The season of changing colour leaves, pumpkin-spiced lattes, and cosy evenings in is just around the corner.
Autumn is the best part of the year for many of us, and it’s easy to see why. Not only are there so many fun activities to enjoy throughout the season, but it provides us with beautiful home interior inspiration too.
With the long nights and chillier temperatures of autumn on the horizon, now is the perfect time to start refreshing our living rooms to make them cosy and comfortable for the season ahead. And if you’re looking to save your cash, the good news is that there are a variety of cost-effective ways to decorate for the season without breaking the bank. To give you some inspiration, Coast Road Furniture are here to explain how we can add easy and affordable autumnal touches to our living rooms over the next few months.
Cosy soft furnishings
As the nights draw in you’ll likely be enjoying more evenings in your living room, whether you’re having movie nights, playing board games, or just enjoying the company of your loved ones. To make these autumnal nights as cosy and comfortable as possible, consider incorporating more soft furnishings to the room. Not only can they help keep the warmth in and make the space feel cosier, but they can look great too. Plus, there are so many ways to incorporate them into your living area.
One way to add a little warmth to the room is to introduce throws and soft cushions. Wool and fleece are two great cosy materials for these types of soft furnishings, so consider incorporating both of these to bring a variety of textures to the room. A large wool rug is another great addition, as it can add another layer of insulation to your floor and keep your feet a pleasant temperature too.
Seasonal scented candles
Our brains can strongly associate certain smells with the seasons, from the sea scents of summer to the smell of pine needles in winter. So why not incorporate autumnal scents to your living room for the upcoming season? There are so many to choose from, such as bonfire, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, and sandalwood scents, so you’re bound to find one that appeals to your sense of smell.
Incorporating candles doesn’t just add a new aroma to the room, but it makes it feel much cosier too. The glow of the candlelight adds a warmth to your space and makes it much more inviting. If you want to add more of this warm glow but don’t want to overpower your sense of smell, introduce a few unscented candles to the living room too.
Warm lighting
When we picture autumn nights, we think of evenings spent in the warm glow of a fire, or in the cosy glow of candlelight. Warm lighting perfectly suits this season, so it’s a great idea to introduce it in your autumn living room refresh. And as well as adding an autumnal touch to the home, it can make the space feel much more relaxing, especially in comparison to harsher, cooler lights.
There are plenty of ways you can introduce this into your living area, so why not add warm light from a few different sources? As well as incorporating autumnal scented candles for that distinct warm glow, you could also add subtle warm lighting in the form of fairy lights and small lamps. Another cheap and easy way to make this change is by replacing the light bulb in your main light with a warmer alternative that can be dimmed — there are many dimmable light bulbs on the market which are surprisingly affordable.
Bring the outside in
One of the best parts of the upcoming season is the changes it brings to the outside world. But this doesn’t mean that you can’t admire autumnal nature in your own home. There are lots of different parts of the season you can enjoy in your living room. For example, you could make your own autumnal wreath with red, orange, and brown autumn leaves, or arrange pumpkins of varying sizes and colours to create a coffee table centrepiece.
You could also try crafting your own autumnal bouquet and displaying it in your favourite vase. There are a great range of colourful flowers which are in bloom next season, including chrysanthemum, aster, and poppies.
Craft an autumnal colour scheme
To create a cohesive seasonal look, it’s a good idea to consider your colour scheme. The autumn colour palette isn’t just beautiful, but varied too, so everyone should be able to find seasonal shades which fit in with the style of their house. There are some lovely colourful shades of orange, reds, and greens to choose from, as well as more subtle hues, like soft white, mushroom, and seagrass.
If you’re looking for ways to incorporate your new autumnal colour scheme without making major changes, the good news is that you don’t have to repaint your room. Even a few small changes like adding new soft furnishings in autumnal shades, hanging artwork in seasonal colours, and choosing new plant pots with autumn hues and designs can be enough to make a difference.
“If you feel that your living room is in need of a change, a great way to update it is by giving the space a seasonal refresh. Many of us think that only major changes can make a difference to our homes. But there are actually plenty of smaller tweaks and additions you can make which are low effort, and low cost too.
“You can get soft furnishings like cushions and blankets for a reasonable price, and if you’re on a very tight budget you can opt for second hand options for a larger discount. You can even make your autumnal decorations for free by using the best parts of nature this season, like acorns and fallen leaves.
“Whichever additions you choose, you should try to make sure that they work with the rest of your interiors. If in doubt, stick to pieces in subtle and neutral autumn shades, like mushroom and off-white colours.”
Alison Hughes, Interiors Director at Coast Road Furniture
