Fall Living Room Tour: Decorating with Natural Elements

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve shared a fall home tour, and I realized it’s been even longer since I’ve decorated my living room for fall.

So come take a look around.

Most of what you’ll see isn’t new. I’ve used many of these pieces before, just not together or in this room. The rug is new since I last shared the space, but otherwise I mostly pulled from things I already had and started moving them around until the room felt like fall.

My approach to seasonal decorating hasn’t changed much. I’m still drawn to natural elements and colors that already work with my home. You won’t find scarecrows or “It’s Fall Y’all” signs here. I tend to let the pumpkins, dried flowers, leaves, wood and warmer tones do the talking.

Starting With the Colors Already in the Room

I don’t really change the color palette of my home for fall. I’d rather look at the room as it is and pull in seasonal colors that make sense with what’s already there.

In this room, that meant muted greens, browns, rust, plum and just a little orange.

And I actually started with more fall decor than you see now.

I had bundles of dried grasses on both the mantel and the French wine tasting table. I liked each arrangement on its own, but after living with the room for a day, it just felt like too much.

The coffee table already had hydrangeas and pumpkins, so I really didn’t need another obvious fall element everywhere I looked.

I took the grasses away and brought in brass candlesticks and candleholders instead. I still got that warm fall color, but in a way that felt a little more natural in the room.

Taking things away is usually how I know I’m finished decorating a room. Not when I can’t think of anything else to add, but when I stop feeling like I need to add anything else.

The Coffee Table

The coffee table is where I went a little more obvious with the fall decor.

I started with a mix of hydrangeas in a black vase and then tucked pumpkins and magnolia leaves around the base.

The hydrangeas are actually a mix of real and faux.

The magenta and green blooms are real ones that I dried from my yard. The blue-purple and orange hydrangeas are faux.

I love using what I can grow and dry myself, but I only have so many blooms to work with, and I’m limited to whatever colors my hydrangeas decide to give me that year.

Adding a few faux stems lets me make the arrangement fuller and bring in colors I wouldn’t otherwise have.

I also think mixing faux flowers with real dried ones helps the faux disappear into the arrangement. Once everything is together, it’s much harder to tell where one ends and the other begins.

Related Article: Decorating with Flowers

Mixing Real and Faux Pumpkins

The pumpkins are a mix too.

The white pumpkin is real, while the others are faux.

If you look closely at the little green pumpkins, their stems are real.

They originally came with brown plastic stems that weren’t doing them any favors, so I replaced them with pumpkin stems I saved from last year.

It’s such a tiny detail, but it makes a surprisingly big difference. A good stem can make even an inexpensive faux pumpkin look much more convincing.

Related Article: Realistic Faux Pumpkins

On the other side of the table, I stacked a few old books and topped them with a glass box filled with faux acorns and a feather.

I’d happily use real acorns here if I had an oak tree nearby, but faux will have to do.

Keeping the Mantel Simple

Over at the fireplace, I kept things much simpler.

The green magnolia stems are faux and aren’t really fall decor at all. I use them from fall through spring and sometimes leave them out year-round.

For this season, I just added a few magnolia stems in deeper rust and brown shades.

The antique books, brass candlesticks, gold mirror and warmer leaves were enough for me.

I like using pieces that can shift from season to season this way. It means I’m not storing an entirely separate room’s worth of decor just for fall.

My faux pumpkins are the exception, but I use those from September through November, so they get a pretty good run.

The French Wine Tasting Table

Come over to the other side of the room because this little table has one of my favorite recent finds.

The black bowl is a Tadelakt bowl I found at Elsie Green.

My husband gave me a gift card there for Christmas, and I had walked through the whole store without finding anything I wanted to use it on.

I was actually on my way out the door empty-handed when I spotted this bowl near the entrance.

I knew almost immediately it was coming home with me.

And even better, it was on sale.

For fall, I filled it with things I already had: antlers, magnolia leaves, a small pumpkin, and a bundle of old letters and papers.

I love this kind of seasonal decorating because none of the individual pieces is necessarily “fall decor.”

It’s really the combination of the colors and materials that makes it feel right for the season.

A Few Smaller Changes Around the Room

I also recently added picture lights above the framed artwork.

They have nothing to do with fall, of course, but I love the warmth they bring to the walls, especially now that the days are starting to get shorter.

Near the sofa, I used a small vase filled with faux dried stems.

They’re another example of something that feels seasonal mostly because of the color and texture. I could easily use them somewhere else later instead of packing them into a fall-only storage bin.

And that’s really how I prefer to decorate this time of year.

A Natural Approach to Fall Decorating

For me, fall decorating is really about bringing some of what’s happening outside, into the house.

The dried flowers, changing leaves, pumpkins, branches, wood and warmer metals are already so beautiful that I don’t feel much need to add a lot beyond that.

It also lets my home still feel like my home.

I think this room is a good example of how a few seasonal changes can be enough.

I started with more. I took some away. I moved things around. And eventually I got to the point where the room felt warmer and more autumnal, but still very much like the same living room.

That’s usually what I’m after.

If you like decorating this way too, I have an entire post about decorating for fall using natural elements, with more ideas for bringing the season indoors without completely changing your home.

More Fall Decorating

• 15 Easy Fall Vignette Ideas
• Free Fall Art for Your Home
• From Summer to Fall: 6 Easy Decorating Swaps