Thursday, October 31, 2013

It's looking like Fall around here

First off, Happy Halloween!  This post is JUST making it is time to be semi-relevant since there is Halloween stuff involved.

I blogged about the fabulous built-in shelves that live in my living room here, but never really did anything with them.  I can't believe I have been in the new house 7.5 months.  It feels like just yesterday, but in the same way seems like it's been forever.  I guess that really proves it's our forever home when it feels so right.

Before: my current style was decorating with cards apparently.  And yes, I can't reach the top so much doesn't go there right now until i find good permanent pieces.

Anyways, back to the shelves.  I figured they would be my main decoration display feature during the holidays, but then realized we aren't in that room too often, so I wouldn't get to see very much of what I put out.  So I walked around the house looking for some other rooms/locations to get festive with.

I can never decide how to decorate during the Fall since Halloween and Thanksgiving both Fall within the time span so I decided to do a little bit of everything.  I'll be taking down the extra Halloween-ey stuff this weekend and leaving the Fall decor up till Christmas (or maybe New Years at the rate I'm going).

The built-ins did get a little bit of spiffing up.  I traded around some pieces, tried to de-clutter a bit and pretty much threw whatever didn't go elsewhere.  The jar of corks got moved from their usual spot on the mantle (stay tuned this is my favorite decorating spot) and the bowl with the large orbs got swapped for some fall colored items.  Burnt orange has always been my decorating taste since buying our first house, so this time of year is perfect for many of our things.  Lots of what gets left out year round fits in.

After: Lamp got moved in here, still working with a good placement of it.  All the cards are gone leaving less clutter but a lot more dead space, both good and bad.

The little, round table in our foyer is fairly new.  My parents are down-sizing and I am taking all the things they don't want.  It's getting bad, my husband hates it, but we DO have a large house to fill.  I'll stop when there are no more spaces left which we are far from.  After accepting this from my parents I realized one day it was the table that use to sit in the upstairs of our old house (not the one they are downsizing from).  So glad we could find a space for it in our home.  Memories....

Before: Very boring...just a little lace doily.

I attempted to put a cob-web up on the railing at the stairs but the cats were "re-decorating" it every day and finally I gave up.  I'd like to make this a nice spot to hang a banner throughout the seasons.

So the table got the "cob-web" on a candle stick and fall basket.  This doily was swapped out for this place mat and another candle and acorn dish were thrown down.  Ignore the ugly Halloween tin on the bottom.  It stored a lot of the little things and never got back to storage.

After: Any ideas on how to decorate these walls, they are B-O-R-I-N-G!

In an attempt to add some festive flair in the kitchen/breakfast nook, I threw up this bat garland (which I had bought for the dorm in college) and added a spooky sign.  I love buying items from the craft stores right after the holiday when it's all on sale.  That's how this little guy came into my possession.

After:  Just spiffing up the pantry door.  (For the before just image those two items not there, good).

The dining room, another area rarely used but walked through a bazillion times a day, got a few pieces as well.  The lazy susan lives on this table and is always holding the large hurricane vase which was a wedding present.

Before:  Oh look, daylight in this photo.  Another room that really needs to be more put together.

I change out the candle and filler for the seasons.  I have yet to lite the short, fat, three-wick candle that came with it.  I'm weird, I hate lighting candles.  So I have about 5 pumpkin scented candles all over the house but none are lit.  The table runner is another hand me down from mom. :)

After:  Yes I have a fabulous corner hutch back there I could have decorated, but I didn't.  Not enough decor for all this space yet.

By far my favorite place to decorate is the mantle.  It's in the family room so I see if every day and stare at it all evening.  It really is a blank canvas in general.  When we moved in we added the mirror, hoping to bounce some light around in the room and the clock usually stay up there too.  To the right is the entertainment center which is another great spot to decorate but I didn't.

Before:  Isn't he fabulous?  We just had our first fire in there last week

I tired to play with varying heights but am not sure I quite succeeded.  This guy will definitely get some tweaking until I find the perfect decorations to use.  Again, a garland or banner would look great here (like the before picture but my husband insisted that one get taken down).

After:  Mostly a hint of Fall and Thanksgiving with a nod to Halloween using the crow.

So there we have it.  Trying to spread my minimal decoration around the house.  I'm hoping to score some after season sales on other items.  Since this was the first time decorating this space during this time of year I really had to get a feel for what more I wanted/needed.  I learned I definitely have a lot more space to work with than I really thought.  I can only go up from here though!


Do you decorate for Fall and Halloween separately?  What's your favorite spot in your house to decorate?