The Seasonal Home Edit

Seasonal decorating has a bad reputation because most of it is additive. Things come out of the attic in October, more things come out in November, and by January the house has been wearing a costume for a quarter of the year.

The version I use with clients changes about five percent of a room and does it entirely through things that were already going to be there: textiles, light, and something living.

The framework is simple. Four times a year, three swaps. Change the throws and pillow covers. Change what is in the vessels. Change how the room is lit — earlier, lower, warmer as the days shorten. That is the whole method, and it takes about forty minutes per room.

What makes it work is that nothing new enters the house permanently. Everything swaps out with something else, so the storage requirement is one bin per season, not a closet.

The rooms still register the change. In fact they register it more clearly, because a single deliberate shift reads as intentional where a house covered in seasonal objects reads as decorated.

A home that looks considered, not decorated.