O Christmas Tree!

Friday was the perfect day to get our Christmas tree down from the attic and decorate it. We use an artificial tree every year, as it just seems easier.

The girls were helping DJ put the tree together.

Then I added the deco-mesh.

Gretchen played with my phone while I put the mesh on the tree. She was being a little impatient.

Megan just made a mess. 

This time she said, "I no eat ornament. Its not candy." Thank goodness she remembered!

The girls loved seeing all of the ornaments and putting them on the tree.

Megan kept saying, "that's mine" when I would try to explain that a certain ornament belonged to one of the girls. My mom buys the girls a new Christmas ornament every year, and DJ and I buy them when we take trips or vacations for our souvenir. He was wondering where some of our ornaments came from- we have a pineapple that my mom bought us on a Boston trip. I told him that I could look at probably every one of our ornaments and tell him exactly where they came from. Some of my favorite ornaments were given to us at a Christmas theme wedding shower we had.

Gretchen putting a few ornaments on. 

This year's tree topper.

Our finished tree!

By: Unknown On 06.40

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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

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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

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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

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Home Tour: Our Master Bedroom

I have been wanting to re-decorate our master bedroom for some time, and over the past week, I was finally able to do so!

I absolutely love our bedroom furniture, and we know that it will be our furniture for life, but I enjoy changing the bedspread, and haven't been able to do so in a few years. I wanted a look similar to what I've seen in pottery barn magazines, and even found a few of their comforters on sale. DJ didn't like many of them because they were a floral pattern. So, the girls and I hit up several stores. 

I found this set at Dillards and really liked the look of it, but it was floral. I took a picture of it along with others, and showed them to DJ. Of course, everything I had picked was still floral! We had a solid champagne comforter for so long and I obviously wanted color!

 Thankfully, he let me pick out the one I wanted with a little of his input- smart man! 

I love having a european sham on the bed (the square one) and found the perfect shade of red at Belk's. The one that matched the bedding would've blended in too much. I kept our throw pillows because they have "W" on them. And I finally purchased curtains. 

 I already had accents of red in some of our decor, and I love how the color pops in a room. 

I absolutely love the way it turned out! 

By: Unknown On 06.32

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