Give your home a new look to complement the season

Simple changes make fall decor warm and inviting.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
Lisa Ferrence's house is all dressed for winter.
The summery cotton throw on the sofa has made way for chenille. The white candles on the mantel have been swapped with dark red. The floral wreath over the fireplace wears a few fall leaves tucked here and there among the greenery.
The transformation involved simply switching or updating a few accessories, but the result is a house that's cozy and intimate, just right for burrowing in during the chilly months ahead.
Changing a home's decor for fall has a similar effect to changing your wardrobe, interior designers say. The colors and textures associated with autumn and winter look warmer, so they actually make people feel warmer. Because we spend so much time indoors in the cold months, inviting surroundings are more important than ever.
Since most of us don't have space for stowing our summer furnishings the way we do our sandals and shorts, the changes have to be reasonable. Even small touches, though, make a big difference, said Marlene Mrochek, the Hudson decorating consultant who helped Ferrence transform her house in Twinsburg.
"It's all about color and texture," Mrochek said, whisking a pair of light-colored accent pillows off Ferrence's taupe leather sofa and replacing them with darker, plushier ones to demonstrate her point. Introducing a few soft, nubby fabrics and rich colors into a decor has a surprising effect on the whole atmosphere of a room, she said.
Think small
In fact, Mrochek doesn't advocate replacing large elements such as furniture and rugs. Better to swap accessories or even alter them a bit to suggest a warm look, as she did by adding the fall leaves to Ferrence's wreath and a couple of miniature gourds to the flower arrangement on her kitchen table. Of course, it's difficult to make a white sofa look wintry, no matter how many jewel-tone velvet pillows you toss on it. That's why interior designer Lauri Ward loves slipcovers.
"Grandma had the right idea with slipcovers," said Ward, who founded the redecorating business Use-What-You-Have Interiors in New York and has written two books, "Use What You Have Decorating" and "Trade Secrets from Use What You Have Decorating." Slipcovers can make a dramatic difference in the appearance of furniture, and they protect upholstery fabric from all the extra wear furniture gets when people are stuck inside in winter. You can even have covers made for your throw pillows, she noted.
Unlike Mrochek, Ward likes to change area rugs for the season or add a rug in winter to add a plush feel and maybe some pattern underfoot. A rug doesn't have to be a big expense, she said. Home centers and mass merchandisers sell inexpensive machine-made rugs, and Ward said even a jewel-tone sisal rug would work.
You might even change your lamp shades to something more wintry, suggested Stephanie Voss, director of advertising and marketing for Arhaus Furniture, headquartered in Walton Hills. It's important to consider how the shade works with the base and the colors in the room, she said, but switching to a brown or red shade or one with beading might be just the thing to warm up your decor.
Welcoming feeling
Candles are an easy way to add a welcoming feel in winter, but so are less obvious accents such as a table runners in rich colors, a bowl of smooth, black stones, or a stack of birch logs in a pretty twig basket on the hearth, Ward said. Even a scattering of fall leaves on an entry table or dining room table makes an attractive accent, she said.
What you can't find in your yard, you might find in your grocery store. Mrochek and Ward love to use fruits and vegetables as decorative accents, perhaps displayed in a beautiful bowl or arranged on a platter or tray.