A frequent element of Martha Stewart's fall decor is the humble pumpkin. Her famous Halloween decorations feature Jack-o'-lanterns and pumpkins of all kinds, but she also features pumpkins starring as themselves in displays that aren't holiday-specific. These autumn-themed decorations can be left up throughout the fall season and through Thanksgiving. Cutting off the tops of these pumpkins and scooping them out turns them into handy flower vases: Just insert a plastic container with water to keep cut blooms looking fresh.

Bless Martha Stewart and her can of gold spray paint (she even created her own brand). It has long been one of her favorite ways to transform ordinary objects. Painting leaves, pine cones, stems, and other objects can add a touch of glamour to autumn decor and displays, especially against a dark background. Gold, silver, and other metallic design elements also work well through the winter holiday season. Stewart championed the idea that simple natural materials make wonderful holiday decor, and a touch of metallic paint adds shimmer and shine.

Martha Stewart's gardening prowess often informed her approach to decor and crafts. One of her most popular autumnal decor themes was creating wreaths. She often used foraged natural materials, like pine cones, rose hips, leaves, and stems of dried flowers — all plentiful and easy to find, and free if you have access to woodland and meadow areas. The willow wreath frame was a favorite starting point, and these inexpensive craft items can be reused year after year. Cut stems can be stuck into the wreath, or secured with wire, string, or glue. 

While bowls of nuts at autumn meals are a nice touch, Martha Stewart's fall decor often includes nuts, like walnuts, chestnuts, and Brazil nuts, glued onto wreaths or other decorative designs. But added to a simple table centerpiece, they add edible color and texture. The small ceramic nut bowls anchor the simple flowers and the orange dinnerware and napkins in this colorful display. The earthy texture of the nuts compliments the shimmering gold flatware and glassware, and that's why nuts can be used to inspire a whole range of nature-themed holiday centerpieces.

In addition to crafting show-stopping seasonal floral arrangements with florist shop flowers, Martha Stewart has also demonstrated making gorgeous indoor and outdoor displays with found or foraged flowers. This approach to decorating for fall with easy-to-find (and free!) materials is fun and satisfying. Materials like thistles, rose hips, stems of dried berries, and various garden and meadow flowers can make an eye-catching display for the front porch. One great bonus of making displays with dried and dormant plant materials is that they're long-lasting and don't need water to stay fresh.

Leave it to Martha Stewart to elevate her basic DIY cornucopia concept to inspire a creative Thanksgiving turkey centerpiece made entirely of seasonal fruits and veggies. This craft project is definitely more complex than some of her other autumn decor ideas, but it's also mostly edible. The turkey has a pumpkin and sweet potato body, and foliage and head made with an array of produce, including cranberries, apples, peppers, walnuts, and Indian corn. These can be attached with hot glue or toothpicks (toothpicks are a better choice to allow produce to be eaten later).

Martha Stewart's Halloween decorations are often designed to be showcased after dark, for trick-or-treating, or parties. But some of them are artfully neutral, making them suitable to use after Halloween and right through Thanksgiving. This reimagined Jack-o'-lantern display features colorful heirloom pumpkins. The simple holes are made using a melon baller and a small knife, and battery-powered LED lights are an easy way to light them. It's a glowing autumnal fantasy that easily transitions from Halloween to the winter holidays, as the season shifts towards shorter days and longer nights.