Are you ready to decorate your home for fall? Celebrate the season with these wonderful fall decorating ideas, tips and inspiration.
By Jenna Kate
HOW TO DECORATE FOR FALL
Decorating for fall is all about bringing the colors and warmth of the season into your home. Colors such as burgundy, rusty red, plum, aubergineu, deep greens, mustard and bronze are a nod to the changing colors outside.
Start by switching out summery throw pillows for ones with richer colors and more texture. Add throw blankets to your couch for family members to easily cozy up.
Adding candles with fall scents such as apple or pumpkin spice will instantly transform your home for the season, making it feel cozy and inviting, even if you’ve done minimal decorating.
WHEN SHOULD YOU START DECORATING FOR FALL?
September, once the temperatures start to cool down, is the perfect time to start decorating for fall. With kids back to school, the summer is officially over and it’s time to embrace a new season! Of course, some people like to get a head start in late August and others like to wait until the much cooler weather in October.
AFFORDABLE WAYS TO DECORATE YOUR HOUSE FOR FALL
Bring the outdoors in – use branch clippings and greenery from your yard
Add layers and texture to your couch by switching out throw pillows and adding throw blankets
Fill a bowl with apples, mini pumpkins or another seasonal fruit or vegetable
Put fall scented candles in every room
Fill a dollar store hurricane vase with acorns from your yard
Use pinecones as decorative accents
FALL LIVING ROOM DECORATING IDEAS
I like to start with a color scheme when I am decorating for the autumn season. You can stick to traditional fall colors like burnt orange, amber and rusty reds or go the more non-traditional route with saturated blues, greens and plums.
Decorating for fall doesn’t have to mean completely redoing your decor. By simply switching out a few throw pillows and adding a few decorative touches to your mantel or coffee table, you’ll embrace the season without overwhelming your living room.
For mantel decor, layer in greenery or faux leaves with mini pumpkins (real or faux). Finally, add ambience with candles in your favorite fall scent.
The most livable interiors are those that can’t be pinned to a specific era or decade, but integrate elements from the history of home design. The desire to mix old and new can be sparked by the architecture (or lack thereof) of your home, an heirloom, or a thrift store crush. Here are some tips that will help you mix old and new furniture to create a layered interior that transcends time.
What is Vintage vs. Antique?
The common definition of an antique is a piece that is more than 100 years old. Anything more than 20 years old but less than 100 is usually considered vintage. Modern may refer to midcentury modern design from the 20th century, or be used as a synonym for current and contemporary, which generally refers to anything that is less than 20 years old up to brand spanking new.
Find the Right Balance
“When it comes to mixing antiques with modern pieces, almost anything goes,” says interior designer Erin Williamson of Erin Williamson Design. “A home should be a collection of things you love and find meaningful, not a catalog of coordinated furniture. That said, it helps to spread the patina throughout a space so that the juxtaposition between old and new feels fresh and surprising rather than shabby.”
Williamson emphasizes the importance of considering scale when placing furniture. “Especially antiques,” she says, “since they were made to fit different spaces and lifestyles. Many dark, heavy wood pieces don’t float comfortably and would be happiest on or near a wall. Conversely, very light and leggy pieces should be placed next to items with more mass so that the room doesn’t feel nervy and uncomfortable. A balance of proportion across space offers a lot of leeway to run wild with prints, colors, finishes, and styles.”
Form Versus Function
When considering whether to keep or integrate an older piece into a modern design, it’s important to think about both form and function. Antiques often display fine craftsmanship that is harder to come by today and feature intricate wood carving, marquetry, or decorative flourishes that you won’t find in run-of-the-mill modern-day furniture. (One exception to this is Shaker-style furniture, which has been embracing the same clean lines for centuries and still looks current in even the most minimalist modern interiors. )
For interior designer Lisa Gilmore of Lisa Gilmore Design, successfully mixing modern and antiques is “all about playing with your lines, making sure you have a healthy mix of streamlined and curves.” Gilmore says she mixes metal finishes “to give the design legs” and keep it from looking dated.
Repurpose and Refinish
While nothing beats the rich patina of a quality antique or vintage piece in terms of aesthetics and value, the truth is that not all antiques are valuable or need to be preserved in their original state. If you inherit your grandparents’ old dining table, stumble on an antique bed frame at the flea market, or find a thrift store armoire with great bones but a dated finish, take a step back and imagine how it would look stripped to its bones, refinished, or transformed with a brand new coat of paint.
“Fresh upholstery can give antiques a modern feel without sacrificing vintage charm,” Williamson says. “If you fancy a print, consider the shape of the piece and decide whether to play with or against the form. Stripes on a curved settee will highlight its shape while florals on a straight back chair might add some softness.” Williamson notes that it’s a good idea to have the springs and batting refreshed. “New materials can go a long way towards adding contemporary comfort,” she says.
Unify with Color
One of the challenges of mixing old and new pieces is figuring out how to make the mix of periods and styles work together while retaining an overall sense of cohesion. Even the most eclectic interiors need balance and harmony. While mixing wood finishes and metals is an art in itself, sometimes the easiest way to integrate disparate elements is to unite them using the same color palette. If you a fan of shabby chic interiors, you can create coherence by painting thrift store finds like nightstands, dining room chairs, tables, and dressers in a creamy white, and add white overstuffed armchairs and sofas. This will make it simple to marry styles and periods by keeping the focus on form.
Statement Pieces
If you are looking to create maximum impact in a modern room with an antique piece, go bold with a large-scale statement piece like an antique armoire, a Baroque-style or Art Deco headboard, or a massive vintage farm table. Make these pieces functional and appropriate for modern lifestyles by painting, refinishing, refurbishing interiors, or adding upholstery to an antique bed frame or armchair to bring it a sense of modern comfort. This strategy works particularly well in a neutral space that needs a focal point or a sense of drama that is achieved by introducing contrast and juxtaposition. This same formula can work for large-scale decorative pieces, like a giant French gilded mirror or a massive vintage rug to anchor an otherwise contemporary living room.
Accent Pieces
Not everyone has the appetite or budget for creating large-scale drama with a splashy antique focal point. If you love antiques but feel intimidated by buying antique furniture, start with small furniture pieces such as end tables and wooden stools, or decorative pieces like antique French gilded mirrors, lighting fixtures, and rugs. “For me, a really large antique/vintage rug sets the tone immediately,” says Gilmore, “and you can have lots of fun adding and layering around it.”
When it comes to furniture DIYs, most ideas are simply surface level. But these pieces didn’t just get painted or stained — they got entirely new second lives.
Here is an example of utilizing a barn door by adding updated hardware and a Full Headboard/Footboard to create a bench
Taking an existing dining set and adding reclaimed wood to the top to add a farmhouse style to an everyday table.
Antique twin headboard into a bench.
Desk into 2 night stands.
MCM hutchtop into a bar.
Vintage drysink with an added window for that farmhouse style.
Basic dresser into a stacked luggage look & another desk into end tables.
An antique secretary desk & a radio into a bar.
There are so many ways to re-purpose, recycle & renew pieces of furniture. The best part is that these pieces are made with a high level of craftsmanship and have a lot of life left.
So much better than buying new, pressed wood and mass produced furniture.
Not only are you creating a unique piece but you are also recycling and helping create a more sustainable world.
It’s hard to decide on a good color to paint your furniture.
So, today I am sharing a few colors from just some of our projects we painted in house at our studio in White Owl Market. I hope that will help you, and remember… Don’t be afraid of color!
White Owl Market
We hope these projects above helped you decide what color fits your needs.
Mix & Match colored glassware and dinnerware patterns to add a creative, whimsical flair to any event whether it be a wedding, dinner party or just for everyday.
We always say “Don’t be afraid of color” and we mean it! Home decor is meant to highlight our creative side.
Not only is it creative, it’s fun too! Searching for pieces has become a bit of an obsession for us. There are no rules, just pick pieces you like and that are useful and don’t try to match. We used to be picky about having to find matching sets, no worries here, just go for it!
Our selection in constantly changing so stop by often.
It’s a quintessential coastal color that evokes the sea and sky, and it adds a beautiful touch to just about any space. Discover our very favorite styles & pieces to accent your space.
We create the look at White Owl Market, whether you find a piece in our store and/or bring in a piece of you own. We will help you “Pick – A – Color” that will perfectly accent your home.
THE BEAUTY OF MOSAIC LAMPS COMES FROM THE COMBINATION OF HIGH QUALITY MATERIALS, EXPERT CRAFTSMANSHIP, AND CENTURIES OF TRADITION THAT GOES INTO EACH LAMP.
THESE LAMPS ARE MADE OF HIGH-QUALITY BRASS AND EXTRA FINE HAND-CUT COLORED GLASS.
MADE TO LAST FOR GENERATIONS, THEY WILL ADD THE PERFECT AMBIANCE & EXOTIC FLARE TO ANY ROOM AND YOU DON’T NEED TO TRAVEL TO MOROCCO, TURKEY OR ANY WHERE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN FOR THAT MATTER.
At White Owl Market, we are always looking for new, unique and exotic pieces to add to our collection. Since we are always about color in our furniture and summer fashions, we thought why not shake up our home decor assortment with loads of color.
Mosaics are truly beautiful. They also reflect their brilliance on the walls and ceilings to create a “warm and calming” feeling. In short, they set the mood!
We hope you will like our assortment that is projected to arrive June/July perfect for those summer nights.
Here are some samples we are looking at. What do you think?
Each one of these fine lamps is still handmade and no one is exactly the same.
Time to shed some new light in our world, surroundings and home.
Hello my amazing, supportive, encouraging, awesome Friends!!
Today I decided to dig through my posts and pick out some of my favorite furniture makeovers from this past year to share with everyone!
I always enjoy looking back, and I thought you might enjoy that as well!
Uncover the hidden charm of a cast-off piece with a bit of creative thinking and elbow grease. Check out our furniture makeover project ideas for inspiration.
Visit our Facebook page to see all of our furniture projects plus our entire store filled with everything from home decor to fashion & accessories as well.
Last week we had a customer want to buy a similar Mid Century piece but insisted that they did not want the top part of the hutch, just the bottom. Since we are all about making our customer happy, we did just that.
Now we have a hutch top floating around our workspace, hmmmm…. what to do?
We my buddy Ken and I were standing and leaning on the hutch top talking about another project and BOOM, Ken said this could make a great bar.
Of course, I was in shock and great excitement to create this project.
Ken just started it immediately. It is so great to be surrounded by other creatives.
Inspiration…
Well here’s what we did.
We took the top of this,
and created this!
We still have some finishing touches to add, but this is it.
We built a base, added reclaimed wood to front and back, painted it grey ( still needs to be distressed) and skim coated concrete product to give it an concrete top look. ( much lighter in weight too)
Voila!
It’s amazing what you can do with odd pieces, and we were just going to make a book shelf out of it….
Creating unique furniture/decor pieces for your home make a statement and are a conversation piece for all who enter your domain.
We have transformed many pieces for our clients. Here are just a handful of pics for you to look at and inspire your creative side.
Here we created benches out of dressers.
Next we created benches out of vintage headboards/footboards.
Even a set of chairs can be transformed…
Taking a piece and giving it a new use will create a unique and fun way to accent any room in your home. Here we took an old secretary desk and a 1920’s radio cabinet and transformed them into a bar.
Next we cut an old desk and made 2 unique sized end tables great for small spaces.
Here we took an old dry sink and created a plant stand/cabinet or great entry piece.
Giving an old dresser a new, fresh look with fabric and hardware, we were able to create a unique look. Stack of luggage!
White Owl Market 