Tag Archives: pumpkins

garden, home

fall vignettes

, , , 8 Comments

I can’t believe Halloween is just a week away! I have only done some light decorating this season. Like no frills, go with the natural flow type of fall decorating. I didn’t get very Halloween specific.  I kind of like it so I thought I’d share some of the vignettes that are around my house.

I stepped onto my back patio to fallen dogwood leaves.  Some people are hyperactive about removing leaves as they fall but I happen to love the surprise that nature left us!  The leaves crunch below my feet and dot the bistro table and chairs.  Simple decorating!

Around the corner this big ol’ pumpkin that we haven’t gotten around to carving yet waits patiently on my favorite rusty, aqua chair.

I am a big fan of the contrast in colors between orange and aqua.  In the house I left my growing collection of antique blue and green mixing bowls on display and dispersed decorative pumpkins and things among them.

Aren’t these candy corn just too cute?

On the hearth, I have a vintage shopping basket full of pumpkins, squash and gourds.  Is it weird to keep squash for dinner in the living room?  Not when it is this cute & festive!

Shh, the secrets of a vintage dealer here…I just pick up this shopping basket every weekend and bring it to whatever event I am selling at so I can disperse some fall cheer amongst my vintage vignettes.  Don’t look too closely or you may find one of my price tags.  In fact, many things in my house are tagged with prices.  My family jokes that everything in my house is for sale.  Umm, they’re kind of right.  Tell me I am not alone.  Do any other dealers do this?

This vignette is a focal in the dining room.  I just keeping adding to it by repeating shapes and colors with objects from around the house and nature.  (And there are at least 3, no wait, 4 items in this vignette that I know have price tags on them!)

And finally, I love to gaze out my office window at the beautiful yellow foliage that the birch trees in front of my house are showcasing.  No selling that view.

So how is your house decorated for the holiday?  Feel free to leave link in the comments!

About these ads
home

warm & cozy fall mantel

, , , 4 Comments

For as much as I’ve been talking about fall and planning fall events, I haven’t done much fall decorating around my own house which is very unlike me.  I managed to pull together my fall mantel last weekend though.  I love changing the mantels frequently.

You may remember my most recent, late summer mantelscape where I displayed my collection of vintage mixing bowls.

Well that is gone and a neutral color scheme is in.

Neutral is also very unlike me.  Normally I go for the bold colors.  Not this time.  I started out with this vintage picture.  It is a print that I acquired from my grandfather.  The shape and muted color scheme really interested me.  It looks to be a rainy day by the canal in Amsterdam.  So up the picture went with the windmill being the center of the mantel.

You probably noticed the branch candle holder right away.  I have been wanting to create something like this for a long time.  When I found it at a reasonable price at an antique shop recently, I crossed making my own right off the list.

Basically they took a large branch and used a drill press or drill bit to cut out space for candles.  Clever.  Of course I grabbed the coordinating branch candle holders as well.

I just love the warmth all of the candles add to the mantel.

Keeping with the mellow, natural color scheme, I placed some hardwood flooring frames on the left side of the mantel to mimic the framed art on the right.  I particularly like the blue stripe left on the one frame.  The frame is made from old basketball court hardwoods.  You can imagine that blue marking where the point guard stood or something similar.

Subtle pops of blue also show up in the picture.

So I added in a blue canning jar for good measure amongst my natural pumpkins.

I love how the colors of the nearly discarded art inspired an entire mantelscape.

The fireplace is just begging for a roaring fire.  We haven’t gotten that far yet this season though so the candles will have to do.

So what’s on your mantel?

Oh and if you need more inspiration for your fall decorating, come to our Harvest Party this weekend!  Saturday & Sunday 10am – 5pm

1814 Valley Forge Road Worcester, PA

Linking to Home Stories A to Z, Funky Junk Interiors, Centsational Girl

garden

field trip

, , , , 18 Comments

I’m on my quest to soak up the last unofficial week of summer without rushing fall in like I normally do this time of year.  So today I took a break an enjoyed a stroll through a local U-pick zinnia farm in my area.  It was heavenly.  An absolutely gorgeous day for such a walk.  I could have stayed in those fields for hours.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other field of zinnias of course!

After my walk, I visited the farm’s market which was stocked full of colorful locally grown produce.   Farm markets are always so inspiring to me for their rustic, simple style, the textures and all of the colors of course.  And just the overall quantities of produce.

And then it happened. Sitting right there in the middle of my blissful late summer moment was a sure sign of fall!  I can’t deny that it is right around the corner with a pumpkin that orange staring at me.  Bring on fall!

 

 

 

home

last call

, , , , 1 Comment

These mini pumpkins really have made their rounds this fall.  They’ve been on the mantel, in centerpieces, in a cornucopia, on the dining table…and now they officially have a death sentence.  So harsh I know.

They’re last meal will be on Thursday.  After Thanksgiving they’re out.  So I made them into pumpkin votive candles.  I simply carved the top and popped tea lights in. 

Done and done.

They revived the mantel and might just make an appearnace as a Thanksgiving table centerpiece. 

I’m officially over carving pumpkins of any sort this season.  Bring on the Christmas greens!

Linking to:

Home Stories A2Z
home

changing again

, , , , , , 2 Comments

It seems only appropriate that I share with you my little Thanksgiving mantel since I now have Christmas wreaths up on my windows.  Yes, you heard right: Christmas wreaths. 5 of them!  I nearly cleared Lowe’s out of their limited early wreath inventory yesterday and then hung ‘em on the windows last night.  I am the girl that decorates for a holiday way too early.  Remember the mums in August? Ok, but this post is not about Christmas at all.  It is actually seasonally timed for Thanksgiving…

Let me start by telling you that next fall I plan on coming up with one comprehensive mantel design that works from Labor Day through Thanksgiving. Ok? Remind me I said that please.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we?  First it was our September Harvest Mantel.

Then we had my favorite so far, the Spooky Halloween Mantel.

And because I was over the spook factor in November, we have our final fall mantel.  Allow me to introduce the Abundant Thanksgiving mantel…

Honestly nothing fancy shmanc here folks. I basically took the remnants of the harvest mantel and the Halloween mantel (aka the things that didn’t rot yet) and haphazardly dumped them to reflect the abundance of Thanksgiving. I had the cornucopia in my stash already.

And yes, I left up the feather wreath although I feel strongly that a burlap would be more suitable. The truth is, this little transition mantel display will be short-lived.  It is a layover between the spooky mantel and Christmas extravaganza that is coming!

Oh!  I was happy to put my new cute little vintage alphabet blocks to work for the first time (that’s a lot of adjectives).  

The elephant in the room (or the neon orange looking sign) was a little trial project. I swear it is not that orange in real life. I would call it pumpkin.

Remember our door turned headboard?

Yeah? Well, we got another door destined for the dump from the same friend. This one was an old 5 panel door.  Thanks Buzzy!

My bf/handyman hacked it into 5 pieces for me. I took one of those and lightly sanded removing the flaking paint but keeping most of the original brown paint.

I then tried a technique that I am calling “reverse stenciling”.  I used mailbox stickers from the hardware store and laid them out on the surface. I also taped off a frame on the panel. Then I painted the rest of the door/panel/sign.  What are we calling it now?  After it dried, I carefully pulled the letters off to show the chippy brown original paint underneath.

I decided to do a little swirly embellishment which is part stencil, part free hand and part rubber stamp (the leaves). I sealed it all up with a semi-gloss poly. I’m thinking I could do without the shine though when I look at these pics. A satin would have sufficed. Oh well. This display is short-lived anyway!  The countdown to the Christmas mantel is on!

Saving one old door at a time…

And for the reminders (I’m like a naggy mother)…

musing

happy halloween

, , , , 1 Comment

Boo!

I’m still not over the fact that it snowed this weekend.  I know.  I am acting like it was a blizzard of epic proportions but the sheer fact that we got about 4-6 inches in October is debilitating enough.  It’s just weird and doesn’t happen in PA.

So unfortunately our festive costume party that was planned among friends for Saturday night was seriously scaled back.  Only the diehards made it out.  What did they dress up as?  So glad you asked…

Zombies.  Yes, that is Zombie Flo from Progressive.

Ceiling Fan & Window Fan.  Punny.

Sexy Pirate.  Fred Flintstone.  Sexy Baseball Player.

Reversed Religion.  Catholic & Jewish.

Flapper & Karate Sensei.

And the best costume went to…drumroll please…Mother Nature & Father Time.

Ryan, Wilson and I dressed as Little Red Riding Hood & the Big Bad Wolf.

Doesn’t Wilson make a cute grandmother?

Although it seemed like we should be dancing along to “the weather outside is frightful…”  we managed to play scary music, indulge in apple cider and eat spooky treats…like jack-o-lantern vom.

The snow is beginning to melt here just in time for tonight’s trick-or-treaters!  What is your best Halloween costume?  

Happy Halloween!