Loving Fall

The bins of fall decor are coming out. Some decorations are finding there way around the house while some are going right out the door! It truly is time to downsize around here.

The Pig always gets more than his fair share of the decorations no matter what the season...

My mother-in-law loved her large, multi-pumpkin wreath and hung it every year. 

I found it in the top of her closet when I was cleaning out their old apartment the other day.

This week we moved my father-in-law to an apartment with a higher level of care in an assisted living community closer to us. It's been almost 4 months since he lost his wife of 71 years. 

He is doing better than we expected, but it seems there is a stage you hit around 90 days after an event, which seems to be a harder part of the grieving process.

The change of community has revived his spirits somewhat. Maybe sometimes you just need a change of scenery to give you a lift!

To me it wouldn't be fall unless the scarecrow makes an appearance somewhere in the house! This little patched-up guy is my favorite part of fall decor.

The scarecrow seems to have a life of his own too. He often changes positions and places to sit! He moves around like one of those Christmas "Elf on a Shelf" dolls do.

Every year when I dig him out, I think maybe this year I will find the time to make a few copies of him just for fun. 

Of course I never do make any, but it is fun to figure out what I'd need to make more of him.

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Getting My Fall On...

Every year I plan to start fall decorating early and it seems I always get side-tracked. 

Some of you probably think this is early, but for people like me who hate summer, anytime after the 4th of July is open to fall decorating around here!

Do you think it's the colors of fall that make the season so warm and welcoming?

I like to add drama to the browns and golds by adding my DIY chalkboard for the background. 

I'll add my fall banner to the chalkboard as soon as it's uncovered in all the fall decor bins.

This year, half my stash of fall decor is going out the door as a donation...that's a promise!

I was moving the spring-like trough (above) out of the room when I noticed if I turned it around backwards so the words didn't show, the plain old-wood side and patched ends fit right in with the rustic fall themed colors...

So that's the entryway cabinet all dressed up for fall. I'll keep adding and taking away things until I get it the way I want. How about you? Has the fall decorating bug hit you yet?

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Home And Garden Thursday

Friday Finds For Fall

I love a good project and this one is perfect for fall and Halloween. 

Talented Tracey over at Porch Day Dreamer created this Witch Leg Candy Bucket, and if you want one too she generously gives step-by-step instructions on her blog. I pinned it for next year and look forward to having time to make it then.

There's lots of cute fall projects in this Farmhouse Style magazine that's in stores now.

My favorite uses a knob added to a frame to hang a wreath, thereby adding layers of decoration for your wall! 

Here's a close up of the knob the wreath is hanging on. Notice they used a length of twine to allow it to hang in the center of the frame...

I'm a more-is-more type gal so this inspired me to start pulling out some frames I had stashed away and hunting for some old knobs I'm sure are around here someplace. 

If you don't have an extra knob or two around, Hobby Lobby and Lowe's are both good places for hunting knobs...And don't forget to save the knobs off old furniture if the piece gets taken apart or is no longer usable. 

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Whatever Happened With The Bead Board Wall?

This is a story that starts with "Long, long ago there was a girl who wanted a cabinet/bead board wall to block the view from the front door..."

The cabinet/bead board wall got built a long while ago, but we planned to paint it when we finished framing all our windows too. 

The idea was we would frame the rest of the windows, then have all the window frames, bead board wall, and all of our trim professionally painted in the same color.

While waiting for that to all come together, I started trying out different chalk paint colors trying to pick the "perfect" color...yeah, like that will ever happen!

Finally, the bead board wall-side of the built-in cabinet got painted this summer when Middle Daughter visited. If I haven't mentioned it before, she's a GSD (Get Sh*t Done) type girl!

So much has been going on around here medically that I never got around to showing that pretty painted wall. 

Even today, we spent almost the whole day at an Emergency Room with my 95 year old father-in-law going through a whole litany of scans, X-rays and tests. 

Someday the bead board wall will be the same color as the front door, but for now I'm just happy that it has paint on it!

Here is a picture taken from the front door. As you can see, the view from the front door no longer allows you to see all the way through the house, which means we have a lot more privacy.

I would still like to add a high shelf and a row of hooks to the bead board wall, but for now it passes as finished if we sell the house before we add anything more to it.

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Friday Finds

Oh how I wish I had an old piano to paint a bright color like this...

Piano At The Fogue Abode

I love the idea of a great big yellow prop for fall decorating. Of course that won't happen here! 

Wild Bill (who spent 5 or 6 years of his childhood taking lessons) goes crazy when he hears about people painting pianos and other musical instruments. The lecture goes...paint can block the pores in the wood and change the tone...yada, yada, yada.

But the point Wild Bill misses is that most old pianos aren't kept anymore for playing unless it's an expensive one that's been well cared for. Usually old pianos have long past their prime and may have missing parts and are seldom played. Why not repurpose one for another use?

I found the yellow piano, and lots of other wonderful ideas at the Grace At Home party over at the blog IMPARTING GRACE

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