Fall Decor...Heading Into Thanksgiving...

Well, Halloween is put to bed for another year and with it are our Halloween decorations.  Yep, I'm one of those who changes out the decor immediately.  The day after Halloween, all of our jack-o-lanterns and black cats and cute witches were put away and out came our turkeys (not too many) and our autumn leaves and some not-jack-o-lantern pumpkins, along with a few scarecrows.  I thought it would be fun to share some of the details of my holiday decorating with you.

This is the view from my kitchen as I look out to the rest of my house.  It makes me smile to when I look up from my kitchen chores.

This is my mantle.  (Recognize the candle sticks?)  I've been wanting fat burnt orange candles for a few years, so I was thrilled when I found these at World Market last month.  My wreath is an old one from Pottery Barn post-holiday clearance.  It has held up really well.  My little turkey was another post-holiday clearance find.  (Notice a trend?)

 How about this subway art from Today's Fabulous Finds (Janet does one in various colors for every occasion and gives them to us for free!!)  The pumpkins were in Target's Dollar Spot and I just stuck leaves from some fake flowers on them to give them a little more oomph.

Here is the kitchen...just a few pumpkins on top of the cabinet.   (They're fake, too.  Bought them a few years ago from Michael's with a coupon...they were something like $3 each.)  Simple, yet festive, I think.

Even the dining room gets in on the act.  I added a pumpkin candle, changed out the flowers on the buffet, some leaves on my centerpiece, and a little turkey on my antique clock.

Oh, and don't forget the Angry Bird under the table.  (Do you see it?  It is there on the rug.)  The cats obviously think the room needed a little something more.

I know I'm more minimalist than a lot of people who decorate for the seasons, but it works for me.  I love the simple additions to acknowledge the flow of the year, but I can't stand to be overwhelmed by them (at least until I get to Christmas!!). 

What about you?  Do you switch it out or do you just leave it be?

Evolution of an Eat-in Kitchen

When we first moved into this house almost five years ago, we used our dining area/eat-in kitchen as our dining room. This house was built without a dining room. Unfortunately, the step down that you can see clearly in the third picture (with Charming on the dark loveseat) made the dining room cramped and actually unsafe for the person who sat at the end of the table.

Within a year, I moved the dining room table into the room that is supposed to be the living room. It eventually ended up looking like this and has worked really well for us.

But what to do with the "dining room" space? Well, for a long while I played with it as a seating area. The family always gathers here when I'm cooking or baking. When guests come over, they want congregate in the kitchen area. Here is the first iteration. A dark loveseat and a leather chair facing it created a conversation area. The problem? The ottoman collected "stuff" and was never cleared off for any amount of time. We needed a change. (This dark loveseat is now in my room.)
Then we have it with the white Klippan couch from Ikea. A little Ikea table that I got for something like $25 in the as-is section was pushed up against my kitchen cupboard. The birdhouse was moved (I hated the way the feathers collected under the table). The big problem? Again, stuff just collected on that table and the table was never used the way I thought it would be.
I don't have a picture, but I ended up taking the table down and storing it (again) and putting a bent wood rocker in the corner to create a conversation area. No ottoman or coffee table to collect stuff. No rug to collect dog fur. Simple and easy.

Then Valiant wanted the Klippan couch in his room, so I put the futon in its place.
This is how the space stayed for quite some time. It wasn't very pretty, but it worked. Then Superman left for his new job. Charming was away at college and the two kids and I didn't want to eat all our meals at the big table. The bent wood rocker was put away (a good thing, too, as the cane wasn't holding up well). I moved the "craft" table from Buttercup's room and put the futon in its place (it is awesome for sleepovers!). I brought out my as-is Ikea bar stools (from my California house...finally had a use for them because the craft table is counter height!) and we started using this as our table. I loved the the size and the layout, but I hated that the ends were shelving, not open like a table. The space was still only "kind of" working for us. This morning, however, inspiration struck!

I took the craft table apart and used the two shelf ends as one big shelf and added a melamine "shelf" from Home Depot to finish the top. I brought back the table that I'd had in the room with the white sofa, as well as bringing back one of the rugs I've moved to various places in the house. Finally, I brought in some of my dining room chairs. Ta Da! A room that is comfortable, functional, and attractive. All for $11.43 (the price of the shelf on top of the "bookcase"). The dog is just eye-candy.


So, the moral of the story? Keep tweaking until you get it the way you want it. As long as you only have furniture you like, you will eventually get to a room you love.

What about you? Do your rooms evolve? Do you think I'm crazy? Does it work for you?