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Decorating with natural elements is a lovely way to bring life and authenticity to your spaces throughout the year, but it’s the most charming during the cozy autumn months.
When it comes to decorating your home, whether it’s for fall or throughout the year, nothing beats the beauty of Mother Nature. While the convenience of faux stems can be really nice, they’re never quite as good as the real thing. It can be a bit of a hassle to have to replace fresh flowers every week, but there are so many other ways to bring natural elements indoors that are both low-maintenance and absolutely beautiful. Another benefit to using finds plucked from nature or the garden? They’re always inexpensive and sometimes they’re completely free! As we head into the fall season, I thought it would be fun to talk about some of my favorite natural elements to use indoors during the autumn season, and some ideas for styling these finds as well.
All natural decorating for your porch and entryway: Fall Front Porch Decor That Can be Grown or Gathered
Favorite Natural Elements to Use Indoors for Fall
There are so many wonderful end-of-season delights to be found out in the garden during the cooler months that can help you decorate for fall without ever stepping foot in a store. I love to gather dried hydrangea blooms to display in vases and baskets around my home. Dried sedum stems, rose of sharon seed pods, and dried allium blooms are a little more unexpected, but have become favorites of mine that I often leave out year-round.
Houseplants can also add to the cozy autumn atmosphere if you choose the right ones. I like to use climbing and trailing plants like ivies and hoyas to evoke memories of old ivy-covered brick buildings. Ivy plants can be purchased inexpensively, but they can also be propagated in water from cuttings taken from plants outside.
If you enjoy nature walks, look for acorns and pinecones to gather and display in clear glass vases and hurricanes for a charming vignette on a coffee table, console table, or shelf. Classic apothecary jars, like these ones from Michaels, work so beautifully for this and can be refilled with something new each season.
Classic natural autumn home accent: DIY Wheat Sheaf Bundles for Fall Decor
Styling trick: Pair Natural Botanicals with Stripes
If you’re looking for a way to really make your dried blooms pop, try pairing them with a striped pattern or other simple geometric print. When it comes to pairing patterns in textiles, florals and stripes are a classic combination, but this pair works equally well if the flowers are real.
Try placing a striped tablecloth under a vase of dried fall botanicals, a striped decor box (this one is a current favorite) on a shelf next to a trailing houseplant, or a striped pillow (this pair is available inexpensively on Amazon) on a sofa next to a table holding your display of natural elements.
This striped chair that I came across, available in the UK through Shop Home Styles home furnishings, is a dream striped item, and I would pair it with a tiny accent table for a cup of tea and a large basket of dried hydrangea blooms resting on the floor.
Botanical home fragrance for autumn: 5 DIY Home Scent Simmer Pot Recipes for Fall
Shiny Glass Brings Textural Natural Elements to Life
The texture and shape of natural elements like branches, dried flowers, and gathered walnuts or acorns are what makes them so lovely and such a cozy addition to our home. Pairing them with shiny, refined glass elements creates a beautiful display where opposites attract. Try using glass vases for your dried flower arrangements, or simply place glass candle holders next to your natural elements for an easy and beautiful grouping. You can even try placing pine cones scented with essential oils to a beautiful glass bowl for style and scent at the same time.
These pressed flower hurricanes available at Wayfair have a lovely, autumnal vibe, but can be left out all year.
More Fall Foliage, Berries, and Outdoor Finds to Use in Home Decor
There are no rules when it comes to gathering natural elements to use in your home during the fall months. I love to find berry or crabapple branches to use in vases, or even bare branches that have already lost all their leaves. Tall grasses can be a lovely addition to your decor as well.
Colorfall fall foliage always needs to be celebrated at this time of year, and leaves can be pressed and displayed in frames on mantels, walls, and shelving units to bring a touch of fall to every corner of your home. I love to find beautiful dark burgundy leaves to display on branches in vases or pressed and preserved.
Pumpkins and gourds are, of course, a traditional choice, and they can be found in all different shapes and sizes at farmer’s markets and grocery stores at this time of year.
Finally, colourful mums are a classic porch decor staple, but they can be brought inside as well to brighten up your interior with their cheerful blooms.
What natural elements do you like to use in your fall decor? Have I missed any favourites?
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.