Anyone else having squabbles about whether the heating should be on yet?
The tights are on (bare legs well and truly banished), shorts have been popped away for another year, heating ‘on or off?’ negotiations are happening in countless homes and the leaves are falling. Yep, it’s Autumn and I’m rather loving it so far.
These are my top 5 reasons for loving Autumn.
one: it's my birthday....
Apparently, your favourite season often falls around your birthday. That works for me. I’m mid-October so this is my moment. We celebrate a birthday week in our house, lots of fun stuff planned, gifts, cake, more cake and balloons hoisted as long as they can be (before they go wrinkly or the children get at them…) This year on the birthday wish list I’ve asked for my footstool to be re upholstered. It’s a tatty lovely eBay find, and it needs some love. I’ve found some absolutely gorgeous mustard velvet which goes beautifully with my own designs in the grown-up (toys banned) lounge. I think it will be just the thing to pull my room scheme together and lighten up some of the deep hues.
Heating note: It's my birthday so I deserve to be warm.
two: leaves, pumpkins and getting outdoors.
Our house is tucked away in the corner of our village green and I kid you not it’s like being in a leaf wind tunnel where all the trees on the green have got together and said ‘let’s go there and have a party’. The tidying up effort is endless and pocket money bribery only goes so far. That aside I love seeing the season change, the little ones love jumping around in the leaves and it’s still warm enough outside to play, run about and go for walks without faces getting chapped. Last year we went to a pumpkin farm for the first time and I LOVED IT. It’s amazing and colourful and wonderful and looks like another world made from the craziest pumpkins. That’s on the list for this month.
Heating note: It's nice to be warm when you come in indoors, let's pop the heating on...
three: getting cosy
Curtains are getting drawn earlier, blankets creep onto beds and across legs in the evening, candles on and extra sofa snuggling. Of course, less blankets would be needed if the heating was on… (I’m in the ‘let’s pop it on’ camp, Mr Willis is resisting… Heating note: if we had the heating on I wouldn't have to buy that goregous new blanket I'm coveting....... who am I kidding?! ) Oh, and Strictly come dancing on a Saturday night. It’s now a tradition, and I want to be in sequins just like them. Instead I watch them in my unglamorous comfies eating chocolates and drinking red wine (another bonus of the seasonal change I swap my white wine for red).
four: decorating
All Summer our focus is out in the garden, even when I’m meant to be doing things indoors the lure of the garden, the plants, the warm sun is too much to resist. But now the air has cooled and the door is shut more often than it is open, my mind turns to the home. Jobs to be done, chipped woodwork to repaint, scuffs to clean away and rooms to refresh. This winter it’s our lounge and our bedroom. The grown-up lounge is getting new carpet next week (excited doesn’t describe the joy I’m feeling at replacing what we have!), cosy door curtain and fabulous roman blinds are being made. It’s more a finishing touches job really. The bedroom is another matter. It’s a full overhaul, new furniture, new lighting, new bed and I’ve planned the curtains, cushions, chair upholstery and bed throw in great detail. I’m designing a new fabric for our bedroom and if it all goes to plan it will be for sale on our Willis Bloom website too…
Heating note: I have plans to replace the bedroom radiator with an old style one.... I will leave the heating off that day...
five: the autumn colours
My favourite. If Summer is bright, breezy, sunny and light, Autumn brings welcoming decadence; richness, warmth and opulence. I favour the warm side of the colour wheel. I tend to avoid any cool tones; they just don’t make me feel happy like the warmth of a rich red, deep green, inky blue or burnt orange. And that’s the thing, colours make us ‘feel’ and that’s something I feel strongly about when people furnish their homes. Choose colours that make you feel good. Go with your heart. The colour I’ve chosen for my birthday footstool is a rich, deep golden mustard. It’s warm and sumptuously cosy velvet and I wonder how long I can keep the children off it…..
Final heating note: I am not waiting until we have ice on the inside of the windows, It's going on.
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