Let’s take a look forward this week at what I find to be one of the most fun seasons for decorating. Autumn will be here soon and with it comes the opportunity to show your creativity and have the “last hurrah” of color before our world turns white again.
Let’s start with a wreath for your front door. My favorite is one made up of brightly colored leaves. You can mimic Mother Nature’s color choices by selecting a wreath with red, yellow and orange leaves. Silk material is more realistic than plastic and most silk wreaths are treated to withstand the elements. If the wreath contains a few acorns and small pine cones all the better!
And what is fall without mum plants? They speak to the season with several color choices. My favorite is a deep red. The window box in front of our living room windows holds six plants and the cream colored trim shows off the deep red nicely.
Mums are a versatile flower as they look festive in the ground or in containers. Multiple colors are available and a display showing the various colors is striking.
An added bonus with mum plants is that they can be cut back to about 4”, placed in the ground and covered with a mound of leaves. As the weather warms in April gradually remove the leaves and you will see signs of a mum plant that will grace your garden in the fall. A tip for having a nice full plant is to cut it back around the 4th of July to about 4inches. If you don’t do that it will be spindly.
Who can resist decorative scarecrows, bales of hay and pumpkins? They add a whole new layer of fun to fall decorating. All these items are relatively inexpensive and are seasonally appropriate right up to Thanksgiving.
If you have a fence it’s the perfect place for a garland of autumn leaves. At our house the board-on-board cedar fence is long enough for four garlands with a festive wreath on the gate in the middle.
I like the inside of our house to look just as seasonal as the outside. The mantle in our living room is decorated with a fall garland to which I always add a string of small white lights. They are a cozy sight during the shorter daylight hours at this time of year. An autumn wreath hangs over the mantle, and small scarecrows and witches along with artificial, but realistic, pumpkins are placed on shelves and the dining room hutch.
Decorating isn’t complete without adding a candle with an autumn scent. I am always happy when I find fragrances of apples, pumpkins, cinnamon, ginger and citrus. Their scents leave no doubts as to what season we are celebrating!
Have fun decorating. Not only will you enjoy the results but people passing your house will enjoy it, too.
