If you've had about enough of sunshine, long days, and heat and you've been stalking the local Spirit Halloween store opening, you might be an autumnal folk ready for the change to your season. Come along with me and let's put down the burnt orange carpet and enjoy the many ways you can transition -
I might be a little addicted to the coming season. In fact, I am ecstatic this year. For the first time in 49 years, I'm back in the East Coast and where autumn is spectacular. I haven't seen peak color since I was 14!
Here's some fantastic ways to begin to usher long days out and shorter days in -
SCENT
Sometimes, more subtle scents are a good transition. If you go full-on pumpkin explosion, you won't appreciate it by Halloween time.
I suggest things like green tea, sage, sandalwood, bergamot, cedarwood, patchouli, amber, bourbon, tobacco, moss, rosemary, teakwood, mahogany. These scents are mildly woody and earthy, but also slightly masculine.
You might want to change over your home cleaners to a more transitional scent like a mix of peppermint and sage -
(with bergamot, you know, that Earl Grey scent)
LIGHTING
With autumn comes longer shadows, shorter days. It turns down the shade on summer and begs - no more baking!
One of the simplest ways to shift the mood of the entire home is to turn your blinds upward, casting incoming light to the ceiling and not the floors.
Summer's sheer curtains can be replaced at this point with something weighter that allows for you to draw them closed and watch movies.
Instead of turning on the recessed lighting or fluorescent tubes in the evenings, consider something moodier, candles, pot lights on the floor behind the sofa and potted trees, pointing uplight instead, or maybe kerosene hurricane lamps.
One of my favorites is a projector light that shows stars or perhaps simulates a himalayan salt lamp , maybe northern lights, or the sea.
Himalayan salt lamps cast an amazing amber/orange light that is so soothing and it is said that it can create negative ions that give people a sense of euphoria. These are great, but if you have pets, be sure they can't get to them, pets have died from licking too much of the salt. This lamp below I have and I love because the salt balls heat up and you can massage with them.
Consider drawing the shades, start up the firepit out back for evening musings. I've even been known to create a blanket fort around a recliner for movie viewing.
FOOD
Food is a pretty immediate way to get the vibe going. The shift from fresh fruit, salads, salsas, and sangria makes way for something deeper, richer, but hold off on the pumpkin flavors just yet. We're still one month away from autumn.
Suggestions - great hard cheeses, salami, figs, nuts, hard ciders, salami, soup, stew, fresh sourdough bread, mustards, bratwurst, roasted chicken, biscuits, gravies, apples, pomegranate seeds, corn, squash. Shift to warm sangria or apple cider, pumpkin ale, or dark beers.
COLORS
Nothing screams autumn like the earth-tones of autumn; gold, browns, bronze, copper, orange, burnt pumpkin, brick red, yellow, moss green, forest green....
The quickest way to indulge is in your wardrobe and toss pillows.
It's still swamp ass summer, so I suggest simply changing color palette while wearing airy summer clothes. Here's a good example -
blue jeans switched for brown jeans
Sometimes, the easiest transition is to go into hiker's LL Bean vibe clothes from fishing vests with multiple pockets, khaki cargos, overalls, and moss green tank tops, backpack purses, hiking sandals.
A little switcharoo in the house can give subtle autumn clues. Replace flowers in the vase for something like branches.
There's no need to put out pumpkins and pillow covers with autumn leaves on them. Subtle color shift -
Go for a farmhouse vibe, such as using mason jars for drinking. How about sheer curtains that cast a warm glow?
RITUALS
Begin the bathtub ritual again. Consider salts that relax and help you with the smooth shift from summer to autumn.
If the air is cool enough in your home, pull up a lap blanket. Read a book instead of watching TV.
Movies to get into the mood -
Sleepy Hollow, Halloween, Hocus Pocus, You've Got Mail, Blair Witch Project, Shattered Silence. In Dreams, The Covenant, Dead Poets Society, Chocolat, Autumn in New York, October Sky, Half Light.
Other ways to get in the mood -
Sit outside at night, walk through a cemetery on a dreary day, movie marathons, sit under the full moon, listen to stringed orchestras, enjoy some storytelling around a firepit, swim at night, had to a lake, hike through the woods, collect twigs and acorn, pine cones, prepping for coming crafts.
Enjoy the transition!
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