This post is in partnership with Wayfair

Don’t worry, I haven’t decorated for Christmas yet (these photos were taken last year). But…

Can you believe there are only twelve weekends until Christmas? Here’s my secret to a peaceful season:

Prep now, and the holidays will feel cozy—not chaotic.

* Click here for above sources *

Preparing for a cozy (and calm) home for the holidays

Pour a steaming cup of tea, grab a pretty pen + notepad, and start a seasonal brainstorm:

• What do you want Thanksgiving to feel like?

• What do you want Christmas to look like?

This intentional practice makes planning fun, preparation easy, and the whole season more enjoyable—so you’ll feel peace, not panic.

And to make things even simpler, you can find everything you need for a cozy home, seasonal decorating, hosting, and holiday prep all in one place at Wayfair.

Here are a few favorite Wayfair pieces from my home and more holiday finds!

A few cozy favorites from Wayfair that make our entry extra charming: a demilune table (comes in 2 colors), a scalloped lampshade lamp (lots of size and color options!), the sweetest bunny pitcher (I use it year round and fill with different seasonal elements), versatile cane + wood lidded boxes, and a pretty floral rug.

I love how cozy this lamp looks when it’s on, too. I loved this lamp so much I bought variations of it three times! The larger size seen above in white, the smaller cobalt below, and a smaller white, too.

I’m already dreaming of holiday tablescapes. Can’t wait to bring out these darling tree dessert plates again — they instantly make dessert feel extra festive and special.

I have the matching mugs, too!

This blue and white nativity scene was love at first sight. It feels so special in our home to remember the reason for the season.

This knit checkered stocking is so sweet (also comes in red).

Plaid Pillow. The wool hooked bunny pillow is coming back in stock next month (you can ask to be notified when it’s back!).

Gold Candlestick Set // Navy Taper Candles

Shop My Wayfair Favorites (click images below):

I was sitting in our living room this week with my morning coffee when I noticed something was different. After a few years in a home, you slowly begin to recognize the way the light changes with each season — but that morning, the sun slipped through the blinds in a new way, scattering patterns across the wall I hadn’t seen before.

It’s surprising how a house can reveal new things to you, bringing beauty you hadn’t noticed, even years later. Especially when you pause long enough to see it.

Four years ago this month we moved to an island and into this little house. Sixteen seasons. Four falls. And in each one, both the house and our life in it have changed in big and small ways.

This living room has changed right along with us! We repainted walls, put in new floors, renovated the kitchen which used to connect to it, changed the furniture and rearranged the room more times than I can count.

There were seasons of renovation chaos and seasons when it felt more settled and cozy again. Each fall, this room has looked and felt just a little different — like home.

Life has changed, too! We downsized, became empty nesters, and found new rhythms in this house.

In four years, we’ve celebrated holidays, hosted family visits, welcomed a new son-in-law, and now two grandbabies.

We said goodbye to our beloved Jack the Goldendoodle last year, and the hole he left in our hearts and in this home is still felt.

We’re so grateful he spent three years here with us, filling this house with so many memories.

Bringing our puppy Finnegan home last year — along with the arrival of our two precious grandbabies — has filled the house with the joy of new life again.

Through it all, this little living room has welcomed us in every season.

It has been a place for quiet mornings like this one, holiday gatherings, work projects, and everyday life in between.

Living so close to the sea has its own rhythm — slower, peaceful, rooted in the beauty around us.

It takes time to feel settled, to create a sense of place in a new home and community, and to build memories even in the midst of change.

But that’s what creating a sanctuary is all about. It’s not just finding the ideal way to arrange furniture or the perfect color for the walls, but embracing the rhythm of each season at home — and all of the ways you can make it yours.

Wall paint color: Beach Glass Benjamin Moore

Click here for above sources

*Find more of my home sources in my shop*

As the days grow shorter and cooler, our homes begin to take on new significance. Fall and winter are seasons that draw us inward. They become our shelter in the storms — a true sanctuary.

But how do you design a home that will feel as good as it looks? It’s not the same as designing a showplace or a styled photoshoot that appears perfect on Instagram but leaves the people in it overwhelmed or exhausted behind the scenes.

A sanctuary should be the opposite. It’s a place that nurtures you, inspires you, and reflects who you really are.

Home is not a project, it’s a sanctuary.

What a Sanctuary Feels Like

A sanctuary should feel like a warm hug, a place where you exhale when you walk in the door.

It’s not about measuring up, or comparison, or performance. Instead, it’s about creating an atmosphere where you feel your best—and where the people you love feel cared for, too. Layer by layer, a sanctuary tells your story. It welcomes you in. It’s where you rest, recharge, celebrate, and find joy in every season of life.

It’s not about perfection, it’s about presence.

And this truth becomes especially important in fall and winter. These seasons invite us to slow down, to add comfort and richness to our layers, and to create spaces that nurture us through the darker, colder months ahead.

The Room Recipe: A Framework for Decorating

So how do we begin to create a home that truly feels like sanctuary, especially in the fall and winter months?

I use my time-tested method I call a Room Recipe. Just like a good recipe you refine over time in the kitchen, a Room Recipe is built on ingredients that work together. You can customize them to taste and preferences. Step by step these six timeless elements give every room a foundation you can live with, layer, and love for years to come:

• Simplicity → Clearing space, improving backdrops, editing what you don’t need in your life.
• Style → Choosing the mix of moods, colors, and patterns that feel right to you.
• Seating Places → Arranging spaces so people feel comfortable and welcome, regardless of the size of your home.
• Senses → Engaging your sense of taste, finding pleasant accessory arrangements, inspiring scents and sounds that set the atmosphere.
• Story → Adding meaningful, personal layers over time that tell who you are.
• Seasons → Bringing in organic or seasonal touches that make your home feel fresh and connect you to the moment.

This practical and insightful decorating method is taught through a creative series of six ingredient guides (each formatted like an inspiring magazine with flip pages and full color photos) as well as our live weekly Home Therapy sessions — all within HomeBody Gathering Place.

Room Recipe is your timeless foundation—each season is another chance to refresh the layers and savor your sanctuary.

Why Fall and Winter Are Different

Fall and winter invite us to mix up your room’s recipe in a new way. It’s not just about adding pumpkins or hay bales by the door!

Unlike spring and summer, which often call for freshness or simplifying, these seasons are about adding layers of warmth and charm to our style and experience at home.

Rhythms slow down—lighting lamps earlier, layering blankets, making space for quiet evenings and gentle home rhythms.

Textures get cozier—knit throws, velvet pillows, flannel sheets.

Moods warm up—textures, candlelight, warmer hues.

Scents and spaces turn nostalgic—cinnamon, cedar, clove, story, memories and traditions.

Every layer should nurture you and reflect who you truly are.

An Invitation + a Deal for YOU!

This fall and winter, let’s focus on creating a sanctuary. Embrace the little shifts that make your home feel more nurturing, more intentional, and more welcoming in this season.

In our Fall Nesting series in HomeBody Gathering Place, we’ll be walking through this seasonal rhythm together—decorating room by room—adding simple, practical layers of warmth and charm. You’ll also get instant access to all six full Room Recipe Decorating Guides, so you can build a timeless foundation for every space and refresh it season by season.

Because home should be the place where you feel your best in every season.

Last chance for new HomeBodies to get our low introductory rate!

Now is the perfect season to become a HomeBody!

This is the final session available at our special introductory rate for new members. Beginning September 12, rates will increase to reflect our ever-growing library of creative HomeBody resources and weekly Home Therapy lessons.

New Perk for HomeBodies! Members will now get 20% off full price resources in The Inspired Room Digital Store! This will include our brand new Dreambook: If I Lived in a Cozy Cottage by the Sea (releasing this week!).

Fall nesting is the slow art of evolving our home with the season.

Do you feel it where you live? The subtle change in the air, the softer light, the way the trees begin to turn? Fall has always been my favorite season for home — a time to slow down, gather in, and make our spaces feel extra warm and welcoming.

Over the years I’ve called this practice fall nesting. It’s the gentle process of evolving our home as the season shifts — not in a rush, not all at once, but with small layers of care and intention.

In fact, since 2007 I’ve been sharing this tradition with you here on The Inspired Room, and every year I return to it because it grounds me. Fall nesting isn’t about keeping up with trends or pressure to do more — it’s about savoring the season, noticing what comforts you, and creating a sanctuary right where you are.

Here are 6 reasons I believe fall is such a special season for our homes — and why years ago I created this list as A Fall Nesting Manifesto.

It’s my gentle reminder (and yours, too) that our homes don’t have to be perfect to feel like a sanctuary.

6 Reasons to Love Fall at Home:

1. Fall nesting is the slow art of evolving our home with the season.

Just as the trees turn and the light shifts, our homes, too, can gently change. This isn’t a process to rush or complete in a day — it’s an invitation to let our home grow and breathe alongside our own season of life.

2. Fall nesting is an opportunity to nurture ourselves.

This season is about weaving into our surroundings what comforts and inspires us, and preparing what will sustain our well-being in the months ahead. It’s less about what we lack, and more about noticing and enjoying what we already have.

3. Fall nesting is about creating a sanctuary.

When we welcome fall with intention, we don’t need to feel anxious about our home’s imperfections or worried about the future. Instead, we can focus on how we feel right now, and on small, meaningful steps that bring warmth, peace, and contentment.

4. Fall nesting is about layers of warmth and charm.

Sometimes that means adding something new, but often it begins with letting go, repurposing, or simply rearranging. It’s about textures and colors, natural elements and light, all coming together to set the mood of the season.

5. Fall nesting is about rituals of comfort.

It’s the joy of puttering, of tending to little corners, of finding beauty in small shifts. It’s lighting a candle at dusk, setting out mugs for tea, or laying an extra quilt across the bed. These simple rituals nourish us and those we love.

6. Fall nesting is about gratitude.

It’s slowing down to notice, savor, and give thanks for the season we’re in — then expressing that gratitude in our surroundings. Our home becomes a reflection of inner contentment and a welcoming place for others to feel it, too.

If you long to apply these rhythms to your home, I’d love to welcome you into HomeBody Gathering Place. It’s where we bring this manifesto to life.

Inside HGP, you’ll find a private, cozy community where we practice these rhythms together with weekly encouragement and tools that make them simple and doable.

And even if you simply read along here, I hope this manifesto reminds you that your home can be a place of peace and sanctuary in every season.

Best Cozy Fall Decor Finds

Every year we curate a Cozy Fall Shop filled with cute and cozy fall decor finds for the home. We’ll keep adding new favorites throughout the season as more become available, so be sure to bookmark the Cozy Fall Shop and check back often!

Every year we curate a Cozy Fall Shop with lots of cute and cozy finds for the home! We continue adding to the Cozy Fall Shop throughout the season as more becomes available, so bookmark it to check back in periodically!

We also created an Amazon Fall Decor folder HERE in my storefront where I’ll be adding more of my seasonal finds all autumn long!

See all our current favorite cozy fall decor finds on the Cozy Fall Shop page below.

Fall Decorating Inspiration Gallery on The Inspired Room

Get inspired by our Home Decor Mood Boards

How to Savor The In Between Season in Your Home with Summer to Fall Decorating (plus my faded faux hydrangeas and fall home decor ideas!)

Simple Joy of Puttering

One of my favorite things to do in every season is just putter around the house.

In the winter, it’s an indoor rhythm—quiet and cozy. I’ll make a hot drink, light a candle, tidy up a corner or maybe move a few things around just to make the space feel a bit more inviting. It’s not about tackling a big project—it’s about being present and making the home feel better in small ways.

In the summer, I’m still holding a warm mug (anyone else a hot coffee year-round person?), but the experience feels a little different. The doors are always open so a fresh coastal breeze comes through. I might step outside on a whim to clip herbs or snip some flowers, and come back in the kitchen to put them in a vase. While I’m there I might clear the counters or rearrange a shelf, but only if I’m inspired to. Most of the time I’m just puttering around the house, doing any small thing that makes me happy but also doing nothing in particular.

Puttering is not about productivity or getting things done. It’s more like a hobby or activity I look forward to. A slow ritual that helps me feel more at peace and connected to my home (and myself).

People often ask, “What do you do for fun?” For me, this is it. Puttering. It’s simple, but it brings me joy.

puttering (verb): to occupy yourself in an unhurried, pleasant way with small tasks, without focusing on anything in particular.

Whether it’s winter or summer, puttering always feels like time well spent! It’s like home therapy for a HomeBody like me!

Are you a putterer, too?