Fall Decor & Mantle

The house was all spiffed up for the Dining for Women dinner this weekend, so I thought I'd snap some photos and give you a mini tour. It wasn't the ideal time of day, lighting-wise, but around here I've got to grab the photos when I can.  Who knows when a random dog hair tumbleweed might decide to make an appearance?

When you walk in the door you'll see the wreaths I made (two for the double doors).  "Made" is a relative term since all I did was stuff some silk flowers into ready-made vine wreaths I've had around--but hey I did buy and arrange the flowers!

 

You'll come into the foyer and see this little display.

 

 

 

 

The lighting makes the wall look yellow.  It's really a pinky-beige.

 

To the right is the dining room. The walls in here are light blue. and match the living room across the hall.

I had the table set up for a buffet, so that's why there are no chairs.  You'll also notice a project china cabinet reflected in the mirror.  It was too big to take downstairs easily, so I'll be painting it in the dining room!

 

 

 

 

 

To the left is the living room.  Our home is a basic colonial with a hall running down the middle and small rooms that drive me crazy.  I'd rather have a more open layout for entertaining.  

 

The house was built in the 1980's, and doesn't have much architectural detail,  so I try to add some in with old doors and salvage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through the French doors from the living room is the family room.

 

 

 

 

This is one of my first mantle displays against my newly painted brick.  I'm so happy I painted it!

 

 

From the family room you look into the kitchen.

Nothing too exciting in here, but I did add a touch of fall with a squash and some apples.

 

 

That's it so far for my fall décor.  I'll add some things in the coming weeks. 

This weekend it actually felt like fall, after a week of temps in the 90's.  I love the crispness in the air--sweater weather!

Hope you all have a great week!


Sharing at:

The Dedicated House: Make it Pretty Monday
Elizabeth & Co.: Be Inspired
No Minimalist Here: Open House
Thrifty Décor Chic: Fall Mantle Party
French Country Cottage: Fall Abounds

Happy Halloween!

Hope you had a good weekend.  Ours was strange: snow and sleet on Saturday, bright and sunny on Sunday.  Today is a beautiful fall day.  It would be the perfect evening for trick-or-treaters ... if we ever got any.  We live at the end of a long, dark driveway, and even though we have kids in the neighborhood, kids who see us regularly and know our dogs, I guess the driveway is just too spooky for them. (I just had a thought -- maybe we're too spooky for them!  You should see my husband when he goes up the driveway to get the paper first thing in the morning.  And if I'm out early with the dogs before my morning coffee, I certainly may have a zombie-like quality!)

Most of the houses in our area are on plots of an acre or so.  Ours is an acre and a half. When the boys were young they liked to go over to their friends' neighborhoods to trick-or-treat because the houses were closer together and they could get more candy with less walking! But I do usually see some trick-or-treaters out and about in our neighborhood. Over the years I've tried putting out lighted luminaries along the driveway and a sign with "Trick or Treat" and an arrow, but nothing has worked.  Still, each year I buy Halloween candy "just in case."  And since I know that we probably won't get any trick-or-treaters, I make sure it's candy I like!  (Hmmm ... do you think this attitude has contributed to the 20 lbs I need to loose?)

Since we won't get any cute costumed kids tonight to celebrate the season, I decided to make some additions to my indoor fall decorating to get me in the autumn spirit.  I  leave these vignettes up through Thanksgiving, and jump into setting up our holiday decor the day after.

The centerpiece on our coffee table.

The buffet table in the dining room.

The antique desk in the family room (a Craigslist find!).

 Close up - the acorns are from our yard.

Pumpkins mixed with my white vases on the mantle.

More white and white on the white chippy shelf in the family room.

The washstand under the shelf (Craigslist find).



Our entry.

Even Pepper (Mr. P) is in the mood with his orange coat!

But Mosby apparently just wants an uninterrupted nap!

Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

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TypeADecorating: Anything Goes

Fall is Falling

It was a beautiful autumn weekend here in Virginia, so while I'm finishing up the "before and after" I had planned on showing you today, I thought I'd show you some photos I took around the house:

The trees are turning color.

Our pumpkins are out.

And so is the welcome sign.

The wreaths are on the doors.

There's still some color in the garden.

Along with some chrysanthemums in the containers.

Those leaves you see aren't placed there for effect.  The leaves are not only turning.  They are falling ...

And falling ...

And falling ...

I love our trees, but I hate the leaf clean-up we have to do every year.  And when I mentioned to my husband that we should get going on it, he said, "Hey, I just dug a hole!"  I'm sure he'll be playing his water main repair card for months to come to show he's done his part around the house! Oh well, he comes through in a crunch. It's tough being a DIY-er married to a DIS-er (do it somebody else), but it certainly makes our landscape guy happy to know he can count on our business each year! 

More Fall Ideas

I spent a good part of today sanding the dining room table that I'm hoping to reveal soon.  I say "hoping" because I have been working on this thing on-and-off since last Spring, and it's just been one disaster after another.  In the meantime we've been living with no dining room table because I sold our set on Craigslist right about the time I started on the table.  I was sure I was going to whip that baby out in a few days.  I was wrong. So ... very ... wrong.

Living without a dining room table hasn't been that big of a deal since we usually eat in the kitchen anyway.  But I'm hosting a board meeting next week for a group I belong to, and I need the table for the potluck -- let alone the fact that it's kind of embarrassing to have a bunch of people over with an empty dining room (although it has come in handy as a storage space for furniture I've found and need to paint!). So I'm getting my patooti in gear and getting it done.

When I got sick of sanding I took a break and looked through my latest issue of Southern Living for some Fall decorating ideas. The leaves are starting to turn here and the gourds and mini-pumpkins are out, so I want to add some more elements to the Fall fluffing I've started.  I found a couple of creative and easy (I'm big on easy) ideas I've never seen before, so for those of you not in the south who may not see Southern Living I thought I'd share.

We've all seen painted pumpkins before, but I haven't seen the rectangular treatment like this one:

When combined with the striped pumpkins and pumpkins with circles it makes a nice display.

I think this would be great on my buffet table for the board meeting, and it's easy-peasy.

This is my favorite.  Rather than use a real pumpkin though, I think I'm going to try it with a "Funkin" so I can keep it through Thanksgiving and re-use it next year.

You can find the instructions for all of these in this issue of Southern Living or online.

I love the combo of the kale and pumpkins on the cover too!





Fall Fluffing

As I mentioned in my last post, it is just beginning to feel like Fall around here.  As soon as I feel that little nip in the air I get happy.  Fall to me is about new beginnings, which actually makes no sense since outside leaves are falling and my garden is starting to go into hibernation.  I guess it goes back to the anticipation of a new school year when I was little.  Not that I particularly liked school, but I looked forward to new Fall clothes (I loved shopping even then!), new teachers, and new adventures.

So over the weekend I dug out my decorations and started to fluff up our house for the season.

I prefer to use natural elements such as real branches, leaves and pumpkins, but it's still a bit early here.  The leaves haven't started changing, and I'm not seeing the mini pumpkins and gourds in the stores yet.  So for now I'm using silk leaves and my collection of  "phony" pumpkins.  I'll add in the real thing as the season progresses. 

To get started I just decorated our family room, starting with the mantle.

I mixed in phony and faux Fall elements with some of my collection of vintage white pottery which were already on the mantle.  (I'm not a big fan of all the brick around our fireplace, and am debating whether I should paint it white or whitewash it ... I can't make up my mind because once you start there is not going back!).

I made a quick garland with garden twine and paper leaves.  I  may come up with something more elaborate down the road ... or not.  It will depend on whether I get the right combination of inspiration and motivation at the same time!  

I added a Fall message to the blackboard I made from an old frame and put it on the vintage washstand in the family room (another Craigslist find).

The actual first day of Fall may not be until Friday, but in our house it's already started.  Yay!

Sharing at:

Fall Nesting 2011 at The Inspired Room

Debbie Doo's Newbie Party