When I was growing up, my mom had a way of making the changing of the seasons feel magical in our home, and fall was one of her favorite seasons. Perhaps it was the chill in the air and the season of cozy sweaters and cute boots. Or perhaps it was the colors—the mustard yellows, burnt oranges, and rusty reds adorning the huge maple trees along our street. Whatever it was, she was always on the lookout for funky art pieces or interesting sticks and foliage to decorate our home with, making it feel like an extension of the seasonal changes happening just outside our windows.
It’s no surprise that the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree, and autumn has become one of my favorite seasons to decorate for as well. Over the years, I have found my own way of making our home feel a little magical each fall. No, I don’t have a big fall decorating system or boxes of decorations that comes out every September. I mostly work with what we already have and bring in a few fall-inspired elements, letting the tones and textures of the season itself create the feeling of fall in our home.
This year, I pulled out some thrifted favorites, moved things around, and added a few foraged finds to bring some of the beauty of the season indoors. So come on inside and take a peek at what fall looks like around our home this year.
When it comes to seasonal decor, I tend to concentrate on creating cozy moments in the rooms we use the most. This helps to keep things fresh, without the need to redecorate our entire home every few months. This year, the only changes I made to our decor were in our living room and dining room, as this is where we spend most of our time. I looked for simple ways I could introduce warmer colors and cozy textures to those spaces without needing to completely redecorate.
Now, if you’ve been following along for a while, you know that I typically gravitate towards a more neutral color palette. But when it comes to decorating for fall, I love adding pops of color to our otherwise neutral decor. So the first thing I did was swap out some of our couch and reading nook throw pillows for ones with hints of rusty red and terra cotta. Most of these pillows I’ve picked up at thrift stores over the years and it is always surprising what an impact this change alone can have on the look and feel of our space.
A few years ago I found a fabulous coordinating table runner at a thrift store, which helps to continue some of those same autumn-inspired colors into our dining room as well. I also swapped out the wreath above our fireplace for one made from burlap and placed a few glass pumpkins around our living room—a subtle nod to more traditional fall decor.
One of my favorite ways to decorate for fall is to use dried foliage, as it effortlessly incorporates the colors and textures of the season into our home. So, I headed outside and foraged some dried seed heads and branches to use for our decor. I trimmed the stems to varying heights and arranged them as centerpieces for our dining and coffee tables as well as in a mason jar on our fireplace mantle. I also swapped out the dried baby’s breath on our console table for a thrifted vase filled with more dried seed heads to add a touch of fall to our entryway. These small, but intentional swaps help our home feel connected to the changing of seasons, rather than simply decorated for it.
And that’s about it. Really! But these surprisingly simple changes in the spaces we use most truly made all the difference in making our home feel like fall. A few thrifted pillows, some dried foliage and a handful of small changes were all it took to make our home feel a little warmer, cozier and more connected to the season unfolding outside. And maybe that’s what it is all about: noticing the beauty of each new season and finding small ways to make even the most ordinary days feel a bit more magical.
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