Fall is fast approaching! Are you as creatively energized by it as I am? The temps are still high outside but I am bringing in all the cozy sweater weather decor. And dare I say there is almost a bit of modern rustic vibe?

Join me in today’s blog post as I tell you how to unlock the perfect fall decor look. I’m excited that I succeeded at a modern rustic look even though it’s not necessarily my home’s main aesthetic. You will be amazed at my process and end result! Let’s gooooo!

How to unlock the perfect fall decor look: Rugs

It all started with the search for a new rug for the family room. Up until now our home’s usual neutral jute with layered kilim rugs has offered a light and smooth feel great for spring and summer. While their earth tones work for fall, this year I wanted to go with a cozier texture, so I looked to shaggy rugs for the answer.

As I googled shaggy rugs, I realized a very real dilemma I’m sure you’ve confronted before; BUDGET! With a large renovation project we are currently planning and saving up for, we have limited funds for a huge fall makeover. The more I spend on small decor the less I save for the reno. After some self-talk, I reaffirmed my commitment to our reno and decided upon a small budget to refresh for the holidays.

So I needed somewhere I would be able to find beautiful items inexpensively priced without sacrificing quality. As you may have noticed, I have been featuring Walmart home decor for a while now. If you spend a little time browsing their new home decor line you’ll find Walmart offers many trendy looks for an affordable price point. I’m very into that!

As I searched the site I kept coming back to this beautiful plaid black and cream-colored shag rug. But as much as I loved it, I wasn’t sure the farmhouse aesthetic would match my home’s. I realize my style is a bit eclectic, but having something rustic as such a strong focal point was new for me. I have designed and styled farmhouse looks for others.

But for my own home? I sat there alternating between studying the image of the rug on my laptop then quickly looking over at the room in its then-current state, trying to visualize how it would fit. As the images slowly began to merge I imagined the aroma of pumpkin pie and candles. And of course, me sipping a Pumpkin Spice Latte enjoying the fall weather.

Wow. Guys, can you believe how good it looks? And it’s so soft and cozy underfoot. Natalie immediately dug her cute little toes into it and exclaimed, “Mommy, it feels so good!”

And the big kicker was what Travis said about it. He can often be indifferent or will just grin and bear the design ideas and trends I frequently bring into our home. This time? After helping me unroll it and position the chairs and sofa back into place, he stopped to stare for a moment.

Then without any prompting from me and not knowing of my earlier dilemma, he said, “I really like it, and it looks great with everything!” Major affirmation that I made the right choice with the rug, but in the meantime should anyone know where my real husband went please let me know.

How to unlock the perfect fall decor look: Coffee Tables

Rugs and coffee tables pretty much go hand in hand when it comes to living room design. I’ve had my beautiful glass coffee table for a few years now and will never give it up. But lately, I’ve been toying with how to make this area feel roomier and thought that maybe switching from a square to circular shape might help.

With me embracing those budgetary concerns, I got curious again about what Walmart could offer and found this black metal round coffee table that blended perfectly with the rug and even matched the black around the fireplace. And I thought I scored big time on the rug!

I feel like you are going to be so obsessed about this too! And the prices are under $200! With the shaggy plaid rug and simple modern round coffee table in place, I began to have the confidence the rest of my plans for this room were going to succeed.

How to unlock the perfect fall decor look: Decor

At the end of every summer I search for creative and authentic yet subtle ideas to celebrate fall and winter. I loved the fall vibe brought out by the lovely mustard yellow color of this chunky knit throw, so I used my black metal ladder to display it. Isn’t it gorgeous?

I was so drawn to this hue that I thought, “this is it!” and set out to find similarly shaded items like the faux goldenrod potted plants that would give consistency to the pops of color.

The black arch lanterns were calling my name at the Walmart store one day as I was picking up a few groceries. Do you get your groceries at Walmart? Guys. It’s amazing! The produce is FRESH.

Seriously I am the PICKIEST about produce and Walmart has never disappointed me. They even hard to get items such as tomatillos, tropical fruits and lots of salad kits for the kids to eat school lunches.

Ok back to the lanterns. So these lanterns really spoke to me. My original thought was to place one on each side of the mantel, but they ended up looking a bit too large. As I pondered how to make it work, I placed them on the threshold and realized they fit perfectly there!

Then instead of candles, I placed plants inside that gave them an unexpected living accent. I’ve seen this creative out of the box idea before and I’m so excited to make it work here!

Here’s a little secret. If you want to be refined yet keep it playful, use the same item of decor twice or more to frame the second type of item, but vary that second item for each individual frame.

For our fireplace, the identical lanterns provide consistency, while using different plants for each lantern will maintain the theme but with enough variety to keep it interesting. As you can see one plant is a potted cactus while the other is eucalyptus branches.

For the wall above the mantle I thought about finding a lovely fall cornucopia for beautiful bouquets, but ended up with inspiration from my garage of all places! As a part of our recent reorganization, I emptied two lightweight wicker baskets from the garage laundry area and had not yet had a reason to fill them again.

As I was loading the washing machine one day those two empty baskets ignited my creative brain chemistry and I thought, “why not nail these to the wall?” And just look at how gorgeous they turned out!

I filled them with garden roses from my front yard and the simple beauty makes my heart sing! You can easily add high-quality faux flowers and plans here as well.

And here’s another money-saving hack. I took this woven lantern shade collecting dust in the corner and nailed it to the wall. I placed a gigantic faux air plant to hide the light spokes. It was just a whim but I really surprised myself with this and love how it turned out! There you have it, used lampshades as recycled wall decor!

How to unlock the perfect fall decor look: Shelves

Because of the natural light in the corner to the left of the fireplace, I’ve typically styled with a large plant as the focal point. However, this has been hit and miss with Travis. My beloved gigantic beast of cactus used to fill this corner in the most amazing way.

But Travis never felt relaxed knowing he or the girls could get pricked, scraped or worse if they accidentally ventured too far into that corner. When my cactus died (RIP) I added huge pampas for dramatic effect. Guess who hated it even more?

Thank goodness Trav isn’t loud about it, but he will definitely voice his opinion. Duly noted. We’ve since settled on a gorgeous fiddle leaf fig recently and that seems to have worked for everyone.

But as the room refresh progressed, I began thinking of more than aesthetic changes and realized this was a chance to change the function of this little corner. I’ve recently been looking for places to add shelves but until now it’s felt as if our home presents little room or architectural opportunity to show off my strong selfie game I’ve used in other people’s homes. That’s until now!

We installed two small oak floating shelves and I don’t know why I didn’t think to add them sooner. I mean, look! Isn’t it breathtaking? I’m ECSTATIC! Now I can switch things up far more easily. The natural light from the window makes it even more organic and pretty don’t you think?

With space underneath free, I borrowed the small bench from the living room to create an inviting nook, something I tout often.

My brain’s dopamine is on FIRE right now with all the feels and happy adrenalin running through me!

Now my eyes are open to shelfie opportunities didn’t see before and I’m inspired to add them on every blank space in my home. It makes such a difference. You must try it too!

How to unlock the perfect fall decor look: Pillows

Last but not least is pillows. Sometimes I find it hard to achieve keeping my original aesthetic while incorporating a seasonal theme, especially with regards to pillows. But I think I’ve got the secret sauce to this common design dilemma.

You mix in your aesthetically aligned pillows with a few fall decor pillows. Back to my visit to Walmart, I found this beautiful buffalo check pillow. I’m obsessed with black buffalo check! Although it matched the rug, I wanted it to have a stronger connection to my other pillows.

And low and behold, right next to it on the display shelf was a gorgeous white macrame pillow. As this style aligned with my usual home aesthetic and paired beautifully side by side with the buffalo check I knew I had found my winners!

Once I was home, I threw in a couple of mustard yellow pillows to match the throw from the ladder and goldenrods on the mantle, and a gray chunky knit that matched the buffalo check, then began the pillow shuffle game. Do you play this game? Yeah, I play it probably too often! I tried out a few different combinations until it felt right. Here it is! Isn’t it a lovely and cozy look?

For a final touch, I added the auburn hue mums and lit the candle, then sat feeling like a million bucks. Do you know when you achieve something super wonderful beyond what you imagined? Yeah, that is how I felt. I immediately wanted to put on some soft music, sink into the sofa, sip that PSL and read my favorite design mag.

So what are you waiting for? Head to the links I provided for you and snatch up all this yummy fall decor I shared with you today! I know you will be in fall decor heaven just like me!

Happy day!

This post was sponsored by Walmart. However, all opinions are my own. I love sharing what is true to my aesthetics and functionality to help you style for fall. Thank you for your support!