Hello and happy fall! I did not fall off the face of the earth and am glad to be finally writing to you again! The past couple of months have been busy and much has been going on – all in a good way. I have been appointed Chair of the Decorators and Designers Association of Canada and am very excited about taking on this role. It is an interesting and challenging time for the organization and its members from learning to manage our respective businesses through a global pandemic to reflecting on and considering the profound impact that racism has on our communities as well as each and everyone of us. I look forward to working with the board and all of our members to support one another to be the best we can be for ourselves and our clients while elevating the decor and design industry in Canada.

The other exciting situation is that with the pandemic restricting our ability to travel many are taking the opportunity to update their homes inside and out to make them: more functional (home offices are popular updates) ; comfortable vacation in place spaces (home theatre rooms, outdoor rooms with fireplaces, built in barbecues); and, comfortable, calm, durable spaces that are easy to maintain. So days have been busy helping clients create their santuaries.

So, onto my decor and design tips and ideas for the week. Fall is here and those early days of warm, sunny weather have given way to cool evenings and warmer days. While we can still get outside to do fall gardening, go for walks or bike rides and take advantage of the limited warm days on a patio, we are giving thought to the fall decor touches we want to add to the spaces in our homes. I have finished adding a few touches and displays to my own home and these fall styled vignettes will work well until it’s time to decorate for the holidays – my fave decorating time of the year!

During the hot days of summer, I like my decor to be a bit more spare as is makes the spaces feel cooler and spacious, but as the weather cools down, I prefer displays that are fuller and more layered to bring a feeling of warmth and comfort to the rooms.

In the last couple of years I have been using teal, cream and shades of blue in my decor as well as touches of silver mercury glass. I love that many decor and craft stores carry pumpkins, gourds and fall accessories in these non-traditional colours. Of course, fall decor items are available in a wide range of colours so you will def find something regardless of your decor style and colour palette!

Let’s start at the front door. I gave the entrance a more rustic feel with this weathered wooden box. I added in some empty, vintage glass bottles and filled the space around them with faux botanicals including hydrangeas. The display ‘spills’ over to include the pumpkins giving the whole display texture and depth and encourages your eye to move around the vignette.

This distressed bucket with fall botanicals is perfect for tucking into a corner of any room and is easily put together using stems of varying heights, coordinating colours and textures. In mine I used blue-gray oak leaves, creamy white and blue hydrangeas, white Chinese lantern stems and some jute pumpkins.

The top of the hutch in the living room did not escape fall touches but because I have a ‘foundation’ display all year round, I simply updated the vignette with a white pumpkin elevated on a pillar candle stick and creamy white and blue hydrangeas with some trailing vines (kinda liking hydrangeas right now!).

Of course I would be remiss not to include a centrepiece idea. While centrepieces are most often used on the dining table, they are versatile enough that they can be used on occasional tables or fireplace mantle. Where are you going to use yours?