Now there is artwork in every room in my house!

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!

Okay, my new fall door is revealed...

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.

What to do with my front door??

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!!

An Interior Designer in the Making

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.

Fall Colors, Warm Clothes, Cozy Blanket--Yep, Fall is Here!

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!!

Coming Soon!!!

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!

The Finished Product--Almost

U P D A T E:  I updated the blog post to showcase the artwork that my neighbors picked out.  See the artwork at the end of this post.

I went by my neighbor's house to hang the artwork lower on the wall.  One of my pet peeves, among many, is artwork hung too high on walls.  My neighbor and his fiancé are tall so he thought it should be hung to match their heights.  I lowered the artwork by 1 ft and it looks so much better at the lower height.  Tip:  Hanging artwork lower on a wall really grounds the room.  I really love this space.  I turned a beige/taupe space into one that is vibrant.  I brought in accessory pillows with pops of red in them and changed the lamps to ones that are the correct scale to his furniture.  The lamps look fantastic!  I am finding out that the stripes are a love/hate look.  The good thing about the stripes is that it is paint and can be painted over.  But for now, my neighbor has no plans to paint over them. 

The next thing my neighbor purchased for this space is a rug.  I initially suggested a rug with pattern and red, but I thought that would be a little too busy with the stripes--too much texture.  So, I suggested a sisal rug with a red band or a nice wool rug in taupe with a red band or border.  I met my neighbor and his fiancé at a rug gallery in North Little Rock.  I found a sisal rug with a red border, but my neighbor's fiancé thought that the rug surface was too rough. She found another sisal rug that had a much softer surface, but it didn't have the red band.  However, the rug still works because it is a neutral and it blends in with the taupe color on the walls.

Notice the wall behind the sofa is bare.  My neighbor's fiancé wants to hang a mirror there.  The sofa is about three feet from the wall.  I envision hanging a grouping of mirrors there instead of one mirror.  I think this would be more dramatic and it will also help to fill in the wall.  I also suggested to my neighbor that they purchase a narrow-depth console table for the wall and hang a grouping of mirrors above the table.  This is similar to what I envision hanging on the wall.

Update:  My neighbor sent me a picture of artwork he and his wife selected to hang on the wall in back of the sofa.  I like his choice.  It's not the mirrors that she wanted, but the artwork pulls in the colors in the room.