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Making Your Home Autumn Cozy

This fall, make it your aim to create an inviting, welcoming spot for your family; a haven with an aroma and look that is pleasing to the eye.

First, purchase a large fragrant candle in your favorite fall scent. I love these non-toxic candles. (Or diffuse your favorite holiday season oil scent or simmering potpourri.) Each day, light the candle as you whisper a prayer for the family members that dwell in your home. Pray for them by name. Thank God for them and also lift any specific requests you have about them to him. Don’t rush...reflect. Praise God for the privilege of being a mom, wife, sister, daughter….whatever role you have in your particular family.

Then spend just a few minutes straightening up the main living area where your family normally hangs out. Cultivate the practice of paying just a little extra attention to the look of the home—as well as the hearts of those that dwell there. Take some time this week to also make it look a little festive and fall-ish around your home.

Here are a few inexpensive ideas for fall decorating, most of which utilize items found in nature:

  • Set a basket of pinecones out and place a few drops of scented oil on them in a fall fragrance like clove, orange, apple, or cinnamon.
  • Place some mini pumpkins and gourds in a bowl out as a centerpiece. These are usually very inexpensive at roadside stands and farmer’s markets. Indian corn works well too in baskets or hung on the wall or mantle.
  • Use a corer (or paring knife) to remove the stem from an apple or two and cut out a hole in the top large enough to hold a taper candle. Ta-da! Cute fall candlesticks!
  • Place a fresh artichoke in a small terra cotta pot, stem down.. Cut a hole in the top center just large enough to hold a small pillar candle.
  • Let your kiddos go wild collecting items on a nature walk—twigs, leaves, acorns, unusual nuts and berries or interestingly shaped rocks. Display them in an eclectic manner in a wooden bowl or basket.
  • Make a seasonal garland of dried apple or orange slices, bay leaves, nuts or cranberries. (You may need a drill to make holes in the nuts!) Drying instructions for fruit: Slice apples and oranges ¼ inch think and lay on parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake at 150 degrees for 6-7 hours, until pliable.
  • Carefully use a Sharpie Marker to draw a circle around the stem of a pie pumpkin (Not a Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin. There is a difference!) Use a sharp, serrated knife to cut through the line and remove the top. Scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff. Then, use your pumpkin as a vase to hold some small mums, carnations, sunflowers, or fall daisies. You can also use it to house some of my Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip. Serve it with gingersnaps.

Now, for a little peek into my home.

I look for fall decor on markdown end caps on clearance sales. I found both the pumpkin and Happy Harvest sign on mark down at TJ Maxx one year.

Our mid-century hutch sports some cloth pumpkins a neighbor made for us and some small, fun glass vases from Aldi.

This wedding crock is out year round and I switch out what is in it each season. Right now, it has fake wheat and mini pumpkins to make it look fall-ish.

This mug rack is probably my favorite item in my home that changes with each season. My mom collected mugs and had a mid-century mug tree on our kitchen counter. This is my version. I grab season-looking mugs at yard sales and resale shops. If you’d like a wall mug rack, you can purchase it here. Or, if you think the set of four cups with the nature leaf prints on them is the bomb, you can grab a set here. And the copper mugs can be found here.

This two-tier stand changes items each season too. Most of these things I purchased at garage sales or second-hand stores. It comes in white, black, or wood and you can purchase the stand here.

My favorite item on the stand? The set of three acorns I found on a walk with my two-year-old grandson, Jasper, on his family’s property in Tennessee recently.

And of course, you can never have too many pumpkins! This first one below I got on clearance at HomeGoods. The glass one that holds cookies was a gift from my brother way back when I was in college. (It was made by Libby company and you might be able to find one on eBay.) And the final one I got at a garage sale. It was just like one we had growing up.

We always incorporated happy pumpkins into our celebration of fall when our kids were little by reading them the classic book The Pumpkin Patch Parable by my friend Liz Curtis Higgs. It isn’t a book about Halloween, but a book about how God loves us and cares for us.

But my favorite pumpkin of all is this one that our son Mitchell made in art class at his homeschool academy when he was in the first grade. It’s made out of nylons and I put it out each fall.

And finally, my father’s old step stool ladder. splattered with paint, makes a great place to display pumpkins out on our back deck. What every day items do you have that might make a great display at your house?

With a little creativity and some shopping at your local thrift stores and clearance aisles, your home too can be autumn cozy in no time!

Happy Autumn!

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