A Pop of Pretty

Easy Fall Decorating {How Fall Looks Around Here!}

Easy Fall Decorating {How Fall Looks Around Here!}

“FALL!”  There…I said it.  I usually walk on egg-shells this time of year as any mention of “FALL!” can drive Summer fans over the edge. But if you’ve followed my decorating blog for more than a minute, you probably know that I’m cray-cray-crazy for Fall, and I’ve actually shown great self-discipline by staying quiet this long!  I hate to wish Summer away too, but you know what?  I might as well just admit that I’m sooo not a Summer kind of girl. Fall is definitely my pace. I saw the first leaves turn color this weekend, so I’m now itching to break out the pumpkins.   I decided to flip back through some of my Fall decorating pictures for inspiration.

 

Fall Decorating Pictures

 

Here’s how Fall has looked around here over the past few years…READ MORE!

 

We’re All in the Mood for a Melody! {Decorating our *new* Piano/Sitting Room}

We’re All in the Mood for a Melody! {Decorating our *new* Piano/Sitting Room}

La la, dee dee dah, da dum…dum, dum, dum…

Oh. my. gosh.  I’m soooo tired. Over the past two weeks, we switched two main rooms in our home, the living room and the TV room, and it was completely unplanned.  Here’s a little hint why, in case you aren’t already singing Billy Joel along with me…

piano sitting room

Yup, a piano.

We finally bit the bullet and bought a piano for our 9yo daughter.  She’s been taking lessons for a couple of years, but practicing on an electronic keyboard.  We put off buying her a piano because we really didn’t think we had anywhere to put one.  Our main floor is mostly ‘open concept’ with only a few walls, and the rooms we do have aren’t that large.  But as it turns out, where there’s a will, there’s a way!

 

piano room 1

Given that I wanted to buy a good used piano, I figured it would take me months to find the right one. But the very day I started looking, I lucked into a fab deal on a used Yamaha U1 piano. Isn’t that always the way? READ MORE…

House Peeping: My ‘Dreamy’ Summer Cottage

House Peeping: My ‘Dreamy’ Summer Cottage

Every year at this time, I like to visit our little summer cottage.  It’s an old two-story home in a quiet town by the ocean. The front door a pretty shade of pale pink, and the window boxes are overflowing with flowers. From the aqua-painted Adirondack chairs, you can hear the waves crash on the nearby beach. The decor is simple and uncluttered, and the worn bookcases are filled with board games and great reads.  At night, the front deck is lit only by tea lights in mason jars filled with shells, beach rocks and urchins we’ve collected.

. .Brigus2.

Haven’t I told you about this place before? Oh, um, that’s right.  I haven’t.  Well…err…that’s because it’s not actually a *real* place.  I just visit it in my dreams.  (Hey, don’t judge, lol.) But I’ve been dreaming about it for so long that it  feels real. That must count for something, right? You see, over a decade ago, we had our wedding reception in a clapboard-sided, saltbox-style B&B in a small town by the Atlantic Ocean. Ever since, I’ve been imagining a summer get-away a lot like that place.

Want to know what my dream summer cottage looks like inside?  Come along and I’ll show you!

Well, for starters, the views are stunning.

Brigus

A photo taken in Brigus, Newfoundland

Ferryland Newfoundland

A photo taken in Ferryland, Newfoundland.

 

As soon as you enter, you can hang…READ MORE

Container Gardening Planter Ideas: 10 Fun Ideas for Flowers!

Container Gardening Planter Ideas: 10 Fun Ideas for Flowers!

Oh how I’d love to have a beautiful overflowing garden of brightly colored flowers!  But, I might as well be honest, I don’t have a green thumb. Container gardening has always been more my pace. It’s just so much more…well…contained.  I do well with ‘contained’. I even managed to keep this basket of flowers on my front door alive last summer which was my first real gardening triumph. (Shoot for the stars, right?!?)

 

acontainer gardening in a hanging basket.

I’m not sure if it’s just a psychological thing, but gardening in containers just seems less overwhelming than tending to a large garden.You can make it as easy or as complex as you want.  Me?  I make it easy. Throw in pre-mixed soil from a bag. Water it.  Watch it grow. And, if by chance it doesn’t, move it to a better spot.

 

container gardening in pots

 

I’ve pretty much just planted flowers in pots, baskets or a window box. But the fab examples that follow have inspired me to try something more creative this summer.

 

creative container gardening

READ MORE…

Front Door Color: 10 Fabulous Front Door Colors (& their paint names!)

Front Door Color: 10 Fabulous Front Door Colors (& their paint names!)

The snow is gone, the sun is out, the temperatures are rising…dare I say it’s the season for front door painting? (Can I get a booyah?)

I’m a sucker for fab front door colors.  

 

Front Door Collage

 

There’s nothing that provides easier curb appeal than a pop of fun color on a door.  Trying a  bright or fun color on your front door can be scary, but I love how this web site about exterior color explains the fact that colors have visual ‘weight’, and that a powerful color in a small dose can visually balance an expanse of neutral house siding.

 

I also thought this analogy from the same site was great:  “Remember that your house most likely will be viewed from the street which may mean 60 feet or more from the curb. It’s like the actress with her stage makeup, positively frightening, but she has to be seen by the person in the very back row of the theater.”

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Last year at about this time, I took the plunge and painted the front door on our house (which has cypress green siding) from a safe and traditional red, to a more unexpected light turquoise.

 

My Front Door Color:

Martha Stewart Artesian Well

Mixed as Behr paint + primer

 

front door colors - Martha Stewart Artesian Well.

 

If you’re in the market for new front door colors like I was, you’ve probably searched for inspiration on Google, Pinterest and more. (It feels so much safer, doesn’t it?!?) I found many pretty front doors, but found it frustrating that the exact paint color chip number couldn’t be traced for many of them.

 

So, for any of you lovely readers who might be considering changing your front door color this spring, I’ve rounded up 10 of my favorite ones…but I’ve only included doors for which I could trace the paint color with a fair amount of certainty.  You’ll notice that most of them are Benjamin Moore paint colors – I tried to stick with a brand that’s most widely available.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THEM