This elaborate looking fall door hanger (above), which features pheasant feathers, silk gladiolas and sprays of palm fronds, can easily become a Christmas one (below). Allison used the same green moss-covered basket and swapped the fall elements for glittery pine sprays and rend and green Christmas balls.

Allison Hart, of Occasions Unlimited, is a recycler when it comes to holiday decorations. When she plans materials for an autumn table setting or outside door decoration, she thinks ahead to Christmas and even New Year’s. With few simple changes, she said, fall arrangements can be easily morphed into Christmas designs, inexpensively and creatively.

For starters, instead of replacing a door wreath as the seasons change, she suggests using a basic element, such as a green moss-covered basket, and filling it with seasonal materials. Her suggestions: pheasant feathers, silk gladiolas the color of the red leaves we see around here this time of year, sprays of palm fronds, silk leaves, and dried grasses dyed red, and red dendrobium orchids.

At Christmas, the arrangement can be transformed using the same grasses, red gladiolas and orchids. The autumn-hued leaves can be replaced with green leaves, pine sprays tipped with glitter, and red and green Christmas balls added. Instead of traditional dark green, Allison prefers the color lime.

She points out that with just a few color changes, autumn becomes Christmas, easily and economically. She further recommends thinking beyond the winter holidays. The same basket can be filled with spring and summer materials as seasons change.

Allison's holiday table decorations undergo the same simple transformation. In autumn, she starts with a neutral color, such as beige, and uses dried and silk elements in the colors we see in nature during this season. A simple beige cloth covers the table throughout the seasons. For fall, it is overlayed with a chettah-print runner, the same print being repeated in the napkins, which are folded into copper rings. At each place setting, gilt-colored chargers are topped with clear glass dinnerware. Tall glass goblets of varying sizes are randomly placed atop the table. In the bowl of the goblets, short fat candles are nested in coffee beans.

The centerpiece is a low brass container with natural palm fronds and leaves placed at its base. In the container is an arrangement of orange silk gladiolas, orange silk poppies, pheasant feathers, brown-dyed eucalyptus and dyed sea grass.

The final festive touch: richly hued brown taffeta is draped over the backs of the dining chairs.

To morph fall into Christmas, Allison suggests changing out the chair backs with lime green silk fabric, if desired, although the brown taffeta can remain in place, since it goes well with the whites, reds and greens of the table color scheme. We tried alternating the brown and green fabrics. which made an interesting and colorful combination.

The beige table cloth remained in place, while the cheetah print runner was replaced with a sheer champagne fabric, threaded with gold. Allison placed gold-rimmed white plates on the gold chargers. The glass plates could have been used as well. White linen napkins were rolled into napkin rings made of burnished grapes. The tall candle holders were left in place.

Allison pulled the autumn colors from the centerpiece, replacing them with silk flowers colored in the palest of green-to-white, and lime green foliage. To create a festive holiday look, she added red and green balls.

Allison made just a few changes, such as replacing the cheetah print table runner and adding gold chargers and napking rings (below), to transform the table setting from a fall theme to a Christmas one.