BY KIM COOK

For The Associated Press

With nods to nostalgia, exotic motifs and tailored contemporary looks, the fall season in decor has lots to inspire home decorators.

A warm palette of garnet, plum, sapphire, olive, chocolate, mustard and cream mixes with soft yet textural fabrics and muted metallics as our focus moves back indoors.

VINTAGE AMERICAN

Apparently, we are all supposed to be making butter and putting up jam this fall; many retailers showed kits with the makings for farm table goodies.

Williams-Sonoma had kits for making cheese and butter, along with pretty wooden molds. Expanding their Agrarian line beyond the popular chicken coop, the retailer now has an old-school cider and wine press, and a grain mill, should you feel compelled to try your hand at flour making. There were Mason jars, lengths of colored twine and paper tags for gifting.

West Elm showed several different table garden kits, and even a Mason jar cocktail shaker.

Gingham, potato prints and buffalo checks; rough linen, burlap and cotton homespun textiles; earthy, rustic ceramics; chunky knitted pillow covers and throws; and galvanized-metal storage containers were all part of home retailers' fall previews.

Distressed and salvaged wood furniture and forged iron accessories also are part of this look, so watch for affordable examples if it appeals. Grandin Road has mirrors and wall hooks made of old yardsticks. Pottery Barn has the Conner collection of reclaimed pine tables with limestone tops, and the Olivia bench with a weathered blue finish. Here, too: candleholders fashioned out of old whiskey barrels and olive oil crates.

Rejuvenation Lighting is reproducing O.C. White's foundry-made task lighting from the late 1800s, in both table and floor lamps. Southern Lights' spare, utilitarian bronze pendants with Edison bulbs are vintage-inspired but have a modern edge, with bright red cording.

PARISIAN PANACHE

Tufted furniture and mirrored, lacquered furnishings evoke the elan of a turn-of-the-century French apartment, or maybe old Hollywood glamour.

Arhaus' curvy Club Apartment sofa fits the bill. West Elm's silvery, glass-covered keepsake boxes do, too; you'll find substantially sized, etched, mercury-glass light fixtures here as well.

Bernhardt has the low-profile Lotus coffee table, Balboa media console and Gustav dining table, all in lustrous polished steel.

At BlissLivingHome, you'll find coquettish, gold, antique-lace-trimmed sheets, as well as little pillows made of tufted lavender silk, sequins or saucy black lace mesh.