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Decorating with Natural Elements for Fall

September 24, 2020 · By Diane Henkler · 18 Comments

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A stone vase and pumpkin on a sofa table with faux barn wood paneling behind them. Text says Fall Living Room Decorating Ideas

Fall living room decorating ideas using natural elements along with a white and woodsy color scheme that’s a little unexpected, but comfy and autumn cozy.


Fall has arrived at my house this week. First in the entryway/foyer and now in the living room. It is ready to go for the “comfy-cozy-at-home” season.

Since moving to the lake, I have been drawn to a new kind of comfy-cozy warmth… a connection to nature that I see out every door and window of my house.

Lake view from house.

The views are serene, blissful and relaxed all at once.

So much so that they inspired me to use the colors and textures I see outside when decorating my living room to create a relaxing spot for bonding and simply enjoying the quiet moments of the fall season that happen now up until the holiday season begins.

Any other color scheme feels off, not right or too contrived to fit into some mold of what fall decor should be.

graphic that says white & woodsy
Plaster covered vase and pumpkin on sofa table.

Over the last year, I have been slowly adding to the “White & Woodsy” look I am going for when decorating my living room. I tweaked a few decorative accessories I already owned to be more in line with my vision.

How I Added Natural Elements Around My Living Room

Long reclaimed wood planter with dried hydrangeas on white mantel.

I like the reclaimed wood planter box that I made over the summer so much that I kept it up and replaced the green plants with dried hydrangeas from my yard. I also added branches from a dead shrub that I found in the woods.

It is a nice change to see the hydrangeas spread out across the mantel instead of gathered in a vase as I usually do each fall.

Autumn decorated living room using items from nature to create a white and woodsy look.

Life happens in the living room. It is the center of my small home. We don’t have a dining room or family room. This room and the kitchen table are where we spend the most time.

Fall is the season that the big recliners become my favorite part of the room. They may not be “designer approved” but they have a higher standard – perfect for adding extreme comfort and coziness for the occupants – Ed and I. :-)

Small room fall decorating ideas.

The chairs recline, rock and swivel all the way around so I can turn to see the TV, a fire in the fireplace or out the sliding glass doors to the lake.

Small room fall decorating ideas.

What they lack in style, they exceed in function. The recliners make it feel like we are at the movie theater when watching movies on the wall mounted TV across the room that swivels as well to the kitchen or living room.

Nature Inspired Decorative Details For Fall

Here are a few of the ways that I add the cozy factor to the room.

Layer for the Season to Create Warmth

Soft textures layered for snuggling comfort and warmth create welcoming spots to get comfy.

Fall Decor in living room using white and green colors

My white slipcovered sofa is extra deep which makes it easy to get curled up to read a good book or take a late afternoon nap listening to my favorite tunes as soup simmers on the stove for dinner.

  • I have used this cozy faux fur throw for years now. It washes beautifully and comes out of the dryer like new – soft and fluffy. When my daughters are visiting, we all reach for it. It was a little pricey, but I haven’t bought a throw since – nothing else is as warm and cozy.

Add Wood and Woven Accents

I don’t want to buy all new decor each year as I don’t want to feel like a stranger in my own home. I enjoy finding new uses for my favorite decorative accessories season after season in different ways and rooms.

Round wicker table with fall decor in the colors green and white.
  • Take a look through your home to find items with texture or made of wood to place in the room. This small burled wood box was made by my dad in his high school shop class. It is dear to me and makes me happy to find a purpose for it. It holds my ear phones for my computer and phone.
  • The wicker basket DIY table that I added this past summer to the room looks right at home for autumn.

Create a Cozy Mood With Lighting

Pottery Barn glass cylinder vase filled with acorns and large white candle on a coffee table.
  • Put all the lights in the room on dimmer switches. Did you know you can add a dimmer switch to a table or floor lamp. It is 1..2..3 easy.
  • Lit candles at dusk are the coziest. I am saving up to get these – they truly look like real candles. Perfect when you don’t want to have lit candles on all evening long that could provide a fire hazard if you leave them unattended.

Use Books as Small Item Risers

When you stack a few books on a table and place smaller items on top, the elevation gives them more importance in the room as well as creating flow across the tablescape.

Books and candle on cut round a tree trunk on a coffee table.
  • Remove the book jackets from your books to find spines in colors that will coordinate with your decorating color scheme.

Gather Items From Nature and Display Them As If They Were Art

Decorating with nature for fall. Piece of bark and long dough bowl filled with moss spheres.
  • I found this piece of tree bark on a walk this summer when I was visiting my daughters. I loved how white and woody the pattern on it was – it looked like art to me. I displayed it like I would an objet d’art.
Coffee table decorating ideas using items found in nature.

Same goes for the driftwood that rolls up along the lakeshore. Placed as a collection on a white tray makes it look interesting.

Add a Large Crock

Large crocks, no matter what the style – traditional country or modern in design say fall.

Fireplace wood storage in living room.
  • Fill the crock with cut tree branches from your yard, flowers or firewood kindling.
Bundle of Birch logs in a large basket in a fireplace.

Baskets of any style and size make any space feel cozy and fall-like. Fill with flowers, branches from your yard, extra pillows, throw blankets, books, magazines or firewood.

I will keep this basket filled with birch logs until we start using the fireplace. It is still a little too warm outside.

Stone or Concrete

Adding decorative objects made of stone, plaster or concrete will add to any style of fall decor this year. They are trending in the decor world and DIY decorating bloggers are creating many versions of them on the cheap. :-)

Fall Vase and pumpkin made to look like plaster. Vase filled with white flowers.

The vase is my first attempt, I got better when I covered the plastic orange pumpkin using a few altered steps in my method. I will share how I did this early next week.

Music and Scents

You can’t see some of the room’s decor, but if you were in this room you would smell bread baking, soup simmering, and apples being made into applesauce.

Scented candles make me sneeze, but I do like to diffuse clove, cinnamon, orange and cedar essential oils when I am not in the kitchen.

Living room decorated for fall using brown and green color scheme.

You would also hear music softly playing in the background. I find playlists on Spotify and create my own to listen to all day long. In Love With Crooners is what I am listening to lately.

Green moss globe on floor in whitewashed terracotta pot.

I hope this post inspires you to decorate in your own style for fall this year and what feels right to you.

It may not be all pumpkins, hay stalks and a brown, rust or orange color scheme. Go with what feels best for your comfy-cozy needs.

Lettering that says Decorating Resources
  • Two-Toned Crock in which I have firewood.
  • Wood Bead Garland in dough bowl behind sofa.
  • Thick Glass Cylinder Candle Holder on coffee table.
  • Pop of dark moody plaid color is from Target’s Dollar Spot.
  • Aged Velvet Pillow – Found it in Clearance this past summer at HomeGoods.
  • Faux Greenery Globe – HomeGoods
  • Terracotta Crock on floor with globe – Local nursery

Related Posts

If you have a question about something you see in the room, you can find out more about the items in these posts:

  • Aged Wood Mantel Planter Box
  • Wicker Basket Side Table
  • DIY 2 x 4 Mirrored Coffee Table
  • Raw Edge Fringe Pillow DIY
  • Large Fixer Upper Style Wall Clock
  • Faux Barnwood Paneling
A stone vase and pumpkin on a sofa table with faux barn wood paneling behind them. Text says Fall Living Room Decorating Ideas
diy wood block frames painted in fall colorsMake a Fall Inspired Simple Wood Block Photo Frame
Colorful-Fall-Home-Decorating-IdeasQuick & Easy Comfy Cozy Fall Decorating Tips
Fall decorating ideas for entryway table.How I Decorated My Entryway for Fall
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Filed Under: Fall Decorating Ideas, My Current Lake House

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Comments

  1. Lori says

    10/01/2020 at 1:09 pm

    Diane, I love the way you have your home decorated with what WORKS for your family, and not what is necessarily on TREND. I’m always a function-over-form girl, and glad to see that you are too.

    Reply
  2. Barb says

    09/27/2020 at 2:26 pm

    I love your decorating style (chic-comfort), colour choices and the wonderful “hominess”. Since I saw them on your previous post I have been so looking forward tot he tutorial for them. They are amazing and I love the texture of the vase. I must say when I was reading this post and scrolling through the pictures, the one with the driftwood in the dish made me look a few times, as it looks like a dish of dried sardines, no offense but it made me laugh and reminded me of my aunt and Nova Scotia (favourite place in the world). Enjoy your fall. Barb

    Reply
  3. Linda S says

    09/26/2020 at 9:08 pm

    Just looked out my window and I see I still have some hydrangeas. I’m going to run out and grab them – I love the way yours look in the box. Also love the woodsy look for the fall! I’ll never forget many years ago while visiting my cousin in northern CA there were manzanitas growing everywhere. We went out and clipped tons of branches and I decorated with them for years. Thanks for your great ideas!

    Reply
    • Diane Henkler says

      09/27/2020 at 1:21 pm

      Hi Linda – So happy to have inspired you. I have 4 hydrangeas bushes – 3 are still small and one larger one. Even the smaller ones produced flowers. I love that they make the yard pretty in the summer and the inside of our homes pretty in the fall.

      Reply
  4. Paula Loehr says

    09/24/2020 at 10:39 pm

    I was actually in a Pottery Barn for a quick minute this week and was so surprised to see their “famous “ candles in a flicker version. They looked good.

    Reply
    • Diane Henkler says

      09/25/2020 at 2:36 pm

      Hi Paula – I love these premium candles especially this time of year. I only wish they didn’t need batteries and could be powered by the sun or something. :-) but I still love them – not the price though. :-)

      Reply
  5. Lynn W says

    09/24/2020 at 3:32 pm

    Loving all the greens in your room!!! So cozy and comfy 🌿

    Reply
    • Diane Henkler says

      09/25/2020 at 2:37 pm

      Thanks Lynn – It is funny that I am really linking the greens now. Maybe it is a comfort thing as the living room in the house I grew up in always had a green color scheme and or accents. :-)

      Reply
  6. elle says

    09/24/2020 at 9:58 am

    Lovely! The touches of nature are so nice along with the green. You have inspired me to collect some acorns and watch for interesting bark.

    Reply
    • Diane Henkler says

      09/25/2020 at 2:43 pm

      Hi Elle – When I found the bark I was so excited. It was from a large downed tree. I would have loved to take the whole thing, but there was no way to get it home. :-) Happy foraging.

      Reply
  7. ora says

    09/24/2020 at 9:39 am

    Your book choice of Ellen was interesting.

    Reply
    • Diane Henkler says

      09/24/2020 at 9:56 am

      Hi – I like all decorating books. I like to see the personal style of people in decorating. Ellen has very sophisticated tastes, but she makes great points that can be done in any home. I picked up a few things from it. Another benefit – it is a nice coffee table size. :-)

      Reply
  8. Tracey says

    09/24/2020 at 9:26 am

    I love your warm and woodsy living room. I am going to do the same with mine since the “typical” fall decor doesn’t go well with my usual decor. Thanks for the great inspiration! I have the same type of hydrangea bushes and I am going to cut them and bring them inside. Do you ever have issues with bugs coming in with them? Do you dry them out in the oven or anything first?

    Reply
    • Diane Henkler says

      09/24/2020 at 9:59 am

      Hi Tracy – I do not dry them in the oven or anything like that. Before bringing them inside I shake each and remove the leaves outside that I don’t want. I place them in a vase of water so they slowly dry over a few days and then I use them to decorate.

      Reply
      • Tracey says

        09/24/2020 at 1:50 pm

        Thanks for the info, Diane!

        Reply
  9. [email protected] says

    09/24/2020 at 8:09 am

    Looks beautiful Diane! I love the stone vase and pumpkin.

    Reply
    • Diane Henkler says

      09/24/2020 at 10:01 am

      Hi Julia – Thanks. Doing the trad colors just didn’t feel right to me. It feels more relaxed and peaceful for the season – something I need a lot of around me with all that is going on in the world.

      Reply
  10. Margo says

    09/24/2020 at 7:54 am

    Our lake house is small too. We have only the one living space where I also put two swivel chairs that can either look out to the lake or face the couch or face the tv. They are not recliners but I’ve been known to sit in one and pull the other one close to put my feet on.
    I’m envious of your beautiful mantel and love your idea of using hydrangeas that way. We have no option but to put our tv over the fireplace and so far, we’ve been unable to find a suitable mantel. But the best part of the house is the lake view! It never gets old and seems to change every day. Of course here in New England our docks get pulled in along with the boats. Sigh….

    Reply
Diane Henkler Blogger In My Own Style
I love all things creative, colorful, and DIY. It is just the way my brain is wired. I can't add 2+2 to save my life, but I can help you decorate your home in a style that you will love...YOURS! LEARN MORE
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