Autumn Touches

As promised, today I have pictures of my fall decorating for y’all.

My goal this year was to keep things simple.  I’m starting to realize that I really appreciate clean, simple, uncluttered décor (although you’d probably never guess it by looking around my house), so a bunch of Halloween doodads are not for me.  Just give me a few dried leaves, some acorns, and a white pumpkin or two and I’m happy.

I’ve been inspired lately by a blog I recently discovered called Farmhouse 5540.  I love everything about this lady’s style.  Everything!  I wish I could bring her home with me and let her work her magic in my house.  There’s something about her simple, farmhouse style that makes me happy.  So as I was adding autumn touches to my house this year, I was trying to keep her rustic style mind.

It is going to take some practice before I’m able to replicate this style, and I find myself changing and rearranging things every day.  So what you see in these photos today may not be the way things look in my home tomorrow.

First I’ll show you our breakfast room.  I guess a more accurate name for this area would be school room, since we always do school here and never eat breakfast here.  But that’s another story.

I’m a big fan of the nontraditional pumpkins, particularly the white ones.  Like I mentioned the other day, orange is not my favorite color, and orange pumpkins just scream Halloween to me (which is not the look I was going for).

I love to decorate with pieces that can easily be used year round – like this lantern. I can pop it open and fill it with whatever seasonal item I want.  Right now it’s filled with green raffia and a ceramic pumpkin that I bought at the dollar store.  I also added a brown, silk ribbon to warm it up a bit.  In a few, short weeks I’m sure I will be stuffing this lantern with some shiny glass ornaments.

I’ve had this metal watering can for more than a decade.  It’s lived in various places over the years, mostly on my back porch, but I decided to move it to the breakfast room for now and fill it with dried cornhusks and artificial wheat stems.

Ah, mantel!  I always have such a hard time deciding what to do with you.  Since the mantel is the focal point of the living room, and quite possibly of the whole house, I always feel a lot of pressure to get it right.  Honestly, I was not entirely satisfied with the way the mantel looked in this picture.  This area always feels too dark to me.  To help brighten up the space, I recently commissioned Lucy to find a few sticks in our yard and paint them white.  Then I laid the sticks, somewhat haphazardly, across the top of the mantel, and they do help brighten up the dark wood.

This wooden sign was a clearance item from Hobby Lobby.  Originally it was reddish, pink and said something about “lake living.” Not my style, per se, but at less than $5, I couldn’t pass it up.  I painted the sign white as soon as I got it home, but I never could decide what to write on it.  It’s been stuck in a drawer for about 5 years (no exaggeration) until last week, when I finally pulled it out and added the word, “Gather.”

These white pumpkins and Indian corn are certainly my favorite part of the mantel scape.

Behind the living room couch, I replaced a vase of flowers with these preserved leaves.  Oh, how I wish I had some lovely, natural fall foliage in my backyard that I could cut and bring inside, but alas!  What few leaves in my yard aren’t brown and crunchy with drought are still bright green.   (By the way, maybe the 8” of rain we got yesterday will solve the drought problem!)

The bright fall colors are lovely, but I do find them a little too intense for my taste.

The last stop for the day is our console table.  Here lies a beautiful, two-toned pumpkin, and even though it’s not white, I absolutely love it!

At the other end of the console I stuffed a metal crown with a few pinecones, and I also added another natural element with the tree slice.

And here’s my only official Halloween decoration.  It’s a jack-o-lantern I made probably 10 years ago from an old paperback book.  I know I said I wasn’t into using Halloween decorations this year, but this one is so subtle I’m ok with it.  (If you’re observant, you may have noticed that I actually have one more of these book pumpkins on my mantel.)

That’s all the photos I have today.  I’m going to try get a picture of our backdoor all dressed for fall and maybe a few of our dining room table.  Hope y’all enjoyed the little tour!

Fall Blessings,

Lindsey

Long Time, No Blog

Surprise!  It’s me again.

I know. I know.  It’s been so terribly long since you last heard a word from me.  Poor dears! You must be crushed!  I have the best excuse ever, though. 

My computer died.

Yep, it kicked the bucket.

Bought the farm.

Winged it’s flight to worlds unknown.

You get the idea.

Actually it was only the tangible computer that keeled over, not the brains of the machine.  The hard drive is still perfectly healthy, along with all of the priceless information stored on it.  So while I’m in the midst of transferring everything from my old hard drive to a wonderful, new machine, I thought I’d take a moment to let y’all know I haven’t abandoned blogging.

So what’s a girl like me to do when her computer is down and out?

Get outside and enjoy spring, that’s what!  Y’all know how much I’ve been looking forward to spring, and I’m so happy that it’s finally here!  For weeks I’ve been itching to get out in this winter-weary yard of mine and spruce it up a bit.  Thanks to the longer days and the warmer temperatures, the Tool Man and I have been able to tackle quite a bit of outdoor work around here.

The biggest chore we’ve completed so far has been to get our pool (a.k.a. Redneck Oasis) up and running.  The water is still far too chilly to go for a swim, (just ask Lucy who wouldn’t take my word for it) but at least it’s all set up, cleaned up, and ready to go.

In addition to prepping the pool, the Tool Man and I have spent some time giving our flower beds a face lift.  We’ve pruned shrubs, pulled weeds, relocated plants, and added some new flowers here and there.

Since we don’t have time to tend to a real vegetable garden, I decided to add a couple of tomatoes and jalapeno plants to my backyard bed.  I’ve also got a little collection of herbs growing:  rosemary, basil, lavender, and sage.

The sage bush was planted last year and is still going strong.  I believe it’s doubled in size in the last month alone!

It’s leaves are so big and beautiful; just the other day I plucked a few and added them to a chicken salad.  Yummy!  I don’t know about you, but the smell of sage always makes me think of Thanksgiving dressing.

The rosemary was planted last year as well.  I’m channeling my inner Martha Stewart and desperately trying to train the rosemary into topiary form – crossing my fingers I’m doing to correctly.

I’ve successfully grown a rosemary bush before but never once tried to prune it.  It grew to a monstrous size – at least 3 feet tall and twice as wide!  I finally had enough of the beast and got scissor happy with it last summer.  Now the poor plant looks like it’s been beaten with an ugly stick!  It’s gnarled, woody trunk grows at a wonky “60-ish” degree angle and bushes into an awful upside-down, squished pyramid shape.  I’m only keeping it around until my new plant is well established.  Fresh rosemary from an ugly plant is better than no rosemary at all, right?

I have more spring fun to talk about, but I ‘m not going to put all my eggs in one basket (pun intended.)  I apologize again for the recent blogging drought.  Hopefully, I’ll get all my computer woes ironed out soon.  Thanks for being patient!

Happy spring!

Lindsey

Randomness from the Creek

 

Hi, y’all!  It just occurred to me that it has been about two weeks since I last posted, so I figured I better get typing.

Our family stayed busy last week with a dance recital (Lucy), a birthday (the Tool Man), and braces (Ty.)  I hope to share some pictures of these events soon. 

This week has been full of activity too.  Business meetings, hair appointments, school, birthday parties…  I’m also planning to take the monkeys to the Biedenharn Museum for their annual photo shoot, weather permitting.  It’ll be Tacy Mae’s first time over there, so it ought to be an exhausting interesting day.  Not to mention I’ll have an extra kiddo too – Cousin Caroline – who is only 4 months older than Tacy.  Thankfully, my mom will be helping me corral kids.  Still, I expect plenty of shenanigans.

I’ve been working on my baking skills too.  There’s nothing quite like the smell of fresh bread in the oven, don’t ya think?  Last night we enjoyed hot Buttery Sourdough Buns, and this morning I prepared a batch of fluffy Sourdough Waffles.  Yummo!

Perhaps the best thing happening around here is the change of seasons.  Spring is finally here!  Woo hoo!  It’s definitely my favorite time of year with the longer days and the warmer temps.  (Not to mention the fact that I can kick the monkeys outside for the better part of the day.)  Yesterday I actually noticed the first buds on my rose bushes!  I’m hoping that the freezing temperatures are all behind us now.  This is the South, doggone it!  Enough of the cold!

The Tool Man took advantage of the beautiful weather last week by doing some dirt work in our yard, chopping down “trash” trees, and planting some beautiful Leland Cypress trees.  Now we have our sights set on breaking ground in the garden.  I can’t wait to pick those first veggies!

Our hens are enjoying the changing seasons too, roaming around the yard foraging for bugs and grubs.  Thanks to some artificial light, they have faithfully supplied us with an abundance of eggs all winter.  At one point I had over 75 eggs in my refrigerator!  We usually collect about a dozen eggs every day from our 15 hens. 

Recently we started letting the ladies free range in our yard.  Hey, as long as they stay out of my garage, I don’t care where the chickens spend their time.  The only problem with their free ranging is that they don’t always lay in the coop.  In fact, I pulled 10 eggs out of the dog’s house yesterday.  I wonder in what other secret places they’ve been laying.  Hmm…

I always feel so “farmer-ish” when I go out to collect the eggs - like I should be wearing an apron and humming “Old McDonald.”  Here my little helper assists me in gathering the precious treasures.

For the most part, we have a good relationship with our chickens.  We love them and vice versa.

For the most part…

There’s an exception to every rule, right?

Meet Rusty the rooster.

I snapped this picture of him while he was in mid crow.  When he crows it sounds just like he’s yelling, “Who just laid an egg?”  Lol.  (FYI: If you think dawn is the only time of day roosters crow, you’re wrong.  Rusty is vocal all day long.)

Rusty has gotten rather feisty lately.  Quite the little guard rooster is he.

That’s good if you’re a hen.

Not so good if you’re a chicken farmer.

Rusty will go out of his way to run you down.  I won’t collect eggs unless he’s at a safe distance.  The Tool Man is bit braver than me, and he’s got the scratches to prove it.  If Rusty doesn’t watch his step, he could be the focal point of our Easter BBQ.

Next week promises to be full of excitement too.

I’m headed to Canton for a weekend of flea market fun!  Yippee!!  Can you tell I’m a little excited?  I’m hoping I’ll score some great finds – particularly for Lucy Lee’s room.  Poor thing!  She’s nearly five years old, and her sorry mama still hasn’t completed her room.  One day, baby, one day.

Well, that’s all for now.  Talk to y’all later.

Lindsey

Nursery Reveal

As promised I’m coming to you today with a grand tour of the newly completed (almost) nursery.

The day I found out that I was having another girl, I began browsing the internet, particularly Pinterest, for nursery ideas. (Miss Lucy never did get a nursery, and her big girl room is still unfinished – insert sad face – so I was determined to get it right this time.)

Eventually, I found my way to fabric websites, searching through hundreds of designs for inspiration.  I never would have guessed I’d go for such a lively color palette, but I was soon attracted to this adorable red and aqua Red Riding Hood fabric by Riley Blake Designs.

The only problem with this fabric was that, apparently, a lot of other people were attracted to it as well.  Almost every website I checked was out of stock.  Finally, I found a little shop in Idaho with just enough yardage for me to work with, so I ordered it immediately.  The fabric accounted for the bulk of my decorating expenses.  I’m working on an extremely limited budget, so I had to get creative, filling the rest of the space with some treasured finds, handmade items, and sale pieces.

I am using the same crib that both Ty and Lucy slept in.  If I had been brave enough, I would have painted it a glossy white, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I think it works OK as is, though.  To dress the crib, I decided to make a layered, ruffled skirt – definitely the most labor intensive project of the whole nursery!  All those ruffles added up to a lot of work, but I think the results were worth it.  I wasn’t too worried about making bumper pads this time.  OK, maybe I was too lazy to worry about it.  They do make changing the crib sheet a murderous task.  Anyway, I opted to make just one monogrammed pad to go along the back rail.

I searched online for several weeks for a rug to go in the nursery.  Nothing!  Well, nothing in my price range anyway.  But wouldn’t you know it, I was wondering through Target one day and found an aqua, shag rug on sale.  It was the perfect color, size, and price.  Woo hoo!

I knew I needed something substantial for the blank wall behind the crib.  A few months back, the Tool Man brought home some scraps of 1x12’s.  He knew I’d find a use for them.  Got to love a man who can see the potential in junk!  So I pulled the scraps out of the barn, knocked the dust off of them, and painted some images from the Red Riding Hood fabric on each one.  I thought it was a nice way to incorporate more of the theme into the room.

Instead of a traditional mobile to hang over the crib, I opted for the more frugal, stylish, pompom “chandelier.”

Did you notice the rocker in the corner?  It doesn’t really belong in the nursery, but I stuck it in here for the time being.  In the meantime, Lucy is using it for her babies.  She even remembered to set up her baby monitor nearby.  Such a little mama.

Hands down, the greatest single baby item that I’ve ever owned is definitely my beloved Boppy.  Being a nursing mother, I don’t think I could make it without it.  I love this pillow! The Boppy covers that I used in the past were very worn, but rather than buying a new, generic one, I wanted to make a cover to coordinate with the nursery.   Luckily, I found a super easy tutorial online for a zippered Boppy cover, and I was able to whip this one out in less than an hour.  I chose this white, floral fabric for one side and a soft, red minky for the other.  I’m so happy with how it turned out.  Boppy and I will be spending many hours together over the next couple years.

On my trip to Canton back in May, I picked up this metal “T” to use in the nursery.  I decided to kick it up a notch by pairing it with this chevron background made from repurposed pallets.  Thanks again, Tool Man, for bringing home junk!

Here are a couple of more examples of the budget-minded décor.  The lamp was a clearance find at Hobby Lobby.  Originally, I intended to replace the shade, but the green actually coordinated rather well with the fabric, so I left it as is.  The table was absolutely free…a dumpster find.  Just some sandpaper and paint was all it took to transform it from trash to toadstool.  Definitely one my favorite pieces in the room!

A pint-sized pillow with pompom trim cozies up the rocker.  I was so excited when I found this toadstool applique.  It’s perfect for the room.

This is the one wall of the room that I would consider unfinished.  I plan on adding a few more items to the shelves and hanging a couple of things on the wall.

I still have the changing table that I purchased with the crib, but it is such a uni-tasker.  I really needed something that would function not only as a changing table but would add a lot of storage to the space as well.  Luckily for me, my mom had an extra dresser that she didn’t need.  It was an awful, blonde wood with equally awful, brass drawer pulls.  A little sanding, a little painting, a changing pad, and voila!  An adorable, functional changing table.  Each and every one of the 14 drawers is crammed full of baby pretties.

And for those of you who may not have heard, sweet girl does have a name already…

My baby shoes…

Another treasure from Canton…  I picked up this tin ceiling tile for only $2.  After receiving a makeover, it found a place in the nursery as a fun little chalkboard.

Below the chalkboard a perfectly, polka dotted, bag waits to catch dirty laundry.

The only things that’s missing in this room is Miss Tacy Mae.  And it looks like she’ll be here sooner than later!!!

Lindsey

Getting Ready

It’s getting down to the short rows now.  It’s only about 7 weeks until little miss priss makes her big arrival!  Today I wanted to share a sneak peak of the nursery with you.  I’m only giving you a “peak” because the nursery isn’t 100% complete yet.  It’s close to being finished, but I still have a couple of projects I want to tackle before I share the room with the whole world.

I’ve tried to keep my décor as budget friendly as possible.  The only major purchase I’ve had to make was the fabric for the bedding and curtains.  The rest of the décor has been picked up on sale, or I’ve managed to breathe new life into some cast-off items.

I can’t wait to share the finished product with y’all.  Hopefully it won’t be too much longer.  After all, the big day is quickly approaching!

Lindsey