It's Not Just a Seat: Decorate A Garden Bench To Celebrate Autumn

Any change of season means an opportunity to freshen the accents inside and outside your home, and one great way to flex your decorative muscle is to decorate a garden bench to celebrate autumn. The rich oranges, reds, and golds that mark this time of year translate into a treat for the eye for passersby as well as everyone in your household. When you decorate a garden bench to celebrate autumn, this theme will take you from the start of the early fall season into the Thanksgiving holiday.

A bench set near the entrance is a showcase waiting to happen. If you normally keep your bench in the backyard or otherwise in a spot where it’s not easily seen from the street, consider moving it out front where more eyes will be able to appreciate your handiwork. How heavily you wave your aesthetic magic wand is up to you; you can go all out with tall corn stalks, colored lights, and Halloween figures, or you can stay on the subtle side with a delicate garland, potted mums, and cushions or pillows in colors that are appropriately autumnal.

The Whimsical Way
Think about whose tastes you most want to appeal to. Are there small children in the household or neighborhood? Do you have grandchildren coming to visit? Little ones adore Halloween, so they’re looking for witches and jack o’lanterns and vampires. If possible, let them help you choose and set up the decorations. They can paint pumpkins (older budding artists can carve them instead), drape garlands of skeletons or black cats, and make scarecrows. The scarecrow has huge potential for creative fun, as kids love to stuff their own outgrown clothes with leaves and make them “come to life.” Another fun idea is to make a witch scarecrow and set her astride a broom, and then add a mum or aster set into a plastic cauldron. Fun!

A trip to a party-supply outlet should provide abundant inspiration, but at the risk of being overwhelmed by the choices you may want to decide on your theme before perusing the aisles. If you go with a Halloween theme, come November you can replace the holiday-specific elements with general autumn decorations: leaf garland, Indian corn, and other symbols of the harvest. Some accessories, such as orange string lights or a garland of artificial leaves, can make a foundation, staying in place from September to Thanksgiving.

Traditional Country Charm
Those who prefer a more elegant display have a cornucopia of options as well. Visit a few garden centers and farmers’ markets to set your creative juices flowing, and bring home some wares to get you started. Tall, dried corn stalks make quite a statement standing at either side of your bench. Or, if you have a lamppost or flagpole, move the bench beside it for the season, using the corn stalks to soften the pole’s appearance and provide an anchor for the themed decoration. Increase the wow factor by wiring a clump of colorful Indian corn to the center of each array of stalks and adding orange, gold, or russet-colored ribbon. You can then carry the ribbon’s color to the bench by matching it to a hue in a pillow or bench cushion, or by draping the back of the seat with a complementary runner, throw blanket, or similar cloth accent.

Your seasonally decorated garden bench won’t be complete without some living accessories, in the form of autumn flowering plants. The most popular choices are mums and asters, and they’re available more or less everywhere (garden centers, supermarkets, department stores, larger pharmacies, farmers’ markets, and even gas stations) after Labor Day. These plants have a similar look and have similar low-care requirements. While asters can be found in brighter hues in the blue and purple family, the many colors that mums come in simply scream, “autumn is here!” Mix them as you see fit to get the look you want. One idea is to choose two large mums in the same color and set one at either side of your bench, and then arrange smaller mums or asters around each large plant. You can also set a potted plant directly on the bench, moving it to the ground when someone needs a seat.

Stay Open to Inspiration
Keep your eyes wide whenever you’re in the car or out for a stroll on a crisp day. Take cues from others’ decorations that strike your fancy, and apply those elements in your own way when decorate a garden bench to celebrate autumn. When you’ve finished applying your aesthetic touches, take a few photos and share them, not only to enjoy the comments and compliments but also to make notes for other ideas that you can use next fall. As functional as your garden bench is when you need a few moments of rest, you should also look at it as a wonderful palette, the foundation for a changeable array of decorations all across the calendar.