Check Out This Renter-Friendly Fall Decor Transformation

The transition to a cozy fall after a hot summer is not one that many people dread. It’s a change that comes with sweet smells and vibrant colors outside the home, and a feeling of warmth inside the home, with fun home decor to match. We break our quilts out of hiding and fluff our sweaters, ready to embrace the cold and begin our version of hibernation. 

Our immediate surroundings can take us even further into our post-summer Hygge state; that’s why interior design enthusiasts like New York City nurse and mom Emily Auffrey call upon festive decorations to boost the seasonal ambiance in their homes. 

Working with an open mind and plenty of creativity, she’s turned her Long Island City apartment from a lush summer oasis into a fall dreamscape with only a few simple moves. Read on to get some renter-friendly cozy fall decor ideas from her amazing fall home tour.

Auffrey's DIY pumpkin decor on display. Photos courtesy of Emily Auffrey.

Auffrey, known DIY expert and trash room treasure enthusiast, has found or rescued the majority of her seasonal decor that’s on display in her apartment. She likes to be eco-conscious — “It’s in my DNA to always be as sustainable as possible,” she says — and using found, thrifted, or DIYed fall home decor is consistent with that. Plus, it’s more budget-friendly, and allows you to get your creative juices flowing. 

On Auffrey’s kitchen table is one of her most flashy fall centerpieces. “I got [a pumpkin] from Walmart, and of course, I did a DIY with it. I made it into a disco pumpkin.” She first spray painted it in a metallic silver, then lined its surface with tiny disco tiles from Amazon. (If your tiles are rectangular, Auffrey recommends laying them vertically to cooperate with the irregular pumpkin shape.)

Auffrey’s second pumpkin DIY is in her entryway on the table. “It’s a toilet paper roll,” she says, “And then you get flannel from somewhere — I found a flannel crib sheet in the trash room.” Then, you stuff the ends of the fabric in the holes on either end of the toilet paper roll. “And then I got a little stick from outside, and I stuck that through the hole to make a stem,” she says. She finished the pumpkin with a bow tied with a piece of twine.

Also on Auffrey’s DIY list for this year are terra cotta pumpkins, for which she’ll mix baking soda and terra cotta-colored acrylic paint. “You can also age that with baking soda after it dries,” she says. 

Lastly, she collected some acorns from outside and placed them in a small bowl on the same entryway table, adding a touch of nature alongside with the fluffy grasses accenting the autumn-centric entryway table. 

Auffrey uses a warm color palette to transform her apartment for fall. Photos courtesy of Emily Auffrey.

Auffrey began her decorating process by removing a few items whose color didn’t fit her new fall vibes. She took away brightly colored books, mostly neons, and replaced summer family photos with photos that have more of an autumn vibe to them or that were taken in the winter.

She also just moved a large blue rug that had been under her dining table. With the hardwood floor now underneath and a tan tablecloth with brown flowers on top (plus the disco pumpkin and rattan chargers), the dining room nook is blanketed in warm, fall colors that enhance the autumn feel of the space. 

Some of Auffrey’s fall apartment decor also comes from other places in her apartment; she brings elements out of the background and into the foreground. In the living room, for example, Auffrey has terra cotta pottery on display on the coffee table, as well as palm fans that she moved from a shelf in another room. Also in the living room is an orange Ikea donut lamp, which she got out of storage, and a plant in a mug: “Because a mug equals cozy,” she says.

Although she doesn’t necessarily focus on the Halloween aspect of fall decor in the rest of her apartment, Auffrey likes to give her son a Halloween room makeover when the season comes around. This year, she draped her son’s DIY headboard (made out of a room divider) with halloween string lights that she found in the trash last year. 

Auffrey also breaks out her son’s CVS skeleton each year, which lights up and sits on her son’s desk, and the purple and green bedding adds to the vibe in the room. Halloween books come out, the lights go on, and the room becomes a fun seasonal space to relax after a long day at school. 

Auffrey has more plans for her space, like a Tide Pod container jack-o-lantern, matte-spray painted plastic pumpkins, and a display for her son’s old Thanksgiving artwork. So far, she’s managed to use the art of DIY and the magic found treasures to turn her dream apartment into a spot for a deeper appreciation for the fall season in New York City.