Fall Decorating!

Sunday was the first day of Fall! Quiet honestly, it snuck up on me and I feel like summer and days at the pool just ended. I love fall, but I really love summer! Oh well, the days go on, and fall brings some of my favorite traditions and holidays!

I wanted to decorate a few weeks ago, but it just didn't feel like fall and there was so much going on! Sunday morning we stayed home from church because Meggie wasn't feeling well, and I took the opportunity to decorate the house. 

I started with the mantle:

I added a few flowers and leaves to the arrangement on the far left. Next is a pumpkin bowl that was handed down from my mom, along with a family picture, a pumpkin gourd given to my by my step-mother-in-law; a new picture frame that my grandma bought me as well as a candlestick; a pilgrim girl and a large pumpkin (Hobby Lobby.) 

Most of these decorations came from Hobby Lobby! I should have bought stock in them long ago!

After I was finished with the mantle, I decorated my entry way.

When I'm redecorating for the holidays; these are the first two pieces to get decorated because they make the most impact.

Once again, I added new flowers and glittered pumpkins to a vase. I left my turquoise chalk board, and added to twig pumpkins. I also placed little squirrels.

The bottom tier, received an acorn shaped bowl filled with acorns, a fun picture of Gretchen climbing over pumpkins from a pumpkin patch trip about two years ago, and a squirrel candle holder.

Fun fact: In college, I was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. Our mascot is a squirrel, so many of my fall decorations were bought for me in college!

I don't decorate too much for Halloween. I really like having things out that will last for several months and so many Halloween decorations are ghoulish.

I have an antique sewing stand in my kitchen, and I placed the girls treat buckets on it, as well as our candy dish.

In 2011, I think that's right after I joined Pinterest, I made this ghost foot print picture!

I'll have to make another canvas this year with something of all three girls and place just below it.

On another wall in my kitchen I have this count down picture. My mom bought it for me about two years ago.

On a shelf in my kitchen, I placed a leaf candy dish, pilgrims, and my squirrel and acorn salt and pepper shakes.

I kept my kitchen table simple by just adding a dish full of potpourri. 

On my kitchen island, I have a vase full of sparkling pumpkins and another candy dish.

I placed two of my fall platters on top of my kitchen cabinets.

I also set a few decorations around in the living room.

I have this wall sconce in the living room full of flowers, and I usually leave it as is, but this year I added leaves and flowers. 

I love how full it is!

I still have to decorate the front of my house. That usually happens in October, after a trip to the pumpkin patch. I have a wreath that i'm revamping and i'll be adding outside, and my mom bought me a new garden flag. 

Fall is officially here y'all!

Hope you've decorated!

By: Unknown On 06.00

Continue Reading

Redecorating: Just a Few Touches

Every once in a while, I get in a mood to redecorate. The redecorating bug tends to run in my family, and almost every time that my grandma is at my mom's house, something is moved or rearranged. I fondly remember redecorating my grandma or mom's living room growing up. It's in my genes.

The redecorating bug hit me a few weeks ago, and I decided to update my front entrance and the space above my kitchen cabinets. 

My entry table is an antique secretary. My uncle found it on the side of the road, picked it up, and gave it to my grandma. Somehow it found its way into my house, as we tend to pass pieces between generations. I am dying to paint this piece, but I also want a new entry table, and when I buy one or when one is bought for me (at Christmas, hint, hint, mom!) then this secretary will be passed on to my brother and his wife. Which is the only reason that it's not been sanded, painted, an distressed in a bright fun color!

Anyway, this is what my secretary looked like before:

I've had most of these pieces for years. The super tall candlesticks that are distressed, a family picture, a stepping stone Mother's day gift from Megan, a fun candle holder from Pottery Barn, and a white urn with tall blades of grass, along with a "W" initial.

The too tall candlesticks have been bugging me for a long time, and the entire piece felt cramped and crowded. 

So, I scaled down, removed the candlesticks and came up with this:

I recently purchased a distressed 5x7 frame to use as a photo prop, but I thought it would be fun to keep it on the entry table and write phrases on throughout the year. I could do Bible verses, "Welcome", "Come Back", "Go Tulsa", just to name a few. I'm excited to play with the chalkboard frame, and the girls have even enjoyed pulling it down and coloring on it.

I grabbed a canning jar out of the pantry and filled it with coffee beans and a candle. I love the smell of coffee, but hate the taste. Using coffee beans as a filler is a great trick to keep your house smelling fresh as guest walk in the door.

Beside the jar, is a turquoise decorative sphere.

On the top tier, I replaced the oversized candle holder from Pottery Barn. I purchased it in December at the Memphis outlet, and it hasn't grown old on me yet, so I kept it. I left the "W" and added a family picture, although it needs to be updated.

Once the entry table was complete, I moved on to the cabinet tops. These were decorated when I moved in, and decorated last fall and Christmas, but after Christmas, I never put anything back up. I have a love hate relationship with cabinets that don't reach the ceiling. I feel like it's wasted space, and my southern family has always decorated cabinet tops, but I also don't see the point, as everything just gathers dust up there. 

But, it was so plain and just driving me crazy, so I decided to do something about it.

I am really craving white, crisp, clean designs right now and if I didn't have three young children and a dog, I'd totally stop what I was doing and march myself down to the furniture store and purchase a crisp linen couch. But, that's just ridiculous for now, so I decided to pull out two white platters that my mom bought me last Christmas and put those on display.

Next, I grabbed two wine bottles out of the fridge. One of the bottles had been in our fridge unopened for several months, maybe even a year. I tasted it, decided it was disgusting and poured it down the drain. It was free, I don't feel guilty about wasting a bottle of wine to suite my decorative purposes. The other bottle was fairly new, but only had a glass left, so I poured myself a glass of wine at three o'clock in the afternoon, washed out the bottles, and grabbed some twine and my glue gun and wrapped those bottles.

The cabinets were still missing something, and I remembered a small white plate from the Dollar Tree that had a sharpie drawn letter "W" on it.... I know y'all have seen that floating around Pinterest, and my mom and I tried it out, and then put it in the cabinet. I pulled it back out and set it on a stand. And, I have a feeling that most of my family members and neighbors will be getting sharpie drawn plates for Christmas this year. 

Finally, I grabbed a white urn that was originally on my entry secretary and put it on top, but decided it needed something. Thankfully, my brother hunts and my grandmother had brought up pheasant feathers several months ago, and they were just sitting in a drawer waiting to be used. I decided to stick those in the vase.

Voila. I seriously love the way this cabinet top looks. I want my entire house to look just like this. White and clean and fresh.

Sometimes, you just need to make a few little changes to make your house feel like a home again. I'm so glad the redecorating bug is in my genes. Thank you mama and grandma!

By: Unknown On 05.45

Continue Reading

MC's Big Girl Room

In preparation for Adalyn to arrive, we had to get the crib out of Megan's room, and into the nursery, which only meant that Megan would now be in a big girl bed! 

My mom and grandma came up in May while DJ was at his video coordinator convention and I tok three days off work, so we could set up the nursery and Megan's room. DJ and I had moved Gretchen upstairs the two weekends before. 

We first started by taking the crib apart and out of the room, then we got busy putting the bed together. And y'all, i'm still not sure it's together the right way, but it's holding her and hasn't caved in! 

We actually switched the sides of her dresser with where her crib use to be, and then put her bed where her dresser was. I really didn't think it would give her the extra room, but my grandma was right- it did. Let's pause for a minute and recognize the fact that my grandma was right.... she ALWAYS is. I kid you not.

Above: her dresser, which has tons and tons of little knick knacks.

And, her bed. We were able to purchase a full size iron bed for her because my mother in law gave us the money (so graciously) after a bedroom set we had given to her was damaged in a tornado. She didn't need to purchase another bed at the time, so she gave us the money in order to purchase Megan Claire's bed and furniture.

And yes, I realize my two year old is sleeping in a queen size bed. I had a full or queen size bed growing up and I just adored it! It was so much easier when friends spent the night, and even though now, we could have purchased twin size- we had already purchased Gretchen's queen size and I wanted the same for Megan. Not realizing that we would ever have a third child, let alone a third little girl!

Megan's bedding came from Target.

Beside her bed is her nightstand, which now still holds her diapers and changing pad. She's well on her way to potty training success, and the changing pad and most of the diapers will be moved over to Adalyn's room in the next two weeks.

My stepdad made MC this little stool, and my mom and I painted. We still say that we'll add her name or monogram, and just haven't gotten around to it.

She has a little empty corner beside her dresser, so I made it a little toy corner. We really need to get another storage piece, because most of the toys are just piled in the basket and on the floor, but for now it works well.

This is the little display I have above her toys, and I left her mobile hanging for a whimsical effect. 

And on the other side of her room is the closet and a doll bed. She loves babies!

I'm totally in love with the way her room turned out! She's doing so good sleeping in her big girl bed! We only had one or two rough nights when we transitioned her, but we also had family here and I think she honestly just didn't want to go to sleep! I found on idea from Pinterest, about slipping jumbo pool noodles underneath the fitted sheet, in order to keep from falling out of bed, and knock on wood, but it's totally worked! So, she does have two giant humps in her sheets, but we really didn't want to purchase a side railing for her ("because Gretchen didn't have one"- was DJ's excuse), but I was still terrified that she'd fall out and wind up with a concussion. Seriously, the pool noodles work great!

By: Unknown On 05.00

Continue Reading

Adalyn's Nursery

We are about 7 weeks away from Adalyn's due date, and I'm so thankful that my mom and grandmother were able to come up at the end of last week and help me prepare! It's hard preparing for baby 3, when you have two other honey pie's to take care of and attend to!

I must say, I wouldn't have been able to complete her room without their help, and i'm always grateful for how much those two women have helped me and blessed our little girls!

Now for the room tour!

When you walk into Adalyn's room, you're greeted with this burlap wreath. The main bulk of the wreath was pre-made at Hobby Lobby, but my mom added some fabric petals, the sign, and her name.

This will be going to the hospital with us and will hang on our door for the few days we will be there.

Straight ahead is her dresser. I've placed a cd player, and a vintage basket with green chevron lining, as well as a tin Peter Rabbit bowl, cup, and her silver rattle. The Peter Rabbit dinnerware was given as a gift for Megan, but I never used it, because her room has a bird theme, but they have a vintage look and are perfect for Addy's room!

Here's a view of her door, dresser, our swing (which will be moved to the living room) and her vintage wall collection.

Her changing pad will be placed on the dresser as soon as we can get MC potty trained- hopefully before Addy arrives!

Both the dresser and nightstand were purchased in Conway at a side of the road stand, where the family refurbishes old furniture. My grandmother purchased both pieces for us for $150.00!

The yellow dress hanging on the wall was mine when I was a baby. The four frames were purchased at a "junk" store here in Tulsa. The white "A" was purchased at Marshalls, and the urn painting was purchased at the same "junk" store. (River City Trading Post). We hung a tin Peter Rabbit plate on the wall, along with a vintage looking sign purchased from Hobby Lobby. Inside the white frame is the corsage I wore at my Little Rock baby shower.

Her crib is to the right when you walk into the door.

Both of my girls have used the crib, and it was given to us by my cousin- her two children used it as well. 

My great-grandfather made this little end table/book stand and I painted it several years ago. I'm tempted to repaint the table in yellow, but I may decide to leave it as is. I received the "Cute as a Button" frame at a baby shower.

My mom made her bedding. Her bumper pad is made with a pink, yellow, and green paisley, and has pink ribbon ties. Her crib skirt is made with a cream, pink, and green stripe material. We paired it with a yellow chevron crib sheet (Target) and three pillows. One that my mother made and monogrammed with the same crib skirt material, and the others, a yellow chevron, and green chevron bolster) were purchased at River City Trading post here in Tulsa.

On another wall, we hung this creme plant basket and placed a few hand made blankets. Three of them were mine when I was a baby, one was given to Gretchen, and one was hand made for Megan.

Our Pinterest inspired project was this button letter "A". We purchased an embroidery hoop ($7.00) and painted it creme. I painted a letter "A" in pink, and then we hot glued pink buttons and sequins. I may go back and add a bow, but i'm not for sure at the moment.

Thankfully, we already had pink ruffled curtains in the playroom, so those were moved to Adalyn's room. The bouncer was Gretchen's, as was the chair. The pink tin mirror was also once Gretchen's, and the green crochet blanket was made by my 2nd cousin for Adalyn. (It matches perfectly!) We also added a green tin bucket with a chevron liner, and I have a lamp at my mom's house, that has a burlap shade that will be placed on the pink nightstand. I'll also get a basket to place inside the stand.

I'm more excited now for her to arrive and i'm simply in love with her sweet vintage inspired nursery! It's simple and complete.... just like our family.

By: Unknown On 05.00

Continue Reading

Home Tour: Playroom

I have been meaning to write this blog posts for months now! It took me a while to get good photos of the girls' playroom because the playroom is always a mess. And, I just didn't feel like I could show what this room really looks like! 

When we moved into this house, I was so thrilled that the girls could have a playroom. Our entire upstairs is just one large room, and it was the perfect space for all of their toys! I know DJ really wanted a man cave, but our house also has an office space, that can display all of his sports memorabilia, so the girls took over the upstairs.

There's an little window nook that we made into a reading corner for the girls. We purchased these sparkly letters from Hobby Lobby, and hung them on one of the nook walls. 

 Opposite of the letters is their bookshelf. I obviously love books, and we have quite a collection because it's overflowing! The girls also have a few books in their own bedrooms!

 Right outside of the window nook is yet another book container! Thanks to Nana for purchasing it for MC's birthday! We also have a large bin of just stuffed animals. (That rarely if ever are played with.)

 My very best friend gave me this "Belle" painting about two years ago. And sadly, it just sat rolled up in a closet somewhere. We just had no space for it. The painting was actually given to her, and was purchased at a charity auction- it is an original painting from a Disney on Ice show. I knew that I wanted to finally display it in the girls playroom.

 We have two closets in the playroom, and i've turned one into an entire dress up space. I've since purchased a shoe organizer, but I need to get more buckets for their necklaces, gloves, feather boas, and purses! This closet is always a mess!

 Of course we have the doll area, and yes, the babies are usually just thrown in there! MC loves playing with the babies! 

 I made the pink frame years ago to hang up G's art work, but now, it's used for her sight words. But, she randomly adds her little art pieces, or hangs them on the wall with stickers! Eventually, we plan to get them a huge magnetic board for their art. 

 Opposite of the doll area, we have the "baby" toys. These were all of G's toys from when she was 1-2 years old, and when we moved to Oklahoma, they were all in storage for a year. It was fun to pull them back out and remember her playing with them or when she received the toys. 

 This storage shelf is filled with randoms- we have blocks, musical instruments, puzzles, doll house toys, and little kids meal toys!

 The girls also have their play kitchen set up- I think this is their favorite place to play!

 The tall brown wicker baskets hold all of the pretend food- we have so much play food- it takes up three of those drawers, and finally the bottom drawer has the baby doll things. 

 I made the "Sweet Shop" banner for MC's first birthday; i'm glad we could re-use it!

 DJ convinced me to put a spare bed in the playroom. I really didn't want to, but i'm glad that we did! It's been a good place for our company to stay!

 We decked out the bed in fun pillows. We purchased fabric and fringe, and my mom sewed all of them. I honestly want to get more pillows for the bed- it's on my "to buy" list!

 On the other wall, I have a mirror and some pictures hanging. I want to make this a collage wall, but I haven't had a chance to purchase more picture frames. I'm hoping to display photos of the girls with their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.

When decorating the playroom, I didn't go with a "theme", instead I went with bright colors. I love the way their playroom turned out. It's such a fun space for us to be together. I'd love to get some more storage units for the toys, and the girls are getting bean bags for Christmas; but they just love being in that room! I'm thankful we were able to give them a place to play and the best part is that if it's a mess- I don't have to see it!

By: Unknown On 07.04

Continue Reading