This month, perhaps more than any other, is spent in the kitchen. November is the bridge between autumn’s breads and cider to winter’s cookies and cocoa, and Thanksgiving is at its heart. Especially if it is your turn to host the holiday, you want to be sure that your kitchen is decorated, and it is better to prepare before the craze of dinner preparations begin. As you decide how you want to decorate your kitchen for Thanksgiving this year, consider these seven suggestions. 

A Blend of Texture

Thanksgiving is about bounty and gratitude. You may want to create that sense with the way you decorate your kitchen for Thanksgiving. Exploring different textures can make a space feel abundant and rich without much effort. Look into using textured napkins or garnishing plates with decorative linens before the meal starts. Add chargers or woven mats underneath your plates. This, as well as serving food on creative serving trays, will add color and variety to your table, celebrating diversity and creating visual interest.

A Pleasant Palette

The taste buds aren’t the only palette that needs pleasing this holiday. The colors you choose to decorate with matter. For Thanksgiving decoration with a traditional color palette, lean on oranges, greens, and browns. Brick reds and dull yellows are also good. Work with the hues of your cabinets and countertops to find the right color scheme for your kitchen. 

If you want to incorporate the other kind of palette-pleasers, you can also decorate with food, real or otherwise. Nothing says Thanksgiving like a sumptuous pie. Blackberries or a variety of nuts can be subtle and edible additions to welcome in the holiday.

Decorate the Doors

Everyone knows you can adorn the table with tablecloths and centerpieces, and countertops are often the home of decorative displays, but the horizontal surfaces in your home are not the only ones you can make festive. As you decorate your kitchen for Thanksgiving, don’t miss the opportunity to spruce up the doors in the room—for there are many. Surely the cabinets alone offer a lot of real estate, but you can also take advantage of the pantry, fridge, or even microwave doors.

While you don’t want to go overboard, these oft-forgotten spaces are ripe for decor. Hang wreaths or other flora. Ribbon is also a nice touch, and plaques with sentiments about the season may tie the room together.

Let In the Light

Everyone loves the coziness of autumn, but it can be a challenge to chase out the chill. Increasing the ambient light will help. Incorporate strings of white lights or set up lamps in warm tones. You might also consider using lanterns as centerpieces or other decor. 

Candles may just be your ace in the hole when you decorate your kitchen for Thanksgiving. There is nothing cozier than a candle (except maybe a heated blanket). From tea lights to Bath and Body Works’ latest sensation, you can’t go wrong with candles. If you’re opting for fancy, candlesticks in vintage brass give a sense of Old World charm. Candles are also an excellent way to make the home smell like autumn, but be mindful of lighting them during food prep since you’ll risk competing aromas.

Leave It to the Leaves

Thanksgiving and Christmas are excellent times to take advantage of foliage in your décor choices, perhaps because there is such a lack of greenery everywhere else. Sunflowers, wheat, and maple leaves are especially appropriate for the season. You can festoon the table with them or fill mason jars or vases. Branches, bows, leaves, cones, and berries are all excellent choices, and if you elect to use replicas, they will not track in sap or bugs.

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

The pumpkin is the hallmark of autumn, and there are hundreds of ways of incorporating them when you decorate your kitchen for Thanksgiving. A host of crockery come in pumpkin shape or sporting pumpkin motifs. The same is true of wreaths. You might try using a gutted pumpkin as a vase or even just letting the gourds speak for themselves in decorative displays.

Embrace the Spirit of Season

Don’t be afraid to lean into Christmas if you want to. The holiday season is all-encompassing, and while you may get some guff, it is your kitchen after all. Lean in to using gingerbread houses or firs and pines, and if you set up a cocoa bar on the kitchen counter, you probably won’t hear too many complaints. The way you decorate your kitchen for Thanksgiving is entirely up to you, so create a space that makes you feel grateful to be there.