The Spookiest Week of the Year!

 I'm more of a Fall decoration gal than Halloween per se. 

We definitely did more Halloween decor when Mollie was young but it was never really spooky. Just cute and lots of pumpkins!

BUT... I love these terra cotta jack-o-lanterns so much. 

About as "spooky" as we get!

I had one that I bought many years ago at a Fall Festival when we moved into our first house.

It was broken during a move and then last year I found a small one at a thrift store. I started searching for them and collected quite a few. I check every time I go because I have found them on the "holiday" aisle at GW even in January. You never know!

Last year they hung out on a bamboo baker's rack on the screened porch.

 I bring them out each October and they are quite popular on my Instagram account.

(I found 3 at one time! Good thrifting day!)

I thrifted all of mine but a couple of them were originally from a place called Craven Pottery in Georgia. They have a ton of cool things that I would like to go check out in person soon.

And they have multiple sizes of the terra cotta jack-o-lanterns! I may need to get a really big one for next Halloween!!

I hope your week is full of treats, not tricks!

Family Room "Fluff"- One Room Challenge

 Week 2

One thing that I wanted to happen in this "fluff" is to edit some of the smaller items in the room. There are too many. 

I love these cabinets across the back wall. I like having the chests on each side. 

Pardon the protective cloth draped on the couch in this picture :) #cooperproofing

However there are two things that bother me visually.

1. I feel like I need to paint the chests white or something very light. I don't like the wood tone with the bamboo cabinets. The dressers are not a style I would choose but I have had them since childhood and I liked them with the previous antique cabinet we had in here. and I may be getting more streamlined chests from Mollie that are already white. If not, I will paint these in the meantime and they will basically recede. (I just painted this chest white and we really like it!)

and

2. I want to line the back of the bamboo cabinets with something white or lighter to make what I do edit and leave in them stand out better. I do not want to paint the insides - yet. I want to try lining the backs first before I commit to paint. #commitmentissues  I also have to replace the glass in one of the cabinet doors. I thrifted these last year and one was missing the glass. Now that I have decided to use all 3 and in here together I need to make that small repair. 

So,  projects to hopefully accomplish before next Thursday! They are small but it's good to cross things off of the "ORC list"

Be sure to check out everyone's progress here There are some serious makeovers and renovations going on this time.

 I've taken the easy way out this round but there are plenty of meaty makeovers to follow!

Family Room "Fluff" - One Room Challenge

 Having just finished my 9th-ish ORC in July it seems crazy 

that its time to start ORC Number 10!!

This time I'm going to give my Family Room a refresh - a fluff, if you will. 

I'm not planning anything major - no big furniture purchases, no big wall color change planned.

James Farmer calls the TV room in his house "The Waller Room" because A. we are southern and say stuff like that and B. because we basically waller around on comfy furniture and watch TV in there. 

We don't have a formal living room (which is fine because we would never use it - we turned our formal dining room into a Library 15 years ago and haven't missed it at all) so that does mean that when people come over we need to clean it up enough that it doesn't look like a Waller Room ;)

We have been wallering around far more than usual due to the pandemic and I think we could use a little freshening, a fluffing up, in our Family Room. 

 We have 2 couches in there - One is from IKEA because it's an affordable slipcovered couch, we let Cooper (and every dog we've ever had) sit on the couch with us, we snack when we waller and I don't want to be uptight about my furniture. The second one is a very, very comfy wicker sofa. I love this sofa and I debated about having a wicker couch in my family room when I don't live in a beachfront house. It seemed OK for a beachy, vacation vibe but I couldn't decide if it was going to look OK in my suburban, non-coastal home. And then I saw  this designers room with a dark wicker couch in it and it looked fabulous. So I dragged it off the screened porch and into the family room a couple of years ago as our second couch. We prefer 2 couches over a couch and multiple chairs. 

The rug is not even a year old. It's staying - I love it:)

It's a Smith and Hawken indoor/outdoor rug from Target. It doesn't look like an outdoor rug and it might just be, possibly, Cooper proof.

We had a vintage, wool, Oriental rug in here previously. 

It was NOT Cooper proof ;)  Ooops!

The walls are white. The brick fireplace is white painted brick. That is probably the DIY that has made the biggest impact in this room. And I plan to keep them white but give them a fresh coat of paint.

I inherited a huge copper tray this year that is serving as our coffee table. You can read more about it here but it's definitely staying. 

Sooooo, if all of this stuff is staying, what is the POINT of this One Room Challenge?

Wellllll, a lot of little things could use freshening up and I've been wallering around in this room long enough that I'm ready to rearrange some furniture. And edit. I need part of this "fluff" to equal less stuff ;)

So, I hope you follow along as I (hopefully) scooch the furniture around, paint and clear some clutter out but still manage to use some of my favorite accessories and make sure that everyone can see the big, black TV from "their" waller spot on the couch. 

So here we go again - One Room Challenge Number TEN for me!!

And as always be sure to check out all of the other participants here!

This Gal Got a Better Job.

 

In her previous life she was an ashtray!

When we were closing up my parents home and having the estate sale earlier this year this sweet little girl on a stand was found in the basement. I instantly loved her even though I knew we wouldn't need her to serve her original purpose!

I've had her a few months now but hadn't found just the right spot for her.

I've recently painted this chest in my entryway again!

I've struggled with this particular spot for months. It's the first thing you see when you enter our house and I think all the articles I read during lockdown about how important the "message" your entry way sends to all who enter caused me to become indecisive and somehow unable to pull it together!

But after I went to this great warm white (Sherwin Williams Steamed Milk) to match the Gampel Stoll mirror hanging above it I decided her dark silhouette might be just the contrast (and height) this spot needs.

She's holding some cute little pumpkins right now but I've already found 2 sweet little blue and white Chinoiserie planters that fit on the stand that will hold small plants. And I can already envision Christmas ornaments balancing in the little trays for Christmas. 

I think she's happy with her new line of work!

October is All About the Pumpkins and Mums

 As I mentioned last post we don't decorate for fall until after our last September birthday on the 29th. 

So now pumpkins are a GO!

I've been busy painting Chinoiserie pumpkins. The weather has been beautiful and I've been sitting on the screened porch to paint. The last batch from "my patch" has shipped out!

Now I can start sprinkling them around at my house. And they can hang around until Thanksgiving because they are Fall decor not strictly Halloween!

I found that ribbed blue and white Chinoiserie piece at a thrift store. It looks like a pumpkin. 

And I have a few of my favorite white heirloom pumpkins mixed in too. 

I prefer the pastel and white heirlooms to the bright orange pumpkins but the orange ones show up in a couple of spots too!

The first place I add in fall touches is my screened porch because I always get mums for my birthday!! My favorite mum colors are purple and white. Look at the size of this purple mum! It's the biggest one I've ever gotten!

Are you a mum person? 

I love them. They say Fall to me!

I'm off to add some Fall touches in other spots around the house. 

I'll be sure to share more pictures soon.

Fall Favorites

 Fall Favorites... from last year. 

We have 3 September birthdays at our house (the last one on the 29th) so it has always been our tradition to decorate for Fall after that - at the beginning of October. 

I don't think I ever blogged about our fall decorations last year so I thought I'd share today since it is the first day of Fall 2020! Yay- we made it!

I did post a few of these images on IG last year but in kooky 2020 reality my IG is currently not working so sharing there right now is hit or miss! 

I painted a pumpkin patch full of blue and white chinoiserie pumpkins and sprinkled them around the house and on the screened in porch.

I'm more of a white or heirloom pumpkin kind of gal over the bright orange ones.

 And I love the little, tiny white pumpkins most of all!

The other kind of pumpkin that I really like are these natural, terra cotta pumpkins that you can put a candle or battery light in. I bought a huge one many, many years ago at a Fall Festival and used it for years until it was broken in a move. Last Summer I found a small one at a thrift store! I was so excited that I became focused on finding as many as I could while out thrifting.

I was pretty successful finding them - I look on the seasonal decorations aisle at every thrift store and year round. I find them all the time - not just in the Fall.

Here's my collection from last October. 

It's grown since then. I'm excited to pull them all out this year!

You can use a real votive or a battery operated votive. 

These are a great alternative for those of us in the Deep South where we can't carve a real pumpkin until a day or two before Halloween. (The heat is not a carved pumpkins friend!!)

I've been painting chinoiserie pumpkins this weekend and I've added to my terra cotta pumpkin collection so I'll be sharing this years' Fall Fun on October 1!

Have you started decorating for Fall? 

You Say Tomato...

 

Waaaay back in early April we filled our time installing a trough garden

and ordering tomato plants for drive up pick up!

This weekend we will be eating our largest harvest to date!  

First up, BLATs! Bacon, lettuce, tomato plus avocado! Traditional BLTs are fabulous but the creamy avocado is a nice addition! And we basically will put avocado slices on anything :)

Sometimes, though, all you need is that delicious tomato and some basil straight from the garden. Our favorite GF bread is from Trader Joe's and we make our mayo the way we learned during a Whole30 cooking spree. 

There's nothing like a homegrown tomato. We've learned a lot since we started here...

(There are some early trough garden videos saved to my IG highlights.)

We had so much fun growing tomatoes and herbs 

that we are researching fall crops for the trough garden!

We will keep you posted