Use my easy autumn steps to get your home ready for autumn and prepared for the winter months.
Autumn is such a beautiful colourful season, with its orange and yellow leaves and bright red berries. It’s the perfect time to wrap up for a beautiful walk – and then come back to an inviting cosy home with a tasty hot chocolate.
Prepare your entrance
Cheer yourself up on colder days by creating a warm welcome to your home. Autumn is the perfect time to spruce up your front door, add in an autumnal door wreath and some seasonal decorations.
The rest of the front garden might need a tidy up, too. After all, you’ll probably see more of the front than the back garden during the winter. Remove any summer hanging basket and plant some evergreen shrubs that will provide an attractive structure throughout the cold months, you could also add a couple of winter-flowering plants to boost interest.
Inside as you enter add in a good quality door mat to trap dirt and soak up wet muddy shoes.
Time to get cosy
As the days and evenings become colder, you’ll need to think about keeping warm and cosy. Candles are perfect this time of year, choose autumnal scents like pumpkin, apple, cinnamon and nutmeg, as these scents will bring that extra dose of ambiance your home needs. Incorporate autumnal colours, switch those summer themed cushions for autumnal ones and get yourself some lovely soft throws and blankets. Then attend to the bigger stuff, like making sure your radiators are all bled, clean from built up dust and in good working order and book in for a boiler service to ensure that it’s fit and healthy enough for the rest of the year you don’t want to run the risk of no hot water at 7 am on a Monday morning in January (brrr).
Check light bulbs too, make sure they are all working and knock off that layer of dust using a recycled make up brush.
Little things and small changes to your environment can make a major difference to your wellbeing and mood, so they are well worth your time and effort.
If you’re lucky enough to have a working fireplace or wood-burning stove, now’s the time to prepare and clean it ready for use.
Stock up on firewood and kindling, and invest in a couple of baskets to store the firewood next to the fire.
Finally check to make sure your smoke alarms are all working.
Make way for wellies
The hallway will need a seasonal overhaul, too. Put away sandals and sun hats till the spring and organise space for heavy coats, boots and wellies. Ensure there are enough hooks for all your coats, as well as a space for umbrellas. It’s also a good idea to use a hallway storage bench if you have the room or put baskets next to the door for gloves, hats and scarves.
Get organised
Put away your summer wardrobe and have a declutter at the same time, get rid of things you didn’t wear. I love to use vacuum storage pack bags as you can store so much neatly away.
Don’t forget about the linen closet, either. Switch out those lighter linens with your heavier bedding, linens, and blankets.
Organise home admin and invest in any new storage you think you might need. Now might be a good time to organise your kitchen cupboards, too. Throw away out-of-date food, donate tins that you know you won’t eat and store similar things together. Decant pasta, rice and pulses into attractive jars, and find some useful storage for your spices.
Empty the contents of your freezer and fridge to see what’s fresh and what isn’t. Give these storage areas a good cleaning before refilling them.
Outside
Wash off your patio furniture before putting it away until the spring. Store it in a shed or an out-of-the-way spot in the garage. If it’s staying outside, cover everything with properly fitting covers to prevent rust.
Pick up any garden toys, sports equipment, and gardening tools sitting outside and out them away.
Clear out the gutters.
On a dark evening, arriving home or visiting the shed or dustbins will be difficult if you can’t see where you’re going. So it’s important to ensure any outside lighting is in good working order.
It’s also nice to have some lighting in the back garden to illuminate winter plants and look pretty.
