Fall In Love Mantel

This year I am actually getting my Fall decorating done early.  The past few years I was lucky to get it done by the middle of October.  I have managed to get the entry and living room done so far and I will be working on the dining room today.  That leaves the kitchen, formal living room and possibly the powder room.  I like to wait until the end of September to do the porches.

So today I am sharing my fireplace mantel in the family room.  I thought it would be fun to combine glass, grape vine, ceramic and plastic pumpkins in my design.

I found this picture at HomeGoods and it works perfectly with my fireplace.  The background is burlap and the frame is natural wood with gold leaf.

I just added some garlands and fall picks to fill in around the pumpkins, candles and acorns.

The candles are all battery operated so they come on at night and give a warm glow.  Here are a few different angles of the mantel.

Here is how the whole fireplace looks.

Linking with
Pieced Pastimes
Scrapality
Chic on a Shoestring
My Soulful Home
Finding Silver Pennies
Life and Linda
Dwellings The Heart of Your Home
Julie's Creative Lifestyle
Coastal Charm
Between Naps on the Porch
Our Home Away From Home
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Savvy Southern Style
DIY by Design
A Delightsome Life
21 Rosemary Lane
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson
Katherine's Corner
Imparting Grace
French Country Cottage
Oh My Heartsie Girl
Craftberry Bush
Shoestring Elegance
Life with Lorelai
Shabby Art Boutique
The Painted Hinge
DIY Home Sweet Home

More Fall decor in the entry

I have this little ledge when you first walk in the front door that is perfect for decorating.  This year I decided to just do one corner instead of the whole space.   Just a simple sign and lantern with Fall foliage.

I put two large led candles in the lantern and added some greenery around them.  I also added some pumpkins and foliage in front of the lantern and sign.

Now I am ready to get the rest of the house done.  I am planning on getting the dining room and family done.  If I can get these rooms done quickly I will try and get the kitchen done too.  Of course this all depends on how long my housework and yard work takes me.

Linking with
Pieced Pastimes
Scrapality
Life on Lakeshore Drive
Finding Silver Pennies
Rustic & Refined
Dwellings The Heart of Your Home
Love of Home
Coastal Charm
Between Naps on the Porch
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Worthington Court
A Stroll Thru Life
Celebrate and Decorate
Our Home Away From Home
Savvy Southern Style
A Delightsome Life
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson
Julie's Creative Lifestyle
21 Rosemary Lane
Imparting Grace
French Country Cottage
Craftberry Bush
Shoestring Elegance
Life with Lorelai
Shabby Art Boutique

Fall bench in entry

  I was planning on getting more Fall decorating done today but for some reason I am feel too tired.  I am not sure why but maybe it has to do with lugging up 15 storage bins from the basement.  Right now my formal living room looks like a tornado hit it.  I am also having a hard time with getting inspired.  I have too much stuff to look through and I am not sure how I want to decorate each room.  For now I did manage the strength to get my shoe bench done in the entry way.  Here is how it turned out.

It was hard to take good pictures today as it is cloudy out and there is not much light in the entry today.  The color palette I chose is off white, grey and orange.

I love this Welcome Fall sign that I found at HomeGoods (my favorite store next to Pier 1).   It coordinates well with the pumpkin pillow and throw.

I decided to go softer on the bench and use my fabric pumpkins instead of plastic ones.  I was surprised that I had some many items that blended well together.  Now I just need to motivated and get the rest of the house decorated.

Linking with
Pieced Pastimes
Scrapality
Life on Lakeshore Drive
Finding Silver Pennies
My Soulful Home
Dwellings The Heart of Your Home
Rustic & Refined
Julie's Creative Lifestyle
Coastal Charm
Between Naps on the Porch
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Worthington Court
Celebrate and Decorate
Savvy Southern Style
DIY by Design
A Delightsome Life
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson
21 Rosemary Lane
Imparting Grace
French Country Cottage
The Charm of Home
Shabby Art Boutique
Life with Lorelai
Shoestring Elegance
A Stroll Thru Life

Free mug from Pier 1

Today I went to Pier 1 on my lunch and got a free mug.  It was free for me since I had a $10 reward certificate.  I am always looking for the right size of coffee mug.  The saying on this mug sums it all up.

I got this picture from the Pier 1 website as the mug is still in the back of my car.  It is the perfect size at 6 inches tall.  I just love black and white damask pattern. I will be using this tomorrow morning for sure.

Curtains are finally done in the dining room

It has only taken me almost 2 years to get the curtains replaced in the dining room.  I don't know why it takes me so long to get curtains done.  Every time we move I always say I am going to change out curtains but always put it off.  I guess I kept putting this room off because I had to recover the cornice board.  I really don't like working with cornice boards that much.  So onto the reveal.

I like this look much better.  I used a curtain panel of a solid color to recover the cornice board.  I am thinking about doing some button covers of the same fabric and attach on the cornice board.

Here is how the curtains looked when we moved in.  They were ok but they didn't go with my rug.   I also repainted the room as I didn't care for the faux treatment on the walls.

This room doesn't get alot of sunlight so I thought the lighter curtains would brighten up the room.

I started my first stage of Fall decorating on the dining room table.  I got this candle holder at Kirkland's and I am planning on adding more greenery and some pumpkins to make it much fuller.

Right now it fits right in with my decor.  I am planning on starting my Fall decorating this weekend. 

Fall dreaming

Now that it is the middle of August I had better start thinking about how I am going to decorate for Fall this year.  The past couple of years I have been lucky to get it done by Thanksgiving.  This year I am going to get a head start (maybe).  At least I have already started looking at magazines and pictures of my past decor.  Here are a few for my much needed inspiration this year.

This is my favorite.

Most of these pictures are from last year.

Now if these don't help me I don't know what will.  The only thing I dread is getting into the storage room in the basement and dragging out all of my fall containers.  The worst part is getting all of them up the stairs.  That takes me most of the day to get all the containers upstairs as I am not getting any younger.  In my head I still think I am in my 20's but my body feels more like I am in my 70's the next day.  Sometimes I wish would age in reverse.  We start out middle aged and go back to our 20's.

Linking with
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs Olson
21 Rosemary Lane
Imparting Grace
A Delightsome Life
Katherine's Corner
French Country Cottage
The Charm of Home
Craftberry Bush
Shoestring Elegance
Life with Lorelai
Shabby Art Boutique
Pieced Pastimes
My Soulful Home
Life on Lakeshore Drive
 Scrapality
Rustic & Refined
Coastal Charm
Dwellings The Heart of Your Home
Finding Silver Pennies
Between Naps on the Porch
Julie's Creative Lifestyle
A Stroll thru Life
Worthington Court
Our Home Away From Home
Savvy Southern Style
Oh My Heartsie Girl
DIY by Design

Bathroom mini makeover

I am happy to say that I have finished the 3/4 bathroom attached to my craft room.  It has only taken me about 2 years to get started on it.  This bathroom is very small and was very difficult to get good pictures.

And of course I forgot to take any before pictures.  I need to remember next time I do a project.  The granite counter top was already there.  I painted the vanity, painted the trim around the mirror, textured the walls and painted the walls a soft yellow.

I added some beadboard wallpaper on the side of the vanity to tie in with the beadboard wallpaper in my craft room.  It looks like the real thing and is much easier to install.  The only downfall is that it is easily dented so you have to be careful with setting furniture near it.

I had to retexture the walls since when the previous owners replaced the counter top and light fixture the walls were not patched correctly.  So I decided to buy some joint compound and slap it on the walls.  Now the walls have a hand troweled look.  It would look great with a darker color rubbed on but I wanted to keep this room more light since it is small.

The mirror frame was a dark brown with some gold highlights.  I thought it would like better if it matched the cabinet.  I painted it the white color, antiqued it and painted the carved area and inside area brown.

I would love to gut the shower and install new tile but I don't think I want to waste my time and money right now.  The shower tiles are white with a few accent tiles that look they are from the 80's (blue and mauve).  For now I hung a shower curtain to cover the ugliness.  I know that it is hard to see the whole thing with the door in the way but if I stand inside with the door shut there is no room to take a picture.  Maybe I should have taken the picture before I put the door back on.  I had to take it off in order to paint the trim white in the bathroom.

Now I just need to get the rest of my craft room in order.  I am still trying to figure out the furniture arrangement.

Linking with
Savvy Southern Style
A Delightsome Life
Beyond the Picket Fence
DIY by Design
21 Rosemary Lane
Imparting Grace
French Country Cottage
The Charm of Home
Shabby Art Boutique
Life with Lorelai
Scrapality
Finding Silver Pennies
Pieced Pastimes
My Soulful Home
Life on Lakeshore Drive
Dwellings The Heart of Your Home
Rustic & Refined
Plucky's Second Thought
Coastal Charm
Between Naps on the Porch
Our Home Away From Home
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Worthington Court
A Stroll Thru Life