Transition Home Decor from Summer to Fall

Each new season inspires an adjustment to everyday life. Besides changing up your wardrobe, it’s the perfect time to spruce up the design focus in your home. One way to keep the decor fresh and ever changing is to add a little touch of the season going on outside your door to the inside of your home. It’s a fabulous and festive way to celebrate everyday life! Rotating your décor allows you to take advantage of all of the wonderful colors, patterns and textures out there. No matter what season is on its way, you can easily exchange your home goods for something that aligns perfectly with the times.

To create an easy transition, start with a neutral color palette. You can easily switch out décor, regardless of season, since everything will inevitably match with neutrals such as white, creams and ivory. Here are some easy ways to add the beauty of each season (and holidays) to your home and have it play nicely with your existing decor!

1. ADD SEASONAL ELEMENTS

This is the easiest way to show the love of the season in your home! A lantern filled with pumpkins and even a nest on top of a footed cake plate. Nothing is prettier than a little bit of the season mixed with what you already have!

Let the change in season inspire you to create festive displays throughout your home. Add seasonal accessories to pieces you already own, to come up with something stylish and unique. For instance, arrange candles in wooden boxes, or festive plates and trays throughout your space. These don't have to be cliché (aka placing pumpkins everywhere). Decorating for a season can be subtle while still creating a warm and cozy environment. The key is to be tasteful and stick to your style. A little bit goes a long, long way! 

2. ADD SEASONAL COLOR

Here’s another way to hint about the season in your home. Not as obvious as adding seasonal elements, but very effective! Add colors that represent a season. A nubby winter white throw when the weather is frosty, a robin egg blue bowl on your kitchen counter when spring is blooming or a red white and blue table runner when the fireflies are lighting up summer evenings.

Add more metallic elements (gold and silver) to create a rich environment. Create/add layers with soft goods, decorative pieces on mantels, coffee tables and consoles to create depth, but also warmth.

3. BRING THE OUTSIDE IN

Each season has its own distinct beauty! Displaying organic elements in the home is a charming way to extend the outdoors to the inside!  Again, think of a sweet nest or forcing branches in spring, a bowl of pinecones during the winter or a big bouquet of hydrangeas from your yard in the summer. There is something so magical about natural elements inside!

Changing the types of plants you have in your home is also a great way to transition, from sunflowers, daisies, hydrangeas, geraniums, iris, lilies, marigold, peonies and tulips, to dahlia, dusty miller, hydrangeas, roses, begonias, oakleaf hydrangeas mums and wreaths.

4. USE SEASONAL PILLOWS

One of the easiest ways to change things up in your home is by exchanging your throw pillows for new colors and textures. Nestling seasonal pillows into your decor gives your furniture a continuing new and fresh look. Buy pillow covers in seasonal colors and motifs and change them out as the season changes. For instance, fall is the perfect time to cover the couch in rust and ivory knit throw pillows. During the summer, you might consider blue ombre pillows that resemble splashing beach waves. A rabbit pillow for spring, a pretty and subtle fir tree during Christmas and a patriotic pillow for summer are all welcomed touches of the season! Add just one or maybe two per room. In the case of seasonal pillows… less is best!

5. USE SEASONAL TEXTURES

Go cozy in the winter! Lighten up in the summer! Texture is not only picked up by our sense of touch but with our eyes too! Texture tells our brain… rough, hot, cool, fuzzy, smooth, shiny, chunky. It’s almost a subliminal seasonal message!

Adding additional soft goods (throws and pillows that are a bit heavier such as mohair, wool or fur with a warmer color palette) or switching your fabrics (you may use cottons and linens, sheers during the summer... but switching them up for warmer options during fall gives it a new look and feel) invokes comfort and warmth.

6. LAYER SEASONAL DECOR

Seasonal decor, like most decor, looks better if you do a little layering!  Just look at the images above. Most seasonal pretties should not stand alone. Little pumpkins and a few pieces of “fluff” make the mums in a champagne bucket above into a vignette. It tells a little story! Much more interesting than something standing alone! Switching up dinner wear and table decorations can also be an easy way to transition between seasons.

7. THROW OUT A NEW AREA RUG AND LIGHT UP A ROOM

Area rugs really have a way of pulling an entire room together. What’s best about these floor coverings is that they’re portable and versatile, so take advantage of how they can easily transition your space throughout the seasons! Choose hues and textures that complement the rest of your décor for a particular season.

Another way to create seasonal change is by looking at your lighting. In the summer, we typically rely heavily on natural light coming into our homes. An easy transition in Fall and Winter months would be to include more candles and possibly table lamps in strategic areas to create enhanced lighting in a space, as well as a seasonal mood.

8. ADD A SEASONAL WREATH TO YOUR DOOR

Start a nod to the season at your front door! Nothing says “welcome” like a beautiful, seasonal wreath. They can be used from year to year. This will put a fresh face on your door all year long! Think about something abundant and full for autumn, mossy and twiggy for spring and what is better than a big evergreen wreath at Christmas.

This might be the most important tip of all! Gone are the days of seasonal chotchkies strewn in every room of the house! Now is the time to think carefully and thoughtfully about choosing seasonal items that will fit with the decor in your home. If you have to put away boxes of decor at the end of the season (except maybe Christmas) you are doing too much! Give yourself a break… it’s okay to give away seasonal decor that is tired or dated or worn! Go with bigger and nicer items and LESS of them. One big beautiful jar of good faux spring blooms works so much better than lots of small, out-of-style, superfluous spring knick-knacks. And who wouldn’t feel the full effect of summer with a big blue bowl filled with red geraniums!

Now that you have read all these tips for decorating your home for the season and doing it easily and tastefully, consider this final point…DO WHAT YOU LOVE! If you love lots of knick-knacks then… JUST DO IT! It’s your home and it should reflect YOU! Use these tips to make a beautifully decorated home that reflects your taste and style in every season. After all you are one-of-a-kind and your decor should be too!