A Cosy Rainy Autumn Day 🍂 Decorating For Autumn & Baking Cinnamon Buns

Today is one of our favourite days. We are going to be decorating for autumn. As you would have seen in my last video, Jamie and I did our little annual adventure into the loft and retrieved all of my autumn decor. I also had a very, very needed declutter, and I had a real rummage through all of the autumn decorations from autumn's past, and I actually feel really organised this year because I've got a bit more of a curated, I mean, you'll see in a minute, it's not curated, it's an entire dining table full of autumn decor, but it feels a little bit less... pumpkins have exploded everywhere. I have, as always, been a bit strategic about the day that I'm going to decorate. Now, it has been hot in the UK, and I was slightly concerned that I would have to decorate for autumn during a 37 degree heatwave, but this week is actually quite rainy and grey, and today we're actually forecast storms. Storms! I... god, have I missed a storm. Feels like forever since we've had, like, a really good storm, and there's a 90% chance of storms from 11 till 2. So, hoping and praying for a cosy afternoon. I just love the idea of, like, storms outside, rain hitting the window, thunder, lightning, whilst I'm inside decorating for autumn. Like, that just feels like a really... that sounds like my idea of a good time. Anyway, first things first, let's go make ourselves a pumpkin spice coffee, and we'll have a look through all of the autumn decor that I've got laid out. So, this is your sign, pause this video, make your favourite drink, light your favourite autumnal candle, get under the blankets, get cosy, get some snacks, and I really hope you enjoy today's video. My very small autumn decor collection. Believe it or not, in my last video I actually gave away more than half of my autumn collection. I mean, I probably bought, you know, that half back, but I gave half of my autumn collection to charity, so, you know, that's my good deed of this season. But look at it! This situation makes me very happy. All the pumpkins, I can smell all the candles, smells amazing. All the hydrangeas, like, the colour. Neutral decor who? Where's she gone? Just something about all of these beautiful, like, burnt orange, rusty kind of colours that they just represent autumn, don't they? They're just so cosy, and I actually love these sorts of tones in our home. We actually have a lot of these sort of colours around as it is, so I feel like autumn decor just slots right in, and this makes me very happy. I know today is all about autumn, but I have to show you one of my best purchases yet. So, I went to the range at the weekend for these and for these only. I didn't think I would find them, but ho, ho, ho, and a merry blooming Christmas! Look at these frames! These are literally Christmas frames that I have dreamt of. Is this not that one that was in Target, like, two years ago? I remember putting on my Instagram story, People of America, please can you go to Target and find me this frame and send me it? I will pay whatever it costs. If you know you know, look at these. So, these were from the range. I could not believe it when I found both of them. They are the most beautiful, vintage-inspired Christmas frames. I kind of wish I'd got a couple. I don't know why I need a couple. It's one of those where, like, I love it so much I need multiples. These were £5.99 each. £5.99! I'm just so happy with them! Anyway, Gemma, let's not get too excited about decorating for Christmas because we haven't even decorated for autumn yet. So happy with how the living room is looking so far. One of my favourite autumn finds, actually, this year are these cushions. These were from Amazon. And I feel like when you order, like, home decor from Amazon, you never really know what you're gonna get. But these are so cute! I think they were, like, £10, £15 each. And they're actually, like, such lovely quality. They're like a, almost like a wool texture. I just think they look so expensive. They look kind of vintage. And I love the colours. Like, they're the most perfect autumn cushion. Without it being, like, covered in pumpkins and, like, hello, autumn! I feel like it's a bit more of a subtle autumn decor piece, which will go all the way through to winter. It's got, like, the dark tones in there. So yeah, I'm loving these. I also got them in this colour, which I love. I feel like this is more for, like, this would be a nice spring cushion. But they do quite a few different colour variations of that cushion, actually. And I just love them. I feel like they do a more orangey one as well, which would be nice. So I'll link these down below, because they're actually a really good little Amazon find. 🎵 It's the only thing that... 🎵 Ah! Oh my goodness. This is not any old thunderstorm. It's not just a bit of drizzle. It's, like, full-blown thunder, lightning. I mean, I know that's what a storm is, but I do feel like it's quite rare that you actually get, like, a real good storm. Like, it looks like it's about 10 o'clock at night. It's hammering it down. Thunder, lightning, like, every couple of minutes. This makes my soul happy. It's so cosy, although the mum in me is a little bit worried, because Noah actually started big school last week. Can't talk about it too much, because I will sob. And he's obviously there this week, and he's quite scared of storms. And I'm like, oh no, like, what if he's scared? And I don't know. I keep seeing these things on Instagram. Honestly, Instagram is not good for my... my mental health sometimes. I keep seeing these, like, school-related things, like little ones starting big school for the first time. And there was this, like, little... it was like a carousel of really cute little illustrations, and one of them was like, I know you don't know how to do the zipper on your coat, like, I hope an adult notices, and I hope that you're not too scared to ask. And this is one of those situations where I'm like, I know he's going to hear the thunder and lightning, and he's always a little bit scared of a storm. And I'm like, I hope he doesn't just sit there scared, and he tells someone. Oh, it's just such a... I'll speak about this. I feel like I've got so much, like, I feel like we need to have a real, real debrief about school, which I'll probably do in next week's vlog. But I'm feeling like as a mum, it's such a huge adjustment, which, like I said, we'll go into next week, because I have so many thoughts and feelings towards, like, the transition from Noah going to a nursery to a school, and just, like, how different it is. But yeah, I hope there's someone. Oh my god, that makes me feel really sad. Can I ring the school and be like, Hi, it's just Noah's mum. Is he okay in the storm? It's so dark, it literally feels like night time. I'm just about to make a start on our little console in the hallway. This is actually one of my favourite places to decorate. I feel like because the front door is here, when you first come in, it's one of the first places that you see. So I love to decorate this for, like, autumn and Christmas. I do feel a little bit, I don't know, not sad because I love decorating for autumn, but I love the way it looks at the minute. And I'm like, oh, I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it look as nice as it looks right now. So we've got, like, all of the blue and white touches. I'm going to keep my blue and white lamps. I was actually going to change them for something a little bit darker, but I just love them so much. I kept the one in the living room, which I don't know if it kind of, I don't know if it clashes a little bit with, like, the dark brown and the more rusty tones, but I'm going to keep it. So yeah, I'm going to take everything off, give it a good clean, give the mirror a dust, and then decorate it for autumn. It was only right to bring out the Cinnamon Soflora. Oh, it smells like Christmas. That is such a nostalgic scent. It reminds me of when I first started, like, doing my own cleaning. Like, the first, this reminds me of the first ever videos that I posted. It's actually such a special scent. I'm going to do a mix of hydrangeas for the hallway in this beautiful wicker vase. These darker ones are beautiful, and they were from B&M. I've also got some cream ones. They're actually just such lovely quality, and I think they were £2.50 a stem. So I'm going to use a couple of these darker ones. I just love these together. And then these were actually from HomeSense last year. As always, I'm going to fold the bottoms. I feel like this just helps the flowers sit better. Like, if you put them in like this, they're far too long, and they just don't sit how I want them to. So I'm just going to bend the bottom, probably like there. I think that's a nice height. And it just helps actually keep them in place as well. I'm so happy with just how cosy our entryway looks. I switched out the little basket that was down here for two ceramic pumpkins, and I also changed the cushion here. I'm obsessed with this cushion. So nice. This is from Ellenvale Interiors, and it's just the most beautiful autumn cushion. And then we have the hydrangeas in the wicker vase. I am loving silver photo frames at the moment. We have them everywhere in our home, and I just love having all our family pictures on display. They just make me so happy every time I look at them. This one of Noah and Jonah is one of my absolute favourites. This is from a little shoot that we had at the new house in the garden, and I'm just so grateful that we captured them at this age. So yeah, I love having these out. Just feel like they are so blooming special to look at. Just added some more brown tapered candles. I do feel like if you don't necessarily decorate for autumn, one of the easiest ways to actually add a bit of autumn into your home is just by switching these out from white to brown. It just adds so much more cosiness. And then I kept the same bowl because I love this hair. This is a Laura Ashley bowl. This was actually a vintage find. And then I bought these faux pears from Amazon. And I just think I love the colour. I feel like they look really cute in there. I'm quite excited to see what Jonah thinks of these when he gets home. He's definitely going to think that they are a real pear and he's going to want to eat one. Then this, I bought this at the weekend from a little vintage and antique barn we went to. I remember these from when I was younger and my mum used to call them a doily. But I think that looks cute. It adds a bit of texture. And yeah, I'm really happy with it. Not sure about this lamp. Feel like it's ruining the autumn vibe a little bit. I don't know whether to get like... I'm feeling like a nice brown based lamp would look really nice there. But then I also don't really want to buy another lamp. I don't know. Let me know what you think, whether I should switch that out for something a bit more autumny or you think this goes. But yeah, I'm very happy with this year's autumn console hallway. Does that make sense? This year's autumn entryway. Being completely realistic, these bad boys are getting blown out immediately because they scare the life out of me. I'm far too anxious and I have far too many intrusive thoughts to have tapered candles lit. They look beautiful and I wish I could just not worry about it, but I don't know. I just think they're so easy to knock over and like this is my intrusive thoughts talking like what if this was to knock over into there and then this was to set a light, like it's just not worth it. So they look beautiful and they're fine lit for a moment, but they're getting blown out immediately. Actually smells like birthday cake. Happy birthday to me, happy autumn to me, happy autumn to us. No one wants to see you that close Gemma. It's time to decorate the coffee corner. This is one of my absolute favourite places to decorate for all the seasons. Obviously I stand in this very spot every single morning to make my morning coffee, which is actually like something I really look forward to every day. I love nothing more than picking a seasonal mug and just standing here, especially when it's decorated for autumn, like that brings me so much joy. We all know I try to really look for the small joys in every day and I think once you actually start doing that, like getting excited about picking a mug in the morning and making your morning coffee, I think it actually makes just life so much more enjoyable. So yeah, I've always kind of like chose to live my life that way and like really take all the little things in life. So I have quite the collection for the coffee corner. My newest addition actually are these hooks, which have just like screwed in to this floating shelf that we already had. I've always wanted a like mug rail, but I hadn't really thought of just adding the hooks into the shelf. So I did that last week, really excited to hang some mugs on here. I just think it's gonna make it look so cozy. I was looking for the perfect autumn mugs because obviously they had to be quite small and not too heavy. I actually bought these from eBay and these are vintage. I have a real obsession with vintage home shopping at the moment. I think ever since we bought our new house, which was like a full year ago now, and obviously we're still renovating it, but ever since I bought that house because it's an old house, I started my love for like vintage and antique shopping and I'm just obsessed with it. I feel like it's treasure hunting. So I love looking on like eBay and vintage and then I also love going into like antique shops. They hate to see me coming. Literally don't even have any ceilings and floors right now, but best believe I've collected lots of beautiful accessories. So I got these mugs and I just thought they were perfect. They're like a beautiful color and they've got little like autumn leaves on. So I thought these would be the most perfect little hanging mugs. Then we actually went to one of our favorite little vintage and antique barns at the weekend and I picked up this super sweet, let me just take my hydrangea out, super sweet little basket. I'm such a sucker for a basket and I did pick it up and Jamie literally looked at me and said, the last thing you need is more baskets. And I thought, actually, sir, the last thing I need is more cups, but yeah, baskets comes close to that. I actually thought this could be really cute hanging in the middle and then I picked a couple of hydrangeas out the garden, actually, because they're all kind of like turning. I was really precious about picking these in the summer, but I've just enjoyed having all my hydrangeas so much. I think now is the time they're all kind of like, these are from the garden. Look how beautiful these are. They're all sort of like turning. So I thought I'm going to bring some inside and use them for this year's autumn decor. I've actually got loads drying in the garage, but a couple of them are ready and once they actually turn this color, I might replace all of the faux ones around the house with the real ones. I have actually ordered some spray paint, which is meant to be here a bit later on today. And I've seen a hack where you can spray your hydrangeas once you've preserved them. And actually the best way to preserve them is you cut them when they feel papery. So before they get to this stage, they kind of go like this. I've got loads dotted about everywhere. So when your hydrangeas go like this, so as you can hear they're like papery, that's the best time to cut them. And then you take all the leaves off, really soak them like the heads in water for a minute like this. Because why did, what the hell was that? Why did no one tell me that literally spiders, this is spiders' favorite place to live. I'm out there picking hydrangeas and these absolute beasts of spiders are like coming out of here. So yeah, I feel like they're on me now. Now I've spoken about spiders, I feel like they're crawling on me. And do you know what my worst thing is actually? When you guys, I've got a bone to pick with you guys, are like, oh my God, Gemma, you didn't see that huge spider in the background. Or, oh my God, Gemma, you had a spider hanging out of your hair and I didn't notice. And then I go back and look and it gives me constant anxiety, let me tell you. So yeah, when they feel like this, you cut them, you bring them in, put them in a vase of like an inch of water and you let the water evaporate. And then basically that preserves your flower exactly how you cut it. So they'll actually stay this color for years to come. So I've got about 20 of these in the garage, just chilling in a bucket. And I thought I could use these every year. And I just thought, how special is that? That I've, like so much love has actually gone into the hydrangeas because they're quite high maintenance. And I think it's nice now that I'm able to pick them and preserve them and keep them for years to come. So yeah, this one, because it's not in any water, it will actually turn to this color. If you don't want to keep them green, don't put them in water and they'll go this beautiful orangey color. But I bought some spray paint in the hope that I can spray some of them to go this color, but keep like the fullness. There's the hydrangea drying process that no one asked for, but just in case you have also have hydrangeas in your garden, you want to preserve them. I just think also they make the most beautiful autumn decor. So I'm going to pop this little one in here, which I think looks so blooming cute and it can go there. Then, okay, let me give you a quick little rundown of the bits that I've collected for the coffee corner. First up, we have a pumpkin chopping board. I will link as much as I can down below, but like I said, a lot of this is like from antique places, secondhand, and also from the past years. So I'll spend a bit of time going through like everything available online and I'll link as much as I can down below. But we have pumpkin chopping board. We have these, which are new this year from Amazon. Cannot believe I got my hands on these. They did take about three weeks to come. So I'm thinking they're actually, they might be from, I think they're from America, but because they were from Amazon, didn't have to pay like the big delivery cost. I'm sure these are actually the spoons that were in Target last year. And I was so blooming jealous. I spend my life being jealous of my lice. I spend my life being jealous of people in America and the beautiful autumn homeware they have. Do you know what I'm actually going to do one year? I'm going to fly over to Blooming America and I'm going to take multiple suitcases with me and I'm going to fill it up for Lord and Decker and bring it home. That is one of my life goals. So I got these beautiful maple leaf spoons. They're like a wooden spoon. This was also a weekend purchase. I'm just loving like glass and like silver at the minute. I think it's so beautiful. So I've got these spoons and also these pumpkin ones. I'm thinking I'm going to use these ones in here. They just look so pretty. Then what else have we got? We've got my dried hydrangeas from the garden. Again, these pots are secondhand vintage finds. I got a couple of different sizes. And again, I just think they are the most perfect autumn bars. And I'm thinking they can go here as well. Oh, this is one of my favourite finds. I got this from Vintage. This is actually spode. You know, I'm obsessed with my Christmas spode collection. Well, I found a blooming autumn one. I love the brown detail and then the pumpkins in the middle. So I'm thinking I can do something with that. And then I've also just got a couple of like little fabric and ceramic pumpkins to like dot around the shelves. I'm probably not going to change the shelves too much other than like adding a couple of bits because I feel like this area is already kind of autumny. I feel like that a lot in our home actually because we've got a lot of neutrals and woods and chocolate browns already. I find when it comes to autumn, I don't really need to like switch out too much because it already feels very like cosy and autumny. So I'm probably going to keep these, probably change these because these blue and white feel like they're more summery. But yeah, let's transform the coffee corner. I'm excited. Okay, the coffee corner is finished. I would be lying if I said this wire wasn't really annoying me, but I love having my little radio there, so we're just going to have to make do with it. But it looks so blooming cosy. Obsessed with these flowers here. I just love them. And I feel like this little area has come together so well. I'm so excited to wake up in the morning and make myself a coffee in my little autumn coffee corner. Of course, we've got some pumpkin spice. I popped the little plate at the back here, which I think looks really cute. This little lamp was from Amazon, which is just the cosiest little thing ever. And then I also love to decorate with just like these like singular maple leaves. So this was actually like a big stem and I just snipped a couple off. And I think they're a really nice easy way to just add a little bit of whimsy. Put my little maple leaf spoons. And yeah, I love it. I think it looks so nice. When this goes this colour, I think we'll look even more beautiful. And then I just switched out my blue and white mugs for these little brown espresso ones. Again, these are from Amazon. And I popped my beautiful autumn leaf jug in its little home up there. Just had a perfectly timed delivery. This actually wasn't due to come until the end of the week, but it's just been delivered. I ordered this cookbook. I saw this on Instagram on someone's reel and it looks beautiful. Not only is it like the most beautiful looking cookbook, I love, like it looks very autumn-y and my plan actually was to replace this one with this. I just have a little flick through it and there's like an entire full section. Let me show you some of these recipes. They look so yummy. I'm so excited to have a proper look at this. Look, full menus. Could even have it open on this page and I just think that's such a simple little way to add a little bit of autumn into your home. Mini cinnamon sugar muffins. We have to make them. Wild mushroom, caramelised onion and goat cheese pizza. That looks amazing. Got a couple of these antique brass book picture stands. I feel like they're such a nice accessory to either put a piece of art on or a book. I think I'm just gonna pop this here. Let's see how it looks. Oh, is it gonna fit? Oh, I don't know if that looks a little bit empty. I've just spent far too long faffing. I feel like I do this every time I decorate. I like move everything around so much until I'm happy with it. So I've just put the new cookbook here instead of the plate. I'm not sure which I prefer. I feel like the plate looked nicer. The problem with it being over here was it made this section look really empty. I don't know, I need to faff more. But something I forgot to do is I bought this framed art from Amazon. How beautiful. I've got so many bits from Amazon this year. Just popped some command strips on the back. We did have the little like countryside landscape here but that was a bit more like spring, summer. So I'm gonna pop this up. In the same place. I feel like this is just so... Just give it a bit of a bash. I feel like this is so beautiful. I love like the coppery frame and I always think about adding something a bit darker. Don't mind me, just absolutely hammering it on the wall. If Jamie could see me, he would kill me. I mean, he is gonna see me. Sorry, Jamie, if you're watching. But this is how we do it around here, okay? This is girl DIY. We don't need a hammer. Like if Jamie was putting this up to me, it would be a military operation. Would have needed a tape measure, a leveling laser, a hoover underneath sucking up all the dust. We would have needed industrial hooks and screws. Listen, command hooks are one of the greatest... Command strips are one of the greatest creations in life, I feel. Look how quick and easy that was. I love that. I feel like this like moody kind of print actually just makes this corner really cozy. It's gonna be me in the morning. Happy autumn, everybody. Just making my cup of coffee. Would anyone else like some coffee? Yeah, I don't know why I've gone American. It's because I've got my American spoons. House is officially decorated for autumn and it feels so blooming cozy. I now have the urge to bake something autumn-y but as I'm a school mom now, I actually have to go and pick up the boys in the next hour. So we're gonna do an easy little autumn bake. I always love to have these in the fridge. These are the Just Roll ready to create cinnamon swirls and you get like the tube of pastry in there which you literally just open and it's ready to go. You get the cinnamon sugar in there and the icing. They're just such a great thing to have in the fridge at autumn when you fancy baking something but you don't really have the time and you want something quick and super yummy. So let's do our first little autumn-y bake of the year. We're gonna make these. I've actually got some really nice recipes planned for my autumn baking this year. I'm gonna make next week an apple bundt cake. I've ordered a really cool tin from Amazon that has like autumn leaves on it and we're gonna be using the apples from the apple tree at our new house. So yeah, I'm excited to make that next week and then I found a couple of other really cool bits on Pinterest. So very much looking forward to all of the autumn baking we'll do this year. Yes everyone, my first cinnamon bun of the season. A moment of silence for the cinnamon bun. Oh my goodness, that is so good. Okay, I'm slightly scared that my basket is about to set alight. That's really hot from the candle. Probably not the best idea Gemma to hang a whisker, a wicker basket and flowers above a candle actually. Fire hazard. Thank you all so much for spending time with me today. I hope you enjoyed coming along with me whilst I decorate a house for autumn. It feels so, oh I actually, I was about to say it feels really cozy and it does. Like don't get me wrong, it does. But this is literally the reality. As I was about to, I was like looking and I was like it feels so cozy. I've got loads of washing up just there and loads of just stuff everywhere. I've got loads of decor that I need to sort out and put away. And yeah, I felt a bit, felt a bit like a liar being like it feels so cozy when really it's flipping chaotic in this kitchen and I'm going to spend the next 20 minutes kind of just sorting through. Let me, let me just show you. Let me just fully expose myself and show you. Don't get me wrong, very cozy but the mess needs to be sorted first. I'm one of them people that if I've like changed something in my home, it takes me a few good days to get used to it and I cannot for a minute like look at it and be like, yeah that looks nice if there's mess. Like the house needs to be like fully reset, clean for me to evaluate. Yeah, this was my view as I was saying. It feels so cozy in here, mess and mess. Anyway, I'm going to tidy up said mess, finish my cinnamon bun and then it's time to pick up Noah and Jonah. I am excited to see what they think when they come home. Jonah's definitely going to go for those pears in the hallway. I know he is, I just know he is. Noah said he was excited to see the pumpkins when he saw them on the dining table this morning. But yeah, thank you all so much for spending time with me today. Like I said, I'll link as much as I can down below. I'll also link LG down below as well. Just want to say a huge thank you to them for sponsoring today's video and I will catch up with you all next weekend. I love you so much. Bye-bye, happy autumn.