Decorating: Fall Wreath

This is a wreath that I made for our front door. Please ignore the odd windows on the door, it came with the house :P

I made this wreath in about 15 minutes using a stick wreath (not sure what the technical name is), green/brown/white/orange ribbon, and some leaves in different oranges. They're all from the Better Homes and Garden line from Wal-Mart. The total cost of this less than $10, the leaves were only $1!

I just wound the ribbon around the wreath and then made a bow at the bottom. This was a big deal for me because I suck at making bows! I'm very proud of this bow! And then I just tucked the leaves in between the branches.

Have I mentioned that I'm really proud of this wreath? :P

Decorating: Fall Decor

Some of the newest additions to my Google Reader have been decorating blogs. Now that the house is pretty much all in order I'm really excited to finally get to decorate. And since Fall is my favorite season I'm loving all the fall decorating posts that have been showing up. So I thought I'd join the trend and give you a look at what I'm doing to make the house look good during my favorite months.

My in laws got us some lovely decorations toward the end of last fall when they went on vacation. I adore this little pumpkin - for some reason I get a Cinderella's pumpkin coach vibe from it. The little candle inside is a little battery operated tea light. The back side of this actually have a turkey image on it (I'll get a pick when I put out my turkey day stuff - promise), so when November gets here I'll just turn it around.

I actually picked this up at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago for $1.00. The little old lady who it belonged to was really happy I was getting it - she actually said "oh good! someone is buying my planter!" Cute, right? I saw it as soon as we got out of the car and loved it right away because to me it looks pumpkin-ish, so I had to have it. I think I want to get some small gourds to put in it but I haven't had a chance yet.

These are also from my in law's vacation last year. I love them, I think they are so cute. They are a deep orange color with a little bit of a black-ish tint to them. I have them on this awesome window-shelf we have between our kitchen and living room (I need to show you all this!) so you can see them from all sides.

I got this a few weeks ago when Doug and I went shopping. It's from Prairie Gardens (I think this is a Midwest chain maybe?) I loved this as soon as I saw it. It is such a simple, clean item and a new take on using a pumpkin as decor without it being the traditional item. That's actually a deep purple (formerly raspberry scented but too old to smell) candle inside that I've had forever. I wanted an orange candle at first but already had the purple, so I just went with it.

I actually just got these today - from the Dollar Tree! The plan is to take something at least - either the 2 small ones or the bigger pumpkin (it's a candy bowl) to work to decorate my cube. A couple girls were decorating yesterday and told my friend and I about the great finds they got from DT - so I had to check it out when I went out that way to grocery shop today. I might take all 3 to work and just see what fits and then decide. And whatever doesn't go in the cube will find a home as my casa - I can't have an orphaned pumpkin - I love them too much!

So that's a quick look at some of what I've got. I'll have more coming soon - including some incredible pieces made by my very own in laws!

House Update

So I was all set to do this last night but the Internet has been acting up.

We haven't gotten too much done with the house yet but we are slowly making progress.
Last weekend I worked on putting all of the basics away in the kitchen. We still need to paint it but it's going to be last because we know it is going to take the longest due to the wallpaper and boarder that we are going to have to remove. So almost all of the basics are put away now - I just have to go out into the garage and find the boxes with my pans in them - I kinda need those! Once the room is painted everything else will be put away. And since the kitchen is functional I finally got to bake something! I made next week's Tuesday with Dorie recipe, so watch Central Cooking for that next Tuesday!

Sadly that room has had about the most work done to it of any room so far. The other rooms are functional but don't have much put away yet. The basics are in every room, and for the most part they are in their official spot, the rooms just need to be finished. But really we're at a point where there is no point in putting anything else away until after we paint.

Which makes it a good thing that painting will be starting this weekend! We're going to paint the living room/dining room and hall on Saturday. That's the biggest area and once it's all painted we will be able to put a ton of stuff away. Then we will do the bedroom and office and finally the kitchen.

I promise to post lots of before and after pics very soon!