Fall is the perfect season to bring colorful elements from the great outdoors into your home. From quick do-it-yourself projects to seasonal home improvements, we’ve got you covered with a few of our favorite fall decorating ideas.
Colorful autumnal crafts
Arts and crafts don’t need to be time and labor intensive. It’s easy to transform a plain pillow into an autumn masterpiece. Collect a handful of fallen leaves from outside and trace their shapes over pieces of felt. Cut out the shapes and use fabric glue or another adhesive to attach them to the pillow.
Another simple craft idea is a fall wreath. Pick up an inexpensive grapevine wreath from your local craft store and then decorate it with foliage, berries, mums and other fall flowers from your garden. When you’re done, hang the wreath over the mantle, on your front door or in another central space in your home.
Prepare your home for fall decorations
Just as spring cleaning is a must, so is preparing your home for fall and winter. Before decorating, hire people to clean the chimney and check the heating and furnace systems. Doing these things before cold weather comes means you can prevent any problems down the road. Making sure to prepare your home means that it will not only be prepped to keep you warm, but the fireplace and other areas will be ready to decorate. Hang the wreath you made above the mantle and artfully scatter a handful of leaves and small pumpkins.
Paint your home
Painting is a great way to update your home for fall. Although summer might seem like the best time to paint the exterior of your home, it’s better to do it in fall when temperatures are moderate. Painting exteriors when it’s too hot causes the paint to dry too fast, leaving marks. Painting when it’s too cold results in cracking.
Of course, painting indoors can happen any time of the year. Fall is a great season for many reasons. First, it lets you apply a fresh new coat of paint right before you redecorate your home for fall. Second, the walls in your home are probably the perfect temperature for painting. They should be above 60 degrees, but under 85 degrees. Choose a soft, neutral color such as driftwood grey or creamy latte as the perfect backdrop for fall decorations.
Fall decorating ideas with food
Fall is the time of year to go apple and pumpkin picking. In addition to making great pies, use some of the bounty to decorate your home. Rather than putting away your freshly-picked treats, put apples and squash on display on your kitchen or the dining room table as a centerpiece. Kids and adults alike will love being able to “pick” snacks from your arrangements. Add a few pinecones, leaves or other inedible found objects for variety. You may even want to add a few cinnamon sticks to a centerpiece for a warm vibe.
Go wild with colors
Fall isn’t just about warm colors. You can extend your fall decorating into winter by contrasting reds and golds with cooler blues, purples and greens. Choose glass vases of various sizes and cooler tones to house branches of autumn trees or Japanese lanterns and set them on end tables in your living room.
An easy way to add color to a room is simply by adding a seasonal wool blanket. Warm tartan and plaid patterns spice up an entire space and keep guests warm. Simply fold the blanket and set it over the back of the sofa or an armchair.
Fall is a great time to get creative with decorating. From found objects to food, small home improvements such as painting and cleaning the fireplace will make your house ready for all of your autumnal design elements.