Transitioning to Fall at the Cottage

Fall is, by far, my favorite season. There’s something about the flavors, the smells, the colors, and the general holiday anticipation that brings me such deep joy. But like all good things, the Internet is in an uproar about how soon is too soon to decorate for fall.

When I seriously considered getting down my fall two weeks ago, I thought saying it out loud might bring the Home Decor Police after me.

In the past, I’ve sort of climbed aboard the “let’s just enjoy the current season” train and refused to decorate for the seasons in advance of certain arbitrary dates. But I’m at the point in my home decorating journey where I’m ready to do whatever the heck I want.

I’m ready to start decorating for fall. On Labor Day, the unofficial last bastion of summer.

I probably make decorating for fall way more complicated than it needs to be, but in general, I think of fall in three phases: General Fall, Halloween Fall, and Thanksgiving Fall. I love all three so deeply that sometimes I struggle to know if/how to incorporate it all.

And the recent addition of my two tubs full of vintage turkey salt and pepper shakers are really complicating fall decorating matters because I’m ready to skip right on over to Thanksgiving fall.

I had Rob help me pull out my totes of fall decor this weekend, and I had so much fun reminding myself of all of the goodies I have stashed away and some of what I thrifted after I had already put up fall last year.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “Life starts all over again when it gets crips in the fall.”

If a house can actually have a “perfect” season, then all is definitely that season for out cottage. She seems at her best self warmed up with all sorts of cozy, textured layers. She seems most alive bathed in cinnamon scents and sprinkled with hues of green, rust, brown, and cream.

We have several fun little projects coming up in the next few weeks, including one I’m particularly excited about for those of us who love pumpkins in the fall but live in climates where lots of pumpkins just aren’t practical quite yet. I’m looking forward to sharing lots of fall tablescapes as we consider how sweet it is to gather around the harvest table. And of course, we’ll enjoy sharing how we cozy up our little cottage for the season and how we shop for sweet little treasures to dress up each room.

We hope you’ll keep it right here as we plan to share it all with you!