I used to own a store and fall was my favorite time to decorate the holiday windows!

I am in the north, so we use alot of "nature" for displays. Tons of fall leaves (you literally cannot overuse them in a fall window display! Stick them everywhere!) If he is using dressers, tell him to add antique quilts, if he has any stuffed into the dressers and spilling out of them, then add some leaves spilling out on top of the quilts! No jack-o-lanerns (if staying away from halloween), but maybe use mini-pumpkins and gourds on top of the dressers! Scarecrows are always great too, and super easy to make!

One of my customers favorites: For centerpeices, I would take a tall hurricane lamp (just the glass part), put a white tall white candle in it, then fill it up with birdseed (the kind that has corn in it) and it was very fall decorationish! And super easy...then if he wants, he can do bows around the glass.

Another good cheap decoration is dried oranges, lemons and lime. You can hang them off of everything with fall ribbons and bows!

Maybe some pumpkin topiaries would be nice?

Sarah~ great ideas!

~Anj

Here is a link that might be useful: pumpkin topiaries

Oh ......... I have so many ideas floating around my head ......This is perfect for him !! My friend owns a stained glass AND antique store. Her front window was always awesome . My advice is to showcase things on the floor .... have the bigger things behind them -- and hang stuff on fishing line from the ceiling. Make it look like a diorama.
( You know - a 3-D setting ) that way -- people will always stop and look to make sure they see everything. It really works . The more people see - the more they will come in to browse. Have fun !!

I love the pumpkin topiaries! Thanks for the idea, anjabee.

Go with the idea of harvest time like apples, pumpkins and gourds. I agree with toomuchglass that people love a shop window full to the brim with stuff to enjoy looking at. It's like those puzzles we enjoyed as a kid where you try to find a shape or item hidden in a picture.

It would be a great opportunity for him to highlight bowls and baskets by filling them with gourds, small pumpkins, sunflowers and apples. I would include some fall potted flowers like mums in gorgeous fall colors. He can showcase things like antique quilts and other linens draped over chairs and hanging out of dresser drawers as well as knick knacks and vases in fall colors.

You will have to post a picture once it is done!

thanks for all the great ideas....ive used all of them lol...i will be getting some pumpkins and more leaves....we want the floor to look like a a fall forest....so far with just what we have done we have gotten so many compliments thanks to you guys....(get ready...will be asking again for xmas window lol) I will take a pic when it is totally done...or if you are in mebane nc stop down town
again thanks all!!! you guys rock

I vote for gords, squash, leaves with baskets and tin items. (Like watering cans with fall flowers)

Also, a striped branch from a tree, with "do dahs" hanging from it. Like antique cookie cutters, and kitchenware with orange leaves glued on the branches.

Seems like cooperware would blend nicely too!

I'd love to be there to play!

Gayle

When we used to put up a display in the lobby of a bank where I worked, one of the favorites was stacked bales of hay, leaves on the floor, and a cornstalk teepee. Then an old washtub was filled with pumpkins and tipped showing a stuffed animal skunk on top of the pumpkins. We had a couple branches propped up for height with a few silk leaves glued on, and a scarecrow sitting on the bale of hay with a banjo in his hands, and more stuffed animal "critters" scattered about.

Can't wait to see how your window turns out, please be sure to post pics for us.

Luvs

You don't say how big the window is but a couple old dressers with the drawers open and quilts is a great start, stay neutral to earthy tones - lots of sunflowers in a tall old vase or a couple bean pots, burgundies-anything t wine colored
go thru his shop and see what he has for tools, an old rake or plow standing to the side with a scarecrow or just some crow decoys, maybe geese

this is a great time of year to decorate but can stay away from halloween

vintage clothes hung behind the dressers
oh my mind went nuts
I like the old washtub idea filled with gourds or just one big MUM a deep color

Wow, you gals have such great ideas! I feel like decorating my front porch/deck with your ideas.

It is an Antique store so use the Antiques and set up a fall kitchen.
A Hoosier cupboard brimming with vintage bowls, strainers and canning jars.Cute teapots and vintage dish towels,aprons,sugar bowls,salt shakers,sifters .
A Butter churn in the corner and crocks along the wall.A small table if it fits, and a high chair can hold an antique doll.
Now add the squash and pumpkins!
I know dressers are fun but fall screams TIME IN THE KITCHEN to me!

Great idea, goldenpond! I guess I picked a dresser because every antique store has one. lol! I like your idea of the kitchen much better plus it fits in with the harvest idea.

Don't forget the corn stalks, indian corn also

Be real cautious about natural items though that may harbor insects or mold. I once brought in real hay for a Christmas play at church and didnt know the choir directors and many others were allergic.They couldn't sing iwthout choking!Wouldnt have been so bad but the next year I decorated the windows with real Pine boughs. Yep he was allergic to them too!
I tried the little straw bales you see at the craft stores and OH what a mess.The stuff is shredded like about 1-2 inch pieces and won't stay together!It was everywhere!Someone should invent bales made from 1 continuous raffia strand!

Bump (for 2008 fall fun ideas!)

Did we get any pictures? I was hoping to see pictures:(

Pictures please!

I have another idea, for Christmas you could find some grape vines from a friends garden and put those throughout the store with white Christmas lights intertwined around them.

I used the angel hair on mantle one year with white lights beneath it and it glowed like snow on a bush with lights. Thats a big thing in Florida since we don't get the real thing.
Antiques are so much fun to decorate with!

I agree with the use of the little clear lights.. they have that magical quality about them. When done right that really draws your attention to the display. I love the candle lights too, with the silicone bulbs. They come in various shades of white and cream and even a star shaped one.