Autumn at Home
Welcoming in leaf season at home with a few beloved rituals
People either love or hate summer, but I feel like we all come together for fall. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who said they didn’t like fall. In California it becomes peak heat from Sept-Oct and people love to call it “locals summer,” but I try to avoid that term because seasonally it’s still fall! Even if it is hot as hell, it’s still fall. Because cozy sweaters need to be put on pause for a few months here I try to incorporate a few other practices around home to welcome in the season that still make it feel like autumn (although I’m also including some outfit inspo in here because how could I not, getting dressed in fall is my favorite).
“It’s just my favorite time of the year. The whole world changes color” - Lorelai Gilmore
Flowers
A great way to welcome in the new season while it’s still so warm out is to pick up a few in-season stems and blooms and either create full fall bouquets around home, or mix in some fall feeling florals with some evergreen or end of summer blooms to make it feel more transitional. I’ll share a few examples below:
I currently have a bouquet on my coffee table that mixes eucalyptus with a few pops of orange featuring Pincushion Protea. Mixed together they really feel like fall without yelling “AUTUMN IS HERE.”
White hydrangea can feel a bit too summer or winter (when paired with green) in my opinion so I’d stay away from that as the season shifts, but an aged or dried hydrangea or deeper green/purple hydrangea can be gorgeous this time of year. Dried hydrangea wreaths are also so stunning and fun.
Some other great fall feeling blooms:
“Green” sunflowers, Barefoot Errands shares her tutorial here
Yarrow or queen annes lace to act as a filler flower
Marigolds can be really pretty mixed in with some greenery, just don’t overdo it or it can come off as cheesy (same with calendula). Marigolds can be great for a DIY fall flower garland.
Amaranthus, in its naturally long and windy demeanour, can be a beautiful flower to drape along a table for fall hosting.
Hops can be a really pretty filler or statement on its own.
Of course mix in your greens! Eucalyptus will be bountiful at the markets and there are loads of different colors and shaped leaves to choose from. I like throwing in some Leucadendron as a fall filler as well.
If you love flowers but are going to be out of town a lot or are allergic, I found this really pretty garland and a few faux stems on Afloral that might work for you:
Explore more faux fall foliage here
Pumpkins
Alongside flowers, theres the obvious fall decor: pumpkins. Tabletop pumpkins, dwarf pumpkins, princess pumpkins, big ones, little ones… so many pumpkins. There is for suuuure a very cheesy road you can go down with pumpkins (which by no means am I hating on, its a very fun road to go down; I come from a town that has a whole dang pumpkin festival every fall lol); however, there is also a very chic/whimsy/fairytale pumpkin (not cheesy, not muted, not over the top, somewhere in between) route as well. If you’re looking for the later, I’ll share a few examples below:
Music
I think the thing that transports me to fall the most might just be music, there is a certain type of music that just feels like fall. Sharing some playlists I’ve had on rotation the last week that might scratch that itch for ya:
Autumn Jazz (instrumental)
Orange to Blue Amberlin Jazz Orchestra
Carole King Fall - Carole King is year round for me, so this one is less so big fall vibes, but still a great one for the rotation
Movies
The obvious rewatch is Gilmore Girls, but for the days that you want a movie instead of a show, here are some of my favorites:
Early fall
You’ve Got Mail
When Harry Met Sally
Practical Magic 1998 (could also fit into the next category)
Matilda
Twilight Saga
Kiki’s Delivery Service
Sleepless in Seattle
Narnia
Devil Wears Prada
Notting Hill
Halloween fall
Halloweentown
Casper Meets Wendy 1998
Hocus Pocus
Coco
Coraline
Food
It’s obviously soup season in the ‘ber months, but there are so many other great comfort foods to rotate into your kitchen as well:
Obviously all things pumpkin:
PSL - basic, but its basic for a reason. It tastes good and so lots of people love it and then it becomes basic. When people say “thats so basic” its like is it basic? Or is it something just widely appreciated?
Pumpkin ice cream - I don’t see this one out and about very often, but the pumpkin festival my hometown puts on serves up a great pumpkin ice cream so if you ever come across it do not pass it up.
Pumpkin shaped pasta - Trader Joes (the pumpkin motherload) makes some cute pumpkin pasta which could be fun to serve up on a theme night at home.
So many savory squash recipes out there, but this recipe in particular looks incredible and will be on my list to make this season.
Strangely I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin pie, but if you are cheers babe, it’s your super bowl season.
Hot apple cider - such a nostalgic drink and always hits harder than I remember, such a great one to have on hand for the season
Soup season - there are so many soups out there I can’t even begin to share them all, but I’ll share two good ones. This is one I tried for the first time a couple weeks ago and have really been enjoying it (I froze a batch and am slowly finishing it up). The soup that I adapted from a blogger x my mom x lack of ingredients has turned into semi ~my own~ and I love it so much. I’ll share below. Its quite basic, but I love making a huge batch of this and eating it for at least one meal per day throughout the week. Pair it with a grilled cheese and oooomf, perfect fall dinner.
Candles
I’m a candles all year round kinda gal, but big focus on candles during fall. Scented, non-scented, pillar, tealight, gimme em all.
Pumpkin scented candles are the obvious go-to for fall candles, but some of them can smell like plastic chemicals and I am just not about that. Sharing one that I actually really like from Voluspa here (comes in glass and tin options in various sizes as well).
If you don’t like pumpkin scented, but do like other scents you can opt for something in an amber jar to bring in some color/warmth, but the scent can remain neutral or something more favored to what you prefer. Linking some really nice options made by a local candle artist here.
Beeswax candles from your local market/artisans are also just so lovely, but sometimes they can be pretty expensive. If you’ve splurged on them once but cant afford to keep your candle drawer stocked with them, World Market offers some nice pillar and tealight options that wont break the bank.
Love a good hurricane jar for my coffee table to burn an unscented candle year round but especially every evening during fall. I thrifted mine, but I found a similar one from Crate & Barrel here. Check your local second hand shops for sure though! There are some great options that will cost less than a PSL.
Outfits
I had a conversation with a dear friend of mine a few weeks ago about how I just haven’t quite been feeling like myself and she said, “Well it is summer, do you have a favorite time of year to dress for? Sometimes dressing in summer can be uncomfortable and make you not feel like yourself if its not the season you thrive in” and she was so spot on. I think I used to like summer more, but over the years its just gotten soooooo hot yet the ocean where I live is too cold to swim in, so it’s kind of a lose lose situation in the summer (for me and my habits personally). I grew up in a fog town so I thrive in layers and although I used to be a coat or sweatshirt kinda gal, over the last few years I have developed a deep love (and collection) for sweaters too.
I’ve put together a little mood board of some possible combinations of staples that you likely have something similar to in your closet. My aim here isn’t to make you replicate these looks with an exact clothing article, but more so to just inspire you with some solid go-to layers this fall with things you likely already own or can easily thrift:
On top of all of that, I think adopting the slow-down mindset during this time can be a great practice. That said, some of my favorite town activities happen during fall and I also love to travel during this season, so I think I’m usually more busy during fall then summer (once it’s cold enough to move around outside without breaking a sweat after 5 steps is when I thriiiiive). The mentality though, of not rushing around but instead moving slower, not having calendars booked up, allowing nights to start earlier and mornings to move slower, even if you are technically busier, is a mentality I fully support.
And that concludes my Autumn at Home ~guide~. Thanks for reading it and if you enjoyed this please do let me know! I’m new to Substack so I’m still finding my voice here and I appreciate you hangin with me while I do.
Any links available to share from this article are shared here.
Love this! And green sunflowers 🌻 😉