How to Dress your Home for a Beautiful yet simple Autumnal look with Décor on a Budget


I love everything about a crisp Autumn day, the colours of nature in the trees, the warm sunshine and the cooler air. Wrapping up in warm clothing and taking a walk in the countryside cannot be beaten at this time of year. But how can you bring that beauty of Autumn into your home in simple yet beautiful ways and on a strict budget! Well here is how I do it!

Throw – Dunelm

My Items I bought on a Budget for Autumn Décor over the last few years

Glitter Pumpkins – Poundstretcher – £1
Plastic Light Up Pumpkin – B&M – £4
Artificial Autumn Leaves – The Works – £1 a bag (50 leaves per bag)
Wreaths, Craft Items and Wooden Pieces – The Works / eBay – 50p – £5
Autumn Fleece Throws – Asda £6 / Tesco £6 / Dunelm £7+
Artificial Pumpkins / Pine Cones / Acorns – eBay – £4-£12 depending upon how many pieces you want and which country you decide to order them from (China prices are cheaper but you’ll wait around 3 weeks for the delivery).
Autumn Cushions – Autumn Designed Cushions or Cushion Covers – Amazon / eBay / Dunelm £3 – £9

(Some of the items in my pictures I have purchased from years 2020, 2021 and 2022 and only similar items may now be available from their respective sellers).

Glitter Pumpkins – Poundstretcher
My delightful Cat in a Scarf Cushion from Next from 6 years ago.

I love nothing more than to cuddle up on my sofa with my cushions and fleece throws, getting cosy as the cold nights draw in. I have a whole box filled with throws, I have some for every season. It’s the turn of my Autumn throws like the one above, it’s navy and orange design emanating the colours of autumn.

Autumn Basket

I used an old wicker basket that I had laying around to create an Autumnal display. Inside I placed artificial leaves, pumpkins and acorns, with some pine cones. Take some leaves and gently slot them in around the outside, so that no matter what angle you look across at it you will see an autumnal theme.
You can use any spare Basket or even a Box you have laying around, paint it if you wanted to! And any size works too, the smaller your item the less things you’ll need to fill it up.

Autumn Basket from above
Light-Up Battery Pumpkin Clear – B&M (2021)

Autumn Wreath

An autumn wreath is simple to make from some of the items you’ve already bought for decorations like the pine cones and artificial leaves. You can also go on a nature walk, gather items off the floor (do not remove them from hedges or trees) and dry them out on a towel over the course of the next week. My wreaths are from The Works and eBay. You can buy them as Metal, Rattan or Wicker, but I try to buy plant based ones where they are sustainably grown and made when possible.
To make a wreath take your circle base and then using a glue gun attach a selection of artificial leaves as a base layer for your other items like pine cones and artificial pumpkins. Leave it to dry for at least a day before hanging it up, or lay it flat as a centre piece of a table for example. You could stand a vase in the centre of it to continue the theme.
I used some Wooden items as decorations for my indoor only wreath as well, which I picked up from The Works over the past two years. The Owls are a particular favourite of mine.
I am proud with how both of my wreaths have turned out. See my images below.

Homemade Wreath I made 2021

My outdoor wreath is a metal ring that I have glued a selection of items including the artificial leaves and pumpkins, small pine cones and artificial acorns.

Homemade Wreath I made 2022

Thank you for reading this Lifestyle blog post today, I hope you have enjoyed looking at my Autumn décor and I do hope I have inspired you to decorate your own home – even if it is on a strict budget like mine has been over the last few years!

Your children may also enjoy making some Autumn Craft pictures with dried autumn leaves that can be painted and printed, or simply glue a nature picture together in autumn glory and all the colours you can find. It’s so easy to do a nice printed picture using dried shapes from nature and you can even display it in your home after as part of the seasons décor.


✩ Sabrina ✩

Autumn Craft Printing for Children

HALLOWEEN 2020 – How to Make Memories for a First Halloween and create Fun for a Halloween at home during this difficult year

Halloween is one of those holidays where people either love it or loathe it. Whether or not you like Fancy Dress and Decorating your Home, it’s an important right of passage for your little ones to experience the fun of a Halloween.

If it’s their first Halloween then I have lots of ideas that you could achieve easily at home and make some nice memories and keepsakes to show the child when they are older.

With the pandemic still affecting us all, there are many children who would love to be trick or treating and having fun and games with their friends. It’s highly likely not to happen this Halloween 2020, however that doesn’t mean you cannot do things at home.

WHAT IS IN THIS BLOG POST… HALLOWEEN 2020

  • Fancy Dress Photo Shoot Fun – My Tips and Tricks
  • Hand and Feet Print Halloween Decorations – Fun Family Keepsakes
  • Halloween Games with Treats to be Found (at home) – My Lockdown Halloween Trick or Treat Ideas
  • Baking with Halloween Shapes – Fun Baking Tips for the Family to do together
  • What Else Can You Do With Halloween Baking Cutters as Stencils!

Fancy Dress Photoshoot at Home

One way in which I always like to remember a holiday event or day is to do a photo shoot. For the last two years I have dressed my son up and surrounded him with a variety of Halloween related items. I got some good photographs doing this at home that I can treasure. If you set it up correctly you won’t need to pay anyone to take photographs for you.

You Will Need

A decent camera or a phone with a decent camera
A camera which has a timer if you want to do a family portrait
Natural light coming through a door or window is best for colours
Fancy Dress items and any props that you would like to include

  • My Photography Tips
  • Natural Light is important to get clear and sharp imagery.
  • Use fairy lights to add depth to your image (supervised around the child/ren of course).
  • Props are important and make sure you arrange them so they can be seen, if you’re going for a theme try and stick to it.
  • If you want things to be inside the frame then choose your layout carefully and keep looking through the camera lens as a guide.
  • A sofa or chair is ideal to sit a baby on or you could even use a ball pit or a rocker with a sheet over it to block out any unwanted branding or colours.
  • Set up your photo shoot before you get a baby ready otherwise they may get fed up rather quickly if you ignore them to move things around.
  • If you can get a large pumpkin or a cushion you can sit babies inside or on top, just make sure to always have their necks supported!

If you can’t pull off a Photoshoot then why not use some Free Filters on some Photo Apps. Some of them are highly detailed. We did one to show you just how cool! And if you have older children they might be more interested in that too!

4 WAYS TO USE HALLOWEEN BAKING CUTTERS AS STENCILS

I’m not very good at drawing so using these cutters as outlines was a great idea for me! If you can draw well you won’t need to do this! Ha! Ha!


Halloween Decorations

Halloween Posters

Halloween Colouring In


Halloween Baking

I drew around the shapes and outlined them in pen, then let my child colour it in.

Halloween Decorations

Making Halloween Decorations is easier than you think! So long as you have got some card and some paint. There are tons of ways you can make nice posters or decorations. Here is how I have made mine…

Pumpkins – Apples Halved and Dipped in Paint.
Spider – Hand Prints leaving off the thumb so fingers make 8 legs.
BOO – B and two hands for the O’s.
Ghost – Foot Print (upside down)

I’m planning to cut out the Pumpkins once they are fully dry and hang them up against my window.

You can make a Halloween poster for your window or you can cut the items out and hang them up with string.

Trick or Treat at home won’t be the same, but it can still be fun!
Check out my ideas below!

1. Make Every Room A Different Theme with a Different Sweet to Find. You can tailor them to meet the needs of your family, no choke-able sweets for little ones etc. If you don’t do Sweets you could use Numbered Fruit like Apples which result in a Toy prize if they find them all.

2. Make It A Halloween Treasure Hunt with the Treasure being Sweets! Write little clues on paper for the kids to follow. Create traps and fun obstacles for them to overcome, riddles and rhyming works well too!
“Where you Sleep, Often Deep, Beneath the Covers is what you Seek!” things like that, E.G Under their bed covers is a Sweet or another Clue.

3. Use A Dice And Clues to Make a Halloween Game of your Own! Using how many rooms you have and how many children, you can send each child off to a room where they have to either complete a task or seek and find the next clue, which once put together with their siblings answers, will reveal their bounty of Treats! E.G Two Siblings, they each find a clue on paper, one reads KITC and the other HEN and when put together they go to the KITCHEN for the next clue etc.

HALLOWEEN BAKING

I have done some step by step baking videos on my Halloween cookie baking and these are available to watch on my Facebook page, I will drop you the link here Severn Wishes on Facebook.

Find my Cookie Recipe Here too!

Before Baking
After Baking

You can use my Cookie Recipe or a Shortbread Recipe to make these awesome Halloween shaped treats!

I bought the set of cookie cutters off Amazon, if you would like the link to those then here that is… Amazon

I always do a Seasonal Bowl on my Dining Table. It is all Autumnal now!


Thank you so much for checking out this blog post today!

Please tag me over on Facebook on my page if you try and of my Halloween things! Baking, Craft or Decorations!

If you like my trick or treat at home ideas, let me know if you use them over the weekend too!

Have a great week at home everyone! Stay safe!

✩ Sabrina ✩