It's autumn again, our favorite season, when the evenings draw closer, and the mornings rise later, cool and misty. The last of the flowers are blooming, the bounty of fruit and vegetables beckons from tables and farmers markets. The days grow shorter, colder. There is the change in the weather. The colors of the leaves are bright and beautiful, yet the melancholic mood hangs in the air like a foggy mist on a cold day. The nature draws inwards, and so do we.
Cocooning, this is what we do. We prepare our home for cold days, make it comfortable and cozy. What does it mean for My French Maison “ladies of the house”? Being in the metier of brocante, we have a compulsion to change things up almost all the time. This time of year, this compulsion gets spun into high gear.
For us creating more ambiance in our homes is it - for Dorota in Strasbourg it meant putting brand new art on the walls of her home (brand new for us means freshly found at the flea!), which made her see the colors and decor in her salon in the new light, so she is on a reupholstery kick right now. Joanna in Lyon brought out plenty of candles in all kinds of candlesticks she has been collecting - because on gloomy days we need to create our own sunshine! She is also sourcing some (vintage, bien sur!) fabric for the sprucing up of two antique fauteuils she was lucky to find recently (we will write later how to persuade your family to live among your vintage finds…) And because we live in two different cities, we don’t get to see the results first hand right away, so we talk all the time and text pictures.
Our home decor gets some overhaul - we experiment with changing things up on the walls, adding some vintage finds, taking up projects, and yes - cooking more, spending more time with family and friends, in the soft glow of candlelight, serving delicious French food on ironstone found at Les Puces. And it makes us proud when our creativity makes our friends go WOW!
We know we are not the only ones who are getting the “sprucing up for fall” bug. Do share with us - Is fall your favorite season? Does it inspire you to make your home more especial this season? How do you bring the coziness and the spirit of closeness in your home? Is it the candles, piles of pillows and blankets? Or is it trying new recipes to savor with family and friends? Or stacking up new books to read on dark evenings? Or filling up your social calendar inviting friends over to show off your new decorating projects?
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