Monday Inspiration #5

Yes, it's really Tuesday, but let's pretend I'm not behind, shall we? I spent yesterday ripping upholstery off my dining room chairs only to realize that my staple gun won't fit down inside this odd layout groove on the backs to reupholster them! UGH! Now I have to either go rent a REAL staple gun or buy one. It's been on the list forever, but now I've gotten myself to the point it's do or die time (I mean, we're only going to be USING those chairs in a matter of days!). $$$...feeling a little sick as I think about draining more moo-la from the bank account. Oh, well. At least it's something that will get used A LOT and is really needed.

"Golden Glory"
B.E. Interiors Photography

"Golden Glory II"
B.E. Interiors Photography

Anyhoo, I finally got around to doing your inspiration board with my beautiful fall tree pic I took last week. Ready?

Brainstorming - what this photo brings to mind - my jumping off  point:

1. sweaters,
2. hot cocoa, coffee, cider,
3. fires,
4. picnics,
5. jeans,
6. gold,
7. baskets,
8. casual,
9. rubies,
10. topaz.
11. rustic (just a little juxtaposition going on here!)
12. pumpkins,
13. wheat,
14. warm sunshine

This picture is just Pottery Barn all the way. So, most of my decor items are coming from there today.  With all that running through my head, here's where I ended up:

Follow me on Pinterest and you can see all the sources for these images!
All my Inspiration Boards are posted on there as well.

There you go. A new board to inspire you. Hope you like it and it makes you feel all warm, cozy and totally inspired to get your family room ready for those cold days ahead!

Coming soon to a computer near you...
My ideas on how to reproduce a beautiful chandelier for the fraction of the cost!

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Living on the Wild side!

Ok. I have two things to show you today. One is my inspiration board photo for this coming week (I've missed a few as my creativity was nowhere to be found) and the other is what I did this morning that was just a little on the crazy side! But you know what? You only live once!

First, check out this gorgeous scene I photographed today! I drove past this tree this past Saturday and had to go back up this morning to get the shot. With the light just streaming through the leaves, it looked like heaven on earth! The pictures don't due it justice. I'm lucky I got the shot because I had to park along a busy road and wait for the perfect minute to snap it with no cars in the scene! It also completely inspired me to do next weeks inspiration board for you.

"Golden Glory"
B.E. Interiors Photography

"Golden GloryII"
B.E. Interiors Photography

"Golden GloryIII"
B.E. Interiors Photography

The next thing I did was go from being blonde w/natural red low-lights to RED! Gads! Now, truth be told, I have a lot of red in my hair naturally, but I have down played the red and highlighted the blonde most of my life. I've felt like a change lately so I decided to enhance my natural color (which has gotten darker after having children). I bought a box of light auburn hair color and THOUGHT it was going to be a light reddish brown. WRONG! It's a very natural looking...RED!!! As I was drying it, I kept staring at it thinking that somehow it was going to lighten as it dried, but it didn't. The funny thing is, though, after the shock wore off, I realized I REALLY like it! Who knew? I've always suspected if I would just go for it, I would, but now I know. Little guy didn't get red hair from nowhere. There's a lot of it in my family, so now he just looks legit! Wait until the hubby comes home and sees what I did:) This ought to be fun. (wink, wink!)

"Oh, Looocy! You got some 'splaining to do!"

 via blogs.edutech.nodak.edu

I told you it was RED!

I think I like this new do (now that I've picked my mouth up off the floor)!

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Inspiration Monday #4

"Autumn Gold"
B.E. Interiors Photography

Fall is finally here in full swing where I am. How about 'round your neck o' the woods? The maple tree out front is starting to turn, and beautiful bright red leaves are falling all over the driveway. I marvel at the perfect beauty of them each time I walk out the door.

All that beautiful scenery has really gotten me interested in a specific color for this fall...pumpkin orange! I don't know why, but that color more than any other is speaking to me right now. A beautiful rich gold, caramel orange...not bright. Something along the lines of these two oranges. I pulled them from House Beautiful's website that are two of their recommended oranges.

Ace Yuma 

California Paints Pumpkin 16

Since I'm in the mood for a little orange/gold, I started hunting through my photos and found this one that has wonderful shades of golds, creams, and topazy oranges. What a great jumping off point for my inspiration board for the week! I think I'll create an imaginary entry/foyer based off this.

So, what comes to mind when I see this photo besides color? Here's my brainstorming list that gave me direction for the pieces to create the mood board:

1. fall leaves
2. barn wood
3. leather jackets & boots
4. baskets
5. pumpkins
6. rustic
7. sparkle
8. grass
9. crystal
10. gold
11. geometric leaf pattern
12. green
13. glass beads
14. box pleats
15. rich deep brown
16. dirt
17. creams
18. orange
19. walking sticks
20. hiking
21. cozy
22. light
23. firewood
24. soft, fuzzy blankets

Using those as my guide, here's what I pulled together all based off the photo I shared at the beginning, "Autumn Gold":

Inspiration Mood Board #4 

There you go. Another one to take and run with. What do you think of when you look at all God's beautiful fall colors?

Fall Mantel Change-Up

via http://freespiritart.com 
I have a thing for birds and pheasants are one of my favorites.

I decided after looking at Kim's mantle over at Savvy Southern Style and then checking out the mantle party at TLC that it was time to change mine up. I've never been much for a lot of seasonal decor when it comes to accessories. Probably would be if I just had more time to play with it. Come to think of it, I did used to change up the mantle some before kids! Shame on me. Anyway, I need to get back to it again. So, I started hunting for stuff to dress it up.

The stick theme is really "sticking" with me lately (OMG, that was lame!) after the chandelier change-up so I headed out to find some great textural pieces in the yard. I tried taking away my dried grass, but it just looked so bare! One day, I plan to tackle that massive space over the mantle and add some architectural detailing, but until then ....I digress. I decided to keep the grass with the sticks and liked the look. It reminds me of the salt marshes.

Two old apothecary jars I have had for years were then pulled out. They were filled with "Mighty Mac" vegetable bowtie pasta to fill the base and hold the grass/sticks in place. Perfect fall colors!

I'm always hitting the grocery isles for textural and colorful items!

Perfect! Reminds me of fall leaves (in a yummy way).
Scottie Dog stood there eagerly waiting on all the pieces I kept dropping as I filled the jars:)

Little guy and I hit up the grocery store for some ornamental pumpkins as well. We even rounded up the ones that grew in the garden this summer from the seeds of last years in the compost. Can't beat free!

It needed a little more UMPH (technical term!)....something was missing. Oh, I know! Pheasants are so beautiful and are synonymous with fall to me, so I added some fathers feathers to the grass and sticks to complete the arrangements.

via http://www.faireandfowl.com 

I went looking for something nice and chippy to go over the mantle in place of the mirror (which is too small for that space, but it's just had to do for the time being). Something like this would have made my day, but no such luck:

via Southern Accents
I'm not quite sure why this image decided to rotate on me, but it looks the same sideways - so I'm leaving it as is. If it bugs you, turn your head and look at it from that angle:)

Would you believe none of my usual thrift store haunts had ANYTHING?! What's up with that? We really need a good large scale architectural salvage store around here. Hmmmm.... Anyway, I'm going to be on the lookout for a large window like this. I have plans for it when I finally find it (cue the crazy laugh...because WHEN am I going to find time to do anything else until soccer season is over?!).

So, since there was no chippiness to be had, and I didn't want to spend any money, I went digging in the cupboard and found this pie dish that hubby's grandmother gave me not longer as they were moving into a retirement home. I took the lid off and found a great pie dish in the perfect color to compliment the pumpkins.

The inherited pie dish.

Mix it all together and you get this!

My simple fall mantle makeover. I especially love the dried grass, sticks and fathers.

Nothing major - just a little tweaking for autumn. I like to try and follow the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple, Sweetie!) because otherwise it can start to feel cluttered. Clutter makes me twitch... and I've got enough twitches going on already around here!

Happy Fall, Ya'll  - as all us southern girls would say!

linking up to:
http://theletteredcottage.net/ideas-for-fall/