Page 2 / News, Trends, Gossip and Stuff To Do : Bits “n’ Pieces : Fall Into Homework

If you’re one of those people who think that autumn is for planting paperwhites and comparing pumpkin breads, Carolyne Roehm’s “Fall Notebook” (HarperCollins, $25) is sure to get you going. Let others obsess about football pools. You can stay at home, stacking apples in antique baskets and arranging dahlia bouquets.

Some readers will remember Roehm from her fashion designer days; she had her own label in the early ‘90s. Lately, she has been working as a lifestyle contributor to the “Good Morning America” show. Her “Fall Notebook” is the second of four she has planned for this year, each one an organizer’s paradise, with pockets for article clippings, perforated recipe cards, blank pages for writing notes and plenty of photographs. In this one, her photos include tabletop decorations and classic autumn foods such as onion soup and apple tarts.

It’s always fun to get a peek into for fall projects, festivities Roehm’s world. She was her own model in her fashion ads, and in her home book she uses her Connecticut estate, Weatherstone (there was a fire there recently, but Roehm still lives there), as the back drop for most pictures. Basically, she’s taken her approach to dressing a body and applied it to decorating a house.

“I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen a dress ruined with the wrong accessories,” she explains. “It’s the same with flowers. Even the most beautiful flowers don’t work if they’re in the wrong vase or placed against the wrong background.”

If the Weatherstone lifestyle is not in your immediate future, perhaps a pretty little vase will do for now. Roehm offers a selection that includes one gold striped, one brown-striped and two botanical designs priced from $60 to $75. To order by mail, call (800) CAROLYN. The book will be in stores this month.