And all at once, summer collapsed into fall.
Oscar Wilde
Autumn is my favorite time of year. I believe the summer heat is a dreadful and exhausting thing. While I love summer days by the pool, vacations, and outings, autumn is a very welcome reprieve from all of that. Every year, August rolls around, and like clockwork, my mind begins to drift to the coming respite of cooler days, cozy nights, and all the brilliance autumn has to offer. The color of the sunlight even seems to change from blazing hot light to a warm amber. The leaves smell more fragrant. The rain comes in like a long-lost, welcome friend.
Re-discovering home…
Autumn is the perfect time to rediscover home. A little over a year ago, we sold our family home and moved to a much smaller apartment in a small town. We love the lifestyle here. There are fall festivals, and orchards to visit. The community we live in hosts events by the pool or in the clubhouse. There are city parks and arboretums and nearby National Parks to visit. And while it’s currently 100 degrees Fahrenheit today, inside our little home, it is all coziness and tranquility.
Sometimes, no matter our age or stage of life, we look at others and think our life is somehow, less… But when we see the beauty of what we have, and love our space simply because it’s ours, and it reflects our life, that’s where the real magic happens. Suddenly, what happens inside someone else’s house doesn’t matter as much and we find ourselves….well, satisfied. And that is a beautiful thing. There is peace in satisfaction, in not constantly chasing trends, and in loving what we have.
The memory of autumn…
There’s something curious I’ve noticed about the constant pursuit of having something new: Always having something new, something we’ve picked up at the big-box store, from Amazon, or even from tag sales or thrifting, keeps our homes looking fresh and interesting – no doubt. But with that also comes a lack: There is a lack of something familiar, the lack of nostalgia, the lack of those little, “Ah, I remember you” moments.
Loving what you have…
As I show you how we’ve styled our little apartment for the upcoming months, there is a mix of some old and some new. Some of the pieces you’ve seen in many of the photos from years past, like our Mongolian sheep skin pillow, blown glass pumpkins, and a beautiful oil painting my husband’s Aunt painted and gifted to us as a wedding gift 35 years ago. These are the treasures I love to pull out year after year. There are little glass pumpkins repurposed as butter dishes, curated dish towels to suit the season’s color story, an old decanter up-cycled to hold olive oil, and every-day vases filled with autumn stems. But there are a few new things, too – like pheasants with real feathers, an amber candle, and some beautiful autumn napkin rings I purchased from a local shop that recently closed for retirement.
Our homes are all unique and they each have their own story – our story – to tell. I guess the encouragement I want to leave you with is this: Use what you have. Look around your own home with fresh eyes and see what you can do with the items you already own. Rocks collected from a family trip may be just the right color-palette to display for the coming months. Books may have the perfect cover for that autumn feel you’re looking for. And don’t forget to look through your storage areas; closets, drawers, bins, and boxes in the garage. You never know what you may have forgotten that will add just the right flare to your home.
With that, “Welcome Autumn.” I’ve missed you and I’m glad you’re back!
xo, Billie
Romanticizing a Beautiful Autumn : https://forwardourmail.com/romanticizing-a-beautiful-autumn-in-2025/
Autumn Activities: https://forwardourmail.com/autumn-activities/
