Sunday, October 6, 2002		Home space

Autumn bonanza
Chetna Banerjee

AUTUMN not only provides a languorous and sweetly serene interlude between summer and winter, but also heralds the festival season, starting with the Navratras, Durga Puja and Dasehra.

Nature in all its golden glory sets the mood for the festive time to come. The sweet whiff of autumn blooms, the sight of leaves drifting off trees to form a colourful carpet on the floor and the canopy of earthy hues that crowns the flora and fauna—these are the sites, smells and colours to adorn your homescape with.

Give your home a makeover for Fall and let the glow and warmth of nature permeate your interiors. Autumn dressing for your home doesn’t involve only surface adornment but also entails extensive decluttering and sorting operations in preparation for winter, much like spring cleaning.

But more of the reorganising bit later. For now, let’s focus on the cosmetic changes that can mirror the change of season and reflect the new mood of Mother Earth.

Reflect nature’s mood

Now is the time to put away and replace all those cool, cool home furnishings and accessories you’d draped your interiors in at the peak of summer. down with all those organdie sheers or bed canopies. Roll up those chiks and blinds that blocked the fierce summer sun. Let the soothing autumn sunshine suffuse your rooms. Stack away those pale, pastel cushion covers and sofa backs for the next hot season. Make a splash with earth colours—mellow brown, golden yellow, rust, beige, etc—on the cushions, bedspreads, table tops, as throw rugs on the floors...and what have you. And don’t forget those bed canopies. Out with those feathery voiles or translucent organdies that had floated over your bed in summer. It’s time to hang up vibrant silk bandhni dupattas or soft-hued tusser saris in their place to set the tone for the festive mood.

It’s yet too early for those vivid winter blooms—zinnias, nasturtiums, sweet peas, dahlias, chrysanthemums, marigold—so instead of fresh blooms make the maximum use of all those dried flowers and twigs that abound in this season of fading blooms and falling leaves.

This Sunday, venture out on a long, leisurely nature walk along tree-lined avenues. The quest for nature’s booty is bound to yield bountiful results. Go wild in the wilderness and swoop up an armful of twigs, cones, unusual-shaped leaves, dried up flowers or anything else that catches your fancy. you can use these in their natural colours to make interesting centrepieces and corner arrangements. Else you can splash them with metallic paints—golden, silver, copper or bronze— and team them with green foliage for a mix’n’match arrangement.

Another way you can add a dash of colour is by placing a solitary stems of any seasonal flower in a test tube or empty champagne or any long-necked glass bottle and filling it with coloured water. So simple yet so stylish! Line your window sills with these and create magic at no extra cost.

Forget not the designer candles you might have stowed away into an obscure corner at the first sign of soaring mercury. Retrieve them to serve as the focal points for any festive decor. For instance, group a couple of pine cones around a pillar-shaped candle or place dried flowers along with perfumed floating candles in a bowl of water and let this be the centrepiece for your coffee table.

And don’t neglect your kitchen and bathrooms. the baths too should mirror the mood of the season and the kitchen must emit the flavour and sweet scents of Fall.

Replace all the muted, pastel-hued summer accessories in the baths with those that evoke the colours of autumn. From towels, scented soaps to footmats and pot mats, dress your loo in earthy tones.

The cooking area too can toast this season of juicy apples and luscious pears. Walnuts and fresh red apples can be heaped on to a small wicker basket and placed on the dining table or mantlepiece. Else you can pile freshly plucked lemons or pears on a crystal fruit bowl and place them in a corner of the kitchen. The tangy smell of lime adds freshness to the room.

Like spring, autumn is a time when it is possible to virtually bring the outdoors into your home. So go ahead and let your interiors play host to nature in a big, big way!