Framed Seasonal Botanical and a Give-Away Winner

First of all I want to thank all of you who came by on the Blogger Fall Tour that Brenda from Cozy Little House worked on so hard. Thankyou for all the wonderful comments. You know how to make a girl's day! Brenda brought together 28 "oldies" and "newbies" for the tour and you'll find tons of wonderful Fall Inspiration. If you didn't catch the line up, I'll have it here at the end of this post. You don't want to miss it!

Blogger Fall Tour

Hello Everyone, and welcome to the

  Blogger Fall Tour

hosted by Brenda at Cozy Little House.

I'm so happy to be included in this fun line up of 28 blogs this week. If you're taking the tour and came by way of Susan at Love of Home, I'm so glad you're here, and I'd love you to come back to visit again! 

Share Your Style #31

Hello, all you wonderfully Stylin' Friends...

Welcome to Share Your Style!

I'm really enjoying seeing everyone take on Fall Decorating. Julie from Renaissance Mermaid has created a fun and cozy display on her Front Porch using green, black, and neutrals. I love her pillows and wicker, dressed for Fall. Hope you'll run by to visit once you've linked up your posts!

A Taste of Fall

I thought I'd share a few pics with you today of the Bloggers Fall Tour that will happening starting Tuesday and going until Friday of this week. I'm just giving you a little "Taste of Fall". I hope you'll take the Tour with all 28 of us, who will be sharing projects, DIY, recipes, decor and more.

Coffee Table ala Fall

If I'm not careful, September will be over, and I'll be behind in sharing a few of my "First Fall" vignettes and decorating. I like to spread Fall out as long as I can, so I have lots of different layers and stages. Can you believe how fast this month is going by? I'd been putting off decorating the coffee table, because I wanted to do something "different", and I just hadn't figured out what that was going to be...

Share Your Style #30

Hi Everyone, so glad you're here to 

Share Your Style!

Oh, how I love a well styled cupboard! Often the prettiest are those that are simple and functional for day-to-day use. Joanne from A Pocketful of Blue shares some pics of the little things around her home, with some lovely vignettes in soft shades of blue. I love this wonderfully sweet and simple staging of a cake pedestal and some vintage cups and saucers.

"Pick Your Pillow" Fall Give Away!

   

Hi Everyone, time for the

  Great Fall "Pick Your Pillow" Give-Away

with my super talented friend Heather from
Elliott-Heath Designs

Fall Birdies

Does that title sound like I've lost my marbles?

Like a crazy cat lady that spends all her time bird watching with her felines?

don't answer that...

Hope you all are having a great Labor Day Weekend. We stuck close to home except for a fun trip on Saturday to a new winery in the area. I'll show you a few pics and share a link with you soon. They also have a sheep farm, so that was the real draw for me. We've had a heat wave this last week, and it's supposed to break in the next few days. We had such a wonderful taste of cooler weather earlier. Hopefully, that will bring us back to the 70's. gosh, I'm more than ready. 

Nature's Treasures

We spent this last weekend on a trip to Eastern Missouri, Hawn State Park, and then visited the soon to be State Park of St. Genevieve, Missouri, which is one of the oldest settlements west of the Mississippi. It was a wonderful trip, very remote in the middle of 5000 acres of pristine woodland and river. Many of the leaves there are already starting to change. I was near giddy at seeing the golden leaves flutter to the ground along the river's edge.

Share Your Style #29

Hey Everyone, 
Welcome to Share Your Style!

I've always loved decorating for Fall with Naturals, and Sarah from Hyacinths for the Soul has shared her lovely dough bowl filled to the brim with these wonderful Osage Orange Hedge-Apples. Don't you love this great green color? Perfect for bringing in the colors of Autumn. 

First Fall Tablescape

I'm not even going to try and name this "Early Fall Tablescape", because I'm sure I'll change this up in a few weeks for something a little more "Fallish" with some colorful leaves and berries. So let me be honest here and just call it, "First" Fall Tablescape. te he. I've already turned my calendar page over to September. I did mark a "31" on today's date, but I am ready to move into one of my favorite months and seasons. yep, more than ready. Last week I painted a French-y metal basket for the Dining Room table, and put together an arrangement that whispered the first nuances of Autumn. Here are some pics of the rest of the table.

Lavender Hydrangeas

It's obvious that I've waited too long to photo these little hydrangeas blooms. I cut them a couple of days ago, but things got busy and then yesterday afternoon the light was wrong, so this morning they're pretty moppy and limp. But what they're lacking in perkiness, hopefully these wonderful shades of lavender will make up.

Share Your Style # 28

Hey There, and Welcome to Share Your Style #28

Can you believe we're winding our way down in this last week of August? Many of us are having a little cool down in the temps so we're really looking forward to Fall. No matter what the season, we all have common decorating dilemmas. One that can really slow down progress is "Styling Shelving". Here's a great post from Michelle from Dandelion Patina, with some great tips to make this a much easier decor task.

Grain Sack Fabric Tablerunners

It seems like life continues to be a series of small projects to accomplish, lately. Maybe that's because we've been able to get more things done with organization and unpacking all the million boxes we had, many of which were and still are marked "Decor". eeeck. I try not to overwhelm myself, but plug away at one thing at a time on my long list of "need to do". One of those projects has been getting a couple of tablerunners sewn for the little round table in the kitchen, and then the Dining Room.

Gettin' his Fall on...

I tried to tell Beaufort that it was a little too early for Fall decorating...

but he didn't listen.

He wanted to try on his new plaid scarf...

and then he wouldn't take it off.

so I had to humor him.

"OK, Beaufort, it's pretty close.

you can leave it on."

Do you or someone you know,

 have unreasonable feelings about Fall?

yeah, I know.

Joining in Here:

Show and Share at Coastal Charm

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House

The Scoop at Worthing Court

Share Your Style at Common Ground

Inspiration Gallery at Craftberry Bush

xoxo,

Painting a French Metal Basket with Chalk Paint

Today, I wanted to share a little project of mine "in process";

transitioning from Summer into Fall.

And since this is a French-y iron basket I will say, "En cours".

See, you get your French "phrase" for the day, 

and a little view of what I'm up to.

Share Your Style #27

Hi out there, to all you crazy talented bloggy peeps! Each week, I'm excited to see all the great posts that are linked up, here at Share Your Style. We are now having a huge variety of links to look through, and there truly is something for everyone! Lory from Designthusiasm has been working on transforming her family room, which is connected to her kitchen. You'll be amazed at the difference changing out her fireplace surround has made.

Fall's First Glimpse

I've been thinking about Fall...

no surprise, huh?

I know some of you enjoy Fall, 

but you want to squeeze every ounce out of Summer.

When our kiddos are young and at home,

summer is a special time of adventure and relaxation.

But, I've always been the type of person that comes alive 

in the crisp air of Autumn.

The blue of the sky is different,

the angle of the light has changed.

The trees get ready to put on a show, 

that thrills my soul to experience.

Autumn rejuvenates me;

it gives me back the energy that the heat of Summer drains away

I'm ready...

Pillow Re-cycle, Downsize, Re-Do

That may not make any sense to all of you, but this was a little project that I'd been wanting to do since we moved in last Fall. So do you remember these pillows that I found at the antique mall a couple of years ago? No...? Don't worry if you don't, because they haven't been shown much here on the blog, because...well... they're just too big!

Share Your Style #26

Hi Everyone, 

Welcome to Share Your Style #26!

We're so glad you're here to join in for the fun.

and I'm your host for this week's party!

Entry with a Vintage Sunflower Print

I hadn't done much if anything, different with my Entry Area since I received the wonderful Sheep Print from Canvas Pop, earlier in the year. But now it's time for a little more "Late Summer" sprinkled around in here. 

Canvas Pop Print

Late Summer Look-back

I've been hunting for some inspiration for this transition time into Fall.

 The fading flowers are showing the wear and tear of the sun,

 the temps are still hot, the yards have started turning brown around the edges, 

and this time of year, I often find myself in a little decorating funk. 

Just a little seasonal tweaking

Late Summer Kitchen Sitting Area

I've piddled around with this kitchen sitting area post so long,

 that if I don't show you all soon, 

I'm going to be ready to change it up to be the 

"Early Fall Kitchen Sitting Area".

Share Your Style #25

Hi Everyone, so glad you're here!
Hard to believe we're in August, 
and that means next month is September 
and that means Fall.
And we all know how much fun Fall can be!

I really love beautiful wall art, I think it can make or break a room. It can transform and change the vibe of a space instantly. I featured Melissa's lovely fireplace earlier, but now she's given a special print a whole new look with a fun tutorial she shared last week on Dancing Dog Cabin. Run by and check it out!

What's Your Chippy Factor?

Those of us who are vintage furniture lovers,

and that still swoon over a flea space filled with white chippy pieces,

have all asked ourselves some variation of this question...

How much "Chippy" is too chippy?

In Harmony with Nature...

...or, what to do if you're easily bored while camping.

Just wanted to check in with you on our/my "camping" progress. We've had a couple of weekend trips; one to the river,(Southern Missouri trout fishing river) the other to a lake (NW Arkansas in the mountains). Both were good, relaxing, and I really enjoyed my time with Hubbs. We grilled steaks and pork chops and had smores (which I thought he'd complain about, but actually he was a trooper. And even though we forgot the long fork, we improvised with small kitchen forks, and it ended up being one of the more memorable moments of the trip)

(we didn't actually go to Lake of the Ozarks, but I love these vintage fold out postcards, 

so I thought I'd share that bit of vintage lake goodness)

Dining Room Buffet and a new Tablerunner

Earlier in the week, I talked about some ideas on styling the top of my China Cabinet here in the Dining Room. So I thought today I would just continue with more pics of my teensy Dining Room/Area. I'm grateful for a Dining Space, but it's on the smallish side, with only 3 walls, and I have largish furniture.

Share Your Style #24

Hi Friends, welcome to 

Share Your Style!

We're so glad you're here,

this is the place to bring all your projects and inspiration this week.

Let's see what happened last week...

I really admire someone that can take an idea and interpret it in their own style. Deb from Lake Girl Paints has done just that with her wonderful artwork of this amazing Heron. She saw a similar version in a popular catalogue, then decided to create her own beautiful one-of-a-kind painting. You'll want to see her step-by-step tutorial on her method.

Ideas on Styling a Cabinet or Cupboard Top

I started a little "project"on top of my Dining Room China Cabinet right after we moved into this house last November. We have really high ceilings here, and I love them, but sometimes the furniture looks lost. Believe me, these pieces are huge (this one is about 7 1/2 feet tall) but there is still a big distance between the ceiling and the top of this cabinet. So now 3/4 of a year later, I finally have some kind of decor up there to help fill in this space.

Summer Mantel with Sunflowers

This time of year I'm captivated by Sunflowers.

They are the symbol for late Summer, relaxation, casual dinners al Fresco, 

and all things French Country...

and I love to have them taking the stage on the mantel.

Share Your Style #23

Hi Everyone and Welcome to 

Share Your Style!

Let's see what was happening last week here at SYS.

Pam from Everyday Living shared a great post on Sunflowers, one of my favorite late summer flowers. She had tons of inspiration pics and several from her daughter's wedding. She shows that Sunflowers can be mixed with so many other flower varieties for some beautiful wedding arrangements and bouquets.

Summer Seed Box

...and the Decorating Domino Effect

A few weeks ago, I brought in a small white antique desk/table to the kitchen sitting area. I knew it would be crowded, but I was needing a change up in here and thought that would do the trick. I had it right where this chair is now sitting and it was so fresh and cute, not to mention another flat surface to decorate. I had fun with it for about a week, but then I realized that it was way too crowded in here, and the door to the deck bumped it each time we went out.

A little something to brighten your day...

Just wanted to drop by and say Hello with my little vintage friend.

Seed Box Graphics

I was sitting here looking at the calendar in my studio, when I was reminded of just how wonderful these old Seed Box Graphics really are. I buy the Smithsonian Seed Catalogue Calendar each year, and this is where my graphics are from when I've put together my own "make your own" seed boxes. Here are a few of my favorites on this year's calendar.

Share Your Style #22

 Hi Everyone, time for taking a break to 

Share Your Style.

With the July 4th Holiday behind us, some of us are gearing down and relaxing before it's time to get the kids ready for school. Now is the time for a few summer projects and DIY decor fun. I love a good Sunburst Mirror and Sheila from Beyond the Portico has a wonderful take with her beachy / outdoorsy driftwood mirror that she created. Sheila has an adorable cottage with a screened porch that I love.

Life is like an old cupboard...

(feeling a little Forrest Gump-ish today)

Inevitably, when you move and downsize many of the furniture pieces you love and have collected have to be sold. Or in order to make the cut, they have to be relegated to different purposes and function. I can't tell you how much was sold last year, but let's just say it was literally truckloads. A couple of pieces that I could justify keeping were for storing things. I bought this piece to use at my antique mall space before I started blogging, but once I finished it, I realized it would be perfect for quilt storage in the downstairs guestroom. Now, it's in the basement/lower level kitchen nook next to the bar, displaying some of my odds and ends "collections".

Here at the new house

Table top Conservatory

Little by little I'm making headway with some of my display pieces. This table top conservatory made of old windows and siding sat empty in the corner of the basement living area for months. I'm hoping, now that I have a few more decorative pieces unboxed, that I can keep it up to date with the seasons. So far I've only made one attempt, and that was in May, so it's still dressed for Spring... or late Spring... or early Summer. 

Share Your Style #21

Hi Everyone, and welcome to the 21st Share Your Style Party!

I love a great porch in the Summer, and Paige from A JunkChick Life shared two posts last week on how she spruced it up for some Summer relaxation. Here's her Easy Ottoman Slipcover  and  Tangerine and Turquoise for the Front Porch. Don't you love this great color combo? So Summer-y!

Furniture talk...

or... I've had a de-stressing weekend.

This last weekend was a workout. All the family was out of town, so we were on our own to get a little more done around the house. In the one storage unit we have left, we are working our way down to the boxes that I'd just as soon leave there indefinitely. You know, the boxes that have out of style shoes and clothes you know you'll never use again, and boxes that are labeled "non-current office", "garage sale pantry", ect. or my favorite... "miscellaneous". what the heck is in that?

Patriotic Door and Windowbox

Hope you all are having a great weekend...

I realized I hadn't shared my Patriotic Door Decor.

I changed out my door basket before Memorial Day

and I'll leave it out for another week or two.

A mix of red geraniums, blue hydrangeas, and white daisies.

Patriotic Link Party

Hi Everyone,

 welcome to the Patriotic Party!