When do you like to transition into fall home decor around your house? There are many opinions about when to decorate for the fall season. However, the right time to transition into fall home decor is whenever and however you want to and in a way that works for your family, lifestyle, and schedule!
While the retail stores are starting to shout “fall decorations” to us (cue the pumpkin explosions!), we get to choose to fully embrace fall decorating ideas or slowly transition into fall home decor. Whether you like to swap out summer for fall home decor right away or slowly transition your seasonal decor from late summer into early fall decor with subtle changes, there are so many affordable ways to make your home feel cozy for the upcoming season.
In today’s post, we are going to chat about the 5 basics that I keep in mind as I transition into fall home decor in a budget-friendly way throughout our living spaces. Speaking of a budget-friendly way to decorate, though, let me first introduce you to Thrifting With the Gals!
Thrifting With the Gals
Honestly, I feel like I just wrote my Thrifting With the Gals post for July! The summer flew by! In case you are new to my blog, Thrifting With the Gals is a super fun blog series with some amazing friends in the home decor blogging world. Even though we are spread around the country, we all love thrift stores, finding great deals, and incorporating simple DIY ideas for vintage style home decor.
At the end of this post, you’ll find a sneak peek and link to each lady’s thrifting blog post. I know you’ll love the decorating ideas they are sharing as we all start thinking about the fun, cozy season coming up!
Rachel from The Pond’s Farmhouse
Ann from Dabbling and Decorating
Lora from Create and Ponder
and our guest host this month, Diane, from South House Designs
How do I make my house feel cozy for the fall?
I’m so glad you asked! Creating a cozy feel in my home is one of my favorite ways to begin ushering in the autumn season. Let’s jump in because today I’m going to give you 15 simple and easy ideas to help transition into fall home decor in your own home.
Whether you transition into fall home decor in August, September, or even wait until October, there are plenty of things you can do to transition your home decor from summer decor to fall and start getting those cozy fall vibes whenever you’re ready!
Pro Tip: To me, it kind of feels like a slow transition into fall home decor has a distinct purpose. With these 5 affordable ways to transition into fall home decor, I’m creating a simple base of home decor to set the stage for the fall natural elements a bit later, such as pumpkins, cornstalks, corn husks, and dried gourds.
5 Affordable Ways to Transition Into Fall Home Decor
#1 Affordable Way to Transition Into Fall Home Decor: Declutter and Deep Clean
The very first thing I want to do doesn’t cost a dime. In fact, with a little creativity and elbow grease, I could even stash away some cash by selling items I declutter on Facebook Marketplace or a quick yard sale! Don’t underestimate the power of decluttering and deep cleaning your home to help transition into fall home decor!
While this fall decluttering and deep cleaning may not need to be as involved as the traditional spring cleaning, it is a great chance to reset and reorganize your home in early preparation for the fall and winter seasons. Since we have school-age children at home, plus I’m a teacher, the back-to-school season feels like it launches some of the most busy months.
Our evenings and weekends become filled with sports practices, music rehearsals, school events, and the inevitable uptick of church and community events. Of course, this is not to mention all of the wonderful holidays that are coming up too!
For me, a clean, organized, decluttered home is one of the best feelings and definitely makes physical and emotional space to add all of the cozy favorites for the upcoming season!
#2 Affordable Way to Transition Into Fall Home Decor: Incorporate Warm Tones with Color and Finishes
Without spending a penny, you can bring the fall vibes into your home by simply focusing on warm tones. While a traditional fall color palette is stunning, you may choose to transition into fall home decor more slowly. If so, warm colors, like wood tones and natural materials, can set the stage for more fall decorations later in the season.
For example, a woven basket with seasonal produce in the dining room or wooden dough bowls or decorative bowls thoughtfully displayed on a coffee table or console table will start bringing in the warm colors of fall before a single “fall accent” is pulled out of storage or bought from the store!
I always love pretty wood tones and when I transition my home decor from summer to fall, you’ll find me pulling out more of my dough bowls, bread boards, wooden candlesticks, and wooden risers.
Over the spring and summer, I really enjoyed adding some touches of a light blue and blue-gray accent color throughout our main living spaces. While I usually swap out cooler tones for a warm fall color palette for the season, I decided that I’m going to leave the beautiful light blue as an accent color this fall! To balance out the cool tone and give it less of a coastal cottage look in lieu of a more vintage cottage style, I’ll be adding natural materials such as wood, stone, straw/jute, and dried stems to my fall ideas.
If you want to add more warm tones to your spaces to transition into fall home decor, make sure you hit up the thrift stores! Over in THIS blog post, I share 7 of my favorite things to thrift for fall home decorating and you’ll find several items that can often be thrifted to add warm colors to your decorating.
Lastly, don’t discount the “free decor” found in nature! During the fall season, your own yard may offer gorgeous warm colors you can bring in to transition into fall home decor. Over on THIS blog post, I share some of my favorite free decor to use in the fall season.
If you need a little jump start, here are some affordable favorites to transition into fall home decor:
- This pretty wall basket
- These pretty, dried gourds
- Find several gorgeous woven textures on THIS favorites shopping list!
- These tan eucalyptus branches
#3 Affordable Way to Transition Into Fall Home Decor: Add Natural Elements
You can give a room a feeling of instant transition by swapping out your summer florals for fall foliage. At the same time, don’t discount the statement a pretty basket of seasonal produce can make on the kitchen counter!
A fun way to follow the cues of nature is by incorporating seasonal produce to transition into fall home decor. Apples, pears, and red grapes can add some warm colors before you ever even hit up the pumpkin patch with its vibrant fall colors! (Of course, a bit later in the season, I’ll enjoy bringing in some white pumpkins mixed with some of the pretty blue, blue-gray, and green heirloom pumpkins too!)
Fall is really a season that feels especially natural and organic and I try to bring that inside by following the cues of nature.
(Well, for up north, at least. Our grass stays bright and green down here all year, as long as the irrigation system is working correctly!)
Over on my fall decor storefront, you can find my favorite faux greenery options to start swapping out for the seasons. Shop it HERE! Typically, I do not purchase a lot of new fall decor. However, faux greenery is something I like to invest in with upgrades.
I especially love these gorgeous stems that have a softer green and just the hints of the autumn months. They blend perfectly with both seasons!
Early fall wreaths for the front door or used inside as wall art is another great way to transition into fall home decor. Instead of immediately adding a wreath loaded with mini pumpkins, try more subtle changes like this gorgeous pampas grass wreath. I love the natural look it has!
It was one of the first things that I added to my kitchen last year and I loved it so much that I left it for the entire fall season. THIS pampas grass wreath is one of the easiest ways to make a simple, affordable change as you slowly usher in the autumn season with affordable seasonal accents.
If you’re looking for great faux florals for fall, I highly recommend these:
- This set of varied pampas grass decor
- These tan eucalyptus stems (love how it matches the color of sun-dried and bleached eucalyptus)
- These faux pear stems (I love the warmth of the color!)
- These dried pods add so much texture to a fresh or faux arrangement!
- Shop a variety of my favorite fall flowers over on my storefront, HERE!
#4 Affordable Way to Transition Into Fall Home Decor: Add layers and Textures
Throw pillows and pillow covers are a really budget-friendly way to get a fresh look without having to change out furniture! You can start to transition into fall home decor by storing away summer-colored pillows and swapping throw pillows or pillow covers with neutral pillows that have a lot of texture. Soft linen, light velvet, and fringe or pom pom detail.
While I prefer to save my chunky knits, thick, cozy blankets, and faux fur for the winter seasons, you can always add them for extra cozy textures whenever the cooler temperatures arrive in your area. Living in the Sunshine State, we can have warm pool days into November, so the thick layers have to wait a bit for us!
I suggest starting to transition into fall home decor with neutral pillow covers. Then, once you’re ready to go all in on fall decor, layer a few fall-specific colors and patterns with your neutral pillows. Add cozy throw blankets and layer rugs and you’re all set with a super cozy feel!
Pro Tip: Pillow covers are a small change, yet easy way to give your home a fresh look and seasonal change without taking up much room in storage!
This year, I’m loving these pillows to help transition into fall home decor:
- These classic pillows with a pattern that will blend with most things!
- This throw pillow cover is super budget-friendly and is perfect for layering. I love how the scallops add some interest to our family room sectional.
- I love the color and texture of these pillows! Definitely a family favorite!
- This oversized pattern adds fun style to a sofa or chair.
- I added THESE gorgeous block print vintage style pillow covers last year and I love them. They look so high end and come in a variety of fall tones.
- I am using THIS soft throw blanket for pattern and color this year. The soft blue-gray is perfect to complement a fall color palette!
- THIS super soft throw blanket is perfect to transition into fall home decor because it adds a layer and texture without being too heavy. We have several of these around our home and love using them all year long!
Pro Tip: Mix, match, and layer a few of these throw pillows and blankets together for a curated, designer look! Plus, you’ll be adding a lot of texture, color, and pattern for interest.
#5 Affordable Way to Transition Into Fall Home Decor: Incorporate Ambiance
One of my favorite things about this time of year is that there are so many simple ways to bring the cozy feel of the season without even adding a lot of fall accents (though those are fun as well!)
Adding the ambiance of fall can be done in different ways like adding soft light with table lamps and flameless candles that run on a timer. I have to say, it does feel a bit magical when the candlelight just flickers on each evening! It’s like a little cozy gift to myself each day!
Table lamps on an entryway table or console table and flickering taper candles on wall sconces are some of my favorite, go-to ways to add fall ambiance with lighting.
This time of year is also the perfect time to bring out all of the amazing fall scents. Candles, simmer pots, and even cinnamon sticks tucked into a wreath on the front porch are all easy, simple changes to add the cozy feel of fall.
While pumpkin spice lattes are a personal preference, treating yourself to your favorite fall drink like apple cider or pumpkin spice is another fun way to help you enjoy a cozy fall season. There’s nothing like the first fall latte at the end of the summer months to put me in the mood to transition into fall home decor!
Here are some of my favorite fall items to transition into fall home decor with ambiance:
- My favorite flameless taper candles that look like the real thing with the wax finish and flickering flame. Also runs on a timer!
- Battery-operated lightbulbs are perfect for wall sconces that don’t have to hard-wired.
- Cordless table lamps that can be easily added into a side table vignette. Tip: set on top of a stack of vintage books for extra height!
- Beautiful table lamps that make a statement with size and designer style
- These flameless votive candles are perfect to tuck in anywhere!
FAQ’s to Transition Into Fall Home Decor
When should I start putting up fall decor?
It’s asked every year and every year my answer is the same! You can start decorating anytime you want!
Trust me, if I lived up north and the air was starting to get that little tinge of fall feeling, you’d better believe I’d be pulling out all the bins and starting to transition into fall home decor!
However, here in sunny South Florida, we are pretty focused on surviving the muggy, extremely hot weather and hurricane season!
(That being said, there’s no better way to get me in the mood to create a cozy home than a tropical storm blowing through some unseasonably cool breezes!)
Can I decorate for fall at the end of August?
Some people prefer to wait until after the Labor Day holiday break to add fall items, which is also understandable. This is an especially good idea for those who don’t begin the school year until after Labor Day!
Trust me, I like to enjoy summer break and our summer decor to the very last drop too!
Can I decorate for fall in July?
My general answer to this is mid August or early September. However, as I said before, it’s totally up to you! I usually try to have all of my fall decor pretty much done by the beginning of September so I can enjoy it for the next couple of months of one of my favorite seasons!
For me, I especially enjoy a S L O W transition into fall home decor with small touches for the new season as I go along. To be honest, I don’t like to start until after the kids are back in school. I like to keep our “summer home” (see my summer home decor story HERE) for as long as possible.
But once we’ve started back to school, I’m ready for cozy evenings, earlier bed times, and filling my senses with a soft, calm, cozy atmosphere in the evenings with a slow transition into fall home decor.
Are you ready to transition into fall home decor?
I am about there! In fact, after some of you asked over on Instagram stories for the best way to transition into fall home decor, I decided to put together this blog post. It’s been a great place to start motivating myself to get in the mood for some early fall vibes around our home as well!
I’m going to be doing things a little differently this year, I think, while still sticking to these 5 affordable and easy ways to transition into fall home decor. Stay tuned over on Instagram to see what I end up doing this year to transition our own home!
In the meantime, you can find some of my favorite fall home decor HERE on my storefront. I’ve added some great ideas here lately that I think may go a long way to help you get into the decorating spirit too! I do make a small commission when you use my affiliate links, so if there are little accents that can help with your decor, I appreciate you following along with my storefront as well as the blog, Instagram, and Pinterest too!
Lastly, don’t forget to visit all of the Thrifting With the Gals blog posts today. There are so many great ideas to help launch an amazing fall home decor season!
Rachel from The Pond’s Farmhouse
Ann from Dabbling and Decorating
Lora from Create and Ponder
and our guest host this month, Diane, from South House Designs
You may also enjoy these fall home decor related blog posts to help you get ready for the upcoming season:
- 7 Easy Ways to Make Your DIY Fall Flowers Amazing
- How to Easily Decorate a Cozy Fall Bedroom
- The Best 7 Useful Fall Decor Items You Need to Thrift For
- 5 Beautiful Ways to Use Dried Gourds for Fall Decor
- 44 Easy Ideas to Decorate a Kitchen Table for Fall
- How to Decorate with 21 Easy Cozy Home Decor Ideas for Fall
- The Best 7 Thrifted Fall Home Decor Items to Shop For
- Simple Tips for Decorating with Cozy Fall Kitchen Decor
- How to Style Beautiful Fall Dough Bowl Decor in 3 Minutes
- Design Ideas to Create a Rustic Neutral Living Room for Fall
