Picture Perfect Porches

Lori Shaw and Jennifer Dolan met eight years ago, when their kids were in preschool. Both had lived and worked in New York; now, they lived five minutes apart in south Charlotte. “We came from the northeast, where fall is, like, two weeks,” Shaw says. “Everybody here seemed to embrace the fall season.”

At one of their coffee meetups, they decided to combine talents and create festive fall porchscapes for residential and commercial clients in and around Charlotte. “We liked the idea of a seasonal business,” Dolan says. “It complements both of us. I sell real estate, and interior design is Lori’s background.”

Last year, they launched Picture Perfect Porches, a service that includes delivery, setup, and removal of fall-themed front porch displays. They begin taking orders in early August and set up over three weeks, from mid-September to the first week in October. “As soon as people see the pumpkin spice latte come out, they want to deck their house out,” Shaw says. “Everybody loves a really pretty fall display. I’ll get messages from Amazon delivery people saying, ‘I took a picture of your porch!’”

Here, Shaw and Dolan share some practical tips and tricks for creating a gorgeous porchscape this fall.

CLEAN FIRST, THEN DECORATE

Sweep off any dust, leaves, and cobwebs so you have a clean backdrop. “We only set up our displays on concrete or the porch itself—contact with grass is a recipe for disaster,” Shaw says. “Weather certainly plays a factor, but six weeks is a reasonable amount of time you can get out of a setup.”

SHOP SMALL, SHINE BIG

Dolan and Shaw use a mix of locally sourced pumpkins, gourds, mums, and hay bales to create their displays. “We’ve communicated with every pumpkin farm within a two-hour radius from here,” Shaw says, “and we love to use local mums to get those rich autumn tones.”

USE WHAT YOU HAVE

“You can use anything rustic, like an old ladder, barrels, or baskets,” Dolan says. “There are usually random things you can find in your house or garage to add to it. If you have a porch swing, throw a blanket or some pillows on it.”

KEEP IT BALANCED, NOT SYMMETRICAL

“It’s really important to have pumpkins with different heights, sizes, and colors to make it look not so uniform,” Dolan says. “We love to use the warty, non-traditional pumpkins and incorporate hay and mums.”

LAYER YOUR PUMPKINS

Include a mix of shapes, sizes, and colors for visual interest, and stack them on steps, crates, or hay bales for height and texture. “It’s nice to have one or two large pumpkins to anchor everything,” Shaw says. “You don’t want to have 150 pumpkin-pie pumpkins out there rolling around.”

ADD NATURAL ELEMENTS

Use corn stalks, hay bales, or dried florals to fill any empty spaces. “It can be messy—you can throw straw here and there—that’s the most natural looking,” Dolan says. “You don’t want it to look too symmetrical.”

THINK OUTSIDE THE LINES

“Not everyone wants orange, so don’t be afraid to go non-traditional,” Dolan says. Some of their clients like to incorporate green, white, and blue pumpkins, or spray-paint them in metallics for a modern twist. “You can also do black pumpkins if you want the spookiness.”