Welcoming Fall: 10 Simple Touches to Cozy Up Your Home

There’s just something about that first hint of crisp air, isn’t there? When the mornings turn cool enough for a sweater and the evenings call for a steaming mug of cider, we know fall has officially arrived. For The Harris Sisters, fall is more than a season, it’s a chance to slow down, cozy up, and bring a little extra warmth into our homes.

The good news? You don’t have to completely redecorate (or spend a fortune) to make your home feel like fall. A few thoughtful touches can transform your space into a cozy retreat that feels equal parts nostalgic and welcoming. Here are 10 simple ways to bring autumn charm into your home, with a few photo and craft ideas to inspire you along the way.

1. Bring Out the Warm Textiles

Fall decorating is as much about feel as it is about looks. As the weather cools down, trade out lightweight summer throws for chunky knit or crochet blankets and quilts. Toss plaid pillows on the sofa, drape a soft throw across the porch swing, or even layer rugs for extra warmth. 

Super Thick Stash-Busting Afghan Free Crochet Pattern

2. Layer in Earthy Colors

Rust orange, golden yellow, sage green, and deep burgundy red are the colors that instantly signal the season. You don’t have to repaint a thing; just tuck these hues into your décor with table runners, pillows, candles, or other accents. If you have collections in these colors, like these vintage plaid Thermoses, now is the time for them to shine!

3. Set the Mood with Candlelight

Nothing says cozy like the flicker of candlelight. Place taper candles in vintage brass holders on your mantle, or cluster votives on your coffee table. Choose fall scents like apple cider, pumpkin spice, or vanilla to layer in the warmth. 

For you coffee and tea lovers out there, if you have an abundance of fall-themed coffee mugs or tea cups, fill them with coffee beans and use them to hold votive candles for your seasonal candle display.

4. Add Natural Elements

Bring a little of the outdoors inside. Pinecones, acorns, and branches cost nothing but look timeless when gathered in a basket or displayed in a vintage glass jar. You can even make a simple fall wreath by hot gluing pinecones, acorns, or branches onto a cardboard base.

5. Create a Fall Entryway

Your entry sets the tone for the whole home. Hang a seasonal wreath and add a few pumpkins or mums by the door. If you live near a corn field, don't forget ask if you can grab some dried corn stalks for your porch decor. You can add metal and stone outdoor fall decorations to your collection and bring those out year after year. Even the smallest entry can feel inviting with just a few autumn touches.

Fall Porch Photo Inspiration Ideas

6. Use Pumpkins as a Decorating Staple

Of course pumpkins are a fall favorite, but think beyond carving! Uncarved pumpkins can take you from September through November in terms of decor because they represent fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Mix real pumpkins with faux for longevity. To get the most life out of your fresh pumpkins, remember our tips for Caring for and Making Your Decorative Pumpkins Last Longer.

Pro Tip from my Mother-In-Law who hosts Thanksgiving, if you have faux pumpkins that have carved faces on one side and are plain on the other, turn them around so that the plain sides are showing after Halloween to get a few more weeks of decor out of them.

7. Cozy Up the Kitchen

Fall is made for kitchens that smell like cinnamon and spice and sharing heirloom recipes with family. Use our recipe to keep a simmer pot of fruits, cloves, and cinnamon sticks in the crockpot. Display Grandma’s handwritten recipes or a stack of vintage aprons as functional décor that tells a story.

8. Add Vintage Touches

Old-fashioned charm never goes out of style. Layer Grandma's quilt over the back of a chair, fill antique mason jars with sunflowers, or showcase your milk glass collection along with mini pumpkins. These little details remind us of the “good old days” while still feeling timeless.

9. Set the Table for the Season

Even cozy dinners can feel special with a little autumn charm. If you're hosting a dinner during the fall season, set your table with mismatched vintage dishes and napkins in warm fall colors. Place a few mini pumpkins or candles down the center of the table to decorate. You don’t need a big gathering (or even matching dishes!) to set a seasonal table for everyone to enjoy.

10. Create Cozy Corners

Sometimes the smallest spaces bring the most comfort. Create a special self-serve hot cocoa or coffee station in the kitchen for family and guests. Add fall touches like your favorite fall mugs and vintage fall serving pieces to make this simple, everyday task one that's ready for the season.

Fall is more than just a season, it’s a feeling. A little warmth here, a nostalgic touch there, and suddenly your home becomes the gathering place everyone loves. We hope we've shown you that these simple touches don’t take much effort, but they go a long way in creating comfort, joy, and connection.

So grab that pumpkin spice latte, light a candle, and welcome the season with open arms.

Interested in more fall ideas? Check out these popular posts:

• 100 Things to Do This Fall
• Crockpot Baked Apples
• Super Moist Pumpkin Bread
• Crockpot Spiced Apple Cider
• The Best Products for Dry, Chapped Lips

How to Make Vintage Christmas Pipe Cleaner Cone Dolls

Dolls and crafts made from pipe cleaners have been around for a very long time. Last year, I came across a tutorial from Pyrex Girl on TikTok showing how to make vintage-style pipe cleaner (chenille stem) dolls for Christmas and I set about to make three of them.

I kept one for myself and gave the other two to Harris Sisters Deanna and Misty.

These were fun crafts to make and if you're the crafty sort, you can to make them too! They blend in seamlessly with other vintage Christmas decor.

The directions written below are step-by-step guidelines to follow to create these dolls, but if you are a visual learner, I would encourage you to watch the Pyrex Girl tutorial.

Supplies You'll Need to Make Vintage Christmas Chenille Stem Dolls

Pipe Cleaners or Chenille Stems in Colors of Choice

Scissors or Wire Cutters

Hot Glue and Glue Gun

Cardboard/Paper Cone in Desired Height

Doll Head

Other Decorative Items like Pom-Poms, Sequins, Beads, etc. (optional)

1. Fold each chenille stem in half and cut with scissors or wire cutters.
2. Fold each half chenille stem piece in half and cut with scissors or wire cutters. (Each chenille stem should produce 4 chenille stem pieces.)
3. Fold the four chenille stem pieces in half and set aside.
4. Repeat the first three steps until you have a supply of folded chenille stem pieces, then hot glue each folded piece in a row at the bottom of the cardboard cone, so that the u-shape overhangs the bottom by about half. Repeat gluing each folded piece until the row is complete. (Note: For each row, you will be gluing the open end and the bent, U-shaped end will always be toward the bottom.)
5. Next, glue the next row so that the u-shape of that row overlaps the previously glued row by about half.
6. Continue gluing rows until you get to the top of the cone.
7. When finished gluing all rows, turn up all chenille pieces so that all U-shaped pieces stick out 90 degrees and form an L-shape when the cone is sitting on a flat surface.
8. If necessary or desired, wrap the doll head with a chenille stem to create a hat or ear muffs. Use glue to secure. 
9. Glue the doll head to the top of the cone.
10. Create arms by twisting chenille stems together and a wrapping them around the neck area. Glue if necessary to secure.
11. Cover the area where the doll head meets the cone with another chenille stem and glue. Use your own design skills here to create a scarf, a flower, or whatever you think looks best!
12. If desired, decorate the doll with additional craft items like pom-poms, sequins, beads, etc.
13. Don't forget to sign and date the doll inside the cone.

Notes:

The number of chenille stems you'll need will depend on the height of your cone. The three dolls you see here use a cone approximately 11 inches tall at their base. Premade paper cones come in standard sizes.

The doll heads I used came from Target elf ornaments. The heads on these ornaments were plastic and the bodies and elf hats were fabric. It was easy to remove the fabric body and elf hat from the plastic head. Other options for doll heads include: 

• Repurpose an Elf on the Shelf (sometimes these will show up at thrift stores)
• Other elf ornaments
• If you want more realistic faces, consider Barbie dolls (these are also found at thrift stores)
• If you plan on making a large amount of these or want to share with friends doing the same craft, you can get a set of 12 elf heads for crafting
• If you have any artistic abilities, you can paint a face on a large wooden bead and use that for the head

Make sure to check out Pyrex Girl on Instagram and Tik Tok for other inspiration photos of the pipe cleaner dolls she's made!

 

Other Vintage Christmas Crafts You Might Be Interested In:

• How to Make a Christmas Wreath with Vintage Christmas Decorations
• How to Update and Repurpose an Old Christmas Wreath
• Christmas Granny Square Afghan
• Handmade Christmas Ornaments

Thrifted Halloween Painting Trend: Upcycling an Old Painting into Halloween Art

With Halloween right around the corner, I thought I would share a recent project that I've been working on.  The thrifted Halloween painting trend hit the scene hard last year.  The idea is to head to your local thrift store and find an old painting that you can upcycle into Halloween art.  I saw a lot of people doing this last year by adding subtle ghosts to landscape paintings and they all turned out so well.  It has taken me a year to get around to it, but I'm glad I finally jumped on board.  It was a fun project to complete. And while my results are definitely less subtle than a few ghosts scattered into a landscape, they are also most definitely Halloween-esque.  Let me show you. 

So I headed to my local Goodwill over the summer and snagged two canvases, both were by the same artist and they were both folk art. I saw the smaller canvas first and immediately knew exactly how I could turn it into Halloween art.  Then I spied a similar larger canvas, and I became convinced that it was meant to be.  I grabbed both pieces and headed to the checkout.  Honestly, both pieces of art have sat in storage for months, but I recently remembered them and pulled them out.  After a little debating, I decided to start on the larger piece first.  

This is what the canvas looked like when I began.  Nothing in particular about this canvas screamed Halloween.  On the contrary, it is a very traditional folk art, with lots of barns and houses, little Amish people, and horses pulling wagons.  But in the back of my mind, I knew what it could become. 

And here are some of the details from the original art. 

Notice the bright orange sun and yellow sky.  I knew that would have to be the first thing I changed. 

I also immediately knew that I would have to adjust all the bright white picket fencing.  

Notice too all those quilt squares painted on the buildings and barns.  I knew I would have to come up with a plan to change those as well. 

But it was all the little people scattered around this painting that excited me.  I adored this little lady hanging out her quilts, and the mom and daughter to her right.   I had a pretty immediate idea of how I would use all these people in a Halloween painting.  And I'll bet you are thinking the same thing. 

But my first order of business was to get the basic color scheme corrected.  I chose a dark blue for the sky and made that sun into a much bigger yellow moon. Then I adjusted all of the trees and bushes to reds, oranges, and yellows to replace all the bright green that we started with.  I also made all of the previously white picket fencing black.  

With those basic changes completed, I was finally able to move on to the fun part- converting all those little people into my Halloween cast of characters.  

The very first character I started on was the little fellow on the bicycle in the center of the painting.  I took one look at him and decided he HAD to become the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz.   And with a few easy updates, he did.  

Here's the before and after. 

Since the bicycle already had a basket, it only made sense to add little Toto in there as well.  But this was only just the start.  

Next up was the little character on a tricycle.  I thought to myself, what character would be riding a tricycle?  And I knew it had to be a clown.  Here's that transformation. 

Then the inspiration struck for my favorite little lady hanging out the laundry on the line.  I thought I could make her into the main Sanderson Sister, Winifred, and naturally the little socks hanging on the laundry line turned into witch's stockings.  I covered all the quilts in white until I could come up with an idea.  The white actually sparked the idea that two of them could be plain white sheets/ ghosts and then I just turned the last one into a Halloween colored quilt with a few random patches.  I couldn't leave this little scene without coming up with a costume for the dog, so I made him into a pumpkin. 

Then I remembered the two ladies behind my little clown who were folding a quilt.  And I thought they should be the other two Sanderson siters, Sarah and Mary.  And I just turned their quilt into a sign that reads Hocus Pocus. So now all of the Sanderson Sisters are present and accounted for. 

Longtime blog followers may remember that The Harris Sisters paid homage to the Sanderson Sisters a few years ago.  

And it just kind of snowballed them there.  I incorporated all sorts of Halloween characters and costumes, some of which are specific to costumes that my little family has worn over the years.  Others are nods to some of the Harris Sisters' costumed endeavors, while others are just easily recognizable Halloween characters.   The biggest challenge was finding costumed characters recognizable enough that you would still be able to recognize in miniature form.  This is a large canvas but there is A LOT of subject matter in it, making each individual character around 2 inches tall if they are in the forefront, and closer to only an inch tall (or less) for those in the background. 

Here is a look at some of my favorite Halloween characters from the scene.

This little guy raising the flag in the forefront of the scene became Fred Flintstone. 

This was a nod to the year my family dressed as the Flintstones, which incidentally turned out to be the coldest Halloween on record.  We froze ourselves, but we looked good for this one photo.  

I turned a couple of tiny little characters into Woody and Jessie from Toy Story. 

This was a throwback to our Toy Story Era, when we dressed as Andy's famous toys back in 2018.

And remember that sweet mother and child?  I turned them into Snow White and a bunny, two things that may not seemingly go together. 

But there was, in fact, one Halloween I dressed up as Snow White. 

And Lexi wanted to be a rabbit. 

And these may win the prize for some of the smallest characters in this painting.  There was actually nothing in this space originally, but I wanted to include Raggedy Ann and Andy so I added them in this space. 

Of course, this was a nod to the year that Lexi and I dressed as those famous rag dolls all the way back in 2016. 

I turned this little guy into Harry Potter.

Our family has dressed as characters from Harry Potter for the last two years in a row.  Here is Lexi as Hedwig, Harry Potter's snow owl, from two years ago. 

And as the zany but loveable Luna Lovegood last year. 

I decided to turn a couple more characters into Dorothy and the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz to tie into the Wicked Witch I had already incorporated. 

And you may remember that The Harris Sisters all dressed as Dorothy a few years ago when we made our own trip down the yellow brick road. 

And I could not call this a Halloween transformation without adding my all time favorite Halloween characters, the Peanuts gang.  Did you notice the little boy and girl flying kites in the original painting?

They became Charlie Brown in his ghost costume (I had a little trouble with the scissors) and Lucy in her witch costume.  The kids with the kites were originally running in the church yard.  I felt like this area was screaming for a graveyard so I also added one and a few ghosts too. 

As for the kites themselves, I could not rest until I incorporated Snoopy flying on his doghouse.  So he became a kite, pulling a sign saying "Welcome Great Pumpkin".   And if you look closely, you will find Linus heading to the pumpkin patch on the left with his blanket.  That little detail was my daughter's idea. 

So this project really took on a life of it's own.  I worked here and there on all the little details over the course of about a month transforming all the little houses, people, and animals into their own sweet Halloweentown.  I added lots of pumpkins, candles, ghosts, lights, and signs throughout the scene to make the transformation complete.  Here is a look at the final finished painting. 

And here is a final look at how it all started. 

This was such a fun project and I would absolutely recommend.  But if you are a little hesitant to give it a go, I would definitely say don't start out as ambitious as I did.  Maybe working a few ghosts into a landscape is probably the better place to start.  And this trend doesn't have to just start and end with Halloween.  It might be fun to do something similar for other holidays or seasons.  In any case, next time you pass your local thrift store, I hope you will take a peek at the thrifted art and see what calls to you.  

Taking Halloween Photos with Jack-o-Lantern Smoke Bombs

Smoke bombs have been around for a while.  They are commonly used for gender reveal parties and photographers use them for all sorts of fun effects.  But have you ever considered using one inside a carved jack-o-lantern for the perfect Halloween photo?  Well, the Harris Sisters recently did just that and have all the info you might need to recreate these magical photos for yourself at home.  Keep reading for all the details. 

Finding Smoke Bombs

Once you decide to give these smoke bomb photos a go, the first step is finding smoke bombs to purchase.  They are available online from a variety of vendors.  We purchased ours from Smoke Effect.  What I liked about their smoke bombs is that they come in a variety of sizes and colors.  And they are all activated with a simple pull-ring, meaning you don't have to light them.  The smallest smoke bombs burn for about 30 seconds, while the largest ones burn for about 90 seconds.  I purchased a few small ones to use as testers and then several 90 second smoke bombs to use in our actual photos.  The Smoke Effect has a smoke quiz you can take to tell you exactly what you will need to produce your desired effect, and they offer a 10 percent discount to new customers.  Just make sure you order your smoke bombs far enough in advance to account for shipping time.  Mine arrived quickly once they shipped. But since we are approaching Halloween time, now would be the time to purchase them if you are wanting to try your hand at smoke bomb jack-o-lantern photos. 

Prepping for Your Photos

For Jack-o-lantern smoke bombs photos, you will to first need to carve a pumpkin.  It needs to be a real pumpkin, not a foam one, since you will be putting the smoke bomb inside.  Whatever design you choose, make sure it has large openings that the smoke can escape from.  

You will absolutely need to take these photos outside.  Smoke bombs produce quite a bit of smoke, and some smell as well.  Since you will be taking these photos outside, you will want to check your weather conditions first.  Windy days would probably make taking these photos more difficult.  We chose a mostly sunny and fairly calm day to take these pics.  And we waited until the early evening so it wasn't quite so bright out- making the smoke the star of the show. 

What to Wear for a Jack-o-lantern Photo Shoot

The sky is the limit here.  If you have a Halloween costume ready to go, that would be a great place to start! Or if you want to be a little more subtle, you could opt to wear something in traditional Halloween colors or patterns.  From what I read before taking these photos, a few people mentioned being careful about what you chose to wear in case the colored smoke stained your clothing.  However, we didn't find that to be an issue.  Even still, I probably wouldn't wear my most prized possessions, just in case. 

Ready, Set, Shoot

Once you are all set and ready to start taking your photos, I would recommend that you have a few extra hands on deck.  We had one person hold the pumpkin with the lid off, while a second person activated the smoke bomb and sat it inside the pumpkin.  The first person quickly put the lid of the jack-o-lantern back in place (This step is essential, so the smoke is forced out of the carved openings on the front of the jack-o-lantern, and doesn't just escape through the top), and a third person started taking photos.  We used a couple 30 second smoke bombs to test this process and make sure we knew what we were doing before we started into taking our "real" photos.  Once we had the rhythm down, we used our first 90 second smoke bomb for our first set of actual photos. 

As soon as the smoke bomb is activated, things will happen quickly.  I would highly recommend that you set your camera to a high speed continuous shoot setting.  That way you can just click away and capture everything.  Ninety seconds is actually much longer than it sounds like.  You have more than a plenty time to get photos.  So don't worry if the smoke isn't cooperating the entire time.  Have the person holding the pumpkin gently move it around, and the smoke will move with it.  The photographer should be the one moving and let the subject mostly stay in one position. 

Other Helpful Tips

As a precaution, we kept water close at hand just in case we needed to douse our smoking pumpkin at any point.  We actually didn't need to, and we didn't think we would.  But it doesn't hurt to be careful.  These smoke bombs are a step or two up from sparklers.  They create a really dramatic effect but they are pretty harmless.   We did use a pair of tongs to take the used smoke bombs out of the pumpkin before inserting a new one. 

We used the same jack-o-lantern several times with several different smoke colors.  If you are doing the same, we would recommend that you start with your lightest color smoke first and move to darker smokes, until you end with your darkest.  The smoke bombs will stain the pumpkin, which actually creates a pretty cool effect itself.  But if you want to be able to see each color smoke properly, you would definitely want to start with your lightest.  

Overall, we were pleasantly surprised by how easy of a process this turned out to be.  And we ended up with some pretty cool pictures, and some pretty funny outtakes too.  If you decide to try this photo trend, please let us know.  We would love to see how your photos turn out too! 

Happy Halloween from The Harris Sisters