Autumn's In The Air Fall Tour Blog Hop

Greetings, friends!  

I'm excited to be joining several incredibly talented ladies as they share parts of their beautiful homes dressed up for Fall!  A big welcome if you're coming over from Jennifer's gorgeous home at Grace House Interiors! 

Here in Northern Virginia, I'm a bit addicted to decorating our humble abode, especially this time of the year!  Admittedly, it felt strange adding corn stalks, leafy garland and pumpkins here to our front porch a couple of weeks ago when it was still in the upper-90's ... this milder weather is much better!

There's so much about this season that I really enjoy ... sweater weather ... comfort food ... football gatherings with friends ... and jeans!

Mother Nature's color palette is gorgeous this time of year, too, and I love bringing the outdoor colors INside, even if it's with *faux* Fall branches (tossed in with a bit of my addiction to symmetry) here in our foyer.

Have you visited Target's *Dollar Spot* section yet?  They have the best budget-friendly Fall decor (like these cute squirrels) that I couldn't pass up!

There's also something about this time of the year that makes me want to "nest!"  Drawers, cabinets and closets become victims to my madness, with a yard sale and trips to Good Will rounding out the purging fun!  Can you relate?

As much as vibrant Fall colors take over this season, I decided to try my hand at a more subdued Autumn palette in a few rooms, like here in our great room.

And, while it might not "scream" Fall, I'm hoping that the lanterns, throws, pillows, pumpkins and wheat help make it look and feel seasonally cozy!

Over on our mantel, a pretty mirror from Kirkland's takes center stage ...

well, with a little help from this gorgeous wreath that I'm sure many of you recognize (and have) from Magnolia Market! 

Annnd, a rainy day inside led to me finishing our Fall mantel by making these simple book leaf and circle garlands ... thank you Pinterest!

Our bookcases got a little dressed for the season, too ...

 again, with more natural tones, like these cute acorns ...

and inexpensive orbs with lots of cool textures.

Sharing the same space is our kitchen, where a few nods to Autumn have arrived, too!

**A bit of useless information for first time visitors ... I still can't believe that it looked like this the day we moved in a little over two years ago ... yup, my desire for white cabinets, open shelving and inexpensive "blingy" chandies took over even before we finished unpacking!**  

Now, with a bright white kitchen, seasonal decor seems to really stand out ... well, maybe not these white pumpkins, but they "did" when they were their original shade of orange.

Last week, we gave our island its second phase of a face lift by adding a butcher block countertop (from IKEA) to it ... 

I like the farmhouse feel it adds, especially this time of year ... with a bit of Fall cotton in the mix!  

These cute chairs (also from IKEA) are now draped with faux fur throw rugs to give them a bit of seasonal texture AND to hopefully make you want to sit at the table just a bit longer!

Who else loves to "EAT" this time of year?!  I can just smell the chili now ... yum!

Well, friends, that ends my little Fall tour.  I hope you'll stop back by in the coming days as I share more of our seasonal home.

And, please be sure to hop on over to Courtney's gorgeous abode (The Hamby Home), along with these other amazing bloggers' houses on the tour ... you won't want to miss their beautiful and inspiring Fall homes:

Maison de Cinq

Buckets of Burlap

Junque Cottage

Little Vintage Nest
She Leaves a Little Sparkle
Kelley Nan
Shabby Fufu
Styled with Lace
Fox Hollow Cottage


Thanks so much for visiting!

Snippets of Fall ...

Greetings, friends !!

Now that September is here, I wanted to share snippets of our home where I've added a bit of Fall!  Have you torn into your Fall bins yet?

Here in our great room, this year, I decided to go with more more muted Fall tones ... I kinda like how "calm" it seems while welcoming the new season!

When I think of Fall, one of the words that comes to mind is "cozy."  And, for me, along with pillows and comfy throws, soft lighting is a must for the new season ... so when I spotted these pretty lanterns on sale at Kirkland's, I knew that I had to have them!  

Here in our kitchen, I added a few stems of cotton ... another item that, to me, says "Fall!"

Simple, neutral colors continue in here ... thanks to my paint brush turning orange pumpkins white!

Maybe, just MAYbe, we'll "give thanks" here in our dining room on Thanksgiving!

Since our great room mantel and room has more muted tones, my sweet husband wanted me to add more traditional vibrant Fall colors here in our sitting room ... anything for him!  

Here in our sunroom, a cute plate from Target takes center stage ... love their Dollar Spot!

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins ... love this time of year!

I hope you'll join me as I share more of our Fall home in the coming weeks!

Thanks for stopping by,

A New Look in Our Sunroom ...

Happy Monday!

Have you ever dreamed of a DIY project over and over again, hoping that one day you'd have the confidence to take that task on, even if it meant venturing into unchartered territory?  That was me for quite some time ... until last week, when my husband helped me take on that project in our little sunroom!

*This* is what happens when you play with a compound sliding miter saw, nail gun, a handful of nickels and lots of plywood ... all while saying several DIY prayers ... 

TA DAAAAA ... we now have planked walls!  Yay!

Honestly, it wasn't as intimidating as I thought it would be and, while it's far from perfect, we couldn't be more thrilled with our new *farmhouse-y* spot!

Where "seasoned" DIY-ers could've completed this in a day, it took us a bit longer than that.  It was smooth sailing on my own until it got tricky around the windows ... that's when my hubby stepped in ... he's my hero for making these daunting cuts! 

I was so excited as each board went up that I couldn't even wait for them to all be installed before starting to paint! The room is now Ben Moore's White Dove ... a color chosen to tie in with our neighboring kitchen cabinets that I also painted White Dove some time ago.

When it came time to put the room back together (my favorite part!), I traded out the two Ektorp chairs that were in here for the Ektorp love seat that was in our front sitting room.  I then brought in two smaller slipcovered chairs to complete our little seating arrangement.  Lastly, I decided to take down our bamboo roman shades ... the added light helps to highlight our planked walls even more!

Simple ... clean ... and a whooooole lot of white ... for now, anyway.

I didn't even want to put added nail holes in the planked walls, but I couldn't leave them bare ... so back up went our French prints.

And, to bring in more texture and help with the farmhouse feel, I brought home this cute, wicker trunk from IKEA to serve as the coffee table.  It was then that we "high-fived" and raised a glass here in our *new* room to celebrate our accomplishment!

So, friends, if you've ever thought about doing this project, or one similar, but have been afraid to, don't be ... if "I" can get comfy with a big scary saw and loud pneumatic nail gun, so can you!  You'll be just as thrilled with the results as we are!

I can't wait to add soft Fall colors in here and a big "something" to hang in front of the window in the coming weeks!  What can I say (?), I love our new walls, especially because we tackled this project ourselves ... onto the next project!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!

I'm partying with:

Thrifty Decor Chick/October Before and After Projects

Come on Down to the Basement ...

Greetings, friends!

Can you believe it's already August?  Summer is going by way too fast!

Speaking of going by "way too fast," I can't believe we've already been in our house two years!  We still have a lot of projects on our "to do" list, especially in our basement, which I haven't shared before.  So, come on down .... 

When you get to the base of the stairs, you can either turn left through a door into a nice sized storage room (which is too messy to share right now!) OR you can turn right into our rec room, which is where you can usually find my hubby on the weekends, watching sports (when it's too hot to be in his garage "man cave") or kids having pillow fights.

While we plan on having a comfy sectional down here, for now, we have an Ektorp chair to plop down into, along with the sofa and love seat that were in the great room in our last home.

To fill up this wall, we brought down the bookcase that used to be upstairs in our sitting room (before we added the faux fireplace up there).  I then lined the back of it with a navy blue/white fabric from IKEA to make it a bit more "handsome" (since this is where the fellas usually spend time).

As much as kids (and flying footballs) are down here, I'm surprised (and thankful!) that these glass shelves and breakables are still in tact!  

Across from the sofa and love seat is a console table from IKEA, which only had about 20 million pieces to put together!  Their selection and reasonable prices make the assembly requirements worth it (thank goodness)!

The lamps, gray/white rug and coastal prints are from there, as well ... can you tell I LOVE that place?!

This whimsical nautical print above the sofa was in our son's playroom in our last house ... it gives a nice bit of color to the wall, which is painted Ben Moore's White Dove.  The pillow covers (except for the "HOME" pillow) are all from IKEA, too!

Thankfully, the oversized clock "just" fit in between the two doors ... visually, I wanted a large piece on that wall to balance with the big bookcase across the room from it. 

Behind the door to the left of the clock is a full bath where I continued the nautical theme.  One day I'd like to replace the lighting and frame the mirror ....

Behind the door to the right of the clock is our kiddo's playroom, which we hope to have finished soon.  For now, he doesn't seem to mind the *lovely* white insulated walls and exposed ceiling ... that's probably because he's too focused on the toys or billions of Legos that are normally all over the floor or the video games that take over his TV!  Painting his console and replacing the wing chair with a pair of more suitable, matching comfy kiddo chairs is on my list, too!

Once sheetrock is added, I'd love to add a Murphy bed in here (in between the bookcases) OR we might add more (lower) bookcases OR a bench in between the two taller bookcases ... decisions, decisions!

Jax loves having this space all to himself (and his buddies), especially since he can make a huge mess ... and have a place to create and then "showcase" it all.

In this corner, clear plastic bins house toys and lots of Legos ... board games and costumes live over here, too.  *One* day, this corner will be a closet, hiding it all away!

Thanks for coming on down ... maybe one day I'll show you my messy accessories room behind the door to the left of the faux bamboo tree, along with the other storage room where our Fall and Christmas decorations are waiting to come out and play!

Thanks for stopping by,