How to create a cohesive fall style in a three-season sunroom

Pardon the pun, but Kitty Olson was most definitely hooked the first time she spotted a hooked rug. Enthralled by the rooster-themed design, which she saw in a book she was perusing, she quickly ordered a beginner's kit and embarked on a hobby that spans more than a decade, has produced more than 100 rugs and other artworks, and fills much of her time.

"It's a really simple craft," she says. "I try to do 30 to 60 minutes of it every day to keep my projects going."

In addition to giving the hooked pieces as gifts, Olson also works them into the decor of the Elgin home she shares with her husband, Mark. Some of the rugs adorn the couple's three-season sunroom, which Olson also furnishes with the unique finds she hunts for everywhere from flea markets to upscale furniture stores.

"When I shop, I never look for anything specific. I just buy what I love," she says. "I'm always asked where I'll put my purchases, and my answer is, 'I don't know, and I'm not going to worry about it!' "

From a red bench to a painted trunk to a green mirrored wall cabinet, Olson's furniture packs personality into the sunroom and adjacent breezeway. To gather inspiration for a fall makeover, the Olsons invited Country Sampler stylists Sally-Jo Enstad, Nancy Borsodi and Debbie Plantery to share some autumnal decorating hints. "What I love most about this room is the story behind every piece," Plantery says. "Everything tells a tale!"

Read on for the stylists' advice for infusing autumn oomph into your decor.

Life imitates art

1. Find inspiration. To honor Olson's love of hooked rugs, we used a small hooked wall hanging as the basis for this tabletop display," Enstad says. "The most direct correlation between the two is the felt candle mat, but we found plenty of other ways to tie them together."

2. Repeat after me. When using wall art as the inspiration for a vignette, pull out at least three complementary elements. Here, a black corner breadbox channels the hooked piece's dark background, a sunflower magnet taped in place mimics the black-eyed Susans, and a pair of pumpkins complete the crossover.

3. Crow about it. "Crows are a staple of country decor, but they come in to their own in the fall," Borsodi says of the metal birds adding avian appeal to this display.

Unexpected Delights

4. Be colorful. "Why stick to a strict palette in a casual space?" Enstad muses. "Kitty mixes old pieces, such as the weathered blue cart, with the newer red bench and a green painted trunk whose graphics really set a fun tone here."

5. Pull the wool. Even Kitty's rug-hooking supplies can be called on for decorating duty - orange wool remnants wrapped around a pair of toss pillows are a fitting complement to a hooked pillow featuring a spook-tacular black cat design.

6. Mix your media. Contrast fabric and wood accessories with metal, glass and other materials. To dress up the trunk top, the stylists used a primitive-labeled canning jar and an oversize pine cone as bookends in a galvanized tray and rested a flameless candle in an old metal strainer.

7. Go at a good clip. "You never know what kinds of decorating tools you have lying around the house," Enstad says. "I found a binder clip in a desk drawer, and it was the perfect way to attach a framed stitchery to a little rake hung on the wall."

8. Divide and conquer. Be on the lookout for unique furniture that offers multiple display options. Olson's ornate partitioned shelf provides a surface on top for a unified arrangement and different sections below for highlighting individual items. Choose elements that mix rustic, natural and quirky - these chipped squirrel figures, for instance - to keep a larger grouping interesting. Highlight distinctive accents, such as the hooked candy corns and redware pumpkin, by setting them on their own.

Window seat

9. Show a united front. Create a dynamic focal point for the expanse of wall above a sofa by using a large vintage window as a backdrop for seasonal accents, such as a painted sign and a colorful fall wreath.

10. Go graphic. "The walls and flooring in the sunroom are mostly solid, so we brought in pattern via the pillow and the checkerboard on the crate," Borsodi explains. "Topping the game board with glass turned it into a makeshift coaster that protects Kitty's vintage coffee crate."

11. Give the runner-around. Also contributing autumn graphics, a quilted runner provides a bright division between the bench's surface and the interesting decor lined up in front of the window.

12. Embellish the details. Olson has a self-professed "thing" for birdhouses and bird cages; for a fall makeover, the stylists wired a wreath onto one bird cage and wound orange berry garland around the other, which also hosts a battery lamp. You could even rest a decorative plate inside a bird cage.

That's different

13. Cover it up. The green mirrored cabinet in the Olsons' breezeway features a pretty floral motif painted below the looking glass. For a quick fall makeover, a pumpkin sign hides the springy flowers.

14. Find a new way. To give a petite needlepunch piece more prominence, Olson glued it onto a shovel now hung on the side of the locker-style shelf. Look around to find a dish, box or other everyday item you could embellish with a similar stitchery.

15. Feel at home. "The breezeway connects the house to the sunroom and to the driveway, so we wanted to make it a welcoming place," Plantery says. Burlap-sack pumpkins in a bushel basket accompany round stacking boxes to add autumn charm to the passage.