Autumn Kitchen

Fall has arrived in our home! I took a trip out to the local pumpkin farm yesterday and gathered up some pumpkins and gourds to decorate our place. I just love pumpkin farms!
(Side note: I'm looking for something to hang on either side of that wall cabinet. Some white plates maybe?)





So often when people think of pumpkins, the big old orange ones come to mind. But there's so many others! The little white ones are my favorite.





The Pottery Barn table runner desperately needs to be ironed- but I don't have an iron. I tried to use my hair straightener but as you can see it didn't work so well. :)



I also gave our gray-green dining table a fresh coat of white paint. Much better!

Sprouting Pumpkins

It's finally here... my absolute favorite time of year- Fall! Well if you want to be all technical, it's actually not here until tomorrow at 11:09 p.m. But it is full-blown fall as far as I'm concerned. I've been in heaven with these cool 60 degree temperatures the past few weeks. In all my excitement I had Jesse take out the ugly window air conditioner and banish it to the basement for its winter hibernation. And then of course, this whole week is forecast to be in the mid-80s... We are going to bake.



Fall decorations are slowly starting to sprout up at our place. I had just a few fake pumpkins that I scattered in a couple places. I plan to go out tomorrow and load up on the real stuff. :)

Here's a couple photos from The Newlywed Diaries that I'm loving right now. They're from a fall issue of Martha Stewart Living:





I would love to do this on my dining room table. Pile it full of gourds and pumpkins with a few deer antlers thrown in. And I've got plenty of deer antlers already! It would look great with my new burlap table runner, which you'll see later. I got it from Pottery Barn with the gift card I won earlier. :)

Fall is also the time of year when I wish I had a nice formal front entrance to our house. So I could do this:



Just. Delicious.

Free Sewing Lessons Anyone?

Not for you, for me! Lately, I've been really wanting to learn to sew. There's so many things I could do on my own- pillows, curtains, maybe even slipcovers if I'm really feeling ambitious. I could really go nuts! I've sewn (sewed?) only once before with the help of a friend in high school. I made yellow monkey-printed pajama pants. They are stunning, believe me. :)

I've been wanting new curtains for the dining room and fell in love with the look of burlap panels.



I could buy these ones for $37.50 a panel. The tab tops are super cute!

Or if I learned to sew and made my own like Layla did over at The Lettered Cottage, I could have a pair for under 30 bucks! Look how cute:







Aren't they great?! It sounds pretty easy- a good sewing project to start out with. I just love burlap. It brings so much warmth and texture and has that natural rustic look that I love.



And who says curtains are only for windows? I love that!


via A Beach Cottage


via House Beautiful

Now You See Me, Now You Don't

Well I'm finally blogging after a week of absence, only to leave you for another week! My husband, mom, dad, and younger brother are leaving tomorrow morning to spend a relaxing week in Canada. Dad fulfilled a dream of his a couple weeks ago and bought his very own boat, so we're hitchin' it up and heading north! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am! This will be my third (I think?) trip to the cabin on Big Clear Lake and Jesse's first, so I'm extra excited for him.

Sorry for no pictures today! I'll be back in about a week! :)

Antiquing Day Trip

Have I said that my sister is in town right now? She's been here since Monday, and is staying until Friday. She's on a week-long shopping adventure for her Etsy shop, Frog Goes To Market. Her and my mom have been out shopping from morning till dawn every day, while I sit at work. Boo. :( But yesterday I had a day off so we all went antiquing together! We set our sights on a few new antique stores we had never been to.

The first place we stopped at was definitely my favorite. The Seville Antique Center. It had a ton of primitive and really early antiques. Lots of great (and very expensive) tables, chests and cupboards.









They had lots of those antique painted wood signs that I just love but can't afford.





I was drooling over this painted basket but like almost everything else in the store, it was way out of my price range.



We stopped for lunch at Cool Beans Cafe. Haha! It was, in fact, pretty cool beans.



They had really good food, and iced coffees. That pretty lady is my sister, Ellie. :)



These corbels were something I kinda wished I had bought. Why do I always do that? I don't buy something I know I really want, then regret it later. Duh.

Keep an eye on Ellie's Etsy over the next several days. I got a glimpse of some of the things she found this week, and they're really cool!