Fall Floral Wreath | Simple DIY Project

Learn how to make an easy DIY fall floral wreath for your home or your front door. Follow along with our simple, step by step instructions to make your own fall wreath.

fall floral wreath with sunflowers, hydrangeas, large red berries, small white sunflowers, Chinese lanterns and greenery hanging on door

I stumbled across a fall floral wreath a few months ago and fell in love with how it combined sunflowers with hydrangeas, greenery, and Chinese lantern flowers. But it was almost $100. For one wreath. And I just could justify spending that much.

I saved the photo as inspiration, and as soon as florals were on sale for half off at Hobby Lobby and Michaels, I went out to collect the elements to make a copycat version.

How to Make a Fall Floral Wreath

It helps to start with a specific color scheme. Erin from Cottonstem designed a printable that helps you with planning out projects like this! Once you have a color scheme, head out to your favorite place to purchase faux florals.

grapevine wreath form with a variety of fall floral stems and greenery surrounding it

I wasn’t sure how much I would need to fill the wreath, so I ended up buying more than I needed. ? I could have returned what I didn’t use, but instead, I made a second, smaller version of this wreath to hang in my kitchen!

I ended up spending $37 and had enough florals and greenery to make a 22-inch AND a 16-inch wreath! I already had both grapevine wreath bases, so it would cost a bit more if I needed to purchase the bases too.

Prepare the florals

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The first step when making a wreath with faux florals is to remove all the leaves from the stems. Set them aside because you will be using them! Why do we do this? Because the leaves are generally lower down on the stems, not up next to the head of the flower. That’s great if you’re using them in a floral arrangement. Not so great for a wreath. ?

Assorted faux greenery including leaves from fall florals and ferns

There are two reasons: One, you’ll be pushing the stems into the grapevine wreath to attach them. If the leaves are still on the stems, it’s really hard to push them in! And two, you want the leaves to show! They are part of the flower. So pushing them into the body of the wreath ends up hiding them.

Next, you separate the florals so their stems aren’t attached. Ideally, each flower is on its own stem. But some will have tiny off-shoots like the bottom one below. In that case, keep the short stem attached. I also saved the little tendrils to add in as filler.

four large red berries on curvy brown stems

If you’re hanging your wreath outside, you may want to treat your florals with UV protectant spray. I love this one by Scotchgard because it protects from UV fading and it also waterproofs your flowers if your door isn’t protected from the weather.

A Budget-friendly Tip

Faux florals can get pricy. Especially if you choose the type that looks the most realistic. You can get creative with some florals, like hydrangeas (which are often the most expensive)!

silk hydrangea blossom separated into two pieces

I chose a very full hydrangea blossom and they were 50% off. I needed three blooms. Just like any design, using an odd number of key elements is more visually appealing. Instead of buying a third stem, I separated each blossom into two parts. That left me with two large blossoms and two smaller blossoms.

I combined the two smaller blossoms to make one that was the same size as the two larger ones. and then attached them to a piece of a stem using wire. Voila! Three hydrangeas for the price of two (actually for the price of one since they were half off!). ?

Assembling your Fall Floral Wreath

I like to separate all the different elements that I’m using into individual piles. But I’m just a little orderly like that… ? Now it’s time to start attaching the florals and the greenery to the base of your wreath!

If you want everything to be more permanently attached, you can use a hot glue gun in addition to pushing the stems into the grapevine base. I really like using these brown hot glue sticks on a grapevine wreath because it blends in so naturally. But I tend to change up my wreaths every few years so I personally skip this step. That allows me to easily remove old flowers and re-use the grapevine bases.

Start with your largest elements

fall floral wreath with large yellow sunflowers, and greenery. Additional items to be added to the wreath are sitting on the table surrounding it.

The big sunflowers are the largest element in my wreath’s design. I spaced them out evenly around the wreath. In addition, I attached them so that some are facing straight up, some are facing the outer edge of the wreath, and one is on the inner edge of the wreath.

You’ll get a more full, natural-looking arrangement by using the whole surface of the wreath.

Next, add on large greenery

I attached large magnolia leaves next. I let some of the leaves point outside of the wreath, and some pointed inside.

fall floral wreath with large yellow sunflowers, hydrangeas, and greenery. Additional items to be added to the wreath are sitting on the table surrounding it.

I attached the three hydrangea blossoms next, along with their leaves. Again, I made sure to vary which direction the blossoms faced.

fall floral wreath with large yellow sunflowers, hydrangeas, and greenery

Fill in the empty spots with more greenery. I had an assortment of leaves that I’d removed from the florals, plus some ferns. I liked the airiness of the ferns. And now the wreath is starting to look really pretty!

Add in smaller floral pieces

fall floral wreath with large yellow sunflowers, small white sunflowers, large red berries, hydrangeas, and greenery

Next, start attaching the smaller florals. Continue to vary their direction in your placement. I also kept them spaced somewhat evenly. If you wanted to attach pinecones for more texture, this is when you should add them in.

Finish with “spiller” elements

fall floral wreath with large yellow sunflowers, small white sunflowers, hydrangeas, and greenery

I love the way these large red berries enhance the unstructured look of this wreath!

fall floral wreath with sunflowers, red berries, hydrangeas, and greenery

I had some smaller greenery stems that fall into the “spiller” category. Once again, I made an effort to attach them so that some spread to the center and others spilled outside the wreath form

fall floral wreath with sunflowers, Chinese lanterns, hydrangeas, and greenery

The final elements I attached were the Chinese lanterns. They add some great color while also spilling to the inner and outer edges of the wreath. These spiller elements are what give the wreath that relaxed, unconstrained appearance!

Hang your wreath!

Now it’s time to display your gorgeous fall floral wreath! the wreath hanger on my front door is wide enough that the wreath just sits inside of its hook. If your wreath hanger is more narrow, you can add a loop to the back of your wreath with floral wire or a chenille stem.

fall floral wreath with sunflowers, hydrangeas, large red berries, small white sunflowers, Chinese lanterns and greenery hanging on front door. Entryway includes boxwood topiaries, layered welcome mat, white pumpkins, and mums.

I love the color that this fall floral wreath adds to my front entry! If you have any questions or suggestions, please be sure to leave a comment!