Fall Touches Around the House

Here are a few simple touches of fall around our house…



I used some Indian corn, faux leaves, & an artificial flower to create fall décor for the front door.



When I took the packaging off the corn, the husks had taken on a funky shape.  To straighten them out, I soaked the husks in a sink of warm water for about 5 minutes & then hung them upside down to dry.  An hour or so later, I rubber banded them together where the corn & husk meet.  Then I stuck in three leaves & used hot glue to adhere a flower.



I spray painted a fake pumpkin & added it to the entry table.



This year, I changed up the mantel too.  On one side I used a pumpkin & some peacock feathers ($2.99/2 at Hobby Lobby) to create a more seasonal look.



I added an orange floral stem to my turquoise vase & a small pumpkin on the other side.



With a nice fire, some pillows, & a blanket, it is feeling cozy in here.  That’s a good thing, because it’s about to get cold!

Click here to see how I decorated last year!

We Are Thankful!

A few days ago I mentioned that I would show you the other chalkboard wall in our nook.  Originally I had told the kids this would be a place for them to create chalk drawings, but then I decided to do something special in this spot for the holidays.  Enter the “Thankful Wall”…





As artfully as I could, I wrote the words, “We are thankful…”  Throughout this month, I have encouraged my husband & kids to write different things they are thankful for on the wall.  It is definitely encouraging to walk through the doors & see that someone is thankful for you! 

In addition to writing down things we are thankful for, we are also learning 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, which says, “Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Give thanks no matter what happens.  God wants you to thank him because you believe in Christ Jesus.”  (NIRV) 

We also have a We Are Thankful Jar, which we are trying to get through.  It is basically a jar of ways to show you are thankful.  Each day in the month of November, you pick something out of the jar & do it.

So far, this month has been incredibly busy, and we haven’t done the best job at reflecting on all we have to be thankful for.  Since this may be my last post before Thanksgiving, I want you to know how thankful I am for all of you who read this blog!  Just seeing that people are reading makes me happy, but I am especially grateful for those of you that leave encouraging comments!  It makes my day!

I hope you & your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Fall Around the House

I finally got around to decorating for fall.  At first, I decided against it, since I’m trying to save my pennies for some other decorating projects, but once I realized how bad the mantel looked, I had a change of heart!

Here are a few quick pictures…










I spy some creepy hands & an opened kitchen cabinet!  Oops!







I’m loving this view out the morning room windows! 




And here is the beautiful view from the deck, down to the fire pit.




And by the kids’ play area.  (By the way, the birdhouses from Michael’s didn’t quite hold up!)



Are you decorating for fall, or just letting the great outdoors do it for you?

I'll be linking up here:

At the Picket Fence, Serenity Now, Tatertots & Jello, Simple Home Life, Remodelaholic, Miss Mustard Seed,

Touches of Fall

Here are some simple touches I added to our home's decor to recognize the autumn season...

{Front Stoop}

It finally stopped raining long enough to get some decent pictures of the front porch.  I made another corn husk wreath inspired by Vanessa At The Picket Fence.  I also replaced the dead plants in my urns with some beautiful yellow mums.  I promise I'm going to water these! (Although, I may not have to worry about it with all the rain we've been getting lately!)  The final touch was a couple of pumpkins.  Nothing says fall to me like the colors red, yellow, & orange.

Besides the fall mantle, I also added a few seasonal touches to the interior of our home.

{Family Room}

In the family room, I replaced a green moss ball with a raffia pumpkin & added a stem of purple berries to the vase on the toy self behind it.

{Morning Room}

I had a hard time coming up with a fall centerpiece for the kitchen table.  I finally settled on adding a pumpkin to a white bowl & adding some peach & orange berries around it.  I also added some more glittery Dollar Tree pumpkins to the candle holders.

{Kitchen}

I bought a bag of fall produce that I thought I would use for either the mantle or the table.  After deciding I didn't like it in either of those places, I added some burlap to the bottom of our fruit basket in the kitchen & arranged the pumpkins & squash on top.  This turned out to be the perfect place for them!

I did add a few other pumpkins around the house...not exciting enough for pictures though!  I hope you enjoyed our touches of fall!

Wendy



Sharing here:

Door Decor Party at Southern Hospitality

        

It's Fall Y'all!

Happy second day of fall! 

Instead of decorating for Halloween & Thanksgiving, I usually just put out some fall decorations.  Honestly, I didn't really decorate at all for the fall holidays (or really any holiday except Christmas) until last year.  Seeing all these blogs with fabulous fall mantles made me want to do the same! 

Here is what my mantle looked like this summer:

{Summer}

And here is what it looks like decorated for fall...

{Fall}

My main inspiration for this mantle came from the picture below from Martha Stewart. 

Martha Stewart

I loved the look of this corn husk wreath hung on the mirror by gold ribbon.  I originally saw this picture & a tutorial At The Picket Fence.  Vanessa described herself as "craft challenged" & made the project look pretty easy.  I decided to give it a try.  You'll have to check out her post for the full tutorial & to get some other ideas she had for the leftover corn husks.

As you can tell from the summer picture of our mantle, we don't have a mirror hanging above the fireplace.  I didn't want to spend money on a big mirror right now, so I decided to use some brown packing paper to cover up the oil painting.  I just cut it to size & used a few pieces of sticky tack to adhere it to the painting so it wouldn't get damaged.  I couldn't find any pretty gold ribbon at Hobby Lobby, so I used some gold tulle ribbon to hang the wreath to the back of the picture.  (I just duct taped it to the back.)

{My version of Martha's wreath}

I removed the candles from their holders & replaced them with some Dollar Tree glittery pumpkins I picked up last year.

On the other side of the mantle, I filled a glass vase with faux acorns, (from Wal-Mart) another glittery pumpkin from the Dollar Tree, and a few faux leaves.

I filled the space in between with more faux leaves & clear plastic acorns (both from Dollar Tree), pine cones, & some artificial berry stems I already had.

It's not quite Martha's version, but I really like the way my fall mantle turned out.  I think it is both simple & elegant, which is the style I'm after these days!

Thanks for looking!  I hope you were able to find some fall inspiration for yourself!

Wendy

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