I’ve been so wrapped up in our big room swap project that I haven’t even had a chance to decorate for fall this year. And truth be told, as the years go on I find myself decorating less and less for specific holidays and seasons. 

I used to find a ton of joy in pulling out endless totes of cute little pumpkins and Christmas trees, but now that my children are older and our lives are busier than ever, I’m perfectly content with just changing a few super simple things that make our home feel aligned with the current season. I find that I spend less money on new things I don’t really need, I’m less overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we have, and I feel less pressure to constantly redecorate when our schedules are just too busy. 

In fact, I’ve been slowly collecting a few things for our living/dining room to bring in a darker, cozier, more moody fall vibe, but in reality, these pieces could easily be left out all year long without feeling out of place – warm, rustic wood tones, plaid textiles, and darker, richer accents sprinkled throughout the space.

If you ever feel overwhelmed this time of year as we get less and less sunlight and the hustle and bustle of the holidays starts to creep in, I hope this inspires you to allow yourself the gift of simplicity and enoughness. 

I know it’s been a minute since I’ve shared photos of our living room, and I did just recently make a few changes – 

I wondered what it would look like if I swapped the two sofas, and I now I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner. Even Wyatt (my son), who usually gives me a hard time about how often I move things around, instantly agreed when he saw the new layout that the brown leather sofa looks much better in front of the big picture window, and the lighter sofa with the wood frame looks really nice on the side against the white wall. My mouth dropped to the floor when he admitted that without any prompting. 

I moved the glass and metal sofa table behind the leather couch, and it added a really pretty visual layer framed by the window. 

But once I moved the sofa table, the glass and metal coffee table I had looked a little too matchy-matchy… 

After shopping around and narrowing down dozens of coffee table options (would you like to see the ones that almost but didn’t quite make the cut?), I settled on this rustic, deeper wood toned beauty. I was very impressed with the quality (it feels like solid wood) and so far the durability. At first I was worried I might not like the brown table next to the brown sofa, but I actually find it soothing on the eye. And it provides a great place to display some pretty things, including a few of my favorite coffee table books and this new ceramic bowl with the most lovely twisted handle detail. 

I restyled the bookcase shelves and added some new throw pillows and blankets. I’ve come to realize that as much as I love a perfectly coordinated collection of pillows on a sofa, when people come to visit they actually don’t even want to sit there because a) there’s not even enough room with all the pillows or b) they don’t to mess up it all up.

I think good design balances aesthetics with comfort and function, and that means scaling back all the pretty, picture perfect pillows and leaving just enough for a little bit of interest and a whole lot of comfort. 

The next update I’m itching to make in here is upgrading our basic white IKEA bookcases to something with a little more dimension and interest – wood… black… to be determined. It’s hard to find good quality tall cabinets that don’t cost a fortune, so I’m content with waiting until I find the perfect ones. If you have any recommendations, send them my way!

It also really bugs me that the curtains in the living and dining room don’t match. In the midst of trying some new things and moving things around and realizing the big picture window absolutely either needs full blackout curtains or some kind of blackout shade, this is what we ended up with for now. I have a few ideas… stay tuned. 

I feel like we really need to take a moment to highlight these gorgeous plum artificial stems I found… 

For years I’ve pined over a certain viral plum purple fall stem that costs $28 each, but I have a hard time justifying the price when I know I’ll want to buy 3 – groups of odd numbers always look best in a vase.

I found an IDENTICAL stem – I’m actually almost positive it’s the exact same stem for under $9 each! They come in a set of 3, and you can choose from either 18″ or 32″ depending on how tall you vase is. I went with the 32″ because you can always bend the long stems inside your vase if you need to make them shorter, and I like to fan them out to sort of hang down the sides of the vase.

Highly, highly recommend! Also, how cute is this little plaid runner with fringe edges? Again – super simple, but the pattern and darker color instantly give a fall vibe.

I know someone will ask, and these are a combination of two different lamps from Kirkland’s that are now both sold out. I took the pleated shade from one and added it to a tall buffet lamp, but here are some affordable options I’ve seen lately.

Also, I’ve been raising some little house plant babies this year, and I successfully propagated clippings from two plants recently! Is there anything more satisfying than seeing something you grew/created come to life? I shared some of my favorite online sources for house plants here.

SOURCES

coffee table | rug | leather sofa | glass/metal sofa table | pleated lamp | chambray lumbar pillow

ceramic bowl with handles | coffee table books | candle snuffer | brass bowls | beige sofa 

plaid blanket | tall terracotta vase | greenery stems | blackout curtains | plaid table runner | plum leaf stems

dining table | dining chairs | bamboo roman shades | lined taupe curtains | white bookcase | abstract canvas art

remote control picture lighting | landscape artwork 1 | landscape artwork 2 | landscape artwork 3 | wicker basket with lid 

floor lamp | fabric wrapped books | brass and glass scallop edge display box | woven olive stripe lumbar pillow

woven brown/cream throw blanket | bone inlay decorative box | cottage artwork | stone coasters

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