Fall Trimmings~FREE Home Decor

Around this time of year most of us do a fall cleanup in our yards, right?  Maybe?  Even if you don’t the plants start to change and usually die or fall off anywhere, so why not embrace their beauty in every stage?  So beyond twigs and leaves, look at the other foliage and see how it dries out.

  

These are my pretty bushes.  If this was a gardening blog I might be able to tell you the type, but it’s not, and I can’t. ;)  I have quite a few around my yard and it the summer they have a pretty little purple flower on them, but I even love how they are drying out,  so I snipped a few off and brought them indoors for a  beautiful accent.

        

I also made this…

Into this…

And let’s not forget these…

So we have all ‘shopped’ our homes,

                                                    but when is the last time you‘shopped’ your Yard?

Bring it in for some free & fabulous home accents.

The Room We {never} Dine In

 

I realized there are quite a few rooms in my home that I haven’t shared with you.  So I am going to start today by showing you our formal dining room.     

 

The dining set was my Great Grandmothers and I feel so lucky to have it.  You know I love sentimental items and I think it is beautiful.   The table has another leaf and total of 6 chairs so when I do need more table space I have it.

To add a touch of fall I hung the straw wreaths on both sides of the hutch with ribbon and put some {free} pinecones on my cake stand I made.

        

Even though we rarely eat in this room I walk by it 100 times a day and it makes me smile.  As are most rooms in my home, this is still a work in progress.  I would like a rug to ground the table and although I think the light is beautiful, I sometimes feel like it is too heavy for the table.  But that is the fun of it right? Constantly tweaking things and changing things up is what I do. ;)

What makes me love this room even more is that everything in here was either given to me, found at a garage sale/thrift store or on purchased at super duper clearance prices.  (i.e. my $3.99 curtains!)

Linking up…

Kelly’s Korner Show us Where You Live

Pumpkin Books

 

I received some nice comments about the little pumpkin book stackers I made for the mantel at my Mom’s salon. {Thank You!}  They are just a variation of all the fun ideas using books in your decor.  I have always loved using books in my decorating and have recently being seeing the covers off and I love it. 

The talented Miss Mustard Seed (love her!) did it HERE and like she said, it is a great alternative if you can’t find books with beautiful covers.  I have quite a few on my own I have collected, but for this display I need to find some quick.  I found a few that worked, painted one and ripped the covers off of a few. 

Another very talented lady at My Sweet Savannah(love her too!), inspired me HERE with her gorgeous flower topped books.  I simply tied on my little pumpkins, stuck in a leaf and there you go…

A super easy, inexpensive and quick way to add to your fall {or everyday} decor.

 

Feeling Linky…

Fall Mantel {Salon Edition}

 

Some of you may know I am a Cosmetologist by trade.  I really enjoy the art  and creativity of doing hair and makeup {and may even do it again one day}, but once I had babies, I was lucky enough to get to stay home with them.

Our family (my Mom & Aunt) own the cutest salon and they so kindly let me sell some of my creations in there and also have me decorate. *My mom could do it all herself because she is so talented, but sooo busy*  It is an old historical (built in the 1930’s) home that has been transformed into a salon.  This makes for such an inviting and warm atmosphere for the stylist and clients.  I love it!

One  day I will share a tour of the whole salon because it has such charm and character, but for now I want to show you the Fall Mantel.

Like I said, the original details in this old home are amazing and I love the fireplace.  You have heard me cry about not having my own traditional mantel, so getting to play with this one makes me happy! 

I made the wreath last year for the salon and I love how it brings attention to this great mantel.  I found some thrift store books and simply tied these little pumpkins to the top with just twine, which is repeated throughout.

 

       

I wanted a natural organic feel, not only to continue the inviting warmth to the clients, but to also compliment the original feel of the home. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m hoping you’re all feeling the cozy fall feeling I wanted to invoke with this mantel.  Thanks for taking a peek!

p.s.  In case you are wondering, I was going for an aged appearance on these pics…hm…not sure if I am lovin’ it. ;)

 

Linking up…

 The Nesting Place Fall Mantel Party

Wine Barrel Plaque {a knock off}

Oh, drive by garage sale finds…how I love thee!

I love garage sales, but it seems like my weekends are crazy and I usually don’t end up making it to Saturday morning sales. 

Excitingly enough last Friday,  as I was driving back from getting my first pumpkin spiced latte of the season {heaven in a cup}, I saw a Friday morning moving sale!  If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen my pic of all the loot I scored for only $4!

Lemme show ya what I did with one of those amazing steals…

Have you seen the lovely wine barrel plaques from Ballard?    I noticed them a while back, thinking ‘oh, I wish I could find and old barrel lid like that’.  Well, I have yet to find one.  So what do you do if you can’t find something you want? 

You create it!!

So here are Ballard's barrel lids.  Pretty nice huh? They are three different sizes but the smallest is 14” in diameter and 4” deep.  It sales for $69.00.

Enter my $1 garage sale find. 

Um, what is it?  Maybe a drying rack of sorts? 

Fill me in if you know.  All I saw was my barrel lid project!

So I started with the lid and just stained it with gel stain I had from my trunk makeover.  Next I stenciled on the words I wanted.  I started with Pinot Noir because it’s my fave and the numbers are Mr. Husband’s and my anniversary.  A little fleur de lis stamp for some softness, and there ya go. 

A custom piece for a DOLLAR!

   

The lower parts had slats so I had to add in some cardboard.  I painted it all out in black, almost dry brushing, to give it an aged rustic appearance.  I stenciled on the words and numbers and free handed the shield and leaf in the center.

 

What do you think about 2 custom pieces for a dollar?

How about 3 for a dollar?!

  

For this one I used cardboard again and painted it all in Heirloom white.  I then stenciled on my words, freehanded some designs and lightly sanded & glazed it.

 

I quite like them.  Mine measure 12” in diameter and 2” deep, so they are a tiny bit smaller than theirs, and just a little cheaper.  Just a little. ;)

 

I hope this inspires you to think about things differently look at that garage sale “junk” and see past what it is,  to what it could be. 

Linking up…