Decorating your home to match different holidays and seasons can be a lot of fun for decorators both amateur and professional. Customizing your space as the seasons change can keep things fresh and interesting. If you keep the big ticket fixtures – like furnishings, flooring and wall color – in your living room neutral, you can play with seasonal color palettes to add spice and flair with your accessories. When planning your seasonal decor, consider how your family and guests will experience the living space. What will they see, hear, touch and smell? What do you want people to see first? What part of the room do you want to make the biggest impression? Answering these basic design questions before undertaking a seasonal decorating plan will save you a lot of guessing time, as well as increase your chances of creating a beautiful and satisfying environment.

Autumn September -November
Holidays/unique elements to consider: Halloween, Veteran’s Day, Labor Day, harvest, leaves change color, Thanksgiving, back to school, elections.
Sights: Use accents in warm fall colors from nature. Pumpkin orange, russet red, butternut squash gold, pecan brown as well as colors from your spice rack (paprika, cumin, cayenne, and clove) look great against neutrals and add warmth and depth to your space. Consider adding wool throws, toss pillows, art and decorative pieces in these shades to instantly add autumn flair.
Smells: Scented candles and other home fragrances can make your home feel very inviting. While baking and actual apple pie with fresh ground cinnamon or a hot loaf of pumpkin or zucchini bread are the most authentic ways to add scent, using a candle scented with spiced apples, sugar cookies or pumpkin pie can add a nice touch.
Textures: In autumn we all pull out our cool weather sweaters and prepare to hunker in for the winter. Make cold weather seem inviting by using cozy woven fabrics and other rich textures throughout your living space. Wool, velour, corduroy, denim and canvass are all wonderful autumn fabrics.
Feelings to evoke: Coziness, comfort, warmth.

Winter December – February
Holidays/unique elements to consider: Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, President’s day.
Sights: Colors associated with winter are very cool and crisp. Blue and gray dominate, with white, silver and midnight blue accenting. Religious holidays have associated colors as well, including red and green for Christmas, blue and white for Chanukah and gold, red and green for Kwanzaa.  Holiday decorations are likely displayed prominently in December, but accenting your normal decor with winter colors after the holidays can create a look that is both crisp and polished.
Smells: The holidays usually mean homes are filled with the smells of fresh baked goods and delicious holiday meals. Additional scents to consider include pine, peppermint, cranberry, merlot and mocha.
Textures: Soothing, soft and warm fabrics and textures invite family and guests to curl up with a cup of cocoa. Consider a fluffy lap sized duvet, beautiful handmade quilts or a cashmere throw on the back of the sofa, paired with a few winter hued toss pillows. Accent with a dash of smooth, cool silk or taffeta in an icy blue.
Feelings to evoke: Holiday cheer, companionship, peace and goodwill.

Spring March – May
Holidays/unique elements to consider: Mother’s day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Memorial Day, blooming flowers, spring cleaning
Sights: Spring is the perfect time to fill your home with fresh flowers. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and lilies in a rainbow of spring colors can instantly make the stuffiest space feel fresh and new.  Stash away the heavy winter blankets and accessories and bring out decorative pieces in lightweight fabrics and crisp colors. Take your color cues from springtime flower gardens and blooming trees by bringing in soft pastels, bright greens and yellows and creamy vanilla shades of white.
Smells: Nothing smells better than a fresh spring breeze, throw open the windows and let Mother Nature help clear out the last of the winter stuffiness in your home. Fresh flowers will tint the air with delicate perfume. Additionally, it never quite feels like spring until the cleaning is done and the whole house smells lemon fresh and polished for spring.
Textures: Go for soft, lightweight textures.  Silk, cotton and linen are classic and cool. Spring is a great time to play with pattern as well as texture, consider adding some accents in a spring inspired floral or stripe.
Feelings to evoke: Renewal, contentedness, energy.

Summer June – August
Holidays/unique elements to consider: Independence Day, Father’s Day, Flag Day, barbeques, the beach, family vacations.
Sights: Accessories in bright summer colors pop against a neutral background. Turquoise blue, sea green, coral, sandy browns and sunny yellows all add a summer feel. Color cues can also be taken from summer produce stands, bright leafy greens, bold berry colors and rich tomato reds are perfect colors to accent hot summer days.
Smells: Nothing smells more like summer than freshly mown grass, earthy food fresh from the garden and warm ocean breezes. Fill your home with smells of freshly squeezed lemons, meat from the grill and summer flowers.
Textures: Like spring, summer is a time for lightweight, natural fiber fabrics like cotton, raw silk and linen. Take cues from the fabrics you enjoy wearing in the summer as you choose your accent pieces. Crisp, light colored fabrics make even the hottest day feel as cool as a cucumber.
Feelings to evoke: Relaxation, cool comfort, vacation.

Jessica Ackerman from WallDecorandHomeAccents.com, has skills in all areas of wooden wall hangings and tree of life wall sculpture.

Decorating a foyer can be a daunting task.  In most modern open concept design homes, the foyer is little more than the area around the front door.   Many homes feature two story foyers, which can provide an even bigger design challenge, both literally and figuratively.  There are several things you can do to spice up the entry way to your home without spending a lot of money.

Photo collage – Hang a set of related photographs in frames on your wall in a pattern, giving the impression of a much larger piece of art.   Keep at least one element consistent, such as using black and white photographs or using the same color frame and matting to give your collection an intentional look.   This project can be done very inexpensively if you have a color printer available – find a series of images on the web, print them on cardstock and place them in frames picked up at the local flea market or garage sale.  Paint mismatched frames or use them as is for a great shabby chic look.  In this image, the Za Za Hotel has created a striking display of celebrity drawings in identical frames hung in a grid, but the effect can be just as lovely in a freeform design.

Wall decals – Wall decals are the next big thing in home decorating, and can be perfect for livening up foyer walls.  Dozens of online retailers sell wall decals in a variety of patterns and colors, or you can make your own.   Craft stores sell die-cutting machines with a limitless amount of options for creating the perfect piece of art for your walls, or if you’re artistic and good with a craft knife, you can create and cut out your own designs.  Cling vinyl, which will stick to flat surfaces without an adhesive, can be purchased in nearly any quantity and is widely available at craft stores and online auction sites.

1.    Organization station – If you manage a busy family, the foyer can be a great place to keep track of complicated schedules and the items we all seem to need when we come and go from our homes.  Consider hanging an attractive calendar, cubbies with electronics chargers, key hooks and closed storage for shoes and cold-weather wear.   Several companies make customizable wall organization systems with combinations of writing surfaces, pin boards, storage shelves and hanging compartments.  Especially handy decorators who know their way around power tools could easily create a completely customized organization wall system for very little money.

Mirrors – a mirror is pretty standard in a foyer, but mirrors are classic décor pieces for a reason – they can make a space feel much larger by reflecting both space and light.  A mirror is also practical to have by the front door for last minute checks before heading out, and mirrors come in an infinite number of styles and sizes.  In this image, the decorator has used an ornate, oversized mirror to create a dramatic entryway in very little space.

2.    Think like a hotel – Think of your favorite hotel and how it has appointed its lobby.  While your foyer at home may not be nearly as expansive or architecturally stunning as the foyer at a hotel, you can borrow ideas and translate them to fit into your décor.   What elements make you feel as though you are somewhere special?  Fresh flowers, exquisite furniture, beautiful art?  Looking at public spaces you enjoy can help you define your own style, and provide hints at how you can achieve your own version at home.

Play with bold color – A foyer wall is the perfect place to play with a bold, daring color you want in your home but aren’t brave enough to use to paint an entire room.  A two-story wall painted a bold color is an art piece in itself, as well as making a dramatic backdrop for an art collection.  In this image, the decorator has painted the walls a very bright pink – not a color many people would expect to find in an entryway – but brings it together with coordinating fabrics and furnishings, causing the bold color to blend into the background while making the pieces in the room shine.  While this style isn’t for everyone, it does demonstrate how effective strong color can be in a foyer.  The accent colors are equally bold, yet the overall picture is very polished.

3.     Make an art niche – A small wall can be a great backdrop for some of your favorite decorative pieces.  In this photo, the decorator used a painting, a two light sconce and a small table of items to create a very welcoming, warm area in a tiny amount of space.  Note how the art pops against the bold, textured wall color.

Family memory wall – While a collection of family photos is always touching, think outside of the box if you’d like to pay tribute to your family’s accomplishments on your foyer walls.  Instead of limiting yourself to school photos and wedding pictures, find creative ways to display your family’s history.  Frame a piece of your wedding dress with pressed flowers from your bouquet or a great piece of art your child created at school.   Make scrapbook pages of your family’s vacations and frame them to hang.

Jessica Ackerman of WallDecorandHomeAccents.com, is an interior designer who illustrates how simple it can be to use wooden wall artwork and large abstract wall art.