10 Things to Do to Cozy up your House for Fall

When the seasons change, I get a little excited (ok, sometimes a lot excited) & have the urge to bring that feeling into my home.  I think most of us who really love our homes do.   And if you think about it, when we're little kids, we pretty much start doing this right away in preschool.  Every year I remember doing crafts with leaves in the fall and making cheesy things out of pinecones at Christmastime & so on. 

{image via http://spaceforinspiration.blogspot.com%7d/

 This year has been particularly crazy for our family with work & time (& the lack of it) and I haven't gotten the chance to really do much around the house, so I thought a little refresher list of 10 easy things to do might get me in gear to make some small changes around the house for Fall.  

{a tree in our neighborhood, last year}

So here they are:
1.  Switch out throw pillows to ones with warmer tones & cozier-feeling materials

{Image via pinterest & I couldn't find the original cource}

2. Add more throw blankets around the house or switch out existing summer throws to thicker, cozier ones.  I really love my faux fur throws, especially for napping and bringing outside onto the back patio at night. 

{image from homedecorators.com}

3. Even if you don't have time to bake, you can fake that Heavenly smell with candles and/or diffusers.  I have pumpkin pie-scented candles & diffusers all over the house (and vanilla cake too!) and I want to eat them!!!

{image from Country Living}

4.  Have healthy seasonal food around for the munching.  (so you don't eat your candles}  Bowls of walnuts or apples in the family room and/ or kitchen invite everyone to enjoy seasonal goodies.  I'm always more likely to eat something when it's within reaching distance.

{my vintage peanut stocked with almonds}

{little bowl of walnuts}

5.  Art & Accessories:  There are certain places in my house where I'll switch paintings around or swap out accessories.  The mantle is one of the easiest places to do this because you can just prop artwork & don't have to put holes in the walls. 

{our mantle for Fall}

Bookshelves are another good place for this.  Before I had two kids, I used to really rearrange our books by color seasonally. 

{Some of my old "fall"-colored books...  My English teacher husband doesn't approve of my seasonal genres.}

(I know it sounds like I must have been on crack, but I really kind of miss the book rearranging. ) In the Fall, I'd make the orange & browns & golden books stand out more by placing them most prominently and in the Spring & Summer, I'd pull out the blues & aquas.  Now I'm lucky if the books are even on the shelves. 

{our super-crammed living room bookshelf...  not much rearranging happening here these days...  I've now realized that by the time I have the time to do that again, I'll probably be missing my kids.}

 

6.  Bring in leaves & branches from your yard.  (or your neighbors' yards! ;) ;) hee hee.  I found these cool orange-needled branches last Fall:  (I told you I hadn't gotten much done this year ;)  I love going on walks with the family & collecting things from outside.

7.  Pumkins & gourds:  They usually last a really long time & I pretty much always have pumpkins & gourds leftover from Halloween on the Thanksgiving table.  Piling them on your porch and around the house makes it really feel like Fall.  Kids love them too.

{Last year's Thanksgiving Table}

8.  Have fires when you can.  With a toddler in our house, our fires are a little few & far between but when we do have them, I'm in Heaven.  It just seems to lead to good family hang-out time.  On Fall nights, we love doing fires outside & roasting marshmallows.

{mmm mmm I loooooove s'mores!!}

 

9. Bedding:  In the Fall we add extra blankets to our bed including a down comforter & a throw blanket for napping at the foot of the bed.  It's been a fairly warm Fall so I do end up kicking them off a lot of the time at night.. maybe I made the switch too early this year?? 

{I love the faux fur blanket on Tia Zoldan's bed in this pic}

10. And finally... (you know I'd have to include some real eating in here)- Soup!  We try to make weekly batches of soup or pasta sauce in the Fall & Winter.  It feels so good on a cool day to be warm & toasty inside eating soup.  My mom makes an amazing pumpkin curry soup in the Fall:

{I'll have to get the actual recipe from my mom but the amazing-looking pumpkin soup pictured above is from Sweet Peas Kitchen and you can view the recipe here:  http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/09/16/harvest-pumpkin-soup/ }

Anyway, would love to hear about the changes you've been making in your house for Fall.  I'll keep you posted on my progress!!




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Thanksgiving Table

I wanted to share with you a Thanksgiving Table centerpiece & Post I did last year at my mom's house. (11/25/08!) I'd just started blogging and I had so much fun setting a pretend table.. How odd it seemed at the time but now it seems totally normal!! Just ignore the lack of silverware & napkins for my imaginary guests! ;)

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'
The items used are all flea-market finds from a trip I recently took to Strasburg, Virginia. I started with a simple oat-colored linen runner and put the large white pillar candle holder in the center. (Only $2!)





Then I layered ouwards symmetrically with the pair of smaller milk glass urns & topped them off with pumpkins ($10 for the pair!)




I tucked in a second, larger milk glass urn with a squash in it to informally balance the small milk glass candleholder on the opposite side. (When dealing with thrift-store flea market finds, since it's often hard to come by pairs, you get to have a lot of fun with mismatched pairs & informal balance.)



At the end of the arrangement, I used 2 busts of a little boy and girl. I debated over buying them & am now so glad I went for them. At only $8 for the pair and now seeing how quirky they look on the table, I don't know why I wasn't crazy over them from the beginning! (I love weird little objects :)



And finally, I added this little tree made out of amber that my mom & stepdad found on a trip to Lithuania. It's like a little gemstone bouquet. It looks good no matter where you put it.




I think my mom's wedding china looks perfect with such a simple arrangement. The room's crewel draperies, stained-glass window & bold-patterned rug made me want to do a really simple table setting.




Here's a close-up of the large urn with the squash in it. I thought it was a pretty picture. :)




Here you can see my mom's cabinet full of crystal. It's got some beautiful pieces given to her by my grandfather & also an amazing vintage cut crystal collection handed down to her from my stepdad's family. She's never had it displayed before & recently purchased the cabinet & was finally able to enjoy it!




Anyway, I'm off to pack for our trip to visit my dad for Thanksgiving! If I'm able to, I'll post some pictures of our table there! (His kitchen is finally in & I cannot wait to see it!!!)
Here's one last picture & have a very happy & beautiful Thanksgiving!!! Keep it simple & have fun!! xoxo







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Hope you enjoyed the little trip down memory lane! Thanksgiving will be at my mom's house this year & I'm already getting excited for my grandmother's homemade noodles!!! mmmm mmm mm!!!
xoxo,
lauren

It's Those Little Changes...

It's those little seasonal changes that make me so happy. (Like the huge pumpkin on our server, above.) I'm being super-quick today since Dave's got the day off for Columbus Day but wanted to share just a few pics with you. Clearing out part of our woods this weekend, I brought these branches from a now-deceased-bush into our kitchen. (I put them in a pilsner glass- one of my favorites for branches & tall flowers!) I can't even tell you how happy it makes me to see all that green as I look in the kitchen or out of it. I wish it could stay alive forever!!



It's exactly how I want my house to feel:



A new friend brought me over some beautiful green spider mums (one of my new favorites, thanks so my bright green sofa!) and I popped one in a vintage glass bottle I got last weekend for $1. You can also spy my new server in the dining room in the reflection of the mirror:




I found it at (where else?!) Lucketts for $165. It's the perfect size - 6 feet wide by 18 inches deep & I now have so much room for china & linens. It's a Japanese piece from the late 1800s to 1910 and was at the shop for 20 minutes before I snagged it. The clerk kept doublechecking the price tag because she couldn't believe it either. I LOVE all the storage!!! (means I can keep collecting!! hee hee)





We didn't have to do a thing to it. I was a little nervous at the store but when I got it home, its straight clean lines and the finish & size were perfect. It's the exact same width as my window, which was what I needed:

I love having a surface in the dining room now for candles, my moss bass urn, other revolving pretty things and to serve food! Righn now things have just sort of been tossed up there with no real thought but I'm still happy with the look...

Anyway, have a happy Columbus Day!!!! What changes have you been making to your home lately?

xoxoxo,

lauren

Switching Life over for Fall

As most of you probably know by now, I love to switch around my house, especially seasonally. It's for this reason that I need a fairly neutral "base" for my house so that I can change colors & moods on a whim. To some, rearranging seasonally may sound like something only crazy people with "too much time on their hands" do, but to others (and I know a lot of you are as design-obsessed as me) it's just what you do and it makes you happy. It's an awesome creative outlet that doesn't cost a lot of money and keeps your home feeling fresh. (images above & below from martha stewart.com)

Anyway, right now I'm in the mood for Fall!! And there are lot of different type of "Fall," but this year I'm in the mood for a darker, moodier, super-cozy Fall. (I think it's supposed to be cold this year!!)

1. Switch out accent pillows: Think warmer colors: golds, oranges, browns, warm beiges but even plums & mossy greens work well right now. Use whatever feels "Fall" to you. You might even want to use more pillows than usualy to get that "cozy" & layered feel.

I'm loving these leather pillows from Restoration Hardware:

2. Get a throw blanket on every surface you're likely to "nest." In my own house, I love to curl up. I pretty much always wrap a blanket around myself & have my feet up somehow: elevanted or tucked under me but rarely on the ground. (I'm one of those odd people that often sits Indian- style in the passenger seat of the car.) But, in the Fall, I bring out even more throws. One for the sofa... and one for a chair... the bedroom... a couple in the family room. I just want everyone to be able to get cozy quickly. I keep a basket in the living room for fluffy faux fur blankets. (image via doseofdesign.blogspot.com)

3. Get your fireplace ready. If you had anything in it for the off-season like stacks of wood or a fern, pull in out & have it waiting. Call a chimney sweep if need be so you don't get that smokey smell.

4. Reaccessorize around your mantle, tabletops and surfaces. Think aged brass, wamer woods, and things with a sense of age: vintage finds, antiques, cracked finishes, etc. (imgae from Monique Keegan's House in CL)

5. In bookshelves, showcase richer-feeling books & accessories. (image from Country Home)

6. If you have any "loose artwork" (like something just propped on the mantle versus nailed in) switch it out with artwork that makes you think of Fall. Rich colors & subjects that warm up the space. ( my mom's mantle below)

7. Put more candles around & have some at the ready. (I really love Yankee Candle's huge jar "pumkin pie" candle but it's really not pretty so I store it under a cabinet & pull it out only when in use.) But, If you've got some pretty hurricanes or pillar candles, put them around where you'll be likely to use them. And think smell too. Pumkin & vanilla & hazlenut in the Fall are just amazing and how wonderful is it to walk into a home with those smells?!

8. Bring in some pumpkins & gourds!! I think they're beautiful anywhere you can get them. Piled on a table, mantle or even next to the fireplace. (Oh and don't forget in an urn!! image below from Country Living)

9. Add or switch out rugs. Replace cotton ones with wool rugs, add a rug where the floor was bare.. just warm it up a bit. (image below from Monique Keegan's - a FAVOROTE!!- in CL)

10. Go for walks & pick up what's around you and enjoy the brisk weather. Christian loves collecting acorns & pinecones. A little dish of acorns or a bowl of pimecones is just so pretty. Greenery is also always perfect for bringing in. I've been bringing in lots of weeds from outside lately & am loving how long they live!! (image from flicker)

11. Spruce up your outdoor entry. Mums & pumkins, gourds & ornamental cabbages really make guests feel welcome. (And will make you so happy when you come home!)

11. Have some treats ready. I LOVE having a bowl of walnuts on the table in the Fall. The nut cracker should be waiting in it so people can dig in at any time.

Bowls of apples or pears are beautiful & healthy too!

12. We love doing a weekly soup. Most Sundays or Mondays I end up making a soup and we can eat it for lunches or dinners throughout the week. It's just so comforting & delicious to have around!! (My in-laws visited this weekend & my mother-in-law left us homemade split-pea soup- yum!!!) image below from peandhamsouprecipe.com.... I'm TOTALLY making grilled cheese & microwaving up some soup for lunch today!!

13. Get your coat closet & entry ready. Get out your scarves & gloves & heavier coats. Use baskets or boxes for organzing. Have a spot near the front door for wet boots & shoes and maybe a basket for loose scarves. Hooks are great too if you've got a spot.

14. Have good music at the ready. Cooking & hanging out & relaxing at home can be more fun with good music. I'm definitely in the mood for different music in the fall than in the summer... My favorite right now is Mr.Pitiful by Matt Costa: http://www.mattcosta.com/music (If you haven't heard it, you'll LOVE it... I promise... kind of a modern Beatles vibe)

15. Have good a book & some magazines at the ready. (These days that might entail having your computer with you- how awesome is Lonny?!!)

I'll be doing some more specific posts in "Fall decorating" as the season continues. Would love to hear what you do to cozy up for Fall so I can include it!!!

xoxo,

lauren