Simple + Sustainable Ways to Bring Autumn Into Your Home

The first day of Autumn is approaching, and we are ready for all the cozy things of fall! If you’ve been here or following on Instagram for a while you know it is my favorite season. Who couldn’t love cozy sweaters, crisp breezes and all the yummy fall scents?! Even if you are team ‘wait until September’, here are a few simple and sustainable ways to add small touches of autumn to your home!

• Fill vases with autumn branches. We love to forage for branches and leaves from the yard, especially limbs with tiny pine cones still attached or interesting leaves. We rinse with water and a spray of Thieves Household cleaner before adding to a vase to make sure no critters follow us inside. You could also grab some dried pampas grass to reuse every year.

• Add garland and/or wreath. Eucalyptus swags or stems + rosemary and sage from the garden are perfect for this! We love to use an old grapevine wreath (a Goodwill score!) and add fresh eucalyptus stems from Trader Joe’s. We sometimes mix in rosemary sprigs and other foraged branches for texture, and you could even add pine cones, acorns or other fall foliage from your yard! It is SO easy! Just slide the stems between the grapevine branches and adjust to your liking. We love this route because we can throw the dried eucalyptus into the fire for quick and fragrant kindling, then re-use the wreath base for a holiday wreath! We also like to drape eucalyptus swags or stems over mirrors, along the mantle or simple place in vases. Not a big DIY-er? This wreath and this garland are pretty as well.

• Add twinkle lights! We pair ours with a vase of autumn branches, faux or beeswax candles, and/or a wreath on the mantle, and even wrap orange lights around birch branches to place in the fireplace itself. If you don’t have a fireplace, add some lights to a basket with throw blankets, place in a vase or simply drape along your dining table. There is just something cozy about the ambiance of twinkle lights!

• Switch out throw pillows and blankets. We keep covers for our pillows and switch them out for thicker textures and deeper colors once September hits. It’s the simplest thing, but my kids comment on it every year! These are some of my favorites (one, two, three, four).

• Add natural items. Small pumpkins, pinecones, branches, apples, cinnamon sticks – most anything can be transformed into autumn decor! Apples in a wooden bowl with a tea towel beneath, cinnamon sticks bundled with twine, pumpkins with beeswax candles. We love to get mini heirloom pumpkins from the farmers market. They are great treats for the chickens once we’re done with them for decor! You can also drop cinnamon bark essential oil on pinecones to make them smell amazing.

• Make (or buy!) beeswax candles. There isn’t much more cozy that the glow of a candle, but skip the scented (or even unscented soy or paraffin) ones and go with beeswax! You can make your own. It’s so easy!

Want more? Try making these simple DIY Leaf Trays, our favorite GF Pumpkin Bread, or a batch of Homemade Elderberry Syrup (your kitchen will smell so good!). Also, don’t forget to bring in fall scents! Ditch those scented candles and swap for pretty diffusers (I love this one that looks like a terra-cotta vase!) and yummy essential oils – Cinnamon bark, Orange, Bergamot, Clove, and Thieves are some of my favorites! Find some of my favorite Bath & Body Works fall candle dupes here!