Natural Fall Decorating Ideas

Content may contain affiliate links. When you shop the links, I receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting my small business.

Take inspiration from the outdoors when decorating indoors for the fall season with these natural fall decorating ideas.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons to decorate for. Open the window, look outside and take in the wonders of nature. What do you see? Trees turning shades of red, orange, gold and bronze. Flowers shifting from the vivid hues of summer to the more muted hues of the autumn. Squirrels busy burying nuts for the winter.

The transition to crisp autumn air and cooler weather is the perfect time to embrace fall’s beauty.

Everything that is beautiful outdoors can be used as inspiration for simple and natural fall decorating ideas right inside your home.

In fact, bringing the outdoors inside is my favorite thing to do this season!

Colors in Natural Fall Decorating

The Role of Jewel Tones

Jewel tones play a significant role in your natural fall decorating palette. By incorporating rich colors like fig, plum, eggplant, and mauve, you embrace the warmth and richness of the season.

These deep, luxurious hues not only add visual interest but also enhance the cozy atmosphere of your home. In addition, you can incorporate natural elements such as grapes, pears, plums, and artichokes to create a fall harvest tablescape or centerpiece.

Experiment with different combinations of jewel-toned items in your decor:

• Throw pillows: Mix and match eggplant, fig, and plum-colored pillows on your couch or bed.
• Vases: Fill deep purple or burgundy vases with autumn-hued flowers or harvest stems.
• Table linens: Set your table with rich-colored placemats, napkins, and table runners to create a warm and festive dining space.

Transitioning from Summer Colors

As you move from summer to fall, it’s essential to gradually transition your color scheme. Begin by swapping out bright summer shades for warmer, earthier tones. Focus on incorporating more oranges, reds, and browns into your space to evoke the changing leaves and autumn landscape.

Here are some suggestions for transitioning from summer to fall colors:

• Replace summery accents: Switch out your beachy or vibrant summer décor with more neutral and warm-colored accents that blend seamlessly with your fall theme.
• Add natural elements: Use real, dried, or faux fall decorations like wheat, pinecones, or leaves to create a more natural and seasonal ambiance.
• Layer textures: Incorporate cozy blankets, scented candles, and other comforting textures to make your home feel warm and inviting.

Nature and Harvest Inspired Centerpieces and Table Settings

My favorite place to decorate for fall is my dining room table. Whether it’s for a birthday dinner (we have several during the season) or in preparation for Thanksgiving, my inspiration is always natural materials such as a seasonal piece of foliage, vegetable or even a fruit.

Autumn leaves, pine cones, corn husks, branches, flowers, and more are the perfect touch. The routes for decorating your home can be endless with the many options for fall foliage.

Coastal with White Mini Pumpkins

Small white pumpkins always look great placed on top of a napkin and plate. Adding faux or real pumpkins is an easy way to elevate your space for fall.

You could do the same look year after year and never have it look the same, simply by changing out the plates, chargers, or napkins. With the vast variety of pumpkin shapes, sizes, and colors, the decor options can be never ending.

Fall decor can easily sway into “farmhouse style” decor if you’re not too careful. If that’s your style – great. But if it’s not and you want to decorate for the season without your home looking like a farmhouse, then choosing your colors is important.

The white pumpkin paired with the blue plates and napkins is a very coastal look, but you could pick any of the colors you naturally see during fall to create your own place setting.

DIY Harvest Themed Centerpiece

This DIY harvest-themed centerpiece looks beautiful as part of this tablescape, but could easily be placed on a mantel or console table.

It’s incredibly easy to make, too – a simple dough bowl filled with dried moss, candles, acorns, mini pumpkins, squash, and some pampas grass.

The best part is most of these items can be found in your own backyard! It’s a simple and natural look perfect for fall.

Fig Inspired Place Setting

Think of all the fruits and veggies in season right now and use them as your starting point. The inspiration for this tablesetting was the humble fig.

One of my favorite colors to decorate with for fall is shades of purple – fig, plum, eggplant and mauve. They might not be the most obvious choice, but their deep, rich jewel-tones are perfect for this time of year.

Pair anything with a simple runner of seeded eucalyptus and you will have a beautiful and natural-looking dining table in 5 minutes or less. I added some mini pumpkins, amber tapered candle holders and more figs to fill it out. Finally, natural wood flatware and plum-colored glasses make everything pop.

This version using apples, is another example of using seeded eucalyptus and fruits for natural elements on your fall dining room table. Real fruit and vegetables look best, but these apples are actually fake ones from HomeGoods that I’ve had for years. I use them in bowls, hurricanes and even part of a tablescape like this.

Apples and Eucalyptus

The fresh eucalyptus will last a few weeks (especially if you mist it every so often) but if you don’t want to replace it, you could always use a faux garland instead. The tablesetting below features all faux eucalyptus, velvet pumpkins and plastic pumpkins and still looks beautiful.

Modern Harvest Style

If you want an even simpler centerpiece – perhaps for your kitchen island or kitchen table – then a bowl of seasonal fruit or vegetables, like these artichokes not only looks that part, but you can eat them, too!

Bringing Nature into the Living Room

The living room is where the majority of people will start decorating for fall. After all, we spend the majority of relaxing time in here, so it’s nice to feel the warmth of the season around us, right?

Decorating the Mantel with Colors Found in Nature

I instantly think of our fireplace mantel when it comes to seasonal decorating. While Christmas will always be my favorite for mantel decorating, fall is certainly a close second.

When decorating a mantel, there’s so many ways to using nature as your inspiration. The upside of this fall mantel decorating approach, is that it’s usually pretty budget-friendly, too.

Pumpkins are always a great idea, and generally a hit with the kids. You can fill an entire mantel full of mini ones, whether they be real or fake, or intersperse them with a eucalyptus garland.

Seasonal scented candles are always welcome at this time of the year, too, and make a house feel cozy, even when it’s still warm outside!

Taking fall foliage is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to bring nature indoors. Grab a handful of leaves, branches, and pinecones and scatter them throughout your home to highlight natural fall beauty.

If you want to embrace minimalism (which many of us with kids find ourselves leaning towards during this phase of life), then strategically adding in those pretty fall colors like amber, rusty red, deep orange or the rich jewel tones, can really set the tone for a space, without overwhelming it with stuff.

Seasonal Touches for Coffee Tables and Console Tables

Fresh flowers and large branches placed in a vase make a stunning centerpiece for a coffee table, nightstand, dining room table or even to add decorative flair to an entryway.

If you’re on a budget or don’t want more stuff to store after the season ends, this is a simple but effective way to decorate, all while bringing those natural elements into your home.

The branches and foliage are again examples of the beautiful colors we see outside during the autumn months. My favorites to bring indoors include sugar maple, Japanese maple, crab apple, oak, anything with berries and if you’re looking for something with a pretty flower – Rose of Sharon or marigolds.

Just remember if you have small kids that berries can be poisonous and a potential choking hazard.

Now is also the perfect type to cut those hydrangeas and bring them indoors. They air dry beautifully to reveal different shades of green, mauve and bronze, and will last months as part of a simple fall floral arrangement.

You can also use them to make your own Hydrangea Wreath, which I recently did for our front door.

A Touch of Fall in the Bedroom

Don’t let your main living areas get all the fall love! Simple nods to the season in the bedroom look stunning. Pair throw pillows, cozy blankets, quilts, or even candles so that they coordinate with the natural elements. Rich fabrics with warm tones such as wool, velvet, twine, and burlap helps to create a warm and cozy environment.

Below, you can see how the pop of color from the Japanese maple branches pulls a similar shade out of the decorative throw pillows, creating a beautiful color scheme in the bedroom for fall. This is a simple way to decorate for fall in the bedroom without completely having to change everything in the room.

Use the flowers from your garden when decorating for fall. This arrangement is a mixture of store bought and pink sedum from the yard.

Other Natural Fall Decorating Ideas

Freshen up your mudroom or entryway with branches or flowers in a vase or tote bag. Hydrangeas are a great choice if you want something floral, as they will naturally dry out.

Simply adding some branches to a vase in the corner of your entryway or next to a bench, is also a lovely seasonal addition.

Have I inspired you to try some of these natural fall decorating ideas this year? It’s such a fun and inexpensive way to decorate for the season, and I think you’ll love how creative or how simple you can be with it!