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As the days grow shorter and cooler, our homes begin to take on new significance. Fall and winter are seasons that draw us inward. They become our shelter in the storms — a true sanctuary.
But how do you design a home that will feel as good as it looks? It’s not the same as designing a showplace or a styled photoshoot that appears perfect on Instagram but leaves the people in it overwhelmed or exhausted behind the scenes.
A sanctuary should be the opposite. It’s a place that nurtures you, inspires you, and reflects who you really are.
Home is not a project, it’s a sanctuary.
What a Sanctuary Feels Like
A sanctuary should feel like a warm hug, a place where you exhale when you walk in the door.
It’s not about measuring up, or comparison, or performance. Instead, it’s about creating an atmosphere where you feel your best—and where the people you love feel cared for, too. Layer by layer, a sanctuary tells your story. It welcomes you in. It’s where you rest, recharge, celebrate, and find joy in every season of life.
It’s not about perfection, it’s about presence.
And this truth becomes especially important in fall and winter. These seasons invite us to slow down, to add comfort and richness to our layers, and to create spaces that nurture us through the darker, colder months ahead.
The Room Recipe: A Framework for Decorating
So how do we begin to create a home that truly feels like sanctuary, especially in the fall and winter months?
I use my time-tested method I call a Room Recipe. Just like a good recipe you refine over time in the kitchen, a Room Recipe is built on ingredients that work together. You can customize them to taste and preferences. Step by step these six timeless elements give every room a foundation you can live with, layer, and love for years to come:
- Simplicity → Clearing space, improving backdrops, editing what you don’t need in your life.
- Style → Choosing the mix of moods, colors, and patterns that feel right to you.
- Seating Places → Arranging spaces so people feel comfortable and welcome, regardless of the size of your home.
- Senses → Engaging your sense of taste, finding pleasant accessory arrangements, inspiring scents and sounds that set the atmosphere.
- Story → Adding meaningful, personal layers over time that tell who you are.
- Seasons → Bringing in organic or seasonal touches that make your home feel fresh and connect you to the moment.
This practical and insightful decorating method is taught through a creative series of six ingredient guides (each formatted like an inspiring magazine with flip pages and full color photos) as well as our live weekly Home Therapy sessions — all within HomeBody Gathering Place.
Room Recipe is your timeless foundation—each season is another chance to refresh the layers and savor your sanctuary.
Why Fall and Winter Are Different
Fall and winter invite us to mix up your room’s recipe in a new way. It’s not just about decorating–adding pumpkins or hay bales by the door in fall or holiday decor for Christmas. It’s all about the “low stress, welcoming experience” we create for ourselves.
Unlike spring and summer, which often call for freshness or simplifying, these seasons are about adding layers of warmth and charm to our style and rhythms that brings a sense of sanctuary to our home.
Rhythms slow down—lighting lamps earlier, layering blankets, making space for quiet evenings and gentle home rhythms.
Textures get cozier—knit throws, velvet pillows, flannel sheets.
Moods warm up—textures, candlelight, warmer hues.
Scents and spaces turn nostalgic—cinnamon, cedar, clove, story, memories and traditions.
✨ Every layer should nurture you and reflect who you truly are.
An Invitation + a Deal for YOU!
This fall and winter, let’s focus on creating a sanctuary. Embrace the little shifts that make your home feel more nurturing, more intentional, and more welcoming in this season.
In our Fall Nesting series in HomeBody Gathering Place, we’ll be walking through this seasonal rhythm together—decorating room by room—adding simple, practical layers of warmth and charm. You’ll also get instant access to all six full Room Recipe Decorating Guides, so you can build a timeless foundation for every space and refresh it season by season.
Because home should be the place where you feel your best in every season.
Last chance for new HomeBodies to get our low introductory rate!
Now is the perfect season to become a HomeBody!
This is the final session available at our special introductory rate for new members. Beginning September 12, rates will increase to reflect our ever-growing library of creative HomeBody resources and weekly Home Therapy lessons.
New Perk for HomeBodies! Members will now get 20% off full price resources in The Inspired Room Digital Store! This will include our brand new Dreambook: If I Lived in a Cozy Cottage by the Sea (releasing this week!).