Autumn door glamour

It’s happening: Halloween is practically a national holiday and decorating the doorway thematically seems rather less weird than you thought. I embrace it as a good way to get ahead on the Christmas wreath that I will have to make (or panic-buy) anyway; it just becomes a rolling concern – when things die, I poke in new stuff. Wreath fashion, (like hair) favours the lazy nowadays – it’s hard to tell artful deconstruction apart from, well, messy, so think ‘bedhead’ and if you don’t have a wreath form, then make one from any bendy twigs or sticks, held together with thin wire. If your form is thicket-like enough, you’ll be able simply to poke things in. If not, then use more wire. Start with all the beautiful dead stuff. Nigella, Echinacea, poppies and honesty seed-heads, grasses and faded hydrangea are the obvious choices, but really anything left standing will do; old stalks of Japanese anemone – even thorny rose prunings; it will look fabulous. Swear. Add in something fresh (ivy, ferns, viburnum tinus) and some autumn leafery (obviously go for fiery liquidambar or any of the Japanese maples if possible), but brown crispy oak leaves are just as appealing. Berries or hips (rowan, pyracantha, rosehips) are a must, and if you can wield a glue-gun, or a drill, then definitely finish with conkers or acorns - all decidedly autumnal rather than wintery. You can swap these out for the more usual fir cones, walnuts and holly as Christmas looms.

x Laetitia