Sometimes a cool, old teapot can be the secret to sprucing up a room for the dreary autumn and winter seasons.

“One thing I think people can do is look through all the things that you have and things you wouldn’t normally think to use for accessorizing,” said Molly McIntosh of Gracious Living Interior Design.

Filling that old teapot with dried berries and using other uncommon items to enhance a room are easy options for fall redecorating while staying within a budget.

“I would say lighting would be the number one thing for us,” said John Atkinson, co-owner of Sheeley’s Floral & Gifts. The Commercial Avenue store has all sizes of lamps, including tiny accent ones that will light up a dark corner.

“That’s a perfect way of expanding a room size and adding some light to your world,” Atkinson said.

Area rugs can also bring a much needed change.

“We have two companies that are duking it out for some of the best designs around — nationally I’m talking about,” Atkinson said. Surya and Feizy both have several patterns in contemporary, traditional and transitional patterns.

Whether an area rug is appropriate for someone on a tight budget depends on who you’re talking to, Atkinson said. Some people will never consider $400 for an area rug while someone else might say that’s what they would spend for a weekend at a hotel.

Likewise Stephanie Patrick at Tracy’s Furniture said an area rug sometimes can be an easy way to give a new look to room.

“Even if you have carpet, you can lay an area rug over the top to throw some color in the room,” Patrick said. “Throw pillows on sofas and things like that can help throw color into a room also.”

Patrick had several more suggestions for making over a room, including adding plants, wall art, clocks and baskets, and mirrors can always help lighten and brighten, she said.

“All of those are fairly inexpensive things without having to change furniture,” Patrick said.

Another option to replacing big pieces of furniture is to redo what is already there.

“Shabby and drab can be painted with a lighter color of paint, adding some brightness to the room,” said Bud Lewis, co-owner of Home Sweet Home Antiques.

Adding accessories with more vivid and brighter colors can also help lighten up a room, Lewis said.

“Some of the pieces of pottery and ceramics come in any number of different colors,” he said. “There’s a lot of vintage dishware pieces, as well as other accent pieces that are done in brighter colors whether they’re figurines or whether they’re platters or hand-painted bowls.”

“They tend to liven things up a bit just because they’re not so dark and gloomy,” Lewis said.

Glass accent pieces with lighting can make a good combination, Atkinson said. Just two weeks ago Sheeley’s got in some beautiful hand-blown glass from China that looks like works by Seattle artist Chihuly, but is much less expensive, he said.

“The colors on them are fabulous and if you combine that with lighting — wow — with just one piece you’ll walk in a room and it’ll just razzle dazzle you,” Atkinson said.

“Our whole thing is we don’t have big things here like big furniture and stuff but we have a lot of accent pieces that are easy to add to a room,” Atkinson said. Some are end tables and stands for art or plants — small pieces of furniture you can easily add to a hallway.

The store also has slip covers for chairs, which McIntosh said can be an inexpensive way to spruce up a room.

Other ideas for a fall and winter decor McIntosh had were adding candles with a pumpkin spice scent, filling a bowl with gourds to add color to a table and using items found outside such as dried pods or pine cones.

“It’s always good to do things in odd numbers like threes or fives and just do little collections of some of your things that would relate more toward fall,” said McIntosh, who’s been in the interior design business for 27 years, six of those in Anacortes.

Used corbels or brackets from old buildings is another easy way to change the look of a room, she said.

“You can find some interesting salvaged type stuff that’s not that expensive but out of old homes,” McIntosh said. “I think using older things in with new kind of makes it interesting for collections of things.”

Table linens in spice tones and new accent pillows can help also, McIntosh said. And they can be found just about anywhere.

“I saw some even at Nordstrom Rack that were chenille and fall colors,” she said. “Just unexpected places you’ll see things.”

Read more local news in the Skagit Valley Herald and the Anacortes American, or read it online in the E-edition