Decorating for Fall with Burlap!

by Myra on September 20, 2010

The following post is from Myra of My Blessed Life:

source: interchangeable parts

Autumn is my favorite time of year!  After the unbearably hot summers of the South, I crave cooler weather, pumpkin spice lattes (the only “coffee” I drink), cozy sweaters and shorter days.  By the end of August, I’m ready to jump right in to Fall decorating.

Besides candles, leaves, berries, sticks and pumpkins, I love to decorate with burlap. Some people think I’m a little crazy when I tell them how awesome burlap is, but I’m going to show you exactly what I mean.

Burlap is made from the jute plant that originated in India.  When woven together, jute is incredibly resilient and resistant to tearing.  Burlap sacks were used in the trading industry for centuries.  As a child, I remember my grandfather using burlap sacks on his farm…I can still still smell those “feed” sacks.

Burlap’s wonderful qualities make it delightful for decorating:

Burlap is inexpensive.

It can be found at craft stores (i.e. Hobby Lobby, Michaels) for about $3/yard.  I’ve even found it on sale for 1/2 price!!  Burlap comes about 60″ wide, so you get a lot of bang for your buck.  I’ve also seen burlap sacks at antique stores, which would be perfect for an authentic vintage look.

Burlap has a fabulous texture.

Burlap’s wonderful, fibrous texture balances the smooth textures of candles, pumpkins and gourds.  Recently, I washed three yards of burlap and it looked like I sheared a sheep in my house by the time it was dry. Ha!  Some people complain that burlap smells, which it does, but it smells rustic which is absolutely perfect for ushering in Autumn.

source: my blessed life

Burlap is SO versatile!

I love that I can use burlap for just about anything I can imagine.  It can be ruffled, pleated, draped, framed or painted. I’ve seen burlap sewn and unsewn.  There are no “rules” for decorating with burlap…which is just my kind of thing!

Wreaths, candle wraps, table runners, place mats, pillows and much more can be made with burlap. Use burlap for decorating your home this Fall!

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Do you use burlap to decorate your home for Fall?

Myra has a B.A. in Interior Design, is an allied-member of the American Society of Interior Designers and is currently self-employed. When she’s not spending time with her little man, thrifting, creating, shopping or working on a project, Myra enjoys date nights with her husband and blogging at My Blessed Life.


  • Teresa

    if you have a coffee distributor or a coffee mill in your area (or even far from your area), contact them to see what they do with the burlap bags that the coffee beans come in. often times, the bags are thrown away or just tossed aside. i have gotten burlap coffee bags from a coffee mill in our city and they smell amaaaaazing. i turn them inside out, give them a good shake, throw them on the clothesline to air out and ‘dust’ out, let them soak in a big bucket of soapy water (i don’t like putting them in the washing machine – too many fibers and too much coffee stain comes out of them i find), rinse them and then back out in the fresh air to line dry. then i use them to throw over the backs of our kitchen chairs in the fall, as pillow and chair covers for our outdoor furniture, table runners, place mats for each setting at the table, as decor on the front step full of fall leaves (with a brick at the bottom of the bag so they don’t blow away) or pumpkins – i turn down the tops of the bags and they look so awesome full of the leaves or pumpkins. sometimes i sew them, sometimes i don’t – it’s such a forgiving fabric that it looks great either way. and someone allllllllways makes a comment about them!

    burlap – and i thought i was the only one! :)

    • Mandi

      These are such great tips, Teresa — thanks for chiming in!

    • http://myblessedlife.net Myra

      What a wonderful idea, Teresa! And I think next time I want to clean burlap I will definitely rinse and line dry. :) Thanks so much for your wonderful tips!

  • http://www.joyfuladorations.blogspot.com Kelly

    I use burlap as my Christmas tree skirt! :) Love the rustic look!

    • Mandi

      I LOVE this Kelly — do you have a picture?

    • http://myblessedlife.net Myra

      Hmmm….wonder who suggested that fabulous use of burlap? Thanks sis for your comment! :)

  • Nikki Dayton :-)

    Great ideas– THANKS :-)

  • http://dani-inprogress.blogspot.com/ Dani Sommerfeld

    I love these decorating ideas! If you have more simple, frugal fall decorating ideas, I’m excited to hear about them!

  • http://momskitchenandstuff.com Brittany @ Mom’s Kitchen and Stuff

    To answer your question…No I do not use burlap….

    AND LOOK WHAT I”VE BEEN MISSING OUT ON! ;)

    Really, this is the first time I’ve ever come across the idea…so excited to try it out!

    • Mandi

      That is exactly what I thought, Brittany!

    • http://myblessedlife.net Myra

      Yay! You will LOVE using burlap to decorate. I’ve even thrown around the idea that I might use brown paper and burlap to wrap my Christmas gifts! :)

  • http://www.simplekids.net Kara @SimpleKids

    I love the house sandwich! :-)

    But, all of these are fun ideas. Thanks for the round-up!

  • http://www.examiner.com/green-culture-in-mankato/alicia-bayer Green Living in Minnesota

    Darling! Thanks. :)

  • http://www.thediscombobulatedmommy.blogspot.com Heather

    I just posted something similar yesterday! I had to write out my schedule yesterday so that I made sure I did everything that needed to be done. I was pretty close with minor deviations. But boy, writing out my schedule kept to task!

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