I can't help myself. I love pillows. I don't know what it is about them, but I just love them. The really nice pillows are pricey. I've seen some as much as $300. I love pillows, but not for $300!! Last weekend, I saw these pillows in Garden Ridge. I went so far as to put them in my shopping cart. But, I decided that I had enough pillows, so I put them back on the shelf. (You should see the top shelf in my closet!) This past Sunday, I decided that I wanted the pillows so I went back to Garden Ridge. I didn't see the pillows right away. I had to hunt for them amongst 12 rows of pillows. I found two that had the same print, but the colors were different--too springy. Then finally, I spotted one pillow that had the fall colors on them--oranges, browns, greens, golds. So, the search was on to find another one. About 10 minutes later, I managed to find one.
I placed the pillows on my bed. I thought I would be happy using the pillows that were made for my living room furniture, but the colors were not vibrant enough for me. I'm happy with my choice, I knew they would work. So, here are my new fall pillows:
Periodically, I will share with you some of the decor items I see that I absolutely love. This week, I was staying at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, TX. The hotel has recently upgraded its rooms. There was a bolster pillow on the bed that was a khaki linen with silver leafing on it. I loved this pillow. I wanted to take it home with me. Sadly I left without it.
The room had a wingback chair with nail heads. I wasn't sure if I liked it at first, but the more I looked at the chair, it grew on me. I really liked the form of the chair. I wasn't as crazy about the fabric pattern. I imagined this chair done in a deep blue or purple velvet with the nail heads.
I think I have a pillow fetish! This pillow was in the wingback chair. It was a blue velvet pillow with black velvet insets. I loved it!
A few nights ago, I was thinking about what I could add or change to my front porch fall decor. Mums are a big part of fall, but I didn't want to add mums to the look because I've had mums on my front porch for the last 7 fall seasons. After pouring through a few design websites, I decided to remove the boxwood balls and add pumpkins and leaf vines to the planters. So, this is what it looks like now:
I still like this look better:
What do you think?
Depending on the seasons, I have two different comforters for my bedroom. One comforter is for the spring and summer, and one is for the fall and winter. In the summer months, I use a coverlet and roll the comforter back to the foot of the bed. Last weekend, I changed out the comforter to the fall/winter look. This year, I decided to flip the comforter and pillow shams over to the other side. For accessory pillows, I looked in my closet at the various pillows I have stored there. I used two pillows that originally came with my living room furniture and other pillows I purchased from Target and Garden Ridge. I was able to get a new look and it didn't cost me a dime! Believe me, that is a rare occurrence.
Seriously, I finally found a piece of artwork for my laundry room. About a year ago, I saw a canvass print in Garden Ridge that was intended for a laundry room. I didn't buy it when I first saw it. When I went back a week later, I couldn't find it. Sometimes the bins in Garden Ridge get really disheveled making it impossible to find anything. So, I gave up on finding a print for the laundry room. But, a week ago I was in Garden Ridge and there it was--artwork for my laundry room. It is the perfect size for the wall where it is displayed. I love it! Now I have artwork in every room of the house!
Well, I have a different look for my fall front door. I wanted a more sophisticated look than past years. I decided to ditch the wreath and the mums. I added fall leaves to the glass door (placemats from Bed, Bath, & Beyond). I kept the pumpkins. Instead of mums, I left the ball boxwoods in the planters. I showed the revised look to family members (sister, niece, great nephew, and sister-in-law) and none of them liked the new look. They all said I needed more stuff. My nephew does not like the boxwoods. He said it doesn't look like fall. It's okay to leave some greenery in your display. So, I decided to do something radically different. I went to Hobby Lobby and purchased bamboo sticks, spray painted them yellow, and placed them behind each planter. My family members didn't care for the bamboo sticks, but I like them. I think the bamboo sticks add a bit of quirkiness to my fall front door look. Check it out.
Okay, I have to decide what to do about my front door decoration. I get stuck in a decorating rut and it's hard to climb out. For the past eight fall seasons, I have put the same decor on my front porch: fall wreath, mums in the planters, scare crows sticking out of the mums, and pumpkins on the porch.
It's an easy look to put together, but now I want to do something different. But, it's hard to have a look for fall without pumpkins and mums. Off to the stores so I can find a new look! Check back later for the reveal!!
My great nephew, Ka'Run, is attending the Art Institute in Dallas, TX. He is studying to become an Interior Designer. I started taking my nephew to designer homes when he was in junior high school and we continued this until he graduated in May 2013. As a young boy, Ka'Run would always decorate his bedroom for different holidays, so I thought he would enjoy looking at beautiful homes as much as I do.
Ka'Run has started a new job in Dallas working at a year round Christmas store called "Noel Christmas". He walked in one day just to look around and the store manager asked if she could help him. Ka'Run told the manager that he just wanted to look around because Christmas is his favorite holiday. She asked him if he decorated trees and his response was, "Yes!" I am so proud of him. He has decorated a mantle in the store with a fall-themed garland. I can't wait to see more of his creations for the fall and Christmas. Here are pictures of my last three Christmas trees he decorated:
My nephew moved into his very first apartment in Dallas. His apartment does not look like the typical apartment of a young person. His Aunt Michelle had some influence on furniture selection and artwork, but ultimately Ka'Run had to approve.
Of the four seasons, fall is my favorite. I love the color palette--gold, orange, brown, hunter green, purple. I also love clothes worn in the fall--corduroy, wools, sweaters. There is a richness that comes with fall colors. As my wardrobe changes for the seasons, so does my decor. I have switched over the pillows on my sofa from the summer look to the fall look:
Notice how soft the colors look in the summer photo at the top. Now look at the richness of the fall colors. I purchase a lot of my pillows from Garden Ridge because they are relatively inexpensive--around $10 to $15. It's a pretty inexpensive way to change the look in your room. Garden Ridge has thousands of pillows in a lot of hues.
Since I've lived in my house, I have had the same dark red vases with fake orchids on my fireplace mantle. Shame on me for not changing this out, but I was never motivated to change it. I decided to pop the color orange out in my living room, so the dark red vases and fake orchids are gone. They have been replaced with these bright orange vases, minus the fake orchids:
This look will remain in my living room through Thanksgiving, then it will be time to change over to Christmas.
UPDATE: I just realized this post is similar to the one I wrote last fall--almost the exact wording. I guess this shows how passionate I am about fall!!
I can't believe it's been almost a year since I've posted. I've been so busy with my real job that I haven't had the inspiration to blog. I always have a lot of ideas floating around in my head, but I just can't seem to get them out of my head.
So, I've been thinking about redecorating my master bathroom. Believe it or not, I have painted my bathroom twice since I've been in this house for almost 8 years (October 21, 2013). The original color started out as SW Latte--in the taupe family. You all know how I feel about taupe. Don't get me wrong, taupe is a great neutral, but for me everything looks so bland with this color. A few years ago, I saw a stripe painting technique on the HGTV's Rate My Space. I painted horizontal stripes using three colors from my color chart. There was a white space in between each color. All three colors were in the taupe family--from lighter to darker. I lived with this for about a year. Then I decided to paint over the stripes with a darker color on the color chart--SW 6110 Steady Brown.
Steady Brown is a rich, dark brown. I like darker colors because artwork looks best against a darker color.
A friend of mine built a new home about three years ago. Her master bathroom is painted baby blue with stark white painted trim work. I love this look--it's very beachy. Her bathroom inspired me to step outside the taupe family of colors.
I have a few colors in mind for my bathroom and none of the colors are in the taupe family. Here's a sneak preview of what I'm looking at:
I've already purchased the artwork that is going to hang on my bathroom walls:
Stay tuned and be sure to check back!
