Autumn Home Tour: Simple Decor + Vintage Details for a Cozy Autumn Vibe

It’s well into the fall season and I am just now getting around to giving this autumn home tour. Total slacker, I know.

Being in a small apartment, we kept our autumn decor pretty minimal this year.

This year I have so many new pieces to decorate for the seasons—the english plate rack, china cabinet, baker’s rack, our new canopy bed, the oak craft cabinet. Not all of these pieces were decorated for autumn, but I’m going all out for Christmas this year so stay tuned for a ridiculously festive holiday home tour next month.

Kitchen

Let’s start the tour off in the kitchen. Remember the English plate rack I built this summer? It’s been excellent for storage and I love the simple decor we put up there for fall—the coffee thermos is a recent antique store purchase and it’s going to style beautifully for every season.

Bedroom

When picking a color to paint my new canopy bed, I knew it had to be a shade that would work well for every season. I typically decorate my entire home—from the entry to the bedrooms and bathrooms—for each season. The sage green, autumnal golds and rusty oranges all pair so well together and make for one cozy snuggle spot.

Mercury glass pumpkins and gourds adorn my huge window sills. Sunlight pours in every morning and the mercury glass gives off the prettiest sparkle.

Living room

That little leaf bowl on my coffee table is one of my favorite vintage autumn decor items ever. I always place a seasonal wreath on that box spring feature light.

This autumn we welcomed a new plant into our home—this cute meyer lemon bush. Apparently it should flower and produce fruit this year. No blooms so far, but I’ve had it for about two months now and it’s still alive. So hooray for that.

I’ve shared my Halloween Old World Light covers with you before, but I also have Thanksgiving and Christmas versions. The Turkey is my absolute favorite!

I recently posted about phasing out some of my old decor, and these pillows are prime examples of items that will be leaving. I’ve been slowly building my vintage pillow collection but haven’t found many good autumnal patterns yet. I’ll get there.

McCoy vases are so versatile and look ridiculously pretty no matter where I put them. Every season I find a way to fill them with beautiful blooms that match my decor.

I can never resist taking photos of my cute pups when I’m photographing these home tours. I’ve gotta share the cutest part, right?

Dining area

I painted this antique china cabinet earlier this year and the mustard is obviously perfect for autumn. Not sure I’ll love it as much when it comes time to put Christmas up, but it looks daring with my pheasant soup dish up top for now.

I have a serious addiction to beaded table runners. This one is a favorite—gold beads, velvet fabric and maple leaves. It’s so pretty.

I bought this wall hook at an antique store in September for $15 ish and intended to hang it in my bathroom for towels. Then I realized it would be perfect in the dining room for our Christmas stockings, so that’s where it ended up. A bit odd to have Christmas stockings on your dining room wall, I know—but we’re limited on space so I’m just doing what I can with what I’ve got. I’m sure it will look lovely, so check back in a few weeks for my holiday home tour!

Another photo, another beaded table runner. Plus my pretty goodwill candlesticks (remember them from my apartment tour from a few years ago?) I searched forever to find the perfect pair and I still love them.

We’re still on the hunt for the perfect antique farm table. It’s been on our thrift list for months and we’ve found a few that were close to what we want but not perfect. So for now, this metal top 50’s table is sticking around.

Autumn wreath

Did you see my post about how I made that pretty autumn wreath from dried leaves, acorns, pinecones and walnut shells? It was a fun and simple project—the best kind.

That’s it for the autumn home tour, folks. For Christmas I am really planning to go ALL OUT this year. Our pretty holiday things have been packed away in storage for too long and it’s time we dig it all out!

We’re so excited to set up our miniature Christmas village this year for the first time (a new tradition in honor of Sam’s grandparents and some other lovely family members).

I’ve also never given a holiday home tour here on the blog, so I have tons of vintage Christmas decor that you’ve likely never seen! Can’t wait to share it all with you.

(We’ve actually already decked the halls here and the house looks so unbelievably gorgeous and magical! Head over to my IG for some sneak peaks!)

Making a simple and beautiful autumn wreath using natural elements

Nothing is more fun to me than a crafty project, and I especially love ones that involve being outdoors or using natural elements. The weather in Virginia finally started to cool off about a month ago and ever since we’ve been spending more and more time outside—hiking, playing fetch with our pups and exploring some local parks.

I’ve also been busy collecting lots of acorns, pinecones and dried oak leaves—the perfect assortment of goodies for creating a pretty autumn harvest wreath.

Tips for scavenging

When hunting for the perfect pinecones and acorns for craft projects, be careful to find newly fallen ones. Pinecones that have been on the ground for months or longer are going to be more difficult to clean and sanitize. They also won’t be as sturdy because they’ve essentially been decomposing in place. Old pinecones are just a bit yucky, so avoid them. Instead look for ones that are fresh, dry and fully opened.

Wait until you’ve had several days of sunny weather in the fall to ensure you’ll find dry, fresh pinecones. October and November are perfect months to go scavenging. Windy days help blow down a lot of goodies as well, so check after wind storms.

For acorns, it’s perfectly find to collect green ones that haven’t fully matured yet. All acorns will shrink during the drying process, so you may have to hot glue the centers and tops together after baking. Green acorns will brown while baking.

Before using them for crafting, all acorns and pinecones need to be washed and then baked. This will kill any bugs that may be hiding inside and prevent mold or mildew from forming.

How to Sanitize Pinecones + Acorns

To sanitize your pinecones and acorns, first wash them in a solution of warm water and vinegar. Fill a bowl with warm water and add 1-2 cups of vinegar. Soak the pinecones and/or acorns for about half an hour and scrub off any dirt.

After soaking, drain and remove to a foil or parchment paper lined baking sheet. The pinecones will leak sap while baking and you don’t want this to get all over your baking pans, so make sure they’re well covered!

Bake in a 200 degree oven for 30 minutes until dry. The drying process will cause the pinecones to open up, so don’t be worried if they close up while soaking. The pinecones may be sticky with sap when you remove them from the oven. Let them cool and the sap will harden, leaving you with pretty, shiny pinecones.

Collecting leaves

When leaf collecting, I look for brown oak and maple leaves that have already dried out naturally. You can collect leaves in beautiful autumn colors and try to preserve them, but it takes weeks to do this and the results are not always stellar. I don’t have a guide for drying colorful leaves as I haven’t tried it yet.

It’s a good idea to go hunting after a few days of dry, sunny weather, just like with pinecones and acorns. You want to look for freshly fallen leaves that have no weird water spots, holes or dirt. It was pretty easy to amass a large collection of pretty leaves after just a few minutes of hunting.

Leaves do not need to be washed or sanitized and can be used for crafting as long as they are clean and dry.

Nut shells

Walnut shells are a a really pretty addition to autumal decor. I purchased two packs of in-shell walnuts from Walmart and spent a few hours carefully cracking them all open.

Buy more than you think you’ll need for walnut shells because most of them won’t crack open well and will end up…. smashed to pieces. Working slowly and carefully is the best way to end up with usable shells.

Make sure you remove all the edible parts of the nut from the shell. For some shells, I was able to glue the halves back together so that they formed whole shells again. I did NOT use whole shells with nuts still inside—please don’t do this or you’ll probably end up with a very buggy wreath!

Making the wreath

I purchased an 18″ grapevine wreath form from the craft store to serve as the base for my harvest wreath. The first step was to hot glue a layer of dried leaves on the wreath form. I covered most of the wreath in the dried leaves but left a few small spots open.

Starting with large elements like the pinecones and whole walnut shells, I started to glue a layer in between and on top of the leaves. Then I used smaller elements—like acorns, walnut shell halves and some tiny pinecone—to fill the holes and cover the gaps. I used the same process and worked my way around the wreath until it looked full.

To finish the wreath off, I tied a burlap loop around the top and formed it into a cute bow. Then I hung the wreath up and filled a few last holes with acorns and hot glue.

I’m really pleased with the result—it’s exactly the warm, natural look I was going for and was a very simple and fun project!

If you can’t source good pinecones and acorns locally, they are available to purchase from small farmers online. Here are some great pinecone, acorn, dried leaf and walnut shell suppliers on Etsy. And check out these tiny pinecones!

For more natural wreath inspiration, check out Pinterest! Next year I’d love to make a wreath that’s covered entirely in dried acorns like this one.

Have you gotten creative with any home decor projects this fall? Are you over autumn yet and ready to move on to Christmas? I’m very torn. I’m so excited to unpack Christmas, but it’s always sad to put away my pretty vintage autumn things. For now I think I’ll just enjoy my new wreath, finalize Thanksgiving plans and maybe start sneaking some Christmas in.

Happy November, friends!