Which Seasonal Touches Are Easiest to Add In?

(Harvest House Publishers)

What are your favorite ways to update your rooms as the seasons change while still keeping your basic decorations in place? I don’t want to spend too much time or money, but I like celebrating the seasons.

Bobbye J.

Melissa says ...

Decorating for the seasons brings a lot of joy, and it doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. An easy way to ensure flexibility is to consider stepping away from overtly themed décor. This way you aren’t boxed into a look but can strike the balance between keeping things simple and mixing things up a bit each season. Use what you have, give preference to natural elements, and modify or arrange your decorations until they feel seasonally appropriate and inspiring. A glass lamp base that can be filled with pine cones one season and seashells the next is far more versatile than a ceramic one with a large image of a snowman on it.

If you go the way of simplicity, you can work with warm and cozy in the fall and winter and then lighten things up for the spring and summer months. Your basic goal really can be that simple.

Fall and winter tones can be oh-so-comforting and just right for a natural or modern style. (Harvest House Publishers)

One thing to consider is the seasonal style your house reflects during most of the year. I wouldn’t expect you to be displaying a Christmas tree in August, but sometimes there’s an obvious base seasonal style going on in your home. Fall and winter tones can be oh-so-comforting and just right for a natural or modern style. Spring and summer colors might lift your mood because they feel so fresh.

I think most of us gravitate toward one season or another because we like certain colors or are influenced by the climate or landscape in which we live. The style of our home and furnishings can also dictate which season we prefer when it comes to decorating. There isn’t a right or wrong answer here. When you recognize the canvas of your home’s primary style, it’s just that much easier to add perfectly suited touches later.

To create a space that reflects a season, nothing fancy is required. Just involve all of your senses and celebrate a season’s signature scents, sounds, flavors, and looks.

Fall

Use cinnamon, orange, and clove scents in essential oil diffusers.

Decorate with leaves, pumpkins, colorful gourds, and pine cones.

Add more throw blankets and cozy pillows to the chairs and sofas.

Stock up on books and board games or pull out old favorites for evenings spent indoors.

Winter

Drape wreaths, ornaments, and lights on doors, beds, and mirrors. (Now is the time to go crazy with the fairy lights and candles!)

Add pine cones, mini trees, and evergreen branches to your décor.

Does the classic red-and-green combo clash with your existing décor? Substitute wintery blues, silvers, and off- whites. A touch of pale pink adds a bit of festivity.

Think simple and vintage—popcorn and cranberries on the tree, a wooden sled leaning against the front porch, paper snowflakes on the windows.

Spring

Lighten up the bedding with fresh white or floral print cotton sheets and soft blankets.

Display flowers everywhere—tulips, lilacs, daffodils, bluebells. Plant flowers outdoors in hanging baskets, wooden crates, or old metal buckets.

Dress up the dining room table with springy dishes and patterned cloth napkins.

Display bowls of colorful fruit in the kitchen and dining room.

Summer

Showcase seaside treasures—starfish, sand dollars, shells, glass containers of sand and pebbles.

Roll up winter rugs. Expose your bare wood floors or change to cotton rugs in summery stripes and hues.

Bring out your summer accessories—floral prints, nautical décor, anything that says “summer.”

String fairy lights outdoors along with vibrant paper lanterns to move your living space outdoors.

Excerpted from “But Where Do I Put the Couch? Answers to 100 Other Home Decorating Questions” by Melissa Michaels and KariAnne Wood (Harvest House Publishers, 2019).