Creating an Autumn-filled Space
Seasonal interior design is an enjoyable undertaking that allows us to ease into the next phase of the year. As fall arrives, we decorate our homes to usher in the cooler weather as we sorrowfully say goodbye to the summer’s pleasures of heat, lazy days and sunshine.
How can you amp up your home décor for the fall?
It’s not hard to transform your house to be fall-ready! Many fall decorating ideas are DIY.
Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins
The image of fall can be captured by one iconic gourd: the pumpkin. Autumn decorations can be boiled down to one quick trip to your local pumpkin patch or even a hardware store. So ubiquitous are these fall fruits that you’d be hard-pressed to go to any store in town without seeing them for sale. So, go wild and buy armfuls of pumpkins to litter your front stoop with.
There! Your seasonal decorations are set for the fall, and it was as easy as buying a cart of pumpkins and plopping them near your front door. It’s up to you if you wish to take the extra step of carving them (which serves as a fall favorite activity for kids and adults alike).
Warm Welcome
If any part of your home is meant to be decorated for the fall, let it be the foyer. Just about anyone who is welcomed into your home, be it a brief passing-by or a scheduled hangout, will likely step through or linger in the foyer. This is the place to channel those autumn decorations and create the warmest of welcomes for your guests.
Establishing a decorated foyer can be as simple as adding a fall wreath to the front door, having a vase of autumn flowers on the hallway end table or switching out the standard welcome mat for a fall-themed one.
Multipurpose Pinecones
Pinecones are arguably one of the best seasonal decorations. Not only do they work as Thanksgiving decorations, but these woody seed cones are useful fire starters for the winter. How do you incorporate pinecones into your fall décor? Easy! Just fill wicker baskets with pinecones and thoughtfully stage them around your home: on the fireplace hearth, on the entryway table, next to a stylish throw pillow on the bench in the mudroom or a glass jar in the kitchen.
Mums the Word
Do you want to cover all your bases for fall decorations and Thanksgiving decorations? The solution is mums—and lots of them. Challenge yourself to find a house without porch planters brimming with mums. Mums are quintessential seasonal decorations, and they do their job of brightening up any home, inside and out. Choose from an array of colors like purple, gold, white and orange.
Framing your front porch or front sidewalk with mums will transform your house to feel like fall in no time. Mums, stationed in planters or pots on steps and pathways, will create an autumnal atmosphere even for those just passing by.
Break Out the Seasonal Dishware
You know those expensive plates you purchased for Thanksgiving that only debut for the big feast, then get stacked away for next year? Now’s your chance to display them as soon as the fall season hits. Change out your hutch with a festive fall collection. You shouldn’t have to stash beautiful dishes only to use them one time! Making seasonally themed dinnerware part of your décor will undoubtedly spark joy as you will see them every day until swapping the Thanksgiving plates out with Christmas ones.
Layer with Textures
Interior design experts are always talking about adding layers of textures to a room. What do they mean? Textures refer to the materials your various furniture, rugs, and décor are comprised of. Let’s say your living room has couches and loveseats that are made from leather. Choose a contrasting texture for your rug, like an area rug with thick weaves and décor like woven baskets to hang on the wall.
Differing textures appease our eyes and create a feeling of balance in a room. There are plenty of textures that beckon the coming of fall, like straw weaved décor for walls, sheaves of wheat to fill clear vases, perch on a fireplace mantle and cozy, nubby blankets to curl up into with a fall fire.
Update Your Guest Bedroom
‘Tis the season for holiday guests. Your home might feel like a revolving door of loved ones for a good stretch, so now’s the time to give your guest bedroom a makeover. Changing out old duvet covers and home décor in the guest bedroom is a great way to quickly refresh for fall and prepare your home with seasonal decorations. Patterned comforters, flannel fall-colored sheets and cushioned pumpkins on the guest room’s dressers and sills, are all excellent ways to help usher in the fall.
Make a Centerpiece
Thanksgiving and fall are a time to gather. Your kitchen or dining room table will likely be the spot in your home where family and friends will gravitate, and what better way to level up your fall decorations than to create a beautiful centerpiece?
Memorable centerpieces don’t need to be extravagant. A collection of pumpkins and seasonal gourds, branches with changing fall leaves in a mason jar or a few large dining candles wrapped with twine all make for simple yet stately centerpieces.
Celebrate the Changing Seasons
For many, fall décor serves as an end cap to the joys of summer and a bolstered excitement for pumpkin-spiced everything, Thanksgiving and sweater weather. The best part about fall decorations? You can choose to go all in and deck out the house with muted fall colors, jars and wicker baskets of pinecones, a fireplace at-the-ready and a multitude of pumpkins, or you can opt for utter simplicity with just a couple of planters full of gorgeous mums. Either way, decorating for the fall season shouldn’t feel like a chore but rather a way to welcome the cool air and the excitement that arrives with the gathering of friends and family.