Fall Living Room 2015

I have our entire house decorated for fall now, but getting it all photographed for my blog is a whole other story! My husband and I were walking out the door to the grocery store Sunday, when I noticed a bank of clouds moving towards the North End. I said, "Sorry, Honey, but I've got to get some photos before the sun goes away!" I threw my purse aside and ran for my camera! 

He's such a good sport. He went back to his man cave and watched football until the clouds made it too dark to shoot, then we went grocery shopping. I only managed to photograph the living room, so that's what's on the menu for today. It's been rainy, windy, and dark outside since then, so I'm glad I ran for my camera when I had the chance. 

Our fall decor is fairly muted this year in the living room compared to the bright jewel tones from last year. Our furniture arrangement in here is new and, while we're not in a big hurry, we are on the lookout for another upholstered chair. Our living room windows are small and spaced oddly because this used to be two smaller rooms until a wall was removed way before our time here. So, I kind of throw out all the rules and place the furniture where ever it best suits our family gatherings. 

When we ordered our leather reading chair last year, we got to choose two throw pillows with it. I chose these brown plaid ones because I thought they'd be great on the sofa for fall and tie in the dark brown of the chair with the beige sofa. I've always loved plaids. The brown velvet pillow adds a plush warm sumptuous texture. 

We've had the large sunflower Monet print from Pier One Imports for about twenty years. It was the first art I bought for the living room. It's very big and heavy and takes two of us to hang it, but the scale seemed right for this twenty-three foot long room with ten and a half foot tall ceilings.

These pretty stems are new this fall from the craft store. I purchased very little this year for fall decorating because I already have a big collection of items to use, and everything looks new to me anyway when its used in different ways for the different seasons. This big glass pitcher I'm using for a vase was my mother's. The glass is full of tiny bubbles. While we decide on a new coffee table, we brought this one (found for free on the side of the road years ago) in from the front porch. 

This little green snippet of ivy has a story behind it. When my mother passed away in 1984, my brother took her ivy plant home to live with him. When I was visiting him in California for his retirement party in 2009, he gave me a cutting from that plant, and I flew home with it in a baggie wrapped in a damp paper towel. I'm terrible at keeping house plants alive, so when the little cutting had about one shriveled leaf left on it, my daughter took it to live at her home here in Boise. Over the summer, she gave me another cutting from her now big healthy plant, and if you look closely, you can just see a few new leaves starting. I found a place in my home it does well, and my cutting is thriving. (The trick seems to be forgetting to water it!) Every time I see my little plant in this clay pot with the angels on it, I think of my mother and how her ivy is still here with us after thirty-one years, growing happily in the homes of her children and grandchildren. 

I found this black and white harvest patterned plate years ago at my favorite Red Lodge, Montana store, Kibler and Kirch. Whenever we visit family in Red Lodge, I spend an hour or two browsing this wonderful design store that furnishes some of the most beautiful cabins in Montana. I always pick out one small item to take home. On another visit there, I found these realistic faux artichokes.

This old brown and cream jug belonged to my mother in-law, and it's just the perfect thing for a fall farmhouse vignette atop my graphic painted end table.

A wood basket with slats woven into the ends and fall leaves carved onto the sides holds some faux pears. 

The gold color on the pears and pumpkins is repeated on the chair pillows and the gold tray on the coffee table. This is the chair I painted, upholstery and all, for my daughter's bedroom. 

I love the soft glow of light the gold accents add to this room.

The other side of our long living room has a lot of brown in it, and you can see why I wanted the brown pillows over on the sofa to tie them together. The sunflower pillow is new this year, a coupon steal from the craft store, and the honeycomb vase was a discount store find. 

I just love Tucker's company when I'm taking photos. He's my best bud and definitely my favorite decoration. Above the leather reading chair hangs a framed print of my favorite Diego Rivera painting.

I really poured on the fall color over here, and the hutch is the fun seasonal focal point of the house. 

I found this handsome Tom turkey art print at the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Isn't he gorgeous?

I just love my cows. I feel like they're always waiting for me to walk into the room, and they always make me smile. The last new item I purchased this fall is the green cake stand from The Pioneer Woman's new collection. Having a cake stand here on the old antique dresser in the living room may seem a bit odd, but it sort of describes the design style that I've fallen into without really thinking about it. You see, my husband and I only have things in our home that we really love and that are personally meaningful to us. It's taken a lifetime of collecting and weeding out and learning what we like, and when that's the case, when you love everything you have, it really doesn't matter where or how or in which room it goes. We love it all, and it just work for us.  

I hope you enjoyed this year's eclectic fall living room decor - our mishmash of the things we love. For last year's colorful fall home tour, just click here. And please come on back and check out what's up in the family room next week. I'll be grabbing my camera again just as soon as the clouds take a break. 

(Some of you have mentioned that my comment box has been doing a disappearing act for you before you can leave a comment. I've checked all my blog settings and don't see anything amiss, so hopefully it's one of those computer mysteries that will fix itself. I apologize for any inconvenience you may be experiencing.)  

And now, it's party time!

Between Naps On The Porch

The Scoop

Elizabeth & Co.
Savvy Southern Style
From My Front Porch To Yours
Share Your Style Party
A Stroll Thru Life

  

    

New Spring and Summer Area Rugs for the Family Room and Living Room

I'm just popping in today to share a quick peek at the new area rugs I found for our living room and family room. Here in Boise it's very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter, and I've found that what's underfoot can affect how we respond to those extremes. So I've begun switching out some of our area rugs for the seasons. I've searched high and low to find well made and good looking, yet very affordable area rugs that I don't mind having rolled up in our attic for six months out of the year. 

Last fall I purchased this large 8'x10' deep sumptuous shag rug in rich warm colors that complement my decorating in the living room during the cooler months of the year. (This photo is from last Christmas.) This plush rug was only $398 at our local Lowe's and brought instant color, warmth and coziness to our living room.

However, during our hot high desert summers here, I've learned that bare hardwood floors with smaller and lighter weight area rugs help us feel cooler. This is the same room with the 5'x8' jute area rug I bought on clearance for $120 from our local Pier One Imports on Saturday. (As you can see I still haven't unpacked this room since the new floors went in.) 

I originally purchased a different sisal rug from Overstock.com that I'm now giving to my daughter. Although that rug was beautiful, it had yellow and green grasses that washed out the sofa and walls and made them look dingy. This rug has both gold and gray grasses woven throughout that seem to marry the armoire and sofa well while complementing the Manchester Tan walls. 

 I love the informal look of natural jute and sisal rugs for summer along with the textural layer they add to a room, but I'd read many reviews that said they were difficult to vacuum and keep clean because of the thick weave. This rug has a relatively tight flat braid that my vacuum glides over more easily, and I have a Dyson handheld that makes quick work of vacuuming the fringe. (The thick grassy fringe is one of the things I loved best about this rug.) 

Though nothing about our cottage can really be considered formal, the living room is a more formal room in our home that gets less traffic and wear than others. So I feel comfortable leaving more of the hardwood floor exposed and unprotected in there than in more high traffic rooms. 

And I already feel cooler.

Here is my (headless, oops) husband and Tucker checking out the new family room rug. Our family room lives hard with the whole family watching movies and munching on snacks and just hanging out informally here in general. Add to that the dog and the door leading out to the deck and yard, and we needed a sturdy, tough, easy to clean rug that will protect the new hardwood floor. Believe me, it's not easy finding a neutral rug with those requirements that you also really want to look at everyday.

This 8'x10' indoor/outdoor rug, purchased at our local Home Depot on Saturday for $119, fit the requirements for us. It's drag-outside and hose-off tough, but still looks nice enough for our summer family room. I love how it brings together the creamy walls and white TV console with the brown leather furniture and how it adds some texture and pattern to the room. 

I also originally purchased a different rug for this room online from Target. Luckily, it was an easy local return to the store because, like the first living room rug I ordered, it was less than appealing. I've come to the conclusion that for large size rugs, computer screens just can't adequately convey true colors and returning them is a pain in the rear. As difficult and limited as shopping is here in Boise, I'll still be sticking with purchasing rugs locally from now on where I can see them in the store before bringing them home.

Since we have the final rug sizes, I ordered custom cut rug pads for all our new rugs from rugpadusa.com, whom we've been happy with in the past. The high quality felt pads cost as much as some of our inexpensive summer rugs, but it would be crazy not to protect our new hardwood floors properly, and we consider that money well spent. 

Now that I have my neutral summer backdrops in place I'm looking forward to adding more layers and textures throughout our house. I'm planning on taking it slow and including only items that we really love. There are four boxes sitting on the dining room table waiting to be unpacked (just a start) and I'm excited to get started making our house uniquely ours again.

I'm so glad you stopped by to see our new spring and summer area rugs today. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

  

I love to party!

Savvy Southern Style

New Hardwood Floors - Preparation

I'm sending a big high-five out to everyone because we all made it to March! For me this has been a hard winter because it was unusually cloudy here. I'm one of those people who needs the sunlight to keep my brain from turning to mush, so I've had a bad case of brain fog the past few weeks. I know the arrival of March and more sunshine means I'll be feeling more like my old self soon. 

I know many of you are sick of winter too, so 

HIGH-FIVE!

We made it to March and spring is just around the corner!

Our new floor project is progressing right along. The first weekend we packed up all our small stuff, and my husband lugged the boxes upstairs to store in the loft.

 Last weekend he moved the furniture and rugs out.

 You know how your hair always looks great the day before your haircut, and you start to rethink your appointment with your stylist? 

 We're going through that with our old maple floors. They're looking pretty good to us all of a sudden, and we experienced a little floor replacer's remorse over the weekend. I think that's only natural, since we've lived with these pretty floors for almost twenty-five years and have many good memories of fun family times on them. The reality is they're worn to the nub and can't be refinished again, and it's time to move-on.

Probably because the sun is shining into these rooms again after a long dark winter, I'm loving our wide open empty living room without the furniture. I'm feeling inspired to rearrange the furniture when we put it back in. 

Ah-Ha! I feel a twinge of excitement and motivation breaking through my fog!

You can see here in the dining room how the floor darkened around the rug over time, but not under it. I'm not sure how or if this can be avoided with the new floors. Any ideas?

 The wood for the new floor is coming on Tuesday to acclimate for a week before installation. Meanwhile, we're living back here in the family room. Do you like the new Manchester Tan walls my husband painted over the weekend? And can you believe we fit all this furniture in here? Our leather sectional is so huge, we sometimes forget how large this room really is, but we were still able to fit the living room sofa and big reading chair and second ottoman in here. Tucker's memory foam bed (usually over in the corner) takes up a pretty big chunk of real estate, too. That's his favorite blue toy with him, and his blankie. I can't believe my big old tough black lab has a blankie, but he does! He loves it!

 Here's where the rest of our furniture is, in the master bedroom, which is off the dining room. It was way easier to move it all in here instead of to the back of the house or upstairs to the loft. The coffee tables are stacked in the closet, and we have even pressed the master bathroom into service. We can close and tape off this bedroom door and tape off the opening to the kitchen so the dust will be contained to the rooms getting new floors. Meanwhile, we're sleeping in the guest room. It's working out great so far, so it wasn't necessary for me to be such a cry baby about it. I'm feeling rather sheepish about that because the anticipation was far worse than the reality. 

Thanks for coming by to check out the floor update. Demo on the old floors starts later this week, so I hope you come on back to see the mess (and fun).

I'm sharing the floor fun over at

Between Naps On The Porch
Mod Vintage Life
Our Home Away From Home
Cozy Little House
The Scoop
A Stroll Thru Life
Elizabeth & Co.
Savvy Southern Style

Christmas In Our Living Room

This holiday season has been a magical one for my husband and me so far, beginning with a Thanksgiving feast in our home with our beautiful grown-up children. We all had so much for which to be thankful this year, and a deep gratitude for my family and our rich lives together has been making my Christmas preparations extra special for me. 

So, I'm also extra happy to be sharing our holiday-decorated home with you on my blog this year, beginning today with our living room. I've been busily working non-stop since Thanksgiving making decorations and preparing our home for a warm and cozy Christmas. Every little task has brought me great joy, and every little detail is brimming with love for my home and family. 

I hope you enjoy it!

We always have our fresh cut Christmas tree here in the corner of the entry where we can see it from the whole house.

This is the first tree I've ever decorated with a theme. I separated out anything that seemed woodsy from our own ornaments, then I made a bunch more and bought a few. (Read about the ones I made here and here.)

My husband loves the natural look with so much of the tree showing. He says, "Now, that's a Christmas tree!" I think he means a manly tree. :)

We don't have a fireplace, so I try to think up creative ways to leave the stockings where Santa will find them. 

It's always fun to decorate the hutch. The antlers on top are from my husband's childhood, hunting in Montana with his father.

My daughter brought these deer home from the thrift store for me. I painted them with gold metallic paint and glittered the horns with German glass glitter.

These framed photos are of my mother and father at Sugar Bowl in the 1940's.  They were both pioneers of skiing in the Sierra Mountains. 

As always, we have faux candles sprinkled all over the house. They go on at five and off at ten. I love them!

I have tried and tried to grow real bulbs at Christmas, and they always flop to one side, so this year I bought some that will never fall over! 

I bought this brass deer at a yard sale just down the street last summer. I just love it when that happens. And look! My faux on-at-five/off-at-ten candle fits it perfectly! Gosh, life is good!

I've had the other big brass candlestick for as long as I can remember, and it always comes out for the holidays.

Doesn't Tucker look cozy over there by the window? I think he makes the best holiday decoration.

My cow asked me for his very own rockin' winter scarf after Laura's cow showed him his snazzy red one.

I always end up putting my favorite new ornaments somewhere other than the tree the first year, so I can enjoy them close-up. These are next to my reading chair.

It's not by chance that my reading chair has the best view in the house of the Christmas tree.

The chalkboard meandered over to this side of the living room to make room for the Christmas tree. Do you move stuff around for your tree, too?

I tucked my father's snowshoes and some greenery in my olive bucket behind my chair in the corner. My father used to snowshoe into Squaw Valley with his skis on his back before there were roads there, a real pioneer whose passion was skiing.

Two new woodland deer joined my favorite vintage Santa in my big tray under the clock this year. 

I found Santa for 75% off at the craft store after Christmas years ago. I wrap him up oh, so carefully, every year after the holidays, and he never looks a day older.

I just love that beard! There could be a bird or two snuggled inside that beard, and we'd never know.

I saved my favorite new decoration to show you last. My husband gave me this cool pillow that I've wanted for ever so long for my birthday last month. I just tore the page with the picture of it right out of my catalog, gave it to my husband, pointed him in the direction of the mall, and the saleswomen did the rest. (I think I'm onto something there!) 

Tucker says I've spent enough time sharing Christmas in our living room for today. The sun is setting, and it's time for his dinner. 

It's time to turn on the tree lights, close the curtains against the cold, and wish you a good evening.

Thank you all for joining me today. I had so much fun showing you around. I'll be sharing the rest of our home decorated for the holidays later this week, so I hope you come back!

{Visit our Christmas dining room, family room and kitchen, too!}



I'm sharing the love this week with:

The Scoop
Our Home Away From Home
Savvy Southern Style
Elizabeth & Co.
Cozy Little House
Between Naps On The Porch
A Joyful Cottage