Bringing Fall into your Home

I don’t know about you, but fall is my absolute favorite season. There’s a change you feel in the air as soon as autumn arrives, an excitement that ignites inside of you, making you feel awakened. It’s like your senses are heightened, noticing every new change around you. Funny how it is that although fall is the season when the leaves are dying and the trees begin to slip into their dormant state, it is the season I feel most alive.

If you could pick one word to describe fall, what would it be? To me, the word cozy truly captures the essence of fall. Perhaps this is why I love fall so much, because I love nothing more than a cozy home.

Fall Senses

In this post I will take you through two exercises before I explain how to bring fall into your home. Take the time to really engage here, immersing your mind into the season itself. Here are the steps we will take, in depth:

Step 1: Finding your vision of fall (exercise 1)

Step 2: Growing you vision (exercise 2)

Step 3: Bringing fall into your home

Step 1: Finding Your Vision of Fall

What makes you think of fall? Fall is the time for hay rides, corn mazes, and, of course, all things pumpkin. Trees become ablaze with brilliantly colored leaves. Evenings feel more magical and each flavor more savory than the last. It’s the season for festivals at the farm and apple picking at the orchards, taking long walks along a leaf-covered path and relaxing by the fire.

I have an exercise for you. The purpose of this is to get you to visualize the season and what connects you to it. Close your eyes, and envision yourself within fall. Surround yourself in your mind with all of the things that make you think of this season. Now go through each of your senses. What do you see, feel, taste, smell, and hear?

Now, open your eyes and write these down on a list (like I have in the table below). What about this season and the way it engages your senses makes you feel happy and at home?

Sights	Touch	Tastes	Scents	Sounds
Colorful Leaves	Cozy Blankets	Apple Cider	Fall Candles	Crackling Fire
Corn Fields	Soft Sweaters	Pumpkin	Spices	Crunching Leaves
Hay Rides	Thick Flannel	Hearty Soup	Baked Goods	Piano Jazz

Step 2: Growing your Vision

Now, if you’re up for it, go even more in depth and write out a small paragraph for each of your senses, adding in further detail about how these things make you feel. Bring these things to life, make it your story of fall!

In the section below, you will find my own description, to paint you a picture of what you are looking to achieve here. Of course, your vision will be different from mine.

Sights

When I think of fall, I picture a forest of trees changing colors. In Utah we have a lot of aspens that turn a beautiful golden yellow. These huge groves in the mountains can take your breath away. I also envision the other colors mixed in with the gold. The vibrant red of the maple trees, some greens, browns, and oranges. All combined together.

I picture corn fields turned into mazes, reminiscing on how fun they are to try to navigate. I think about a pumpkin patch with the pumpkins still growing on the vine and experiencing the hayride to pick your own from the field.

Touch

The softest, coziest fabrics start to come out during autumn. The warm soft sweaters, thick flannel shirts, and chunky throw blankets. So many things that you just can’t wait to cuddle up in!

Our all-time favorite apple cider donuts from the ranch

Taste

This season is filled with flavors and spices. Besides the taste of pumpkin, we also love anything apple flavored during this season. We go to the orchards and pick ripe apples, eating them crisp off the vine, or baking them into a pie. We bring home gallons of fresh pressed cider to last us through the season and share with our guests at our hosted events.

The local ranch has a fall festival where they make the most delicious apple cider donuts. They melt in your mouth as soon as you take a bite. We always get a dozen to take home and freeze some for later!

Sounds

The sound of a crackling fireplace or bonfire is so relaxing. You can roast s’mores and gaze into it, letting your mind wander.

I enjoy the sound of the leaves and corn husks rustling in the wind, but love nothing more than the sound of crunching leaves underneath my feet. I still seek them out and jump on them like a small child would do. Daniel laughs at me every time. It’s a good thing he finds me adorable!

Scents

Fall to me smells like that fresh-from-the-farm apple cider, something that makes my mouth water just from the smell alone. I’m always burning fall scented candles in our home, and it’s rare that one of these lasts through the season.

If we are at a local festival, I often notice the smell of the hay bales, breathing it all in, instantly making me feel like I am out in the country.

Now that the weather is cooling down, this is the time we warm up our homes with the oven, filling the room with the scents of cozy meals and delicious baked goods made with spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg.

Our fall sofa table

Step 3: Bringing Fall into your Home

So, now you have your vision for this season. You have immersed your thoughts into fall and revisited the feelings that it sparks within you. Now that you have fully engaged your senses, let’s discuss how you can bring this sense-filled feeling of fall into your home.

Unless you happen to have a big farm or ranch, you probably won’t be able to look out your window and see all of the changing leaves, hear the wind rustling through the corn, or see a field of pumpkins. Some of us may not have a yard at all. Some of us may not live in an area that gets real seasons. So, what are the things you can bring into your home to make it feel like fall, no matter where you live?

The Scents of Fall

Artificial Bliss

Try using a single scent throughout your home when you are cleaning. It gives a nice themed smell and helps to not overwhelm the senses. I love the Mrs. Meyer’s Acorn Spice, it’s all cinnamon-y and smells amazing. I have the room spray, all-purpose cleaner, and hand soap. I love finding a different scent that I enjoy for each season!

Scented pinecones or brooms are great ways to add fragrant decoration to your home. While a little can go a long way with these, scented décor is a double win, looking pretty while smelling amazing.

The quickest and easiest way to make your home smell like autumn is to buy some fall-scented candles. You can also use diffusers, candle warmers, or a pot simmer as well, they will give you a similar effect. I’ll admit I don’t really make pot simmers because I am afraid that I’ll leave the house or go to bed and completely forget about it on the stove (I don’t need the hubby worrying I’ll burn the place down trying to make it smell good).

Home Cooking

This falls into the scent as well as the taste of fall. There is no better aroma than that of something delicious cooking or baking! This season is the perfect time to try out some new recipes to cozy up your home. Bake a fresh apple pie or try making a loaf of bread from scratch. Let’s break out the standing mixer and turn on that oven!

The Taste of Fall

What are the tastes of fall that you have in your kitchen? Do you embrace the pumpkin foods? Chocolate chip pumpkin cookies and pumpkin soup? Or are you more of an oatmeal raisin and a hearty stew kind of person? Think about the fall dishes you enjoy and be sure to incorporate them this season.

Fall is when I experiment with warm, rich recipes. Dense flavorful breads are bought at the store to compliment hearty meals that encompass squash and other fall flavors. We enjoy chili and cornbread during this time, and often cook both in the cast iron together, with the cornbread on top of the chili (we always use this recipe from Budget Bytes).

This is also the season where I begin baking more. Cookies made with spices like cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cardamom excite our tastebuds. I’ll take both the pumpkin and oatmeal cookies!

The Sounds of Fall

Ok so this isn’t the easiest sense to incorporate but you can still make this unique to Autumn. Since fall embraces the feeling of being cozy, I think of music that relaxes me while having a warm inviting tone.

I like to play fall piano music, relaxing jazz piano or even some cello music this time of year. Piano with a crackling fireplace or rain sounds to accompany it are especially nice in the evenings when unwinding with a book or a bath. Consider creating a playlist of what sounds like fall to you.

The Feel of Fall

Adding textures to your home this fall will literally bring the feeling of fall into your home. By using warm throws, chunky blankets, and textured pillows on your couch, you’ll get that feeling of fall in the coziest part of your home. Think about bringing in the colors and textures of fall to your living area as well. Pick one or two colors or patterns that work well throughout the room that can easily be incorporated into the rest of your home.

If you do not have a fireplace, consider investing in one this year. An electric fireplace can add a phenomenal amount of cozy ambiance to any room. Ever since we bought ours it has become a focal point in our home, and we love the charm and element of relaxation it brings to our living room as soon as we turn it on.

Our fall dining room table setting

The Look of Fall

Create Focal Points

By being particular with where you place your décor, you can reduce potential clutter while drawing attention to the most beloved areas within your home. Look around and find where your decorations would have the most impact.

For more about how to create focal areas in your home, check out this post. If you are looking to make your porch a focal point this fall, click here.

Freshen up your Photos

Consider switching out the photos in your home seasonally. Fill your picture frames with memories from the season you are in. This will not only encourage you to take more pictures, but it will freshen up those frames. Your family and guests will start to look forward to seeing new photos with each seasonal change.

Fall Colors

This brings us back to colors. There are so many colors you can associate with fall, some are deeper, warmer colors like rich maroons and browns. Others bring a cheerier feel to fall, like orange and sage.

Take a look at some pictures for fall inspiration and see what colors you connect with. If you are out shopping, try to stick with a few colors to use in your home to help everything flow well together.

Enjoy Each Season

No matter what you do to decorate your house, I hope that you enjoy embracing each and every season in your home. The changing of the seasons is like a fresh start. Each one offers a new way to see both the outside world and the inside of our homes. It allows us to embrace the subtle beauties around us. Use this time to celebrate your own home and the joys these changes bring.