Prepping Your Home For The Fall Q&A

We speak with environmental psychologist Sally Augustin, PhD about some ways to better adapt our homes during the summer-to-fall transition.

Q: As we move into into autumn, what are ways that can help us prepare ourselves and our home environments for the change of the season -- shorter days, earlier evenings, colder weather?

A: Human well-being is closely tied to the natural world. During the summer, our worlds are saturated with daylight and warm breezes. As the days grow shorter, it’s particularly important to consider the sights, sounds, smells, and tactile sensations you have in your personal space.

Customize your personal spaces so that they make you feel great and think back to the pleasant experiences from summer and make sure they’re incorporated somehow into your home. If your family had a wonderful meal at a relative's kitchen while the lilacs bloomed outside, make the spaces in your home smell like lilac.

You can change things in your homes constantly, but especially by the season. Consider rotating the pillows on your couch or the comforter on your bed to have warmer, autumnal colors. Or if you need a bed, invest in a canopy bed for a heightened sense of warmth and coziness. Arrange an assortment of lamps in a room where a few lit ones can help create a quiet retreat. If you have a built-in window seat or a chair by the window, make it a comfortable spot from which you can look outdoors, whether its a view of the edge of a meadow, a backyard or a city street. Incorporating these tiny shifts into your home will make you more comfortable during the upcoming season and will make the summer past (and future) seem even more glorious.

Photo: Flickr, *clairity*