Welcome to a little peek inside my home in all it's fall glory! Or, as close to glory as I'm gonna get. Bonnie from A Knotted Life is having a fun home tour and blog hop so make sure to snoop in everyone's windows!
Fall has it's very own feeling of coziness mingled in the crispness of falling leaves and the scents of spice -- a veritable siren call for those of us who love adding bits and bobs to our homes to celebrate the seasons.
Here is my oh-so-simple decorations that I add to our home, emphasis on simple. Like all else in my life past keeping the littles alive with food, clean clothing, and a modicum of householdly hygiene, I don't have a lot of time for "decorating" or "crafting" even though I kinda wish I did most days. But I do find that even the smallest of seasonal additions to our home makes the kids giddy with excitement. Which proves to myself that it's not simply me who cares how our house looks, I'll take any toddler signs of approval I can get!
Here we have my little attempt at decorating our front door. There's really nothing that makes you feel like a real bona fide adult like decorating your front door, ammiright? I made the yarn and felt wreath a couple years ago and I still like it! That's no small feat since I feel like I fall prey to house decor trends like a teenage girl to the latest One Direction single.
I also just stuck in some branches in the flower pots I keep by the door, the kids found the nest and I think it's precious but don't know where else to display it.
I usually like to have something pretty going on with our dining table because it turns out to be the centre of our small and very open upstairs. Usually it's covered in school books, mounds upon mounds of children's crumbs, but having something pretty still helps with an overall feeling of prettiness. A small sanity saving, if you will!
This year I bought another table runner from HomeSense/Goods, it's burlap with a little bit of glittery gold in it. Then I've had this mercury glass pumpkin for a couple years, also bought at HomeSense, threw it on a wooden platter with a couple white pumpkins -- done!
Since we don't have a mantle right now I have to put my obsession with bunting/garlands to use on our giant patio window. I found these pumpkins this year and couldn't resist one little bit. The kids think they're hilarious, and I call them "whimsical without being completely tacky". But who knows, maybe I've crossed the line.
My photography goes completely to pot here, I'm so sorry. My house is really bright, which I love, but for some reason I have no figured out how to accurately photograph it. I know there is a secret aperture, shutter speed, something-something I'm missing. Help!
In our kitchen we have this little bay window that I always keep pretty display things on, so it gets changed up often, and cleaned less often. I've got family photos in these glass frames then more white pumpkins, a little tiny nest we found last fall, and of course, some pumpkin spice candles.
My husband will notice this in a month, but right now I'm liking it for sure!
Guys, in God's mercy I don't have a big house. And you know why I say that? Because if I had a big house with McMansion-like decorating potential I would fall into a pit of tchotchke obsession and credit card debt. I looove seasonal tchotchkes. But obviously, with our house's main living area being relatively small and open I can't tchotchke this joint up too badly. My husband says prayers of thanks every day I'm sure. Look! Only a few squashes on the piano, with a really nice manly smelling candle too! It's a miracle!
Also; pumpkins. Seriously, fall decorating is the easiest because...pumpkins.
And that's about it. Very simple, a few things I keep from one year to the next, and some fresh pumpkins. It's not a lot but I feel it makes the house feel seasonal without going crazy. Because, I find I'd be tired of the season and my home in about two days if I went bonkers with a bunch of stuff that screamed "FALL" in brightly coloured letters or something.
I've also just put these things around the house in the last week, I hate decorating too early for the season. It's just a weird pet peeve I have, but decorating for Christmas in November should be a crime. Also, since our summers are so short up here I really dislike rushing summer out the door in September, I like savouring the last warm days and saving the cozy elements of decorating for fall when the landscape changes to barren brown till the first snowfall during October.
Bonnie, asked me if I wanted to post about how we decorate for Canadian thanksgiving, so I will: we don't really decorate. Canadians on a whole don't go in for Thanksgiving like Americans. We cook a turkey, enjoy a day off with family, eat some pie and call it a day. We don't have a ton of Thanksgiving specific decorations in stores even. We usually have a nice fall table set, but other decorating past the regular pumpkins and mums aren't really the norm. We'll be celebrating Thanksgiving next Monday, and I won't change a thing except pulling out some fall dishes for dinner with my parents and family. And we're fine with that, because we're Canadian and fine with most everything.
I should also mention that my kids usually make a bunch of seasonal fall decorations, but we haven't done it quite yet so that's why my windows are still free of construction paper, but it will come and we'll put them where everyone can see our creations. I try to keep a balance between things looking like a preschool, (even though that's what this house kinda is), and a catalogue (har, har!).
One of things I like best about my home is that kids live here, and I'm glad it looks like it!
And I didn't forget my kitchen sink -- tchotchkes for everyone!
Enjoy all the fall festivities and the much better efforts by visiting everyone in the blog hop:
And thanks to our host, A Knotted Life
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Love...especially the birds' nest and the mercury glass pumpkin. And the garlands with no mantels. And especially that you are Canadian and basically fine with everything! :-) It looks pretty and homey, and I want to come have coffee with you.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, simple, darling. My favorite. I love your blog, Christy.
ReplyDeleteYour home looks great. All understated style and warm, underwhelming touches of seasonality. (And I mean underwhelming in a positive sense!) I think you're my decorating soulmate. And I second that pet peeve of premature decorating disorder...there are already haunted porchscapes and halloween lights on my street (since September 25th) - for the love, people!
ReplyDeletep.s. Omg "we're Canadians and we're fine with most everything." lol
I need a bit of Canadian in my life, I think :) I love the apothecary jar with the little pumpkins!!!
ReplyDeleteI am seriously in love with your orange room. That chair? Those navy curtains? How much do you think Ken would kill me if I told him we had to redo our office?
ReplyDeleteLove! I have a mercury glass pumpkin that I adore, too. The apothecary jar with the white pumpkins is super cute. And doesn't that honeycrisp apple soap smell delicious? Thanks for sharing a peek into your autumn!
ReplyDeleteFavorite: "And we're fine with that, because we're Canadian and fine with most everything. "
ReplyDeleteCracking. Me. Up.
LOVE your pumpkin garland. Not tacky in the least. I'm kinda a garland lover myself, but as our summery one is still hanging, I didn't share in my post.
Nests! Why have I never thought of nests? Such a sweet touch :) I love your mercury pumpkin with the rustic tray and white pumpkins. Simple and lovely. And that pumpkin garland could not be tacky if it tried - so cute! Also. I'm drooling over the navy and orange in your living room. I'll stop now, but your home is wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI personally love those little felt pumpkins on your window! Adorable! Also, I'm sitting here wondering how you're able to keep pretty things on the table lol My toddler climbs onto the table and anything up there is fair game (aka: I choose not to fight it and just moved things higher).
ReplyDeleteJust the right amount of fall decor, I think! I'm impressed that you actually have so many framed photos displayed around your home!
ReplyDeleteMy parents are Canadian (we moved to Texas when I was two) but they were so surprised my how much bigger Thanksgiving is here in the States. Also, super surprised by how little Americans know about Canada!
I love mercury glass anything. That pumpkin is awesome.
ReplyDeleteLove your dining table and front door! Everything is so warm! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI *love* the felt pumpkin garland!
ReplyDeleteAnd how interesting for this little US American that you don't decorate for fall. (!)
Also, I feel a little ridiculous with all my decorations now. Yours are so simple and lovely.
love it all! Wish we had a Home Goods nearby. The hubby is probably glad we don't. :)
ReplyDeleteAs for photography, people would die to have that kind of natural light in their home - gorgeous! To capture something with light/a window directly behind it, try putting your camera on 'spot metering.' It changed my photography life and made good photos SO much easier to get! :)
I love it. If I could hire out decorating, I would, and it would probably be to you! I still don't have fall decorations up because California is drunk/high and still in the 90s. Grrrrrr.
ReplyDeleteKinda feel like I'm one of the only people on the face of the world who hasn't made a string/felt/fabric/dryer lint seasonal wreath. But I'm going to play it all Canadian and be happy with things the way they are right now.
ReplyDeleteAh!! I love the buntings and garlands!
ReplyDelete