Autumn Rituals: Making Your Home and You Cozy This Autumn Season

We are well and truly into autumn with magical Halloween and folksy Thanksgiving upcoming. The house is taking on a bit of a cooling trend that gives you that squirrel-oriented need to gather and prepare.

wood holder for fireplace or firepit

It may not be chilly enough for fuzzy slippers yet, but there is a need for foot coverage and protection (if you have diabetes). Sock slippers are ideal.

sock slippers

There are fancier and more elaborate firepits, but what I look for is simple - I don't want to panic when burning bits hit the air and float toward the trees or my house, so I want a screen, but I also want the firepit on tall enough legs that smoke goes over my head instead of into my face. This one is simple and very economical -

firepit

I love a good lap blanket and I appreciate getting ones with different colors so each person has a designated one. It feels cozier to have your own "blankie." This one is lightweight so, even if it's a bit chilly, it's not winter yet. It's the ideal fall and springtime lap blanket.

lap blanket

There is something so cozy about the scents of autumn, woodlands, baking, and sandalwood. There is nothing that feels more autumn-like than having lit candles around the room at night. No bright lights, enjoy the dark, hover around the fiery glow.

Nothing says the cooler months more than a tea pot on the stove. The very ritual of making tea is a magical thing. Sure, you can eat a cup of water in a microwave and drop a teabag, but what are you really drinking? Processed water and processed tea bags. You deserve a break today! Go for the loose tea in some of the deliciously autumn flavors (below). Keep a tray (below) on the table where you house the sugar bowl, creamer, honey, spoons, teacups and saucers. Go the whole nine yards! You only get to relax like this when you are seeking heat.

cast iron tea pot

autumn fruit and flowers loose tea

This tea tray (below) offers storage for the tea inside a drawer. Put this on your counter with a tea pot and trivet, sugar bowl, creamer bowl, and other tea accessories to remind you to slow down and enjoy!

tea tray

A sugar bowl and creamer are great reminders to prep your tea on the tray.

creamer and sugar bowl

Now, simple tea cups. They don't need to look like grandma's. Make them your own. With that teapot, tray, and sugar bowl/creamer set, I'd use these cups with bamboo saucers for the same folk art/farmhouse feel

teacups with bamboo coasters

The next thing to consider is the lure of the bathtub. Taking a hot soak, making time for hot tea; these are the rituals that remind you to slow down. After an active spring and summer, it always feels so good to enter the darker, cooler months and the shift from "do, do, do!" to tucking into home and family and remembering the pace of real life versus work life.

I will share my secret to having the most pampering baths without spending hardly anything!

Get a big bag of epsom salts (very cheap in the drugstore). Get a set of relaxing essential oils. Get some large glass jars and a scoop. On your bathroom counter, line up the jars, fill with epsom salts, and hit them with about 40-50 dashes of essential oil. Put labels on them, a scoop in each. You are set for the entire fall, winter, and into springtime.

essential oil mixes

sweet dreams, happy, immunity, calm mind, relax, air freshener

jars

wooden scoops for canisters

epsom salt

Tip: You can use that same bath mix to sprinkle on carpet and leave on for 10 minutes and vacuum to refresh carpet.

It's relaxing to run a projector light in a room, whether it's the bedroom as you get settled in or in the bathroom as you take a bath. There are ones that project space/stars and ones that project water patterns.

stars/planets projector

water ripple projector

Lighting becomes a focus when the seasons get darker. A warm glow versus a strong light is ideal, drawing us into its coziness. A dimmable floor lamp is one great way to get that effect and another is to utilize uplight pots to put behind a chair or plant to make the wall glow a bit without direct light in your eyes.