I love my home, absolutely, and I’m very lucky that it’s filled with the things (and people) I love: photographs, some ornaments and useful items like bowls or trays that I’ve inherited or been given over the years.

I’m not a big follower of fashion: I don’t particularly care what colours are ‘in’ or ‘out’ in a year, I choose the colours I like when we’re decorating, and I will stick with them long past fashion changing and a different shade being the colour of the year. Blue is a permanent fixture in my house: it’s just so versatile, with shades from prussian to lupin to navy to duck egg. Choose a mood, and there’s a blue to feel good.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t like swapping my decor around to reflect the seasons: indeed, I have a small slate cake stand that I use for just such a reason. It stand behind our dining table, and changes by the season. This weekend was the right one to change it out to Autumn.

You can see the blue of my wall colour there: and it absolutely was made to show off Fall’s Golden colours. The items are all small things I have hidden around the house usually and pull together for the season: the little raku house is from Natasha Phoenix Sculpture. Natasha’s a member of the Hygge Nook, and her houses are perfect hygge.

The candle is St Eval Embers, although I can’t find it currently in their shop. The greetings card used as a print is by Marcella Cooper, and available from Green Pebble Cards. I bought it on a trip to the Lakes with my husband, and it has memories of a decent welsh rarebit and a Quaker embroidery tied up into it.

And although the leaves at the bottom are currently silk ones from Amazon, as the weeks slip by I’ll add collected and found treasures from walks: conkers, acorns, nuts or seed heads that catch my eye. It’s essentially a nature table for grown ups. The small gifts of Nature that I harvest as I go along.

I’ve decided to have one header for the whole season of small things: it’s one of my favourite pictures by Alex Geerts on Unsplash. I love the whole colour scheme, which just makes me feel so autumnal. I love the socks, the book, the blanket, the tea, the leaves and pumpkin. There are so many small pleasures in the picture, it’s like my ambition for this whole series in one simple shot.

How to Hygge the British Way is my gift to the world. I don’t get paid for writing it, I’m not in it for the kudos, financial rewards, to become an influencer, work with brands or otherwise make any money from the blog. That’s why there are no ads, and any products I mention and recommend have either been gifted to me or bought by me with my everyday wages or donations from supporters. Every book I review has been bought and read by me, unless stated otherwise.

I do get a couple of pennies each time someone buys from the Amazon links on my page, as an Amazon Affiliate, but otherwise if you’d like to support me, I like to give something back in return. That’s why I write books. It always feels good if you get a book back in return for some money. You can find a full list of my books at my Author’s Page on Amazon, but especially recommended for this time of year are:

Cosy Happy Hygge: Setting up a rhythm to life and rituals to enjoy it to make for a more balanced life that handles waves and storms better. August is like a pause before real life begins again in September, so it’s a second chance to set up rituals and rhythms that boost happiness and work for you.

Happier: Probably my most personal book, it’s the story of how I used hygge and the little things in life to help boost my happiness. I still go back and reread to remind myself what I need to do to be a happy human.

On the principle that it’s never too early to start thinking ahead, really, and that Christmas is always on us before we know, how about Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas? Christmas is about the small things in life, much as hygge is, and establishing what you want from Christmas and then being able to say no to the excess is important. The book has hints and tips that hopefully will help you enjoy what is, too often, a frantic season.

Available as just an ebook, and a short, sharp read, is Enjoying a Self-Care Christmas: Easy Ways to keep the Joy of Christmas, and your Sanity, intact. It’s an easy read, with ideas and hints to keep you sane through the season. The self-care advent calendar is one I’ve followed for a few years now, and it really is a small daily dose of calm in a manic month.

And on the basis that we may well find ourselves in Lockdowns or unable to enjoy an absolutely normal Christmas under Covid regulations if numbers spike, why not read and plan alternatives? Celebrating a Contagious Christmas was written in response to the pandemic last year, and will need updating soon, but it is about celebrating whatever the situation, and does have good advice on stocking up an emergency cupboard, celebrating when travelling to relatives is impossible and putting the heart of Christmas back into the heart of the celebrations.

If you’d like to support me, but don’t want to buy a book, I have a Paypal.Me account as Hygge Jem. Every little helps, so even a few pence goes towards the books, goods and courses I use and recommend on the site. I’m grateful for every little bit that brings me closer to my dream of full-time writing, and I know I couldn’t still be writing if it weren’t for the support of many readers and friends out there. Thank you all for every little bit of support, emotional, physical and financial, you give me.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it or save it so others can enjoy reading, thinking about and living hygge as well, and read the other posts in the series, too.

My September of Small Things:

Day One: A New Book on the Kindle and a New Tea

Day Two: Five Minutes Crochet and a New Place to Visit

Day Three: Plants, Naturally

Day Four: A New Magazine that Really Suits Me

Day Five: Autumn Decor Ready for the Harvest