Speaking of autumn…

The cosy season is upon us. At least that’s the way I see it! I truly love Autumn, I’ve probably said that before.

As I said last time, I find this time of year tends to make thoughts turn inward, to home and hearth. That’s certainly where my thoughts have been the last few weeks. I’ve set about autumn-ifying the house. To me this means just little things like changing up the cushion covers from their pale summer colours to darker autumn colours, rearranging my bits and pieces and nick-nacks so that I have things which I think have a more autumnal vibe on display. I have an obsession with plum and berry colours at the moment, which a shot of mossy green here and there. I know, I know – liking plum and berry colours is not at all cliched at this time of year! But who cares, right? If you ask me, if you love a colour work it in, whether someone else thinks it’s passe or not!

I have some lovely plum coloured pot pourri in a big bowl in the living room at the moment – picked up on sale from Sainsbury’s. I think it’s fig and something…it smells gorgeous anyway. I did wonder when I bought it, ‘Is pot pourri even allowed anymore, or it is considered too terminally un-cool?…but then as I said, who cares? If you love it…

I’ve been busily crafting away, but due to multiple projects, some of which are quite big I have nothing finished at the moment…except for this little guy…

My Amineko cat. He even has his own little metal chair by the fireplace. Actually the cat came about because of the chair. I saw this little chair in an interiors shop in Richmond during the summer, and it just tickled me, so I snapped it up. Then of course I needed someone to sit in the chair…so, Amineko. I think he’s pretty happy there. Although he does look kinda surly.

As part of my autumn-ifying of the house, I did have a little bit of a shop. Just a few cheap and cheerful bits and pieces to spread the autumn love around the house. The new cushion covers that I mentioned came from H&M home. I particularly love this charcoal quilted velvet version…

Also some new tea light holders. I picked up the glass tealight holder in the shot below from John Lewis -just from their basic ‘home range’ for just a few pounds. The label actually said it the tealight holder was black, but I thought from looking at it in the shop that I could see purple glints in the glass which meant that it would probably look more of a plum colour with a lit candle inside…and I was gratified to get them home (I bought 2) and discover I was right!

So I’ve been enjoying primping my home up. I think I’m done with purchases for now though – the rest will be home made (though it will probably be spring before I finish – but never mind).

Speaking of interiors, has anyone come across Selina Lake’s new book, Winter Living yet? I like Selina Lake’s books and have copies of a couple of her previous publications. I happened across a copy of her latest in a bookshop yesterday and had a flick through. In contrast to the kind of over styled interiors you usually see in home decor mags, I found what I saw of this book very re-freshing. The vibe was more stick with what you’ve got and chuck in a couple of extra throws in some bright colours…maybe stitch on a few pom poms or tassels – rather than completely redecorate. Now an interior update that involves pom poms is definitely something that I can get on board with….I think maybe I need to pick up a copy of this for further crafty inspiration!