Time for a fall preview refresh. Join me at Fall Decorating Inspiration: Decorating House and Home for Fall for ideas and finds full of fall home decor inspiration.
Tag: seasonal decorating
Inspired Ideas Floating Around
With all the inspired ideas floating around for the upcoming blog season, I find I’m not quite ready to throw in the summer beach towel just yet.
The summer has been a stylish one, and has turned out to be an interior decorating and home decor success in terms of trends and retail offerings.
In the upcoming months we will color our world in fall colors.
Color knows all seasons, and is never far from the center of my decorating thoughts.
We will see, source and discuss pattern and texture.
Always a delicious source of conversation, fall is a grand time to season the season with fantastic comfort food features.
Same goes for cooking tips and c’est si bon recipes!
I look forward to sharing with you all the best of the season in home decor finds, antiques treasures and travel tales.
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.
I am looking forward to things to come, and hope you will tune in for the Places In The Home fall design and decorating show and tell.
I promise it will not disappoint.
In Season: Warming Up Of House and Home
Patience In Design and Decorating
Want, need, seasonal availability and patience in design and decorating lined up over the weekend.
It was hard to contain my excitement when Dave the Builder emailed me the picture below of this display live and in person from our local Lowe’s garden center.
One white pumpkin, one greenish blue pumpkin, one ornamental cabbage and one vintage dough bowl later… well this isn’t exactly the look I had in mind.
The build up to perceived pumpkin perfection may have been better than the actual great white pumpkin purchase.
As it sometimes goes in the world of design and decorating, what we initially envision doesn’t necessarily translate well to space, palette, placement or in this case, pumpkin.
If at first you don’t succeed, design and decorate again, and again, and again.
I think it is safe to assume all great, beautiful and stylish design and decorating does not come straight out of the box that way.
I’ve lost count of the projects I have started over at the beginning, in the middle of, and heavily tweaked at the end. If it doesn’t feel right how can it look right?
I know. The client knows. The client knows I know.
You know?
Adding to, taking away from, switching up or a simple re-positioning is often the missing piece of the puzzle that brings forth the “that’s it!” look you were going for in the first place.
Tenacity, coupled with patience in design and decorating, is the power tool of the trade.
You’ve got to roll with the punches when it comes to the creative process. It’s a work in progress- an exercise in patience and pumpkin.
What presently doesn’t work will eventually come together for the next phase of the extravaganza aka Thanksgiving decorating.
I am gingerly practicing pumpkin caution with these fall decorating beauties of the moment.
Here’s hoping they will at least look presentable for an upcoming Thanksgiving staging session.
It’s not looking too good for the one in the above image, but hope is on the table.
I always take out a decorating insurance policy in the form of classic core pieces, accents and accessories.
Pumpkin Centerpiece How-to Guide from POPSUGAR
That’s what I love about working with a good foundation and why I preach classic pieces.
Strong lines, good bones, great pieces and patience in design and decorating are the tried and true hallmarks of great and lasting design and decorating.
Fall at Home Decorating Favorites: Places In The Home at Fall
Summer heat and humidity has finally relented and it’s time to break out the fall at home decorating favorites.
Dave the Builder’s mancave looks like the distribution center for Hobby Lobby.
Don’t you love that look?
Several “hello, do you have any gourds (cause I’ve got friends in low country places), ornamental cabbages (it’s the deep South lady, wait a few more weeks), cotton stalks (score!) and the ever great, ever regionally challenged do you have white pumpkins phone calls have been made over the last few days.
Decorating for this year’s Places In The Home at fall home tour focuses on a natural theme with a family overtone to it.
My brother has the cotton connection.
Forty-six (46+) acres of it to be exact.
His home is located out in the country surrounded by cotton fields ready for fall harvest.
My parent’s recent trip to East Tennessee resulted in my Ball Mason jar collection growing by one.
My paternal grandmother was known for her famous pinto beans, and this somehow seemed naturally appropriate.
Can’t forget the traditional pop of pumpkin color.
Additions.
Changes.
Adjustments.
Dark tones, warm colors and the lack of natural lighting worked to my fall photo shoot advantage.
Nature continues to amaze and reward me with an abundance of accents.
Heirloom pieces, vintage favorites and simple accents and accessories place the emphasis on less is more.
Fall home tours are so much fun to share with others.
Welcome home fall.
You’ve been greatly missed.
Lighting The Way To A Few Of My Favorite Things
Favorite things tend to come up a lot at holiday time. Gift givers and gift receivers alike have favorite things in mind and on their lists. If that’s not enough to do it, the post production social media hullabaloo over NBC’s The Sound Of Music Live will. Yes, the hills were alive with The Sound of Music at Places In The Home complete with Sound of Music sing-along. I’ll leave the technical reviews to the experts, but I will give a big thumbs up to the exceptional set lighting. Good lighting is a vital factor in the art of achieving design success. Design success comes in many forms, is subject to personal interpretation, and can be achieved by accident.
Our dining room continues to experiencing technical difficulty in the good lighting or lack of it department.
Once again this antique crystal chandelier is in repair mode, more specifically, rewire and repair mode. Dave the Builder assures me all is well with the wiring, but my insistence to rewire the antique fixture prevailed. I told Dave to consider the rewire a Christmas present from him to me. ‘Tis the season of giving and electrical safety. Here’s my Christmas gift caveat- be careful what you ask for because you may just get it. In the pursuit of perfect lighting the fixture was taken down. Next came an ill-timed and unforeseen scheduling conflict, and thus a blanket of darkness fell upon the space. How’s that for a Victorian twist? We’re not in total darkness, but losing the main source of light made me work a little harder to capture decent photos of my holiday on parade.
When I am in design and decorating mode I stand in the middle of the space and study- study the flow, light direction, purpose and position. Decorating for the holidays is no different. Walls and window will speak to you, the trick is to listen. The intent was to decorate the dining room in traditional Christmas red and green, but as I stood face to face with the grapevine Christmas tree on the sideboard I knew traditional wasn’t the direction to go. Time for a few of my favorite things to come together.
The original concept was not even remotely close to what came to be. My favorite things took a turn at traditional and headed straight towards the ooh la la factor with a non-traditional color palette thrown in for good measure.
An afternoon spent on an in-house treasure hunt resulted in holiday decorative object and ornament happenstance. Opening a drawer led to a closet which led to a bookcase which led to a… you get the idea.
The grapevine tree and celadon tulle date back to Hopefully Classic holiday open house days. Gold and glittery object and ornaments , crystal garlands and prisms from chandeliers past, stands of pearls and vintage beads, ornamental grapes, flowers and tassels, angels and a gold crown came together to create my idea of Holiday 2013.
Diverting from traditional or go-to tastes keeps the favorite things in design and decor fresh and visually exciting.
Decorating, singing, sharing , holiday happenings and the anticipation of it all coming to a colossal Christmas crescendo with family, friends, neighbors and my readers – these are a few of my favorite things.
