If you’re looking to refresh your fall decor ideas for 2020, or if you’re venturing into seasonal decorating for the first time, these are my five favorite tips and ideas.
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If you start with a front door wreath and do no other fall decorating, you’re still in a good position. I used to think wreaths were only for Christmas. To me, wreaths for other holidays seemed pointless. Thanksgiving and Easter, for example, don’t have a whole season associated with them. I never wanted a turkey on my front door for the whole of November, if you get what I’m saying.
But beautiful wreaths are available for seasons, not just holidays. (I know, duh, right?) You can DIY a fall decor wreath by buying supplies at a store like Michael’s or Joann’s. Or you can buy them pre-made at quite affordable prices. I picked up this one from At Home for $20.
When you’re choosing a wreath (or designing one yourself), I recommend keeping the following in mind:
The kitchen is one of the first rooms you see when you enter my home, so I wanted to make sure that the fall decor theme appeared here again. The thing is, I like a highly functional kitchen without impractical decor in my cooking and project space. So I opted for a simple centerpiece. I bought these pumpkins and coordinating acorn from At Home as well. The mirrored tray they are sitting on is also from At Home, and typically rests under some pillar candles on the coffee table in my living room.
You can see right away that the colors were pulled directly from the front door wreath. I don’t know if At Home still sells these particular ones because I bought them last year, but they still have loads of options on pages like this one. You can find colors and sizes that work for you.
I’m also generally a big fan of faux florals and garlands around the kitchen window. They tend to be out of the way and add a wonderful seasonal touch, but with cats running around those aren’t an option for me at the moment! If you’ve got the freedom (or more cooperative kitties) you could give those a go in the kitchen as well.
The wreath that I chose was intended to contrast with my red front door, but the cream, brown, and muted teal also matched the rest of my house. My home decor is based in soft neutrals with glamorous accents. So the traditional bright orange plaids, scarecrows, and yellow leaves aren’t ideal for blending in seamlessly with my interior.
Instead I opted to add fall decor to the living room that drew from the color scheme of my front door wreath and still complemented my usual style.
The quad you see here is featured on my living room coffee table. The white and gold coaster set is there year-round, so the cream and gold pumpkin tray matched perfectly. I fell in love with this gold sequined pumpkin (which hasn’t shed even a speck of glitter, thankfully!) and it matches the other gold decor accents in the room. The ombre orange-to-gold pumpkin is made of glass. I like the contrasting shapes and textures. The touch of orange is a nice nod to traditional fall decor, and as you can see this particular shade of orange matches the wood stain of my coffee table quite nicely.
As much as I would love to completely redecorate a room for the seasons, from the mantlepiece to the throw pillows, I just don’t have the time right now. So using what’s already in place and giving it an autumn makeover is a much easier approach.
These gold lanterns sit on the floor beside our television stand. The battery-powered pillar candles you see inside of the two larger ones actually are usually on the coffee table. But for our fall decor touches I’ve moved them into the lanterns to free up space on the coffee table.
I’ve also wound an autumn garland into the largest lantern. I’ve broken my own rule here about maintaining a color scheme throughout the home, but I already had this garland and wanted to put it somewhere cat-proof. Voila, put it inside of a glass container! Really you could arrange any kind of fall florals inside of a lantern and it would look lovely, be protected from pets, and accumulate less dust.
Lanterns are so much more versatile than I ever thought. I love that I can do nothing with them and they look beautiful, but if I want to add just about anything I can.
As someone who has to cat-proof things like faux florals, floor vases with long grasses and reeds, and centerpieces with greenery, beads, and berries, these lanterns are a lifesaver.
For curious minds, the lantern heights are 19.75″, 15″, and 9″. I purchased these on Amazon. They come in silver and rose gold as well, and in a few other shapes.
Scent is such an underrated element of fall decor! Or decor for any season, really. But fall scents seem to be particularly popular. While the infamous 3-wick candles seem to have fallen out of favor as less toxic options become available, you can still find your favorite scents for the season from other sources. Again, I like to use the same techniques I use year-round for the most part. My favorites are wax melts and Air Wick plug-ins. BUT, what autumn would be complete without the delicious, lasting aroma of cinnamon-scented pine cones?
You can usually find these at most grocery stores in a large bin near the entrance. They’re sold in net bags and you cannot miss them, mostly because you get punched in the face with the scent of cinnamon as you try to pass. In one giant bin, the scent can be overwhelming. But take just one bag home and it will fill the room with a light waft of cinnamon. And it lasts! I bought two bags, one plain and one glitter-coated, and mixed them in a large decorative bowl as the centerpiece for my dining room table.
I hope you’re all having fun adding touches of fall decor to your homes for the new season! Don’t wait or overthink it. We’ll all be decorating for Christmas before we know it!
