Decorating for Fall

I Love Fall...

I love the colors, the golds, the oranges.  I love pumpkins and leaves.  I love the smell of scented candles and home baked goodies full of spices.  I embrace the changing of the seasons and the cooler temperatures.  I get excited about bringing Autumn into my home in every way.  

Because I am a thrifty person, I use and reuse.  I keep tubs of fall décor that I transport to whatever location I may be decorating.   I have numerous "fake" pumpkins, leaves and garlands that have been used for numerous years.  Dust them off and you are good to go. 

I've tried using real pumpkins and for special times, like the Thanksgiving table, I do splurge.  We did tiny white pumpkins last year.  I loved it.  But if you are going to decorate before October 1 and leave it up till Thanksgiving..........think about it!!!   Those pumpkins are going to get a little old, and maybe even mushy!!!

Mix and match.  Some fake pumpkins mixed in with real leaves.  Then throw in some dried Indian Corn.  Don't forget the spice-scented candles.  It's all Fall and it's all wonderful.

Here are some Fall scenes throughout my house.


The Kitchen Bar Area

                      

This plate stand is perfect for seasonal décor.

                   


   A cake stand is great for the dining table.

     


  Can you tell I use these year after year? 



Just adding one tiny pumpkin to any area adds just the right amount of fall.

 


Another spot with one tiny pumpkin, the drop front desk in the living room.



Time for Fall décor!! The antique clock doesn't even run.



 A large urn full of real aspen branches greets guests in the entry area.

 


The colors are brilliant!

The pumpkins are "fake" but the Indian corn is the real deal.

     I have more real aspen leaves on the library table in the den.

I'm going to be decorating at Church soon for our annual Harvest Home Gathering. Then later, I'll be decorating for a Fall Supper Party. For that I am going to use some dried wheat grass that I cut out of the pasture last week. Look for the post on that coming soon.

Happy Fall,
Kandy

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Day One Highlights: International Food Blogger Conference

I love my job. My day job and my "free time job." I'm lucky enough to get to travel to places like Seattle for the International Food Blogger Conference as part of my day job--so I can meet some great food bloggers. While I'm here, I soak up all I can, so I can be a better blogger myself (in my free time). It's a win-win.

What a view coming into the Seattle!

I thought perhaps a Top Ten Seven from Day 1 would be appropriate:

1. "I'm lucky because I work hard." Dorie Greenspan shared this thought during her fabulous keynote presentation. What an honor to learn from her (I also loved her Julia Child stories)! 

2. Live Blogging with Amazon Grocery. I've never used the service, but after today's sampling of some amazing products, I can say I made my first purchase.

A compilation of just a few of the products we tried during the session.

3. Ideas and inspirations from other bloggers. While KindredStyle isn't a dedicated food blog, we've been known to share some recipes like this and this. More to come.

4. No one is a stranger. The blog community is a friendly place to be. I feel like I know some of these people before I've officially met them face to face.

5. "Never eat the same thing twice." This was a piece of advice shared by a food writer for bloggers who want to break through the clutter. Brent sometimes wishes I didn't live by this motto as well.

6. oDesk. I had never heard of this until the folks from Foodista shared it in the session about building blog traffic. Outsource some of your work?

7. This Burrata with concord grape reduction, pancetta, croutons, mint and olive oil. Reminds me of another fruit/cheese salad I was recently inspired to replicate at home. I bet this shows up on here soon too!

No words for how good this twist on a caprese salad was...

Tomorrow is a whole new day, full of so much more to learn. I can't wait.

Have a great weekend!
~Karli

The McOlson House: Design Boards

Yesterday was a fun day! Karli delivered Marie and Travis the design boards we put together for their main living areas. This included the front room/dining room, the kitchen space and the family room. Below you can see each room's design board with notes for the two fo them as they start to execute the plan.

While Karli was there, the placement of the furniture in the front room was adjusted and Marie sent me a message today saying that she's going to buy the paint right now.

Here's the front room design. The walls will be SW Accessible Beige and the ceilings will be white.

Marie's front room by mrsmillspaugh featuring a sand table

A view of the room

 

The front room and dining room are open to one another, so they all need to be the same paint color. We also wanted to repeat the mustard/yellow accent by painting their side board and then hang that "inspiration piece" above. You will see that piece right as you walk in the house, so all the accent colors have been chosen to play off that.

The dining room view

 

 

Marie's Dining Room by mrsmillspaugh featuring black mirrors

Next up is the kitchen. They shared the floors they've chosen for the entry, kitchen and family room and we must have guessed correctly, because something very similar is represented below. We talked about painting their island SW Tricorn Black as shown below. Then potentially dropping three pendants. The eat-in kitchen will get a new light too. This whole space and the adjacent family room will be SW Functional Gray.

Kitchen view

Marie's kitchen by mrsmillspaugh featuring green salad plates

And finally, the room that presented the more challenging aspects of the entire project. The room is large and expansive. It also has a large wall that is calling for some art. The location of the TV required some creative thinking.

Family room view

So we've proposed two large square canvases hung vertically above the black console to draw the eye up. We also suggested adding a small bookcase under the TV, near to the stair railing to "ground" the TV. It should be painted the same color as the walls for balance.

We left lots of options for patterened curtains and rugs. We wanted them to be able to choose their favorite within their budget and timeframe. Their existing furniture will work in the room (rearraged ever so slightly) with potential additions of a chair (in an accent color like teal) and some transitional seating like poufs or cubes.

We also suggested that they paint the inset where the clock hangs over the fireplace a green. It will balance the two green canvases hung on the adjacent wall.  

Marie's family room by mrsmillspaugh featuring modern patio furniture
 

We really enjoyed putting these boards together and can't wait to see how it all comes together.

Kandy and Karli

New Curtains in the Office!

Today is my third wedding anniversary! Brent had a meeting this evening, so what do I do? I hung curtains, fixed the messed up closet doors and rearranged some artwork in the office.

This is all part of my New Year's resolution to get the office complete. (Yes, I am still working on that list)!

I ordered these from Target, so I could get them in the longer length. As I've said before, I like hanging curtains as high as possible. In this case, it really makes this room seem taller.



Porter decided he'd like to be in the pictures tonight. The curtains are still wrinkled too...

 


I also hung that picture over the desk tonight.

Don't mind the mess on the desk. This room isn't quite "photo ready" but will be soon.

More to come soon!
Karli

The McOlson House: Making It Their Own

Meet Marie.

I was honored to have Marie as a beautiful bridesmaid during my wedding

I met her our freshman year of college. We were on the same floor in the dorms and soon decided we'd like to share off-campus housing once we were allowed to move out. We lived together for two years, in a tiny apartment and a rented single family house, so I had a pretty good idea about her style. She's one of those friends that you can pick right back up with, even if it's been months since you last talked.   

Marie and her husband Travis recently bought a house. She asked me to come over and give them some ideas on paint colors, layout, finishing touches, etc. I jumped at the chance! I spent a morning with the two of them, talking about pieces of furniture they had to keep, what we could change, what they like and don't like. Then I took pictures and measurements and started planning with mom. We did a lot of our brainstorming via a secret board on Pinterest. (Have you tried that? It's amazing!)

So here are the before photos of the space. Their biggest concern was the paint. The pale yellow is so not them. They want to add color, but aren't sure where or how much. So my goal is to add punches of color within a neutral palate.

As you walk in the front door, this room is on your right. It's a dining room/formal sitting room. You can see that they started to paint the ceiling white, but it made the yellow-ish paint look worse. So right now that's on hold until we pick a paint color.

 

This is the couch (with a matching chair) in the front room. We'll work with this, just switching up the placement and pillows.

 

This is the dining room view. The table is cocktail height. The light fixture is change-able as well.

 

The next room you walk into is the open, spacious kitchen. The granite color is great. They don't love the tile floor or backsplash, so I'll come up with some ideas for that as well.

 

From the kitchen you can see into the family room, where they spend the majority of their time. We'll work with all the furniture in here. Paint, window treatments and some punches of color will finish this off nicely.

 

This is a piece of art Marie recently bought. I am actually using it as my inspiration for the pops of color I'll use in the entire space. I'm thinking of hanging it on a wall you see right when you walk in--a point of view where you can see all the rooms. It will all make sense from that vantage point.
 

Mom and I were putting finishing touches on our design boards this weekend. I'll present them to Marie and Travis and get their feedback so we can make any adjustments before they're considered final.

This is SO fun!

Stay tuned for more,
Karli