Simple Fall decorating find {from the Dollar store!}

This morning I was out at the dollar store getting supplies for a party I have coming up and I saw these little mini pumpkins and gourds and I thought- why not?

I am sure they would look cute somewhere and who would know that they came from the dollar store and not somewhere that I spent 5 times as much! I also found my $1 bag of moss and I am totally happy with my $3 purchase! 

I love this old  Phillies tin, so I thought that it would make a great spot to put them. I needed some fall color  in my foyer where I have the tins displayed on this old dresser . I had painted the dresser with ASCP, in French Linen, about a year ago and it has been very useful in my foyer.

Who would have thought they couldn't find anything cute in the dollar store to decorate with!

Most favorite things about fall

Fall is my most favorite time of the year. There is just something about the crisp fall air, the smell of burning leaves and pumpkins! Living on the East Coast is especially beautiful in the fall, for so many reasons. I think it is hard to narrow down my top 20 reasons why I love fall so much. I sometimes believe that fall is almost a feeling not just all the bright colors that come with it, there is a sense of home and family. But I have to admit I do absolutely love pumpkins in all shapes and sizes. Anymore they are used in so many different ways, whether decorative or functional, so here are my top most favorite ways to decorate with pumpkins.

OK, of course this is one of my most top favorite ways to display pumpkins, they are so cute and irresistible!
Velvet pumpkins- they are so lush and rich, you just want to squeeze them.

I also love pumpkins or gourds under glass, stack them up, mix them up, they make great centerpieces

 I am always amazed at the clever ways people come up with to decorate pumpkins, who would have thought, old skeleton keys.

BHG

Love this for your house number

BHG

The totally functional

Martha Stewart

Pumpkins and gourds can make great candle holders as well

BHG

I love this!!How fun on a porch for extra lighting for a party, clean out your garage and use what can find

BHG

This is so pretty for a centerpiece

BHG

I love chevron, so here's another reason to love it even more- on pumpkins!

I love the simplicity of this wreath with the mini pumpkins and the contrasting black ribbon against the orange

BHG

However you decorate with pumpkins, make it fun- how could you not with their already bright and varying colors, their different shapes and sizes and bumpy imperfections!

Check out the other 20 favorite posts at The Inspired Room

fall nesting series

This year I am going to attempt to do a fall nesting series, nothing like the 31 day series that I did last year- I still don't know how I did that everyday for 31 days straight! Instead I will be posting ideas, pictures, fun fall  inspirations and linking them up over to the Fall Nesting series on The Inspired Room. I can't promise that they will be everyday but I will try to post as much as I can. Then make sure you go over and check out all the other Fall "nesters" to see what inspiring things they are up to. Happy nesting!

October 2- Favorite things about Fall
October 3 - Simple Fall Find{From the Dollar store!}
October 5- Fall Yarn Wreath
October 7- Fall nesting in my kitchen- painting cabinets!
October 11- client's bathroom renovations for 2 lucky girls
October 13 - Decorating with Osage oranges
October 16- Fall Mantels
October 23- Fall Nesting-staying in the season

Fall yarn wreath

I'm sure that you have seen many pictures of yarn wreaths lately, on Pinterest, in magazines etc. Well I decided to get into a crafty mood and create one myself to put on my front door. So here is what I did to make my cute fall yarn wreath.
 I started with a straw wreath. I like them a little better then the Styrofoam ones because they are a little thicker. I also got a couple different colors of yarn and felt and some plaid flannel.

Then you just start wrapping it around and around and around. It does take a while- I found it easier to place it between my legs to hold it and then loop the yarn through making sure they it was close and somewhat tight.

I picked brown yarn for the background because I wanted it to stand out against my blue door

I used additional yarn to wrap around as accents, to add some color- the white yarn I got is more of a fuzzy  yarn which gives it some additional texture.

Now for the felt flowers- which I can't take credit for! My mother made those for me,  I did pick out the colors- the plaid and the blues that I wanted to go with my door. But I did watch her make them and got the general idea of how they are made- but I won't even try to explain because I don't think that I could do a good enough job. There are many postings on how to do them.(I think that I really should learn myself!) Meanwhile, I will ask her and try to get a step-by-step with pictures and add a follow up to this post.

I then arranged  the flowers where I wanted them to go and started to hot glue them on- there is really no right or wrong way. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with the rest of the plaid flannel so I just used it to hang the wreath from the door and tied it in a bow. I love how it turned out, and how the colors coordinate with my door! There are so many different color schemes you could try, can't wait to make another one for the holidays!  

Make sure you check out my design challenge
Check out some other great fall ideas at Jennifer Rizzo's fall linky party and The Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

paint advice from 1,100 miles away

The other month I got a text from a friend of mine who was having a really hard time picking out a paint color for her bedroom. She had hired a painter and was getting a lot of advice from him about what color he thought would be best, but they were not getting anywhere. She was looking to go with a blue or green shade, but they couldn't agree on one that really worked. She lives in Florida so choosing a soothing shade of blue or green is a great choice. So I gave her a quick phone call back, while sitting in the parking lot of the mall and just happened to have all my fan decks with me. I asked her first off what colors he had suggested and thumbed through my fan deck to find them, then I saw how she would have been at a loss. The colors were all wrong from how she described the look she was going for, which was my next question that I asked her. After she explained some about what color she was looking for and basic overall feel in her room, I started going through the fan deck with her and pointed out a few options and also gave my suggestion for my first choice that I thought would look the best, Benjamin Moore, yarmouth blue.

She ran out and got a couple samples and after they were all up, she and her husband decided that they too liked the yarmouth blue the best. The painter got started that week and she text me to say that they love it and couldn't have been happier with the color. This is the picture she text me from her phone right after the room was finished.

I admit that I am a little obsessed with color, so not surprising that I always have my fan decks with me. I love to pull color together, whether on the fly or preparing for a client for a whole house. If you have any color questions or concerns I would love to help. You can find out more information on my consultation page here.

kitchen cabinet progress..half way there!

I have been painting like crazy! Once you start something as overwhelming as painting your kitchen cabinets, you just want to get everything back to normal. I have felt like quitting, but I'm now seeing the progress and how much I LOVE the color that I "mixed" together and I am getting really excited. I was a little hesitant about mixing paint for such a big job, but I wanted to have just a very light, somewhat warm gray. My walls are Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter and the color I mixed is almost a perfect match, which was the look I was going for. You may be thinking why didn't I just use the revere pewter on my cabinets? (I will explain below)  I came across this picture that gave me a little inspiration for my kitchen. In this kitchen, all the walls and cabinets are painted in Revere Pewter with a contrasting island, similar to what I am doing.

Southern Living

Southern Living

Now for the reason why I choose to use the chalk paint, mostly because thought of sanding, priming, then most likely, 3 coats of oil paint did not appeal to me at all! I have done it before and it holds up well but it's very laborious, and this way I am able to lightly distress the cabinets and get the look and finish I want. So I did a little experimenting with ASCP and came up with this below.

Paris Gray is on the left and Old Ochre is on the right (I had first tried Old White, which is the base color you see but it just wasn't what I really wanted) the color at the top is the two mixed together which gives you a color almost the exact shade of revere pewter, I couldn't have been more excited and as I said, I love it!!

I will hopefully get finished by next week. I still have to finish the backs of the cabinets and give everything a second coat, then distress them just a bit and then wax- a little overwhelmed!! I will post the final pictures when it is all put back together, then show you the tiles and lights that will finish everything off, I can't wait.

Here's a small sneak peek at one section that is almost done- I love how it matches my chevron rug and blends so well with the granite! If you want to see the post I did on the redesign of our kitchen at our last house, you can see it here.

I have this post linked to a few linky parties, you can check them out here, French Country Cottage, Miss Mustard Seed and The Shabby Nest

going off track a bit.....with reality

Epicurious

Birthdays are supposed to be filled with breakfast in bed, your favorite news show, flowers, gifts and your kids and husband running in with love and kisses, then bonn bonns and lunch etc. etc., well it's a nice thought. I did have coffee and cards, kisses and I have an amazing husband who took one for the team (because it was technically my b-day at 12:30 am) and went on an unexpected trip to the E.R. last night with our little one. I will back track for the full scope of our sleep deprived family. Two nights ago, Finn, our 5 year old, woke up in the middle of the night with a migraine and after hours ending up getting sick all over the bathroom floor. He made it through school yesterday, but I thought I heard that ever familiar sound in his voice. I was right, last night he got up at 11:30 and couldn't breathe very well, then a full on croup attack. After going through all the procedures, steam shower, cold air, we knew that he had to go to the E.R. My loving husband took him(we didn't want to ruin a night of sleep for our daughter too) they didn't return until almost 5 this morning. For those of you who are familiar with croup, you know how scary it can be. We found this out for the first time when Finn was 9 months old, not knowing what it was at the time, we thought he was going to die, we've learned a lot since then. 
 Today isn't the day that I had expected, but at least I get to spend the day with my soon to be 6 year old. Thank goodness it happened last night and not tonight, because tomorrow is his birthday and I know that he would be very sad and extremely tired his big day. So, instead I am home and he is having a very restful day on the couch. Which has left me to my kitchen and my cabinets!! So I have been painting away, not what I thought I would be doing today, but at least I am making progress and most importantly Finn is feeling much better! Happy birthday to my little man!