Seasonal Decorating Made Simple

Do you ever feel intimidated or overwhelmed by the thought of decorating? There are so many beautiful homes on Pinterest and Instagram that it’s easy to think you have to be Joanna Gaines and/or independently wealthy to have a beautifully decorated home. I mentioned last week that I’ve come a long way in my decorating skills. I still have a long way to go, but I’ve learned a few things over the past ten years that make seasonal decorating a lot simpler.

I will walk you through three tips that make seasonal decorating easier for me and show you how I used those tips when I decorated my home this fall!

#1 Start with clean surfaces and organized decor

When I decorated for fall, I completely “reset” my living room from the way I had it decorated in late summer. I like to start my seasonal decorating by clearing all the horizontal surfaces in the room: coffee table, entry tables, piano and dining room table. I bring all my decor into plain sight. For fall decorating, I lay everything out on the kitchen counter. At Christmas, I line up all my bins so I can see what I have. Then I pull pieces from my decorating essentials that I think I’ll want to use. This fall I pulled things that were copper, gold and black because those are my fall neutrals this year.

I never decorate with only seasonal pieces. I find that mixing seasonal pieces in with basics helps to anchor the displays and keeps it from looking tacky.

#2 Refer to inspiration photos

On my own, I’m not very creative…but I know when I see something I like! That’s where Pinterest and Instagram come in! Before I start decorating, I look over the pins and Instagram pictures I saved. Having a clear idea of how I want my decor to look keeps me focused and always yields better results.

Here’s a great example: I always struggle with what to put on my coffee table. I had several pins and saved Instagram pictures like this one, so I decided to copy it with things I had on hand.

I asked myself what it was that I really liked about this arrangement – it’s the idea of putting a pumpkin under a glass dome, the softness of the green floral, and how everything is contained in a tray. Here’s my version:

#3 Make trends work for you

I find myself really drawn to the black and white buffalo print trend this year! I really wanted to make it work in my living area, but obviously I have a strong gold/turquoise/blue theme which isn’t anything close to black and white. I found this pin that I loved and created a similar version on PicMonkey, using colors that work in my home (download my tan/turquoise leaf print for free here). And just like that, I made the buffalo print trend work for me!

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Let me add that it takes a little work and patience to redecorate an entire living area for a season or holiday. I usually start decorating on the weekend, live in the space all week and finish it up the next weekend. That week in between gives me time to tweak, rearrange, add or take away, so that in the end I’m in love with how it looks!