Seasons are always changing, even though it still feels like summer in much of California, and it’s time to change your home’s seasonal décor. Autumn brings up extra emotion; it is a season of change, when the air gets a little crisper, football is on television and we start to think about delicious baked goods and lots of family time.

Walk into a Hobby Lobby or a Michaels or any grocery store and you will be visually bombarded with an array of autumn leaves, scarecrows, hay bales, and dinnerware to match. You could fill carts upon carts with trinkets to remind you that it is in fact, autumn, despite the high temperatures. Decorating for the season can be extraordinarily fun and doesn’t have to consume an entire Saturday, or too much of your discretionary spending money. For those who love the season, but don’t have many resources to put toward it here are some simple DYI decorating tips for the fall.

1. Light Some Seasonal Candles

Filling your home with the scents of pumpkin spice and apple pie will make your home feel like autumn, even if this is the only so-called decorating you do for the entire season. If you want to go a little deeper into the decorating, fill a candle jar half way with colorful corn kernels, place a candle on top, and tie the jar with a little raffia. The Frugal Homemaker has some great ideas on this page:  31 Days of Fall Inspiration: Decorating with candles

2. Make a Scarecrow

Scarecrows are available for purchase, but making one will add extra festivity to your home. (If you have kids, let them help, since this is a project they will love and it is not very messy at all!) All you need to make a scarecrow is some old clothes and something to fill them with. Long-sleeve shirts and long pants are best outlines for scarecrows. Look for old overalls and a flannel shirt for a traditional scarecrow. If you have time, sew or glue on a couple of patches to the overalls. Hang the shirt on a hanger so it will keep its shape. Once you have old clothes, choose a filling. An outside scarecrow should be filled with straw, but an inside scarecrow can be filled with either plastic grocery bags or newspaper. Stuff gardening gloves and boots for the hands and feet. A head can be made by stuffing a plastic grocery bag and covering it with cloth. For even more ideas, check out this Pinterest page on scarecrows.

3. Pumpkins, Place Them Everywhere!

Pumpkins are easy. Buy a couple of big fresh ones and place them at your front door. Carve jack-o-lanterns for some extra personality, or paint them with your monogram. Fill a large hurricane jar with tiny pumpkins and put it on your dining room table. Make a pumpkin “snowman” by stacking three pumpkins. Put a witch’s hat on a pumpkin and draw haunting eyes and a mouth with a sharpie marker. This article in Country Living gives you 60 ways to decorate a pumpkin, which is more than anyone really needs

4. Bring in the branches!

Another very easy way to decorate for fall is to fill glass vases with tree branches. Spray paint the branches orange and red, if you like, or just leave them brown. If you want, tie some festive ribbon around the vases. Place them on your bookshelves, on your mantel if you have one, or place oversized vases on the floor next to your couch. If you have an outlet nearby, drape some white Christmas lights around the branches, and leave them up through the winter. For more ideas on decorating with branches, check out this article in Better Homes and Gardens.

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