Fall Tablescape-Lauren Edition

October 1, 2015October 1, 20158 Comments

Hello everyone and welcome to the only non-Pumpkin Spice blog you will see. Just kidding, I’m sure there are other bloggers who don’t like Pumpkin spice. Now, Caramel Apple Spice, I will write about that!

But, I digress.

My roommate Hannah decided to decorate the living room with fall decor. So, I decided to decorate the table for fall.

My dishes are red and yellow which are perfect fall colors. I used my large and small plates, my bowls, and even my matching coffee mugs. I love how the dishes look in the alternating colors and it is perfect for fall. I also added a homemade Caramel Apple Spice packet to each mug for my guests to enjoy.

My centerpiece includes a basket of fruit, some cardboard pumpkins, a candle, and some fun scarecrows. Though there isn’t a whole lot of height difference, I still like how it turned out.

I love how it turned out! It isn’t screaming fall, but you can definitely tell there is a theme going on here. Next week, you will see mom’s version of what a fall tablescape should look like!

Living Room and Dining Room Fall Tour

September 28, 2015September 26, 201510 Comments

Hooray! Today is my first Fall Home Tour! I’m really excited to be able to show you around. My house is very small, but I took a ton of pictures, so grab something yummy and have fun!

The first stop is right inside the front door. I don’t have an entry way, so just come on in!

I did set out a couple mugs and a pitcher, just in case you decide to stay awhile.

I finally painted the walls this summer! It’s always feel so fresh and clean afterwards. But I didn’t have anything hanging on the walls, until now. I put this up for the pictures, but I will be painting the frame with some chalk paint very soon.

This is my chair. I love this chair! It is called a chair and a half and it was the perfect size for my girls and I to sit and read books together when they were little. Now it’s the perfect size for my dogs and I to snuggle together!

I added some fall touches to the corner table. I still have some of my beachy decor, but a pumpkin and acorn bring a little more autumn feel.

I really would like to replace this table. I sort of have something in the works, but it just isn’t coming together the way I want, so this is it for now.

I showed you the dresser turned t.v. stand a little while ago. I added another pumpkin, an owl and some pinecones in the glass candle holder.

This little table is on the wall that leads into the dining room. The living room and dining room are basically one room. I have another plan for this wall that I am working on. It will be here soon. I am soooo excited! It is something I have wanted for a very long time!

I painted these pumpkins as part of a makeover. It took awhile to come up with ideas, but I really like how they turned out!

My dining room is all dressed up and ready for fall!

I really love the built-in hutch, but it is really dark. All the trim in my house used to be this color. A couple of years ago, Haley helped me paint all the trim in the living room and dining room, but we ran out of energy to paint the hutch. Maybe some day!

This corner is one of my favorite little places. I love the old ladder the blankets are on, the wagon, which was mine growing up, the lanterns, the baby scale, everything!

I have my old ice cream maker bucket and a few beachy items on the hutch.

These are a few of the dishes and other goodies I have inside.

Lauren and I made this cute little stool from an ugly bench. Come see how we did it!

I really like how my tablescape turned out this year. Each year is a little different. I will be posting more about the table in the next post.

Here is where I do my blogging. Boy, is this spot hard to keep clean! I always have so many papers around and notes and such. I added a few things to help keep it organized.

I painted these shelves this summer too. I first painted them a darker grey and then dry brushed lighter grey over the top. New brackets were added too. I really like the neutral look of these and how it looks in the room. I added many of my favorite things to these shelves.

See my little googly-eyed rock. He’s my prayer rock. I made him this summer with the kids in my preschool. It’s a great reminder every day, that God is my Rock!

I know this post was a little long, but I hope you enjoyed the tour! It was a lot of work to get everything together, but I loved how everything turned out and now I am ready for the whole fall season. I will be writing about my tablescape in the next post, so come back for a visit!

Pumpkins, and Leaves and Acorns, Oh My!

September 21, 2015September 21, 20157 Comments

Happy Fall! Only two more days and we are officially in Autumn! Of course, it is still 90 degrees here! We really don’t get much of a fall and it usually doesn’t start getting cooler until Halloween. The leaves are changing color and falling at Christmas. Go figure! But my front porch is ready! No matter the weather!

I don’t think I have ever shown my front porch on the blog before, so let me introduce you! It’s very small and compact, but perfect for decorating.

I first added my wicker chair and covered the chair cushion with a piece of muslin. Then I found a brightly colored striped pillow in my ‘collection’ with the perfect fall colors.

I placed the matching wicker table next to it and then added lots of fall decorations! I filled the white wooden basket with burlap, pumpkins, and filler flowers. I also added a clipboard with a fall printable. I have a toilet paper pumpkin that one of the girls made many years ago, a white pumpkin Lauren carved with 4-H on it from her time in 4-H, a solar light, some driftwood, and a ruler pumpkin.

I brought out one of my crates and placed a wooden tool box, also made by Lauren in 4-H, and filled it with more burlap, candle holders, and sweater acorns.

Aren’t these acorns adorable? I found the instructions here.

Leaning against the crate is my oval chalkboard with the word ‘Thankful.’

I have another tall chalkboard, from this project, leaning in the corner with the word ‘Fall’ printed on it. This is my last piece of board from that puppet theater.

I have a faux chrysanthemum near the door. Faux because of our high temps and high drought. This is just going to have to do for now!

My last item is the wreath on the door. Lots of fall leaves and a big turquoise ‘S’ in the middle. Got to have my turquoise!

Did you spot the little guy nestled in the bottom? He’s a cutie!

I hope you enjoyed your little tour! Happy Autumn!

Dollar Tree Fall Rake Makeover

September 14, 2015September 13, 201530 Comments

Good morning! It’s another hot week here in Central California. It’s hard to get into the fall spirit when it’s almost 100 degrees! It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, if we even remember what that is. I will probably take my kids out to play in it if it does!

Even though it is hard to get into fall, I have made another fall craft using Dollar Tree floral, bells and ribbon. I had my husband keep this rake after the wooden handle broke. I’m sure he thought I was crazy :). I sort of forgot about it, until I saw something similar on Pinterest. I dug it out of the shed and went to Dollar Tree to by some fun little goodies. Here is what I bought: 5 stems of feathers and flowers, a string of acorn bells and a roll of ribbon.

The first thing I did was to push the leaves up to the flower and then clip apart the flowers from the big plastic stem. I used wire cutters for this.

Here is everything all separated and ready to be glued on.

I started with the long grassy leaves. I laid them out on the black part of the rake and then hot glued them on. They don’t have to be too close together or perfect.

Next I filled in more of the empty places the pieces that had the feathers in them. Again, nothing has to be perfectly placed.

These feathers are so pretty!

Then I took the larger flowers and started filling in on the top to cover the black plastic part of the rake. I cut some of the flower stems closer to the leaves so they would lay more flat and the others I left the longer stem. Then I glued them on randomly. Some I placed higher up and some down lower. I also added some of the filler flower in between some of the empty spaces.

After all the flowers were attached I glued the bells onto the black part and then added a big bow to the top. I don’t have pictures of making the bow. I don’t seem to have enough hands! 🙂

I love how this looks on the wooden fence!

Here it is inside too with some cute little pumpkins underneath.

I really like it outside on the fence though!

Fabric Pumpkin Makeover

September 7, 2015September 7, 201523 Comments

Happy 3 Day Weekend (for those who get one!)! This post is late today because I am busy trying to get my house cleaned up and ready for fall! I don’t have much time during the week, so I figured this was my time to get moving on it. I feel like I accomplished quite a bit, but I didn’t get the blog done for this morning. But it’s here now!

I found these 2 (very) bright orange fabric pumpkins at a thrift store. There really wasn’t much out yet at the stores I usually go to. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with these, but I figured something would come to mind. I talked with the girls and we came up with a few ideas.

I started with the small one. Haley suggested turquoise with orange polka-dots, where the dots start out full at the top and then becomes less and less. So I went through my paint stash and started with some colors that I mixed. It did not turn out as bright as Haley was thinking. So, I looked again and found some old poster paint in bright turquoise. It ended up being the perfect color! Here are my different attempts:

Much better color! I added a little more turquoise with some purple mixed in for the stem. After seeing the turquoise, my mind totally went in a different direction than polka-dots! Do you do that? Change your mind part way through a project? All. The. Time!

I decided to add some string around the pumpkin where the previous string was. I picked a navy blue, although it looks kind of purple.

I just put some hot glue on the old string and laid the new string over the top.

Here is a little clue to how I ended up decorating the pumpkin. These are a few of the embellishments that I used.

The big pumpkin I just spray-painted with Rust-oleum spray paint in Metallic Aluminum.

Then I added some glittery silver filigree washi tape that I found at Walmart. Sorry I don’t have the package to show you. I had already opened it for another project. Isn’t is pretty!

And here is the turquoise one! Ta da!

Haley loves peacocks and we had decorated her graduation party in a peacock theme. You can see it here. I had a few feathers left over, so it worked out great.