Fall Dining and Living Room

Happy October! Today I am sharing the rest of the fall decor in our home. I already shared our kitchen and family room and now we are in the dining/living area of our open floor plan home.

This gallery wall with hooks and wire basket serves as a landing spot for many items in our home. Please excuse the scuff marks on the stairs and the stickers on my son's door at the end of the hallway. Confession - a couple of years ago I would have photoshopped those things out - but I am so over that level of perfection. A real family does live here :)

This stairway truly is grand central station in our home so I enjoy having it display items that reflect all of us as a family.

I made the pallet sign that is hanging over the faux fireplace a few years back and added some Target Dollar Spot pumpkins to complete the mantel. 

I am loving the small $1 pumpkins - thank you, Target! My husband, Billy, just shook his head when I loaded up the entire front section of my red cart with them. They were an easy and cheap affordable way to update my fall decor with their light colors. I had to add in a few orange pumpkins though because I just can't do all neutrals for fall. For me, fall is all about the golden light and warm colors.

 I am never quite sure what to call this sitting area just off of our kitchen. It is technically the dining room but we have flip-flopped dining and living rooms because a formal living room just didn't fit in with our family's lifestyle. My kids often sit on this sofa with their computers while I am in the kitchen.

These DIY-ed open shelves separate the living and dining areas. We have a sort of coffee bar set up in this location that serves us well.

The big Autumn wreath has found a spot in our front window for at least the last 5 years.

More Dollar Spot pumpkins and dried hydrangea from our yard make up our dining table centerpiece.

The "thankful" runner is yet another Dollar Spot find.

Thanks for visiting our Autumn home! 

Our Fall Kitchen

Happy Friday! I am thrilled that we will be experiencing some cooler fall temperatures this weekend. I always find myself contentedly back in my kitchen at this time of year. Adding in some warm colors with the gorgeous syrupy golden light that fills this space in fall makes my heart sing.

The triple windows over our farm sink are probably my favorite part of our home. I enjoy adding a new dish towel or two and even using dish towels as curtains, as I did this year. These are small purchases that go a long way in changing up this space.

Because I enjoy cooking, this is a working kitchen. Not a showplace kitchen. I have come to learn that you can either have a pristine kitchen that is worthy of a magazine spread...or a messy kitchen that nurtures a family. I whole heartedly choose the latter. 

Another new addition to my fall kitchen is a cast iron pumpkin pot. I have had my eye on the Staub version of this pot for years at Williams Sonoma but could never bring myself to pay the hefty price tag. I was thrilled to find a similar pot at Christmas Tree Shops for a fraction of the price. I will proudly display in on the range throughout the fall.

 For me, it's all about the little touches that make a house feel like home.

I am so glad you stopped by to see my fall kitchen. My last fall decor post will include the dining room and living space on this level of our home.

Easy Fall Decor in Our Family Room

Hello and Happy Fall! Today, I am dusting off the cobwebs that have collected here on this blog and sharing some pictures of our fall family room. Fall is my favorite season to decorate so I couldn't let it pass by without at least a couple of fall decor posts. Mostly everything I used came from my fall bins but I did add in a couple of new items that I picked up on a recent fun shopping trip at HomeGoods.

The weather has been crazy warm but I did manage to take these pictures with a fire going on a chilly morning a couple of weeks back. Nothing says fall to me quite like that first fire of the season.

I took the easy route for our mantel and purchased the "pumpkins, apples, hayrides" sign at HomeGoods. Our plaid chairs and red ottoman (custom order from Bassett Furniture) always feel right at home by the stone fireplace at this time of year. The striped rug is from Ikea.

I added a couple of fall pictures and velvet pumpkins to our gallery wall.

 I kept things a bit simpler with a some pops of orange in the throw pillows and a knit throw on our sofa.

Dax has adopted this pumpkin as a dog toy this season. At least it matches the decor in the rest of the room :)

In our front entryway, I added a colorful rug from HomeGoods to give the tile floor some warmth.

 I hope you enjoyed visiting our fall family room today. Thanks for stopping by!

Summer Family Room Decor

Hello! Today I am back as promised sharing a few pictures of our summer family room. It all started with the "Lake, Boats and Cabins" sign that I found on clearance at HomeGoods at the end of last summer. It was under $20 and a quick search on the computer when I got home let me know it was actually an older Pottery Barn item. All of the other things I used are items I bring out every summer. The sailboat always adds a fun nautical vibe and I love to display a picture of my boys on our boat when they were younger. "The mountains are calling" pillow is an older find from Marshalls and earns a place in this room no matter the season.

Summer Adventures

Hello! Our summer has been going great and I hope yours has too. So far, we have spent a couple of weeks in the mountains and plan to spend a few more before the summer ends. Today I thought I would share a few of the pictures I have taken so far this year. I have talked before (repeatedly) about my love of the loons and I was excited (and lucky) to get this shot on Schroon Lake one afternoon. The call of the loon is definitely one of my favorite sounds.

And here are two more of my favorites- Matthew and Dax at the lake.

There is a Hobie Cat Regatta on Schroon Lake each June and it is so pretty to see the colorful sails on the lake.

A stop at Split Rock Falls just off Rte. 9 in Elizabethtown, NY is always fun. This day was overcast so we were the only ones there. The sound is amazing and standing next to the edge always ignites my fear of heights, but in a good way. It can be a dangerous area for sure.

Billy and I enjoy taking rides in the Jeep after dinner to chase the sunset. Here are a couple of pictures I took along the way.

The Strand is the small movie theatre in the center of town that plays one movie all week at 8pm with a few special events throughout the summer. Just another thing that adds to the charm of Schroon Lake.

We also enjoyed a few more day trips to Vermont. We visited two covered bridges. The first is in Waitsfield and crosses the Mad River.

The second is the Halpin covered bridge near Middlebury.

I love seeing the Adirondacks from Vermont. I think they have the best view.

We enjoy exploring around the backroads of Vermont. You just never know what beautiful view is around the bend.

Family rides in the Jeep with the top and doors off adds to the adventure.

Our oldest boy will be going away to college this fall and oh, my heart!!

I am trying to remain positive but it is downright hard to see him go. I remind myself repeatedly that our job is both to provide roots AND wings. The wings part is just so dang difficult! We are all holding onto him a little tighter this summer.

We are home in NJ this week getting things done. Like college dorm shopping. And we also have our middle son taking driving lessons to get his permit. Time marches on. I hope you have enjoyed a peek of our summer adventures. I am just realizing that I never shared our summer family room so I will try to get that post done this week too. Happy Summer!