Layered guest bedding and a front door welcome with fall plants and weathered buoys—simple seasonal switches in my coastal Maine cottage. Plus my finds from last Saturday’s antiques show.

And Then It Was Fall

It’s no secret I’m slow to embrace fall.

Mother Nature apparently takes the Autumnal Equinox quite seriously too, because seemingly overnight she flipped the switch from summer. Suddenly, the maple along the driveway is ablaze with color. The other trees are still holding on to their green, but there’s a definite tinge to them now. It won’t be long before they follow the maple’s lead.

And today? One of those blustery, rainy fall days—perfect for curling up with my laptop, a mug of spiced tea, and a warmly scented candle nearby, while I write to all of you.

With all this fall happening outside, I’ve been inspired to continue making seasonal changes inside. Slowly, though—adding cozy layers one at a time.

This week I swapped the bedding in the guest cottage, incorporating a new set of sheets and a quilt resurrected from the basement. The other guest rooms also got their fall look with a mix of favorite pieces from years past.

The front door and steps got a refresh too: seasonal plants and weathered buoys in shades of yellow, orange, green, and, of course, blue. Just a trio of pumpkins finishes it off.

And, as promised, I’ll take you along to last Saturday’s antiques show. It was a good one, and I came home with a couple finds that are already settled into their new spots.

So come on in and get cozy with me!

Guest Cottage: Layered Fall Bedding

Back in 2024, I did a little bed nook refresh in the guest cottage: a FB Marketplace bed frame painted blue, a new quilt, duvet cover, throw pillow, and ruffled shams I sewed myself. (That was a project!) You can read all the details here.

This is the bedding I use during the cooler months, but this year I wasn’t ready to bring out the cozy duvet yet. And truth be told, I was never happy with the old sheets I had paired with this look.

Time for a small but mighty refresh!

A Cottage-Style Layered Refresh

I decided to keep the quilt, throw pillow, and of course those shams I worked so hard on. What I needed was a fresh sheet set and a cozy layer for the foot of the bed.

For the sheets I chose a Laura Ashley red-and-blue ditsy floral print from Bed Bath & Beyond—it has exactly the old-fashioned cottage feel I love.

And for that finishing touch, I didn’t have to look far. An old quilt resurrected from the basement (oh, the treasures I have down there!) adds graphic impact, while tying into the existing color story.

Pattern Play in Fall Guest Room Bedding

Yes, it’s a lot of pattern! That might not work for everyone, but here’s why it works for me:

  • Vary the type and scale. The sheets are a tiny floral, the shams a medium, the throw pillow a large print. The patchwork quilts, while made from floral fabrics, read as a more graphic, linear element because of their pieced design.
  • Stick to two or three main colors. Here, blue and red carry the scheme. Then I sprinkle in secondary shades—yellow, pink, green, brown—for richness. A throw pillow could be a good spot for a surprise color, not in the scheme.

Let’s see now how I incorporate this same scheme into bedding in other rooms!

Other Guest Rooms: Mixing, Not Matching

This week I switched out the bedding in the other two guest rooms, too. Nothing new in these spaces, but I find myself using this same mix-and-match approach almost instinctively — it’s simply how my creative mind works.

The Captain’s Room

Here I layered favorite sheets in a beautiful floral-and-bird pattern in shades of brown and blue. A coordinating patchwork quilt in the same colors is folded at the foot of the bed, and the coverlet from summer is back — this time flipped to reveal the side with simple blue kantha-style stitching on white.

For fun, the needlepoint ship pillow stays out year-round, bringing in soft gray tones and a pop of red.

Waterside Guest Room: Mix-and-Match Bedding Ideas

This room leans into shades of teal blue and deep rose. The sheets pick up those hues in a medium-sized floral, while throw pillows in a small print emphasize the rose color.

An old favorite patchwork quilt and shams add graphic impact along with soft greens, lighter aqua blues, and pops of purple and orange. At the foot of the bed, a cozy teal throw is neatly folded. An embroidered pillow adds texture and lightness.

Have Fun with It

In the end, it’s all a matter of balance — playing with color and pattern until you come up with something that speaks to your senses. There’s no “wrong” here, just combinations that lean more mix than match, or vice versa.

As always, I encourage you to have fun with your home. It’s not serious business!

Doorway Refresh: Fall Plants & Weathered Buoys

After a dry summer, the potted plants on the front steps definitely needed a fall refresh. And while I was at it, I switched out the doorway decor too.

Believe it or not, I actually apply the same ideas of color and pattern when decorating outside as I do inside my home.

Let me show you what I mean!

Fall Plants for a Seasonal Doorway

For fall, I moved from a blue-and-yellow summer color scheme to shades of yellow, purple, and burgundy.

As always, I took size and shape into account when choosing plants. Bloom size, foliage shape, and growth habit combine to create what I think of as a plant’s “pattern.” For visual interest, you want a mix of large, medium, and small blooms; tall and compact plants; and upright as well as trailing habits.

You could also call this texture. (I explained this in more detail in my post Fresh Color and Texture for Your Planters Heading Into Fall.)

Putting this into action, I added a tall graceful burgundy-colored millet, spiky yellow daisy-like blooms, a small dense yellow mum, and compact round purple-and-green ornamental cabbage. From my summer pots I kept a deep purple potato vine, bright green trailing variegated Swedish ivy, and a lacy plant with delicate little yellow blooms.

All together, they create a lively mix of color and “pattern.” And while it’s not quite October yet, I couldn’t resist tucking in a trio of colorful pumpkins—orange, yellow, and green—as a finishing touch.

Weathered Buoys for a Coastal Fall

As a nod to the fishing village I call home, I kept the buoy decor on either side of and on the front door, just swapping in buoys in deeper fall tones of orange, yellow, green, and, of course, blue.

For “pattern,” I mixed different stripe styles, added a few smaller floats, and tucked in some textured bait bags.

The rich patina of these repurposed lobster buoys feels perfectly at home here, reflecting the weather-worn coast I love so much.

Again, think outside the box and get creative with your decor—inside and out!

Antiques Show Finds

As promised, here’s a recap of the antiques show I went to last Saturday.

This annual show is small, but with its park setting and gathering of top-notch dealers, it’s one of my favorites. Mother Nature showed up too, bringing moderate temps, blue skies, and leaves just starting to turn. It was a delightful morning!

And oh, there were so many lovely things: that same seagull I admired at a show this summer (passed it by again…), a ship diorama (still like mine best…), a set of dishes decorated with sailing ships, buoys and baskets, blue-and-white transferware and pressed-glass goblets (hello, Mom!), rugs, furniture, and so much more.

I could have laid out a pretty penny, but I exercised fiscal—and decorative—restraint. Still, I came home with two things: one a real treasure, the other a nice addition to the guest cottage.

Nautical Art: A Shell -Framed Watercolor

At one of the first booths I stopped at, I spied a small oval shell-framed watercolor. The painting is a pretty little pastoral scene in muted pastels and browns, with a sweet inscription on the back dated to the early 1990s. The frame looks older—a jumble of tiny weathered seashells, with a few pieces of seaglass and even a shark’s tooth or two thrown in.

It spoke to me immediately, and I didn’t hesitate to make it mine (though I did ask for, and receive, the “best price”). Right out of the gate, I had scored!

By the time I got home, I knew exactly where it would go—on the flat front of the mantelpiece in the bedroom. Its soft colors are perfect with the tile work below and the watercolor of my kids above. I truly couldn’t love it more.

Inspired by last week’s blog post, I added a small shell-encrusted vase filled with dried flowers to the mantel display. It makes for a pretty pop of color. And notice—my beach stone collection is growing too!

(Read all about this corner of my bedroom in my post: A Cozy Faux-Fireplace Bedroom Reading Nook.)

An Old Fashioned Rag Rug

The second piece I brought home is a small vintage rag rug. I thought it would be a nice replacement for the simple sisal mat in front of the kitchenette sink in the guest cottage, but I decided to peruse the rest of the show before circling back to make the purchase.

As I hoped, it adds a wonderful layer of color and pattern in that spot and ties in nicely with the rag rugs on either side of the bed.

And funny note—the dealer was the same one who sold me my beloved ship diorama!

Fall is all about layering, and these special pieces are another way of weaving warmth and history into my home.

This Week Into Next

It was another busy week!

The weekend meals program is in full swing at the food pantry, and as part of AIO’s 35th anniversary there was a panel discussion on food insecurity. One thing our director said really stuck with me, and I thought I’d share it with all of you: food insecurity is an issue that every community faces and must address. We need to increase awareness of its existence, normalize the pantry experience to eliminate shame, and create access to healthy food for everyone. Please take a moment to think about what you can do in your own community.

On a lighter note, I picked up some fabric last weekend to make seasonal cloth napkins for my grandkids—fall, Halloween, and Christmas patterns. They’ll be the same two-sided design I usually make, just a little smaller in size. I’m so happy to be passing on the cloth-napkin tradition to the next generation. I plan on sewing them this weekend and will share the results with you next week!

Speaking of this weekend, friends just asked me to join them on a day trip to Cornish on Saturday. Let’s hope Cornish Trip 2.0 goes better than the original…I’m guardedly excited!

Have a beautiful fall weekend, and be well.

I

Molly

Highlighting coastal decor and lifestyle, Maddie and Cisco, and the way life should be...

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