When the crispy, cool air starts to creep in, you know fall is on the way. Fall is a favorite season for many as they start to pull out their pumpkin spice candles and cozy blankets. But there’s a lot more to preparing your home for fall than simply decorating with the pumpkin theme. While the aesthetic part of decorating is the most fun, you also need to consider the steps you should take to ensure your home and property are prepared for the shift in seasons. Here are some outdoor and indoor fall home decor tips and preparation tips for your house this fall season.
Outdoor Preparation
As items outdoors will be the first to get the brunt of brutal Fall weather, it’s important to start there. There are a few areas that will not only help your house look cleaner and put together, but could also save you stress and even money.
Outdoor Furniture
As the weather gets cooler and damper, it’s time to make some changes around your home. The first thing to think about for fall home decor tips is your outdoor furniture. While cute pillows and chair covers lasted well in the dry, warm summer, you’ll need to clean them and put them away for fall to ensure they don’t get ruined. If the fabric parts of your furniture can’t be removed, you should consider either moving the furniture into a garage for the season or purchasing a cover for it. If the furniture is in a well-covered area, you may be able to get away with leaving it exposed, but better safe than sorry.
Roof Care
Your roof is going to need some serious TLC to be prepared and ready for the cold season. One of the first things you should start with is general roof repairs. You will want to ensure that there aren’t any cracked or missing shingles that could cause leaks and water damage during fall rain and winter snow. If you do find any issues, get them fixed as soon as possible. You don’t want to run into any rainy weather mid-project.
Along with repairing your roof, you will also want to check out the gutters. Your gutters are what keep water and melting snow from sitting on your roof and causing damage. Because drains catch so much debris, they can quickly clog and backup. You can hire a handyman to come out and clear out your gutters and check for any issues at the same time. It’s best to get them repaired and cleared early in the season.
Outdoor HVAC System
Most homeowners find that their utility bills are higher during winter as they turn up their heater and keep their lights on during the darker days. Most households in the U.S. spend almost $2000 on heating, cooling, appliances, electronics, and lighting annually. One great outdoor prep tip that can also help to lower your utility bills during the winter is to clear around your outdoor HVAC system. This will allow for better airflow and a system that works better. It’s also a fire hazard to have anything within three feet of the system.
Lawn Care
While your lawn will likely be covered in falling leaves and snow, the best way to prepare it for spring and summer is to start caring for it now. Make sure you give it one final good mow or hire a lawn mowing service if you aren’t able to do it yourself. Next, you’ll want to fertilize it which may seem silly. However, even when the grass isn’t growing, the roots remain active. This step will give it strong roots so it can stay healthy and turn green faster when the weather starts to warm back up in spring.
Pavement Care
Another area you’ll want to focus on is your pavement. If you have any cracks or potholes, now is the time to fill them and fix the issues. This may seem like a tedious task, but if water gets into the cracks and freezes in the cold weather, it will expand causing the cracks to grow. Even small cracks could become a big issue by the end of winter. You could also consider hiring a local team to put a sealcoating on your pavement. This will protect the concrete or asphalt from water, oil, and even U.V. rays.
Garage Maintenance
The garage is an area that may often get overlooked. However, it’s important that you don’t go into winter with a faulty garage door. Before you’ve decided that no garage door repairs are necessary, be sure to double-check that everything is functioning properly. If something were to go wrong in the middle of the winter and suddenly your garage door is stuck open, all of your belongings would now be subject to the weather until your door can be fixed. Whether its snow or leaves crowding your garage, this is something you’ll be sure to want to avoid. It also is a safety risk if your garage door will not close. All your belongings are no longer locked in storage. For these reasons, be sure to search for home garage repair if you need it.
One way you can avoid this is by checking to make sure your garage door spring is working properly and that there is nothing wrong with the automatic garage door sensors you have. You will be thankful you had a a garage door repair person come fix any issues before it results in piles of snow on your belongings.
Outdoor Decoration
Once you’ve taken care of cleaning and preparing the exterior of your home for fall, next comes the fun part, the fall home decor tips.
One of the main areas you’ll be able to focus these fall home decor tips is your porch. If you’ve got some outdoor furniture on your porch, that’s a great place to start. As previously mentioned in the outdoor prep section, you should have already cleaned and cleared any spring/summer pillows or cushions off the furniture. If your porch is well covered, you can add some fall colored pillows, cushions, or blankets. This will make your porch feel even more fall-themed and comfy.
You can also consider adding other decoration items such as an outdoor rug for your porch sitting area. Be careful of the type of material you use, especially if you live in a more wet climate. Don’t underestimate using pumpkins for decoration. While many porches will have pumpkins of all type, and jack-o-lanterns in October, pumpkins can also spruce up your porch. You can switch up the typical orange with white, and even green varieties of pumpkins.
Another idea for fall home decor tips is to plant fall flowers and plants around your home. You can replace your spring and summer flowers with fall flowers, such as chrysanthemums or pansies. This will help to update the landscape design around your home and continue to integrate those fall colors. Don’t forget to plant some of these beautiful fall flowers in pots for your porch and hanging baskets.
Indoor Preparation
While the exterior of your home will need the most help as it’s going to bear the brunt of the harsh weather, there is quite a bit you can do for the interior of your home to prepare it for fall as well.
Heating Systems
With the weather cooling down, it’s time to get your heating systems on and warming your home. Whether you plan to use a wood-burning stove or your HVAC, there are some maintenance and prep steps you should take early in fall to ensure that they will function properly for you throughout the cold season.
If you’re planning on using an HVAC system to heat your home, you will want to have a professional come and check the system to ensure that everything is in working order. They’ll check the insulation in your attic as well to make sure heat doesn’t escape there, causing your utility bill to rise. If there are issues, getting this checked early will keep you from suffering during colder weather if you were to discover it then.
If you plan on using a wood-burning stove or a fireplace this fall or winter, make sure to get them maintenanced as well. You can hire someone to come to clean out your chimney and make sure that smoke will escape where it should rather than backing up into your home. Along with this, you will want to make sure you have a good stock of wood to burn. Whether this means chopping trees around your property or purchasing wood, make sure you’ve got it all ready before the weather gets too cold and they start to dwindle in supply in stores.
Along with wood-burning sources, you will also want to check up on your smoke detectors and carbon monoxide monitors around your home. Replace the batteries or the entire monitor where needed. The last thing you want is to discover that your monitors are not working properly when an emergency has already happened.
Insulation
As you prepare for fall in your home, it’s also a good idea to check up on the insulation and seals around your home. If you have an HVAC professional come check your system, they may be able to check the insulation in your attic to ensure it’s in good shape. You will also want to have a professional check the insulation around your pipes to ensure they are protected from the cold weather and won’t burst when freezing weather hits.
You should also check the seals around your windows and doors for any drafts. Door seals are fairly simple to replace and you can even do it on your own. These simple replacements will keep your home warm and will save you money on your utility bill as well.
Carpets
Your carpets and rugs may take a beating this fall and winter and you and your family members trek in mud and water on the bottom of your shoes. As you prepare for fall, one of the best fall home decor tips, or rather, home decor protection tip, is to hire a professional company for a detailed carpet cleaning and have them treat your carpet with a stain protector as well. These protective measures will help your carpet to stand up to the wear and tear they’ll experience this fall season.
Indoor Decoration
This is where the fall home decor tips really start to come into play. Decorating the interior of your home for fall is easily the most exciting part for a homeowner about transitioning from summer to fall. Just like with the exterior of your home, you’ll want to integrate those typical warm fall colors; red, orange, and yellow. You can start putting some fall colored pillows and rugs in your living and sitting areas. Candles are a great fall decor item as well as a way to make your home smell delicious. And just like outdoors, small pumpkins are a great way to decorate areas in your home. If you’ve planted some fall flowers outside, don’t miss out on using some of them for floral arrangements inside.
Another great area in your home to use some fall home decor tips in the kitchen. Whether it’s performing some kitchen renovations, or just adding new decorations, this space can benefit greatly from some warm fall decor.
Doing some kitchen renovations during early fall is a great time to schedule them. It’s an offseason for home renovators and kitchen designers so you’ll have an easier time scheduling them for work. With a newly renovated kitchen, you’ll have an even better space to cook and bake during this coming fall and holiday season and will be even more excited to add new decorations items.
Because fall is a season where homeowners tend to do a lot of baking, doing some upgrades is a great way to help your kitchen get into the “fall spirit”. If you’ve got an old or poorly functioning oven, now may be the time to replace it and upgrade to something more reliable. You can also set out some baking and decor items, such as decorative containers for baking items, or even a book stand with a cookbook open to a healthy recipe idea. One of the best fall home decor tips is to spruce up your home with the delicious smell of fall baked goods.
In Conclusion
These fall home decor tips and preparation tips are exactly what you need to make sure your home is ready for the new season. If you take care to make sure they’re all done, you’ll have the peace of mind in knowing that your house is prepared for the cool weather and will be the best looking on the block.
