I admit to checking the fall countdown clock several times this afternoon. An obvious love of the fall/autumn season drives my thoughts, naturally inspiring me to get with the decorating in full fall colors flaunt program.
This collage features scenes of seasonal interest, inspiration for future fall themed blog posts, color, pattern and texture of the season, and a late fall/early winter photo of the newlywed couple.
I can’t wait to share the photos from their wedding.
Gorgeous.
Gorgeous.
Gorgeous!
Spoken, or as in this case typed, like the proud mother of the groom.
Fall’s traditional color palette is unequivocally breathtaking, but when married with shades of blues and jaw-dropping antiques the result is exceptional.
I love the traditional season’s greeting, and it seems a most befitting introduction to these Christmas images in seasonal splendor post.
Andy Williams serenades “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” as I live and holiday, and by gosh, by golly, it most certainly is.
The sight and sound of traditional holiday colors, songs, decorations and displays delight, and these images of Christmas rich in traditional trimmings are a few of my favorite things.
As the holiday pace picks up, I remind myself it will come and go like the blink of an eye.
I make sure to fill the house with Christmas music, the slow cooker with scents of the season, and Dave the Builder’s Christmas cookie jar full of whatever cake mix cookie combination I come up with this week.
Most of all, I am making sure not to lose sight of the true beauty of and reason for the season.
That definitely brings to mind and eye images of Christmas in seasonal splendor.
Nature by design is the consummate example of simple yet elegant beauty- what fall means to me.
Seasonal decorating need not be an exercise in expense or exhaustion.
Rather your seasonal and soon to be holiday decorating involves pulling out all the stops or spot accents here and there, the idea is to invite the season into your home through a visual essay that expresses what fall means to me.
Still moving at a slowed post surgical procedure pace means I’m mostly guiding the what fall means to me decorating tour of late.
Dave the Builder and my mother are happy to handle the fetch and feather duties.
Thank goodness I like to sit and study a space beyond tape measures and fan decks.
“An empty room is a story waiting to happen, and you are the author.” Unknown
Readers of Places In The Home know music beats in the heart and soul of this house.
Music keeps me company in the creative process, and a verse or chorus strikes a note of I’ll groove to that inspiration.
The chorus of singer, pianist, composer, producer and engineer Carol Duboc’s latest tune, Open the Curtains, mirrors my personal decorating style philosophy.
A punch of personality is as influential to the collective look as the pop of color and the decorative oomph.
What fall means to me is obvious in the gorgeous bouquet of white hydrangeas from my mother and the fall is in the house display Dave the Builder picked up at Kroger.
“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.”
– Gary Snyder
Cabbage resting in a mixing bowl staged along side a pie pumpkin gives a simple and fresh nod to fall.
Discovering the overnight temps will be in the low 50s throughout much of the week mixed and mingled with the excitement over the home decor fall finds currently catching my eye is a big fall finds deal.
One may even say reason enough to get their it’s fall y’all prep and pretty groove on.
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Color strikes a chord with the eye, nature inspires as only nature can do, and home decor fall finds carry the theme through to the spaces and places we love to decorate.
Signs and sounds hinting at an early fall or autumn leads to wishfall thinking.
Concrete proof of fall’s preview peppers the Places In The Home driveway, sidewalk and patio with yellow leaves intermingled among summer’s last holdouts.
As I blog and type “Dancing In The Moonlight” by King Harvest is currently playing on Music Choice.
Now “Night Moves” by Bob Seger is playing.
Two songs played back to back with the lyrics everybody’s dancin’ in the moonlight and with autumn closing in.
Changing colors, temps and tastes.
Oh yeah, this is happening.
We crazy Louisianians grab hold of the slightest hint of a fall weather preview and hold on for dear life.
Dave and I stood on the front porch for a few minutes Friday night listening to the high school bands playing during the local football Jamboree.
Humidity and mosquitoes crashed our party, making me wish for fall even more.
Hope springs or falls eternal, and I can testify to sure signs of wishfall thinking- shorter days, a changing sun that casts a bright white light through the windows, and wind chimes that play a North wind lullaby.
The first gumbo feast of fall is soon to be cooking in the big blue pot.
Okay.
I couldn’t wait until the official arrival of fall for a gumbo feast.
No respectable Louisiana cook can talk about gumbo and not break out the big blue pot, make some roux, chop up the Cajun trinity, and whip up a pot of chicken and sausage gumbo.
C’est si bon!
The hunt is on for Sportsman’s Paradise activities to do.
Fall festivals of pecan, tamale, meat pie, and funktoberfest are on our fall calendar of events.
A new to me vintage mixing bowl is ready for fall recipe duty.
A bag of fresh and faux apples and a dash of wishfall thinking leads the inspired charge to create delicious apple themed recipes and diy projects.
A Guide to Apples from Williams-Sonoma
1. Cortland – Crimson in color with a sweet flavor and crisp texture. Best for: applesauce and apple butter.
2. Red Delicious – Softer in texture with a mellow, not-too-sweet flavor. Best for: apple cider
3. Braeburn – Reddish-orange with green and yellow streaks and a unique sweet-tart flavor. Best for: cooking and baking
4. Gravenstein – A juicy apple with a finely-grained texture and a light yellow or red skin. Best for: applesauce and apple cider
5. Gala – Sweet, aromatic and crisp with a light-red color. Best for: eating raw and applesauce
6. Fuji – Crisp texture and dense flesh with a sugary-sweet flavor. Best for: eating raw
7. Pink Lady – Crisp in texture and bright pink with a tart-sweet flavor. Best for: eating raw
8. Golden Delicious – Very sweet to the taste with a golden yellow color. Best for: applesauce and apple butter
9. Granny Smith – Very tart and crisp with a bright green color. Best for: baking
Wishfall thinking exhibit A as in a fall diamond in the summer rough.
The seasons they are a-changin’.
There is nothing like a good fall preview or autumn sneak peek to build the anticipation of seasonal things to come.
Over this past weekend, Dave the Builder and I were arguing chatting about making things pretty in the grand scheme of all things house that make a home.
Over the past 30+ years of togetherness in everything from friendship, marriage, child rearing, and business, we have been known to have our cuss it and discuss it moments.
Making things pretty can get ugly sometimes- it’s part of the process.
The quickest way to diffuse a contentious all things house that make a home moment is to start a new conversation about starting a new project!
The allure of design and decorating possibilities has a very strong appeal.
It works for us, and it worked again this past weekend.
Constructing a fall entryway display wasn’t exactly on my fall decorating weekend to-do list, but neither was a building brouhaha.
I adopted the I’m a decorator not a fighter attitude, and from there decorating inspiration and let’s project something harmony began to“fall” into place.
Our don’t overthink it display evolved from items amassed for decorating times like this- an antique spindle bed post, a wooden garden basket, clippings from our cotton stalk stash, mums, a collection of faux gourds, a piece of wood from the bayou, a planted boxwood, concrete pineapple statue and one lone white pumpkin.
I phoned the Canadian snowbird aka our son several weeks ago with my request for pics of true fall foliage.
It seems a Canadian cold front/rain event did away with the crimson red and deep purples leaving behind only the tawny maple golds and sweater weather.
Sharing in the hand me that and it needs something responsibilities, we spent the afternoon making things pretty for the fall of it all.
As I put the finishing touches on the fall entryway display, a gust of crisp fall air blew across the porch to the delight of Dave the Builder, the kitty cat and this decorista.
Perfect timing!
A pot of strong Louisiana coffee brewed for two made the afternoon near perfect.
Photo editing is a wonderful concept.
I am becoming more and more enamored with this part of the making pretty process.
When you can take something slightly imperfect and invest time, effort and vision to produce a work rich in substance and beauty, the result is visually amazing.
Photo editing, decorating, marriage- you get the picture.
It is amazing how quick my autumn accessorizing for home and hearth files fills up with images.
The save image as option on my devices sees its share of action.
I utilize the weekends for blog housekeeping, deleting images, updating fonts and the like- too much to see, source and save during the week.
In my latest save or delete session, I ran across this picture Dave the Builder snapped last year of our local garden district bayou in full fall glory.
Gorgeous, n’est–cepas?
Funny how an image or a subject in that image alerts the senses and inspires ideas for autumn accessorizing for home and hearth.
This colors on parade color palette touches upon seasonal shades traditionally associated with autumn’s color wheel and nature’s neutrals.
Seasonal updating through tones, textures and palettes inspired by nature translate well to seasonal home decor accessories.
Decorative dining and entertaining pieces, throws, pillows, lamps, rugs, and spot furnishings are the mainstay of seasonal go-to accents.
Fall is the season for the senses, and throw pillows instantly introduce the all important cozy pop of color, warmth, tone and texture while keeping seasonal updating costs in check.
A rule of thumb I follow when selecting seasonal accessories, especially throw pillows, is to go with a smart and stylish choice of color (go ahead, try a new-traditional color!), pattern. and texture that picks up the warm and cozy feeling associated with the season while blurring the hard line of strictly a fall or winter accessory.
When the seasons change, decoristas naturally become inspired to add to and/or take away from the look of the last season and breathe a bit of fall fresh air into their decor with current home decor accessories of the new season.
I believe a space, like a good red wine, must be afforded the opportunity to breathe.
Uncork a more expressive look by releasing aged accessories, stale color(s) and settled for furnishings with selective seasonal edits.
I find that in most cases when a phenomenal investment home decor accessory or home furnishings piece appeals to the personal style and taste side of my brain in one season, it typically continues to hold my attention through to the next season(s).
Usher in a new season with a new look with this in mind- warmth, comfortable luxury and coziness remain the design features of the autumn accessorizing for home and hearth season.
Home accents, decor and furnishings markets are gearing up to reveal what’s new for the upcoming fall season in decorating trends and home decor.
Interior decorating, tailgating times, holiday happenings, fall colors on parade decor accents and accessories suggestions and inspired ideas to dish and decorate around will follow, and I for one can’t wait!
The summer blogging pace is slowing down for a few weeks in anticipation of a full-on fall preview.