Easy Ways to Decorate an Apartment for the Seasons

A fun--and inexpensive--way to change up your décor is to change up your apartment to coordinate with the seasons.

Courtesy of The Paint Quality Institute

By Jessica Fiur, News Editor

New York—It’s officially fall. (OK, it’s not technically fall until September 23rd. But it’s after Labor Day, children are back in school and people are more likely to stop at a soup cart than an ice cream truck, so close enough.) And if your residents are interested in interior design, a fun—and inexpensive—way to change up their décor is to change up your apartment to coordinate with the seasons.

Decorating for the seasons can verge on kitsch if done incorrectly—especially when decorating in a small space such as an apartment. Debbie Zimmer, paint and color expert at the Paint Quality Institute, agrees. “Living in an urban environment, decorating with branches might not be the way to go,” she tells MHN. But if done tastefully, it can really bring out the mood and feel of the season.

The trick is to add small touches. For example, for summer, Zimmer suggests using a few seashells or fresh flowers as decoration. For winter, pine cones can be used.

Texture is a great way to get an apartment ready for the cooler months. Pillows and blankets can “bring a sense of warmth,” Zimmer says. A bonus to using these to decorate is that they’re easy to remove in the spring and summer.

Additionally, you could do something as simple as changing the paint on the walls. “Often times, one of the best ways to decorate for a season is to bring in a color,” Zimmer advises. “Changing the wall color can add a huge punch and makes it fresh for upcoming seasons.”

The most budget-friendly way to change the colors of an apartment is to just paint one wall. For example, a burgundy wall in the fall, or a light blue wall in the spring.

However, for renters who are unable to paint their walls, Zimmer suggests picking up large canvases at an art supply store and painting those solid colors. The canvases can then be hung on the walls either as accents, or, if several are painted, can cover an entire wall. “It’s a very inexpensive way to bring a color into a space,” she says.