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Friday, October 16, 2009

Ode to Autumn

I have been sneaking in and out of those blogs where people show how crafty and decorative they have been on a budget. It inspired me to try a little seasonal decorating, so HERE IT IS! What my weekly forays into the second hand stores and clearance bins have netted me. I am new at this seasonal decorating thing, so it is still a little spare.
Above is my puny little mantle. It is only 4 inches wide, so everything on it has to be very narrow! I have been thinkinthat I would like to tear it off and build a more traditional mantle, and now that I have seen what some other bloggers have done, I just might tackle it this year. My Princess house shelves weren't from the second hand store, but most of the princess house canisters on them were. The pumpkins were from a 6$ surprise special they run from time to time, and the gold candle was a customer special. I bought some fall floral picks from Michaels to stick in the canisters and the burgandy candle is from a clearance table at Fred Meyer.
Darians' girlfriend Kaila brought me dried roses this week, and I thought even though they don't really say "Autumn, I needed to put them in one of my groupings. The green leaf plate is also Princess house, I bought them on clearance last year, but didn't know how to use them. The rest of the set is on the wall in my dining room.

I decided that my Autumn theme would be harvest, so I started picking up pictures in the second hand stores. This one cost me 6$ Since walls are spare, it went on the pony wall between the living room and the kitchen.


The living room curtains are tablecloths I picked up at Target last year. I cut them to length, and sewed a pocket for the rod. The matching pillows were actually placemats that had two sides, so I cut open one of the seams, and stuffed between the two sides and sewed them closed.



My birdcage was sitting in my spare room for about a year. It is really cute, but it was white and green, so I spray painted it brown the other week. I found the hydrangea swags at a garage sale, and couldn't find the right home for them. After I painted the birdcage, I just stuffed the swags inside and I loved the way it looked. Joyce gave me the mosaic candle holder after I broke the one I bought at her partylight party.

Yep, those are plastic vegetables! I know pretty cheesy right? I bought a bag of them on a whim a few weeks ago at GoodWill. I brought them home and they stank! I rinsed them off, then soaked them in a sink of vinegar, washed that off, and now they are as good as new. The leaf swag was an impulse buy at the "Chic" second hand store on Camano Island. I also saw that basket the vegetables are in, but at $23, I passed it up. Good thing too because then I went to Value Village and got it for $2.50! (Yeah Me!) The lamp is princess house, Another Value Village find. I paid the full price of $9.99 for it because they are not made anymore. Then because I was so pleased with myself, I bought a lamp shade brand new at Lowes to go with it. The framed Bible verse is one of those fliers that door knockers leave at your door.

More Value Village pictures, and another Princess house $6. surprise (the clock). Hmm, Maybe I should have cleared the cork board before showing off huh?


More fruit pictures. The long one was a $4. find at Yvonnes in Arlington, then the two matching pictures are old Home Interiors pictures I took down 6 years ago because they were too 1990's for me. I took them out of the frames, and painted the mat and frames and put them back to gether. Now they look new. The fruit plates were also from Yvonnes, I paid 4$ each for them, but the rest is my princess house collection. The plate rack was one of my Hostess credit purchases, but it has been put away for over a year because I did not know where to put it. The leaf plates are the rest of the collection I showed you in the living room, and the gold plates behind the fruit plates were... $6. surprises from Princess house! (I have 6 more) the swag is also an old Home Interiors item I stored away after I felt it was no longer in style.


And a few weeks ago, I found this fruit print table cloth at GoodWill, I cut it down the middle, and sewed it into two panels, put a rod pocket on each, and now I have beautiful kitchen curtains. Can you see my anniversary present? Jon bought me the Keurig one cup at a time coffee machine. Apparently he thinks it is wasteful to make a pot of coffee, then only drink two cups. Which I did every morning and every evening. (This was our 15th anniversary) I gave him a card.
That is the grand tour, Does it look like Autumn now? It is almost time to start my Christmas decorating forays into the second hand stores... YAY!

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9 comments:

  1. Way to make dust collectors !! I love decorating really, I do flowers at church,By the way one of your names is Morris, how did that come to you? marriage or birth, its Welsh and my mum in laws maiden name which we used as one of Geraint's middle names.

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  2. Very inspired now. Do you love the keurig? I am really thinking of asking for one on my birthday.

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  3. I love it all! And I have fruit to match your veggies! They were my Mom's and the older boys made bite marks all over them so when my parents died, I asked for the fruit, and it is in my curio cabinet!

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  4. I'm getting you a level. If David doesn't beat me to it.

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  5. Lindsay, are you on facebook? Why aren't we "friends"? yeah, the kuerig is kinda neat, I like the one Jon got at costco because it came with LOTS of little coffee pods, and a filter for using your own coffee. Therese, The vegies were the only thing in the bag worth keeping, they fruits were completely worthless, so I re-donated them! Marion, I know what you mean about dust catchers! I can dust every day and it doesn't make a difference! (I don't but I could!) Gina, Most of the pictures were hung with a level. You know, life with boys. And Jon did the shelves wrong, so they look funny! But after all is said and done, I don't want to live in a magazine! LOVE

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  6. How nice your home looks! I've got to go back a few posts and see if your rock garden is finished. I've been away from blogging for too long!

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  7. OK, I don't see any posts. Where do I go to see D's finished rock garden?

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  8. Thanks so much for linking up to my fall decor party! Love how you have incorporated the fruit theme all around your house. Beautiful!

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  9. Cute, cute, cute! I love that first thrift store print on the pony wall! And curtains and pillows from tablecloths and placemats - love that!

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