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Hip Hip Hooray for Fall!

Melissa over at the Inspired Room is having her third annual Fall Nesting Party, which is perfect because we just pulled out our fall decorations! Well, really hubby did. They were in a Rubbermaid tote in the shed. And I didn’t find as many as I thought I had. Which means I must have cleaned out before we moved last year. Have I mentioned we live in a small house with next to no storage? But I digress.

I am really lovin’ all the white fall decor that’s been pictured on the web lately. But I also really love the burnt oranges and deep reds of traditional fall decorating.  Here are a few little shots of our fall decor so far this year.

Coffee table: little ol’ crows and black candlesticks

 

Kitchen counter: weeping willow pumpkin tree, pumpkins
and a photo of my great-grandfather and his confectionary wagon

 

Front hall dresser: an old apple bell, fall berries and a ceramic bird

 

Book shelf: hand-painted (by me!) paper mache pumpkin

 

Anyway, there are a few more little vignettes I’ll show you later. And I plan to add fall mums, and perhaps a pumpkin or two.

Now, what about you? how do you decorate for fall?

Pink and Green Girls’ Room Redo – THE REVEAL!

Finally!

The B-i-g  R-e-v-e-a-l !

We’ve been working on our girls’ room for a couple of weeks and we are about 99% finished (we are  just waiting for some wall names for each of the girls and we still need to find a couple of lights for reading in bed). But I just couldn’t wait any longer to share with you.

This is what the room looked like before (keeping in mind it was our son’s room and we hadn’t changed anything in it since literally the day after we moved in):

 

This is the mood board we whipped up for the Pink and Green Girls’ Room Redo before we started anything.

We showed you some sneak peeks of our progress here. As is usual in a design job, some things just simply didn’t work. For instance, instead of getting new beds, we decided to keep the bunk beds Hubby had built for the kids a few years ago and just paint them white to give them a new lease on life.

 

We also decided to reuse two old dressers, again just freshened up with some new paint. They weren’t quite the same size, but they share similar shape and lines (see the rounded corners?).

 

We also had to do this room on a budget. Which turned out to be pretty easy because the girls had several things that could be reused or repurposed. We reused quilts and comforters, a mirror, hooks, shoe shelves, and bought an additional set of curtains (which happened to be on sale – score!), ikea tables and stools (both of which had come down in price since last year), etc.  And for closet storage we just removed the doors and my ingenious Hubby made shelves out of them!

So our cost breakdown was:
Curtains (Walmart) $10
Curtain Rods (Ikea) $4
Paint and primer for walls, trim, bed and dressers (Home Depot) $110
Table, stools (Ikea) $36
Cube shelf and storage boxes (Martha Stewart/Home Depot) $82
Fabric, etc for memo boards  (Dollarama and Walmart) $12
Butterfly mobile (Surefit Outlet) $25
Clock (Canadian Tire) $6
Sheets (Walmart and Ikea) $32
Flowers (Surefit Outlet) and Vases (Ikea via Salvation Army) $9
Stick on Chandelier Silouette (Dollarama) $2
TOTAL $328
And – drumroll – here’s the new room in all its pink and green glory!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our girls LOVE it. They have played more in there than anywhere else for the last several days. It’s been quite nice actually. AND they have extra incentive to clean up when they’re done – it just all looks so nice!

Okay, Home Depot too?

After the last post about my designer-esque finds at Walmart today, I thought I’d check Home Depot’s site just for fun. 

Now I know the big stores certainly don’t need little ol’ me to advertise for them, however, most people I know (including Hubby and I) shop at these kind of places and not often at designer boutiques. So it only makes sense to know what the big box boys sell.

Anyway, I popped over to homedepot.ca and clicked on their decor tab and I just about fell off my chair!  Just look at some of this stuff.

Cocktail Ottoman

 

Armless Chair

 

Venus Accent Chair

 

Tokyo Console Table

 

Orion Double Bench 

 

 

Microfibre Armless Accent Chair

 

Hampton Bay Table Lamp

 

Lanart Rugs Urban Bloom Rug

 

 

 

Seriously, do I hear angels singing?!  This stuff is gorgeous!

 

 

Fab Finds @ Walmart?

After several months of whining (who me?) about Target and World Market not shipping up here (we’re in Canada, eh!) and Walmart.com having way better home and garden decor than Walmart.ca….Walmart done gone and got new stuff!

I popped into our Walmart with the kiddies today to pick up some spray paint and a picture frame, when something nice caught my eye. Hmmm.

First, I was thrilled to see some gorgeous designer-looking lamps.

 

 

 

 

Then I noticed these…for $60 each!!! Hu-llo!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Don’t get me wrong, I would still totally jump for joy and scream like a little girl if Target or World Market started shipping up here. (HINT! HINT! Seriously how hard can it be?) But I guess for now, I will work with what we’ve got.

Anyone else got some fab new finds this week? Do share!

How Much Difference Does a Front Door Make?

My aunt just asked me this question: “How much difference does a front door make?” At first I was totally puzzled. There was no context. Just a question on my fb page. ”How much difference does a front door make?” Naturally, I asked for clarification. Her response was “curb appeal”. How much difference does the front door make in the curb appeal of a house?

Unless you live in a cave (which still has curb appeal!) you know that the curb appeal of a house refers to the interest a house draws when someone drives or walks by. It is extremely important when you’re selling your house, but can be just plain fun when you simply live there.

That made me think of our front door. It looked like this when we moved in:

 

And now it looks like this (see our post about our front door makeover):

 

Serious improvement, right?

Just for fun I found a couple more before and after front doors from around the web.

 

 

Country Living

 

Penick

 

So, how much difference does a front door make in the curb appeal of a house? A LOT.

If you want to spruce up your front door, but can’t spring for a new one right now you could try a new coat of paint. If you like RED, PPG’s Rum Runner is a gorgeous rich red. Perfect for a front door. Or if you prefer a CHOCOLATE BROWN, PPG‘s Dark Granite is to die for!

If you don’t want to paint, try hanging a new wreath or other decoration that goes with the season. Hometown Girl’s no-cost pinecone and ribbon hanger is stunning. Very fall and very inexpensive.

At the very least, showcase your front door by keeping nearby bushes trimmed and by giving it a good cleaning. Removing scuffs and fingerprints alone can help improve the look of your home’s entryway. (Baby wipes are amazing for a quick wipe up!).

Do any of you have front door before and after pics you’d like to share? We’d love to see them! Really. Just comment on this post or email us.

(BTW, love ya, Auntie!)