Happy Thanksgiving 2018

Is anyone else continually amazed at how fast the clock seems to be ticking by?  Just when I feel like I am ahead of the game from an organizational stand point….Poof! I am behind the 8-ball again. There doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day….not for all that I seem to be trying to pack in anyways.

Having said that, I was able to squeeze in a bit of a fall makeover for the house. Most of what I have used this year is from last year or maybe even before that. I think the only new items added was maybe the faux flowers that you will see throughout.

Go grab your tea or coffee….this may take a while. I feel that I may be over did it with the photos.

I have had no time at all to do any editing…that takes so loooooong!!! LOL…so what you see is what you get.

Let’s start at the outside entrance.

I love doing my window boxes. They are quite long- about 7 feet. I always keep some boxwoods in them as fillers. Otherwise, it would be triple the amount of money to fill with plants. So far they have lasted since summer 2017. A few of them were a bit brown in the spring….but they have come back to their original fullness. This year I added 4 mums, a few very small cabbage plants and filled with cuttings from my backyard Hydrangea bushes, a small bale of hay and a couple of pumpkins.

The orange berries and the ‘whatchmacallits’ in the middle that spill over is faux plants from Michaels craft store. These window boxes honestly didn’t take much time to make. The nicest compliment I received was a couple walking by the house – they asked if they could take photos of them. I, of course, was thrilled. You see…I live directly across the road from the prettiest house in our core downtown area…people stop and take pictures of Caroline’s house constantly…so this made me feel so good!!! LOL

This was another simple planter, I left a boxwood in the centre. All of the cabbages and pumpkins in the planter are fake-fake-fake!!! My petunia was still in bloom so I just let it be.

You might remember this piece from last year. It has been outside for so long it is starting to rot a bit along the bottom. I love the look of it and until it falls apart it is staying. Last year I filled it with a number of small pumpkins. This year I used three ghost pumpkins. I removed the stems from the two largest ones and stacked them on top of each other. I put a little bit of hay in between to give it a bit of a messy look. I love the way the entire lantern is filled this year.

I replanted this entire garden 3 years ago when we did our siding. This year it is really starting to fill in nicely. The plants are becoming more mature and definitely making a bigger impact. I love Burning Bushes and Mums beside each other. The Burning Bushes are miniature, but I have been warned by my gardener that I will need to keep them trimmed. Miniature or not… they will take up a lot of space.

My little horse from Saratoga is still with us. He is the best addition I ever made to my garden. Next summer I might get his brother who is standing up.

I cannot wait for these Mums to open. They have been here for 3 weeks and nothing so far….the squirrels don’t seem to have a problem helping themselves to my pumpkins. Little stinkers.

This wreath was in my dining room last year. I love the bright yellow against the grey door.

I went to Michaels ONE LAST time …lol…the pumpkins were further marked down. I bought some more to hopefully paint for next year. I have quite a stock of them now. My plan is to do a bunch of them painted in related colours to make a fun impact. I will need to pick out a really fun palette for next year.

Love the over-all fall look.

I know I need a new roof…but I just don’t want to get rid of all this moss that has been growing for years. I guess you either love or hate this look…I happen to love it. It reminds me of an English cottage. I would actually like to grow some moss on this walkway. I have been Googling recipes to do exactly that….and then maybe add some Boxwood down the right side of the walkway too. I love, love a shady looking lawn.

I continued the fall look right into the front entrance. I simply put some faux Physalis Chinese Lanterns into a pink vase. I like the pink with the orange…it is a bit unexpected. I do love these Chinese Lanterns…but only the fake ones. Have you ever planted the real ones? Oh my goodness…they will overtake your entire garden!! Beautiful be so aggressive.

I am still in love with these velvet pumpkins. I have just placed an order for an entire patch of beautiful velvet pumpkins off of Etsy!!! I am excited to get them…I just wish I didn’t have to wait so long to use them. But the price now is better than it was a month ago. It will pay off in the long run.

I love it all together. Makes a very pretty and welcoming fall entrance don’t you think?

Next up the dining room. I feel that I kept things much simpler than last year. The centre floral arrangement is both faux and real flowers. Simple instructions are further down on the blog.

I chose two table runners this year instead of a traditional tablecloth. I picked this one in particular because of the big buttons plus I am all over Buffalo Checks right now!! The colour is very subdued and everything blends beautifully with it.

I got these pumpkins on sale at Michaels Craft Store @ 60% off. I think I paid $7 per pumpkin. I am using them as soup bowls You could use them for turkey stew as well.

I have had these fall napkin rings since I used to be part of a Wednesday night dinner club many years ago.  Sooo many good memories from those nights!! 6 couples would rotate dinner….we really need to do one more…. just because. It was an awesome group of friends…most of you follow this blog, how much fun was it? I hope you are smiling!! It was called Wednesday Night group because we were the B group…all because of Ron! RIP. Fun memories.

This was such a simple DIY.

Here’s thePDF if anyone wants it so that you can cut out your own tags for bread, homemade loaves,  gift bags or napkin rings. Here is the link to The Valley Designs if anyone is interested!

I had them made in black, gold, silver and rose. You will get 12 per page in each colour. Cut along the broken line.

Use a hole punch and weave your ribbon or string through it to affix to anything you choose to use it on.

I couldn’t actually find brown paper so I used brown paper bags and cut them to fit around the small loaves of bread. I love how they turned out. I will for sure use these again at Christmas when making loaves such as banana or zucchini. They definitely add to the presentation. I think adding a small sprig of greenery will add even more pizzaz!Each place setting has its own votive candle. The berries were wrapped around everything in the middle of the table. They added a nice blast of orange.

Real…and not so real.

Because I was using items that I already had on hand, I was a bit short on the faux flowers that I had planned to use for the centrepiece.

I taped the floral foam to the vase that I wanted to use. I did it in sections so that I would know exactly where to place the faux flowers so that they would be evenly spaced.

A quick trim to each stem.

You can see that the faux florals I had on hand weren’t quite enough…Easy enough fix though!

I cut some Hydrangeas from my back garden to add to the arrangement.

And voila. I thought I would have enough of the faux for the entire arrangement so I place them evenly around. Once I realized I didn’t I added the real flowers around the bottom. If I knew ahead of time I think I might have mixed the faux and real throughout the entire arrangement….but I think it turned out OK as is.

On to the living room where I love to have my tea. It is the cosiest room. When I have the ladies over this is where we sit.

 

I love the sparkles in these photos…it is an App called  Kirakira…it makes everything blingy and is so much fun to use. Photos are a bit grainy…but maybe worth it for the sparkling effect? What do you think? You should download it and try it out. You will love it. In all of the photos, I have added candles. I love to light them all as the sun is going down. There is something very relaxing about sitting in a candlelit room. Even Steve will come in and join me…we love to have a cocktail and sit and chat. Our living room is, for the most part, a room with no computers, phones or tablets.

A simple piece of ribbon tied around the top of this lantern adds a really simple touch. I put glass beads in the bottom to reflect some light. I used these lanterns in the backyard all summer long. I brought them in for the fireplace mantel…again…shopping my home for things I already own.

I think this is my favourite room in the house.

I wanted to show you a quick little before and after. I have a small powder room in the front hallway.

This was our powder room before. Excuse the grainy photos. Notice the odd wall behind the toilet. It drove me crazy. I also needed some storage in this very small bathroom for some essentials.

I had my son Stuart (Woodridge Home Renovations) come in and take this wall down to the studs to rebuild.

The first thing we did was build the wall out a tad further than the toilet.

I purchased a small vanity from Wayfair. It has some much-needed drawer storage and a shelf underneath. I changed the knobs that it came with…just because I love a bit of bling.

I chose a bit of a sparkly light fixture and a square mirror. The light fixture and taps are chrome but you will notice the towel rack is gold.  I love the interest created by mixing the finishings. I added a tiny pumpkin with a votive candle and the towel has birds on it that I think reflects the season. (I probably should have tucked in the tag LOL)

This picture on the wall is only temporary. I bought a cabinet for the wall for a bit more storage, but it is being painted at the moment. I got it from Home Sense. It is bright white which just doesn’t work in this warmer white bathroom. I am also trying to show you the finish I chose for the walls. There are very subtle stripes. The colours of the strips are identical. The only difference is the finish. One is matt and one is satin.

You can see a bit of the stipe here as well.

Oh my gosh….maybe time for your second tea or coffee…or by now it might even be cocktail hour! I think this is my longest post ever!!! LOL

OK…so let’s move onto the kitchen!!

Another one of my favourite seats in the house. The kitchen is family central. I lot of early morning snuggles with the girls on these rocking chairs. I actually think the pink shades work well in my fall decor.  I picked up on the pink chair covers with the warm and cosy throw as well as the floral arrangement.

I want to show you this jug. My friend’s daughter made this for me! I love, love, love it. She did a fabulous job on it. If you are interested in more information on having something made or seeing what else she can make please message me. She does incredible bowls as well.

My son (Woodridge Renovations) made this cupboard for me. There used to be a desk here. It became a complete junk catcher for Steve and I. It was always a mess….besides, I needed more storage for all of my dishes!!! I would love to have a dish room….you know…like in the White House? I added a couple of pumpkins and these lights have been in here since last Christmas. Funny enough I use them a lot! It adds a nice touch of bling and reflects on the glassware.

My coffee and tea area got a little bit of pumpkin love too.

This is another pumpkin that I decorated. I had nowhere to put these espresso cups. I piled them into the glass container and love it. I put some spoons in a smaller one. It makes a sweet presentation on my counter.

I ended up using the blue and white ginger jars and my favourite DIY pumpkin on the kitchen counter. It fills the space perfectly.

Bowrings is my favourite go-to store for candles and candle holders. Way back when, my mom used to clean houses. She used to clean the Bowrings home. We were the only family in Ontario Housing with crystal decor!!! LOL…Mrs. Bowring always gave my mom something beautiful at Christmas time and always sent along a game for my brothers and I….such a thoughtful lady.

I found these super cute pink pumpkin towels at HomeSense.

Pink really is an attitude!

I pretty much have Basil on my counter top year round. Lightly saute onion and garlic in olive oil, add some basil and chopped tomatoes and mix it into some pasta. SO GOOD and SO EASY! I am on the hunt for some Peppermint plants. My sweet friend Sue has peppermint growing in abundance in her backyard. She gives me bags of it. I boil water and pour over the leaves…the freshest peppermint tea you have ever had in your life. Thank you for teaching me that Sue. It is a new addiction of mine.

Just look at the crap on this!! Can you relate? When did it become necessary to have the deodorant front and centre of our side entrance? OMG!!!

A quick swipe of a cloth and voila….so much prettiness!!! My son made this exposed brick wall for me. I love the way it turned out. Our house was built in the 1940’s and I think the brick gives it a bit of its original old world charm.

Well…that’s it!! I hope you enjoyed this rather looooong blog!! It was originally going to be two blogs…but ya…whatever.

Anyways…this pumpkin says it all, doesn’t it? GIVE THANKS….and we all have so much to be thankful for.

I thank all of you for taking the time to read my posts….I love it when you leave a reply below, even if it’s just to say hello.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope your weekend is filled with so much love, joy, family and friends.

Mare.