better homes and gardens wrought iron patio set

Happy September! Now that Labor Day is over, it's officially time to break out the fall candles, pumpkin recipes and pretend like it's not still 90° outside 😉

I've been slowly rolling out the fall decor—swapping out pillows and replacing summer greenery with seasonal stems. Autumn is my favorite season and warm earth tones have become my go-to color palette for decorating.

This month's BHG Live Better assignment is all about introductions—introducing fall into our home, and sharing a bit more about us and the story behind our blog. Last month I announced that I'm a new member of the BHG Live Better influencer network, where each month I'll be participating in a different design challenge showcasing Better Homes & Gardens affordable line of products at Walmart:

For this challenge, I thought it would be fun to have a fall shoot on our patio at the Riverside Retreat! Many of us will be spending more time outdoors over the next couple months enjoying the cooler weather, so why not make it cozy and festive?

It really doesn't take much to create an inviting hangout spot for friends and family. These tufted floor poufs can be pulled out for extra seating around the table (and they make a great soft surface for crawling babies)…

Speaking of soft surfaces, you can never have too many pillows (who's with me?!) and you won't find them at a better price than at Walmart (trust me, I've looked). I loaded up my cart with two of these corduroy terra-cotta cushions (only $10, including a feather insert!)

When using saturated colors, I always layer with neutrals like this plush ivory rosette pillow and gray tweed pillow. It's all about mixing size, color and texture to keep things visually interesting.

The black and white striped pillow set is another favorite that can work with any decor style all year long, and this quilted velvet lumbar cushion breaks up the square pillows nicely.

Nothing sets the stage for fall quite like yummy scents and candlelight. I love the shape of this black metal lantern (I got the small, but it comes in three sizes).

And if you like cinnamon, run and get this candle immediately. These are highly scented and fill the whole house—I've been burning it all week and our home smells delicious!

I'm also loving this large hyacinth tray to corral our tabletop items. It's the perfect texture to contrast with wood surfaces and has now earned a permanent spot at our living room coffee table.

See those moscow mule mugs? I have a set in traditional copper but have never seen them in champagne gold and couldn't pass these up. I love the more subtle color (they'll be great for the holidays!) I use them as ice water cups too when I want to feel fancy 😉

Did you know Walmart sells mums in their garden center? It's still early in the season, but I was able to find some already in bloom. I want to put them out on our porch but I'm not sure they'd survive this heat…

I found this cute little plant stand that fits right in with the orange & black fall decor:

Of course, no space around here is complete without a DIY! I found this two-tier hanging planter, removed the rope, and spray painted them black and brown. Boom, two awesome custom planters for under $18.

Do you decorate your outdoor spaces for fall? We currently don't have any patio furniture at the Heights House… but that's about to change soon.

Now that we have a little one, we're looking forward to spending more family time outdoors. We're still playing it safe and staying home a lot, so that just means we'll have to make our own fall memories! I'm already getting excited for a few backyard family nights planned this season.

And that brings us to my introduction! If you're new here, I've been blogging for nearly a decade (holy moly) since moving into my second fixer upper in Florida. This blog was started to document my DIY/home renovation journey (with some personal life mixed in) and my passion has slowly evolved into a full-time career.

After renovating a few houses, traveling and meeting my husband, we're now settled down back in Florida to focus on real estate, DIYing, blogging and raising our baby girl. You can find a full timeline of events here on my About page.

This is just the beginning of the seasonal decor, my friends! Check back next week to see how I'm transitioning our indoor spaces. You can also follow along for daily updates on my Instagram. Happy fall!