It's fall right? 

Finally!!

I decided to get into the fall spirit and do a bit of decorating. We are on a tight budget right now, so I wanted to gussy things up without spending a lot of money. Dollar Tree to the rescue! I always love Dollar Tree as a resource for decorative items on a budget. 

As I was walking around, I spotted these paper doilies  and came up with the idea of putting them all together and creating a runner. For three dollars, a half hour, and some tape I had on hand, I figured I could create a great piece. I was inspired by this runner by Ashley Ann and thought that I may be able to recreate. 

My first attempted involved layering them. I would overlap them and just sort of put them together at random. Whatever I thought would look good. Well, I ended up getting rid of that. It was too...cluttered.

Then I decided to put them together with more space in between them. It turned out better and I put it on our buffet and proceeded to accessorize. 

 I went around the house collecting a bunch of things that I thought would work for a fall-ish feel. I gathered a few accent jars I had on had, a bunch of candles, some fall decorations from last year, a bag of split peas, a bag of popcorn, and some decorative squash that I picked up from a local produce stand.

Then I just started layering them on the buffet and worked with things until I had them the way that I wanted. I also kept in mind that I didn't need to use everything on the buffet because I wanted to put some stuff on our coffee table in the living room too. The result was satisfactory enough. I wasn't sure how I liked the runner that I had made, but I decided to live with it for a day and then decide.

In the basket I crinkled up some paper and then layered the decorative gourds on top. I followed that by putting the two scarecrows, that I had, in the back. A set of Fiesta salt and pepper shakers made the perfect compliment to the pitcher on the other side of the buffet.  Then to top the grouping off I used a mason jar, split peas, popcorn, and a candle to create a fun decorative piece.

On the opposite side, I used a large glass vase I had leftover from our wedding and a small votive, to do the same decorative element I used with the mason jar. I decided to move the pitcher with flowers from its spot in the living room, because the colors worked well with the overall scheme I had going on. I also decided to utilized the 'fall' decoration I had purchased from Christmas Tree Shops on this end as well.

It all came together in the end. The colors from my mom's picture, that hangs above our buffet, and all the colors of the adjoining rooms seem to compliment everything nicely.

Then in the living room I decided to do a small arrangement and I used some more doilies, a wood chicken (left behind from the previous owners of our house), a couple of glass votives, a decorative tray, and a pumpkin I had on hand from last year.

The goal was to do something simple, but fun. I attached the doilies to the bottom of the tray, with tape. Then I layered in the chicken and candles. The pumpkin went on the bottom shelf. I also love how the baskets I have holding our magazines, are made with chicken wire. In the end, there was an overall country theme that I didn't plan for!  :)

This is where I was originally planning on ending the post, but after living with the doilies for a day, I decided that I wasn't a huge fan. So, I removed them from the buffet and this is what it looks like now.

I like it a lot better... I think. Oh! I forgot to mention that I also put our ipod and its speakers back on the buffet. Function is way more important than beauty, around here. 

So, what do you think? Do you like the display better with the doily runner? or without? Honestly, I'm not 100% convinced either way. I'm thinking that I might try to make a new runner with just the sunflowers or the leaves and see if I like that better. Some input would be greatly appreciated :)

Gorgeous Chairs

As per our last post, there are some pictures I need to share with you. Pictures of certain chairs that were an early birthday gift from my parents. But first things first, let me give you the back story.

While we were in Canada we did a bit of shopping. We usually head into Huntsville, made popular by Shania Twain and Tom Thompson, to visit the wonderful little shops that line downtown. I love taking time to walk through all of the antique stores, art stores, and especially love visiting the Nutty Chocolatier--mmm love their frozen yogurt.

This year, we walked into an antique store that I had never been into before. I believe in years past it was a used record store. Still cool, but doesn't quite excite me the way that used, old stuff does. We walked through the doors and right away I spotted a pair of green leather chairs. They weren't just green...they were lime green. They were the perfect scale and were old school, but still sleek enough that they would fit into the decor of our home. I squealed, showed them to Jonathan, and then left empty handed. Yea...they were vetoed. Too expensive and we really had no way of getting them home in our tiny Subaru.

Fast forward a week and we were home. One evening we went out at my grandparents to spend time with them, my parents, and my little brother. At one point my parents asked me to come out to the car to look at something. I of course agreed...completely oblivious. They opened the back door of their SUV and suddenly I saw lime green...THE BEAUTIFUL CHAIRS FROM THE ANTIQUE STORE! I was so surprised and completely caught off guard. I actually didn't even notice them at first because I was too distracted. They said that they went back and grabbed them after Jonathan and I left--they were an early birthday gift.

Well those little sneaks! I was so surprised and excited. And I have to say, they fit perfectly into our home. I have since rearranged a bit and one fits perfectly on the one side of our living room. Here is a before and after for you.

As you can see, in this progress picture, we originally had a rocker on the left side of our living room. I loved the rocker, but with most of our furniture being brown, it didn't really make a statement or anything. Plus, going with the whole first-floor-color-scheme idea, I wanted to pull in more of the lime green-grellow color. Enter amazing chair from parents and a bit of tweaking and I think it looks a whole lot better!

The other one is waiting patiently to be utilized on our future porch. I can't wait to see what it looks like out there! :) 

Fixing the Lack of Storage: Bookcase Style

When we purchased the house, we also inherited a lovely hole-in-the-wall.

No, I'm not talking about the state of our house.

Shame on you!

Our house is beautiful! (Yes, I'm aware that we are clinically crazy.)

The hole in the wall that I'm talking about is a literal one. Take a look:

See that white paneled door at the top of the stairs in these horrible pictures? That hole, led out to the crawlspace above the back part of our house. Since our second story only goes over half of the house, they put this door in as an access point for the electrical and other stuff that runs through the ceiling.

The way that they had covered it was nice enough, but I thought that my carpenter could do better. Together, we dreamed up a design that would make the opening more practical and not such an eyesore. I wanted something that looked pretty intentional and didn't scream, "LOOK AT ME I'M AN ACCESS POINT!"

While we were working on the space, it was left "open" and temporarily covered with plastic to keep out dust. And that is how it stayed until two weeks ago.

As we saved for the materials, we became used to the plastic.It was a good temporary solution.  Keyword: temporary.  With our air conditioner blowing, the plastic would make noise throughout the night. Plus, the crawl space wasn't insulated and the plastic wasn't thick enough to keep out the hot air. Needless to say, we were anxious to get the hole covered before it became too hot this summer and definitely before the cold chill of winter.

So two weeks ago, a day or two after Jonathan did the closet, he also built a bookcase for our wonderful hole. A bookcase that can be pulled in and out when we need it to be, but will provide a bit of function in an otherwise nonfunctional space. First, he insulated the crawlspace with insulation (duh!) that can be used when we add on the rest of the second story. A bit more on those plans here and  here.

That morning, this is what we started off with...well after Jonathan accomplished the insulating side of things.

The puppers was just so curious. She would stand outside the hole while Jonathan as inside spreading the insulation and just whine. We tried to coax her in, but it was a no-go.

Finally, the shelving was done! We decided to see if it was puppers approved. Yea, that was a no-go too.

A horrible picture, but look how unhappy she was. Ears down = get me out of here!

Finally, after two coats of paint, the bookcase was ready for some accessorizing. 

Since the bookcase is one of the first impressions that you get of our bedroom, I wanted to use things that would sort of define our space. I decided on pictures of Jonathan and I and a basket of leftover yarn, from crochet projects, to go on the top shelf. Then a bunch of blankets topped with some random accessories, for the bottom shelf.

I have to tell you, I contemplated putting a really cool moonshine bottle that we have, on one of the shelves. But I was afraid that it would be taken too literally and may catch people by surprise. Something along the lines of, "Oh my goodness the baptists drink!" instead of "Oh what a cool vintage piece, I wonder what other vintage things they used to decorate their room?" So, I nixed it.

Oh and for the record...I'm a baptist, a Christian, and yes I have a drink on occasion.

Cue the oo's and aaahhh's.

I'm a spectacle. I know :)

And for your viewing pleasure, and to hopefully distract you from me, a bit of side-by-side-before-and-after action.

 And the best thing about this little renovation is that it freed up a bit of space next to my side of the bed. Time to add some books and more accessories! :)

Grellow...

Why don't we talk about interior decorating today?

I'm in a mood.

When I'm in this mood, it tends to be bad.

I want to decorate and put together our living room, bedroom, or any room in our house for that matter. I just want to see the vision in my head come to fruition.

Yea, its a bad thing to be this anxious about it.

Maybe its the two cups of coffee I have had this morning...

I tried giving it up, I really did, but apparently coffee is just meant to be my drug of choice. Good thing it isn't expensive like crack or meth.

I mean come on, buying a house and spending hundreds of dollars on drugs don't go together.

Yup, I'm thanking God for this less expensive addiction.

So, decorating?

Well, that is usually an expensive addiction too. It can cost an arm and a leg. I remember watching a show on HGTV where they would put together a room for a fraction of the cost of an inspiration room. Sometimes the inspiration room would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then, the other room, would cost less than two thousand beans and look even better! Pretty impressive, but still expensive in my book.

Today I am in the mood to imagine what our house could look like.

It's a much more frugal way of doing things. Don'tcha think?

Take our living room for example.

It is literally a blank slate right now (thanks to some lovely ladies!). Now, imagine the walls becoming a lovely light cream color. Insert this rug

and you have the foundations of a room. The rug will be the inspiration for the rest of the room. So, the wall color is that light cream color, like I mentioned, and we will be bringing in the dark brown with our current living room furniture (because we haven't been able to sell it).

I have to be honest, I am warming up to the idea of keeping it all. It definitely isn't ideal and the decorator in me cringes slightly, but I can't rationalize parting with it when we have only had it for a year. I will just make it work :)

So, we have the bones of the room.

I think that the big couch will go along the right wall, in front of the window. Then, we will probably use the matching arm chair and put it where the radio is (that thing to the left of the overturned tub). The TV will go between the front door and the window.

Then from this angle, you will be able to see the desk with our computer along the back, right wall. Thankfully our computer desk and our buffet-turned-entertainment-center match pretty well, even though they are made by two completely different companies.



So, after thinking through all of these details, I think its important to add in a bit of color. I originally thought about using orange. Something similar to this

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But, I want to paint our dining room a color that will accent nicely with the living room and well, orange walls weren't really appealing to me. But, then I saw the grellow (green yellow) walls in this room by YHL and thought that I could make that work in our dining room. 

So, grellow accents is what we will be going for. Since the living room and dining room are pretty open to each other, I thought it was only appropriate that they match. 

Thus, the color combination will look more like this:

This room is way more traditional then ours will be, but you get the idea of how the aqua and grellow should work together. 

What do you think? Is 'grellow' a new word to you? When I first heard it, I was a bit confused. How's that for designer slang-yo? 

Let's Cut a Rug!

Well, maybe not. I'm not so sure you want to see my dancing skills...or rather, lack thereof. I sort of look like I'm trying to swat at a bee. I'm spastic and really uncoordinated...looks more like I'm attacking something.

Picture it. Then laugh.

Its OK. I'll laugh with you.

Want to know how I figured out that I can't dance?

I took Dance 101 in college. 

Yea. 

Bad i.d.e.a. 

Anyways, let's talk about rugs. Carpets. The things that cushion our feet. A decorative element in a room. Le tapis. 

Oddly enough I am really excited about the rugs that we have purchased for the house. You know, 'cause I'm in to things like rugs. 

Back story: Our entire house was covered in what we thought were area rugs. But, they were actually carpet pieces that had been tacked to the floor. So, we ripped all of those up, only to expose the sub floor. Thankfully, the sub floor resembles a hardwood floor, so they will be staying for now. 

Then we decided that we needed to purchase something to cover warm up the spaces a bit. Enter the idea of area rugs stage left. So, I went online to my favorite place to get big, inexpensive area rugs: rugsusa.com  Having purchased a few area rugs from them, about a year ago, for our current abode, I knew what the quality was like. I was skeptical at first, but the rugs have worn really well with two energetic dogs in our apartment. So I naturally turned to them for something to adorn our new home's floors.

I decided to get two of them. One for our bedroom and one for the living room. The ones that I already own will go in the guest bedroom, sun porch, and dining room. So I think we are covered :) Why don't we start with the bedroom? You already saw a glimpse of the rug in this post, but why don't we slide on in for a closer look.  

She is a beautiful 8'x11' rug that only cost me about $400!! For those of you who may not know, a rug this size should really cost about $1500. I am very impressed with this rug. Its 100% wool and very thick. I contemplated purchasing a pad to go under it, but I'm glad I didn't because this thing is so cushy without it! She is a bit more traditional than I usually go for, but I have a plan...you will just have to wait to see what it is. ;)

The second rug we purchased was one for our living room. Here he is...he is quite modern compared to his master bedroom counter part who rocks the traditional vibe very well. 

He is a little more silky than the other one and definitely not as thick. But, still a beautiful rug. Measuring 7'10"x11' 2" he only cost about $350!! So, in total we spent approximately $750 on the two rugs. Plus, to sweeten the deal, there was no tax and shipping was free!! Now, that is what I call a bargain. 

If you decide to purchase from them, I have a bit of advice for you: make sure you read the descriptions thoroughly. I didn't read closely the first time I purchased from them and bought an outdoor rug for our living room. It actually worked out great though, because we really didn't need an area rug for our living room and now I have a great rug for our sun porch in the new house! 

So, what are your favorite places to find a bargain? Have you ever taken a dance class? I would love to know I'm not alone in the unable-to-dance category!