September holds the last day of summer and the first day of fall!  You actually have two more official days of  summer – so soak up the last little bit!  As of this coming Friday, however, fall arrives in the northern hemisphere with the autumnal equinox at 5:04am EDT.  Are you ready to make the change?

5 Reasons to Welcome Fall

Although I hate giving up the long days of summer (I LOVE having the sun stay up until 10pm – maybe I’m solar powered!), there are five great reasons I get excited about fall:

1.  Beautiful Color: I absolutely love seeing Mother Nature all dressed up in her fall finery.  Blazing reds, golden yellows, deep greens and warm browns create a technicolor landscape that makes me smile!  The vineyards surrounding my house blanket the hillside with color, as do the orchards, and I love watching them change.  When my son moved to Vermont the year after college, my husband and I traveled east to make sure he was settled in OK – and we went (when else?) in October so we could could take in the color too.  Terrie will be heading there next month and I know I’ll be seeing fabulous fall photos of color when she returns.  Soak up the fall color, bring a bit of it inside and check out these past posts for some colorful fall inspiration:  Terrie wrote last year about “All Things Fall;”  and I wrote  “Branch Out with Decorating.”

2.  Back to School: Even though my kids are out of school and working, store aisles filled with notebooks, stacks of paper, boxes of crayons, and bundles of pencils make me smile.  I still can’t resist a good bargain on composition books or spiral notebooks and always end up buying a few each fall for meeting notes and capturing creative inspiration.

Photo bhg.com

3. Pumpkins: This simple squash-like fruit makes me smile in so many ways.  First of all, I love seeing their myriad of colors and textures piled up at the Farmer’s Market.  I love eating it – pumpkin pie, pumpkin ravioli (with brown sage butter!), roasted pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread – yum!  I love stories that include pumpkins - Linus in the pumpkin patch and Cinderella in a pumpkin  carriage.  I love decorating with pumpkins – carved jack-o-lanterns, mini-pumpkin place cards, table centerpieces and more.  For a bit of pumpkin pleasure take a look at a post I wrote previously, “Pumpkin Palooza.”

Photo from House to Home.uk

4.  Changing up the House: Although storing summer furniture isn’t my idea of fun, I do love digging out afghans and strewing them on chairs and beds.  I enjoy breaking out candles and scattering them across table tops and counters.  Plus, fragrant cinnamon potpourri is welcome back after being stashed since the end of winter.  And, as we all know, a few extra toss pillows add a cuddle factor to a room that summer doesn’t offer.  Last year Terrie wrote about being inspired to decorate with “All Things Orange” .

5.  Anticipating Holidays: Halloween and Thanksgiving are official fall holidays.  I love prepping and decorating my home for both of them.  But I also start thinking ahead to winter and Christmas decorating plans and gifts.  Fun, fun, fun!

We’ll Help You Get Ready for Fall

If you’ve got your hands full with work, kids, volunteering, entertaining plans or just don’t know how to start getting your house ready for fall and the upcoming holidays – don’t fret.  Your Decorating Hotline offers a variety of help:

  1. If you’re interested in repainting or changing a color scheme don’t make a move before reading “How to Successfully Use Color in Home Decorating” This color e-book helps you understand color and how to use it and it can be yours for only $14.95 - read about it here.
  2. If you’d prefer to have a professional make your color selections, we can do it for less than the cost of a quality can of paint.  A personal Color Consultation results in a specific color palette and costs only $30 - read about it here.
  3. If you’ve got your home decorating pretty well in hand but find yourself struggling with a single issue – perhaps furniture arrangement, window coverings, or something else that is slowing you down, consider a “Choose Your Dilemma” consultation.  For only $60 we can help get you past your specific roadblock and on the way to finalizing your decorating – read about it here.
  4. If you need inspiration and a step-by-step plan for transforming your room into a functional, welcoming, and attractive space, you can rely on Your Decorating Hotline’s Complete Consultation for just $150. It even includes two personal phone conversations with us so you can share your needs before we start the plan and then ask any questions you may have about the design we present – more details here.

Get ready to say “good-bye” to summer and “welcome” to fall by freshening your home’s functionality and decor.

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