Autumn

What is your favourite time of year? Perhaps you love long summer days and aren’t appreciating the chilly mornings we’re experiencing now. Or maybe you like the spring – full of hope and promise as winter ends, days get longer, and bulbs come into bloom. For me, my favourite season is the autumn. I love the dappled sunlight through the trees. The leaves turning golden, brown and red, before falling to the ground in piles ready to be tossed in the air or kicked through. I love that autumn means cosier evenings as darkness comes earlier, the blankets come out and the scented candles are lit. I don’t tend to think about the inevitability of the winter coming, but enjoy eating hot soup, picking pumpkins, and wrapping a cosy scarf around me.

As well as the seasons in nature, we all have a seasonal personality too. Whilst all being unique, we will find that we tend to have the traits of one or two seasonal personalities, in different proportions. You might recognise these personality traits in someone with an ‘autumn personality’: warm, friendly, down to earth, enjoys nature, practical, loves nostalgia and vintage, and, dare I say it, a bit rebellious! Do you know anyone like that? Or maybe you recognise these qualities in yourself?

Our seasonal personality will reflect in our homes too - in the colours, patterns and textures we use. Now if you have an autumn personality it doesn’t mean you’re just going to reach for red and brown paint. Far from it. It’s more about using colours and design to create a particular feel which supports your personality. ‘Autumn people’ tend to be drawn to warm colours and rich, deep shades. Think jewel tones, warm browns, deep greens, plum, rust, and mustard. These colours have an earthiness to them. There is no space for greys and pastels I’m afraid.

If you want to reflect your autumn personality in your home, choose solid, substantial furniture, perhaps with some vintage or antique pieces; large scale patterns that are bold and rich with colour; and textures such as raw wood, exposed brick, velvet, leather and tweed.

Ah, makes me feel cosy just thinking about it! And if none of this resonates with you, don’t worry, I’ll be covering other seasonal insights in future blog posts.