A Little Fall Decorating...

We live in Rhode Island and the weather on the whole east coast is, well, yucky!! Rain, rain and more rain and a little ol' hurricane coming up the coast for this weekend. The gloomy days really make it feel like fall and we need the rain, so I'm not complaining.

I decorated a while ago, but I'm just getting around to taking some pictures.

Thought I would share some with you for a few ideas...a little fall, a little Halloween and a little Thanksgiving all mixed together.

I've purchased most all of these decorations over the years at Walmart, TJ Maxx or Home Goods.

Just add styrofoam bats and pumpkins to mercury glass and it makes them look extra special.

99 cent crow and $2.00 pumpkin looks pretty good under a glass dome!! lol

My most recent purchase is the "Gobble 'til You Wobble" sign. I bought it at Michael's with a 50% coupon!

I love that motto!!

Even little corners get a little fall on...

the mantel too...

and a little at the front door. The pumpkin candle smell is the best!!

The kitchen counter gets a splash of autumn too.

Glitter pumpkins from Walmart and the crow too!!

If you are not so much into the "orange" of the season, a calm neutral works too!!

I mixed fake candles with real ones on a round mirror for extra glow. Very pretty at night up against the mercury glass.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy start to autumn to everyone!!

~Karen~

Crazy Big Iris From Our Garden...

I love all flowers, but iris are up there as one of my favorites...along with tulips. This is the week when the iris starting blooming in our back yard and they are just beautiful, so I wanted to share a few pictures I took this weekend!! We have 2 sizes of iris and, this year for some reason, the larger one must have eaten it's Wheaties, because they are giant.

Here is the patch of smaller ones just starting to bloom...

and this is the larger one growing near our shed.

This is a close up of the bigger blooms. You can't tell in the photo, but they are like velvet...just perfect.

I cut a smaller bloom and held it next to the bigger one to compare the sizes.

It's like a momma and her little baby!!

I can't take any credit for the outside of the house or any of the flower gardens...for that I have to give all the credit to my hubby. He's the best!!

Hope your day is blooming into something beautiful too!!

~Karen~

Faux Fur Rug for Under $30...

Hi everyone! I have a fast and easy project for a faux fur area rug that is no sew and under $30!! Our oldest daughter Courtney moved into her own apartment last year and our other daughter Kelsie decided last week to move into Courtney's old room as a change of pace.

We moved some furniture around and it looked great except it needed an area rug. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, but even the cheapest area rug in Walmart was over $75. She wanted a white faux fur rug and those over $100, so I thought why not buy faux fur in a fabric store!! Here's how it turned out!!

Kelsie's "new" room...

Pop in to see the easy steps to make your own...

Add a Pop of Color to Your Kitchen...

My kitchen is all white with black counter tops. I love it, because it's so neutral and I can add pops of different colors throughout the year. This winter has been long, full of snow and bitter cold, so after Christmas was over and the house was bare of all decorations, I needed a little splash of color.

I found these fake green apples in Marshall's/TJ Maxx Home Goods. They were even cheaper than buying real apples and these will last forever!! Real fruit is expensive.

Artificial fruit is great now. They look so real.

Little specks, textures and dings to make it look like a real granny smith!!

So the next time you see artificial fruit in a store, take a second look. You'll be pleasantly surprised!!

What do you add to your decor for a pop of color?

Thanks for stopping by,
~Karen~

Fall Decorating Around the House...

Autumn is my favorite time of year for the cool crisp air, the warm colors, snuggly sweaters and yummy comfort food. Even though I love this time of year, I don't decorate any where near what I do for Christmas…just little touches here and there through out the house.

I use the same decorations that I've had for years, but I do use them in different ways to make them feel new. I might add one or two new pieces from end of season sales or Dollar store finds.

So let's get started…I'll share where I purchased things along the way too!

This is our kitchen table...the kitchen is on the right. This room was a living room 15 years ago, but now it's our eat in kitchen. That's why there's a fireplace in the room.

Perfect to decorate for all the holidays.

The wreath is from Pier 1 and the sign is from Marshall's or Home Goods. I've had the lamps for years. They are from Target and are touch lamps.

On the hearth, I have a big plastic cauldron I bought at Walmart years ago. I used it to serve punch when the kids had Halloween parties and I also use it to hold the candy for Trick or Treaters. Now it holds wood for the fire place.

The little black lanterns are from Ikea for only $4.00.

Off to the side, I nestled a pumpkin in a leaf garland also from Pier 1.

I found these cute clip on glitter bats at Walmart last week. They are only 97 cents and they give a little touch of a spooky Halloween to the wood pile.

The curly stand for the cauldron is an old candle holder.  It gives some height to the pot.

All the Halloween things in this picture are from Walmart $1-$4.00, but I made them special by adding some silver touches. Most all are thrift store finds, except the tall cloche on the right. That's from TJ Maxx.

The cloche is a great investment. I received it as gift, but they run about $30.00. You can change what's inside for every season. I just took out my seashell collection I had in there for the summer.

Even the kitchen gets it's pumpkin on.

This year I piled up all the glitter pumpkins I bought at Walmart on a cake stand and added a scary black crow on top!

For the coffee bar, I added some berries to a small plastic cauldron that was part of Kelsie's witch costume when she was little.

I bought that little sign at Target recently…

"Given enough coffee,  I could rule the world!!"

So true, lol  Maybe not the whole world, but at least my part of the world!!

If you don't like the typical black and orange for Halloween or Fall decor, how about white and sage green.

I found the "Keep Calm and Scare On" sign at The Dollar Store! and the white ghosts and pumpkin were cheap too.

I wanted a fall arrangement for this enamel milk pitcher I bought at Ikea, but I wanted it to look like I just cut it all from the yard. A more natural wild flower look.

I bought 3 different kinds of sprigs at Michael's craft store…leafy branches, berries and pussy willows. Different textures is what you want.

The sprig on the left is how it comes from the store. All crushed and squeezed together. You need to spread them out to make it look more natural like the one on the right.

Try to flare them out in a triangle direction. Not all on one side.

Like the arrows are showing below.

Trim the ends to fit your vessel. You don't want then too high in the vase.

or bend them so you can use them in different sized vases over time.

For a filler, I cut the leafy grass from the iris garden and let it dry out

Start with the fuller branches then build in from there, ending with the sprigs of grass.

Perfect to last through to Thanksgiving!

When Halloween is over, I just have to remove a few bats and ghosts and the rest will last through til the end of November. Then Christmas will bust out all over the house!


Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Thanks for stopping by,
~Karen~

The 21 Year Evolution of Our Home...

We purchased our home in the summer of 1993. It was built in 1975 and we are the third owners. At the time of the purchase, our daughter Courtney was just 2 years old and Kelsie was a baby at only 8 months. There have been lots of changes in those 21 years, so I thought I would shared some of the pictures with you.

When you buy a home, there are always changes that you want to make and almost all of them are on a priority list with finances being the guiding factor. We looked at so many homes before buying this one. We loved the layout, the floor plan and the neighborhood was perfect, but the cosmetics and color schemes weren't our style. There were baby steps with the changes in carpeting, removing wall paper, painting etc. One big painting job was the exterior.

Here is the exterior of the house from the real estate agent's picture in 1993…

If you're on a house hunt, remember to always look past cosmetic things like painting, because that can always be changed.

Come on in to see all the transformations over the years…

Turn Tree Stumps Into Fire Pit Seating...

We had a few trees cut down on our side property line this past week. The tree service took away all the trimmings from the pine trees, but my husband wanted to keep the wood from the only oak tree that was cut. After the wood is seasoned, he will use it in our wood store in the winter.

Here is some of the wood the tree service cut into chunks. My husband sees fire wood…

I see stump seating around a fire pit!!

I made little pillows for reach one too.

Come on in and I'll show an easy way to make the pillows.

Cleaning George Foreman Grills…or Any Electric Grill

We have been using our George Foreman grills for years. We have them in 2 different sizes. The grills are great, because they cook the food quickly and the fat really drains off. Great for the winter months or even in the summer when it's raining and you can't get out to use the gas grill. I love them, but I hate to clean them more than anything. I think new versions or the more expensive ones have removable griddles, but ours are attached.

Here's the "before" of the little one after we cooked 2 burgers…ugh!

The speed of these grills still wins me over even when I have to clean them…but I do have a trick though!

Dishwasher Silverware Basket Repair…For Pennies

Hi everyone! I wanted to share an idea I came up with this past Sunday after years of frustration with my dishwasher…the silverware basket actually.

I know I shouldn't complain, I do have a dishwasher after all. However, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has this problem…holes in the basket causing the silverware to fall through, preventing the rack from rolling in or out.

Come on in and see how easy the fix is for only a few cents.