Easy Ways to Welcome Fall

Fall is starting to sneak in just a little bit and September is just a few days away. Let me show you the easy ways to welcome Fall into your home this year with my simple tips and ideas for making a smooth transition into the new season.

Fall Reset In Your Home

I don’t know if it’s because there is such a drastic change in the weather up here in New England going from Summer to Fall or what, but it always feels like when September hits I’m ready to change things up in here!

As much as I love the coastal touches and brighter colors of fresh flowers that I have in my home all Summer long as soon as I spot that first maple tree with its leaves starting to turn orange I’m ready to bring a little bit of cozy into our home!!

Today I thought it would be fun to share my process of how I change over from Summer to Fall with you all.

Here’s My List…

• Put Away Summer Stuff
• Change Out the Wreath
• Pick a Fall Inspiration Piece
• Decide On A Fall Color Palette
• Update Art Work
• Change Out Candles/ Home Scents
• Pull out The Autumn Recipes
• Cozy Blankets a Must
• Go Through Your Accessories/ See What You Need To Add

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Gather up My Summer Stuff

For me, when I’m changing my home over for any season I like to start with a clean slate.

The first thing I do is go around my house and fill up my arm with the seasonal stuff and bring it down to the basement.

It’s so much easier to envision a new look in a room when it’s stripped down to the basics.

I store seasonal storage in a couple of different ways. For truly seasonal decor like pumpkins or Christmas greenery, I pack them away in storage bins.

The other decor that I might use in a different way throughout the year goes on open storage shelves so I can see what I have. I probably tweak things around here much more often than a normal person…one of the requirements of this job!!!

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Change Out My Wreath

This is the easiest way to get my head into the game!

Just taking down my Summer wreath and putting up something more Fall-ish gets me in the Fall mood.

One of my favorite DIYs is making new wreaths and sharing the tutorials with you here. You can find a wreath for every month of the year and every season if you are feeling motivated!!!

Surprise, I bet you didn’t see this coming…but I just made a new wreath last week!!! It really came out so pretty and took under 30 minutes to make (that’s including the time it took me to photograph/video the process).

My inspiration for this dried grass & flower wreath was one that I saw on Crate & Barrel…but it was 100 bucks!!

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Find An Inspiration Piece

Everyone has a different process with how they go about decorating….or doing anything really, right??

The way I go about decorating any space is to find that one piece that sparks creativity in me.

It could be something small like a pillow or just a picture I found scrolling online...I sign up to get emails from all the high-end retailers and find so much inspiration that way (then figure out how to create budget dupes for those looks!)

Just changing out your throw pillows can completely change the vibe of your room…and it’s an affordable update!

Here are 15 Fall pillow picks for you from Walmart, Target, & Pottery Barn

pretty fall pillows

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Pick a Color Palette for the Season

When I’m decorating I organically settle on a color palette or style I’m going for in my home for that season. I’m not changing out the big things like furniture…I’m talking about the accent pieces and decor accessories!!

You’ll be seeing that this Fall I’m in love with rusts, greens, and natural tones!

Here’s a sneak peek at a couple of things that I’ll be incorporating into Cottage on Bunker Hill this Fall!!

The Natural & Brown Napkins are from the Fall line of Hearth&Hand at Target…they are $9.99 for a set of 4 and friends, they look and feel much more expensive than that! That’s the Large Ceramic Rust Pumpkin also from Target next to it and it sells for $15. Also, I just refinished that table..it was totally coastally blue a couple of days ago!!

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Add or Change Out Artwork

Another quick and easy way to make a space feel more Fall-ish is to change the wall art up a little bit! Bring in some muted, softer landscapes in your living room, or add small still lifes into your kitchen.

Still, life paintings of fruits and veggies are having a moment!! I’ve been seeing them in design magazines and online so much lately.

In fact, I was just at my local Savers thrift store and spotted a cool still life painting but the size was off for my kitchen…I left it behind and 2 weeks later I’m still pining for it!! Hopefully, it went to a good home!! Ugh, did I mention that it was a real painting too…what the heck was I thinking!!

What I did was move a picture that I had above a console cabinet in my living room into the kitchen to change up this space. The picture I have is sold out from Target (Target sells out of items so quickly!) but this 47″x24″ Watercolor Landscape from Target is a similar style and is in stock as I type this at the end of August.

I’m letting you in on a secret…

But dear friends, I have a super affordable way to change out your artwork…and something that I don’t think many people are aware of!!! The National Gallery of Art has thousands of pieces of artwork that are public domain and that you can download for free!! If it’s free it’s for me!!!

Here it the link to the Impressionist/ Post-Impressionist gallery where you can find lovely landscapes and still lifes that you can download. But all styles of paintings are available in the collection if you like more abstract art or a different style!!

If it’s a small picture you are going for then you can print it off your printer at home, if not have it printed out at your local Staples or online photo site in a larger size.

In my Weekly Rewind Vol 56, I showed you this trick when I printed out Renoir’s Peaches on a Plate to use in my kitchen for Fall.

Also, I print out the artwork on Inkjet Canvas Sheets so it actually looks like artwork!!

Here’s where you can download Peaches on a Plate from the Nat’l Gallery.

This one is a perfect option for Fall too! Download Manet “Pears” here.

For a landscape for Fall, I love the greens and browns in this painting from Renoir. Download Landscape at Vetheuil here.

Change the Scents in Your Home

All Summer long it smells fresh and beachy in my home! My go-to this Summer was Summer Girl from Rockport Candle Co. (they ship for those of you not lucky enough to live near them!!) but in the Fall there’s nothing like a warm, cozy scent in your home.

A favorite of mine is from Homebody Goods in Maine…they are the cutest couple and are welcoming a baby boy soon! Homebody’s Flannel scent is so perfect for a cozy vibe!! (The Fall scents launch again on 9/1)

Target has really cute glass pumpkin candles out for Fall…even if you don’t like candles the glass jar is a pretty piece of Fall decor on its own. The brown glass pumpkin candle is called Pumpkin Woods and the Green is Pear & Honeycrisp (I prefer the fresh scent of the pear one).

Pull Out The Autumn Recipes

Confession time…by August I am sick to death of anything grilled!!! There I’ve said it…

I’m so ready for yummy soups and one-dish casserole dinners again. I’d say my teenage son is too by the dinners he has been asking me to cook this week!

This morning I picked up a pork butt to make my Instant Pot Pulled Pork for dinner tomorrow.

Another Fall favorite is my Easy Chicken Pot Pie.

Here’s something that I’ve been craving. It’s a New England classic treat called Hermit Bars. They are a spicy bar cookie treat that you will always find in the bakeries up here in the Autumn.

A cookbook that I ordered a couple of months ago for some fresh ideas for Fall cooking is Half Baked Harvest Super Simple. The recipes look great and I love Tieghan’s photography style.

Cozy Blankets Are a Must

Is it really even Fall if I don’t have a cozy blanky on me?? It’s funny because my boys are the same way and always have a fuzzy throw within arms reach of them!

Perfect night: watching a Hallmark movie in peace under a cozy throw with my electric fireplace one! None of the guys in this house have an appreciation for Hallmark movies…

There are nice blankets in all price ranges! I bought this one from Amazon last winter and it’s still in great shape and is usually around 20 bucks. This green faux fur throw is also under $20 and has great reviews (I always go and check the reviews and customer pictures before I recommend products to you…because I can not buy everything myself and check!!!)

cozy throw picks

Be Sure To Check what you already have!

My last tip is the most important one!! Be sure to go through what you already have from last Fall!! Go dig out that bin and see what you want to use again this year.

What you don’t love anymore donate…if it doesn’t bring you joy pass it along!

Last week I pulled out my 2 bins of Fall stuff and looked over everything. I took out the pumpkins and pieces that I am going to use this year. In fact, they are all over my workbench downstairs in my studio…we’ll just put that on tomorrow’s to-do list!

One of my best tips is to shop your home!! What I mean is walk around and see what you could use somewhere else to create a fresh look…and it costs you zero dollars!

Friends, I just almost ordered a table for my small entryway…and then I remembered I had a console table in the basement! It was the right size for what I needed but the wrong color. So I did a quick makeover and guess what…I am in love with it!! All it cost me was the time it took to paint it.

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Well, that’s a look inside the ways I am welcoming Fall into our home this year. I hope you found this helpful and could use a few of my tips in your own home! As always, you can reach out to me with any questions or if I can help out! Drop me a note here and it will be emailed to me!!

xo, Jennifer

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