Halloween Decorations

I love Fall. It's seriously my favorite. I know everyone really looks forward to Thanksgiving and even more people look forward to Christmas, but I'm a Halloween girl for sure.

I love the spookiness, and the whimsy. I love how I don't have to dust down the spider webs for a month ;) I love how pretty all the dark decorations can look in a light house, and I LOVE pumpkins!

This year I've kept it very simple, mostly because we are so busy right now. However, here are a few little things I've put out for myself and the kiddos.

Cute little pumpkins

Little spooky things scattered around

I even gave the chalkboard wall a little Halloween fun. I'm not going to pretend that I'm artistic at all, but I do think I did a decent job for free handing those letters.

Soon it's going to be Thanksgiving and the decor will change again - but oh for this month I sure do love my little spooky things :)

Jackie's Hutch

There are certain pieces of furniture that you just can't get over. You fall so fast and hard that you are honestly sad when they go back to the clients house. THIS was one of those pieces.

I will be honest, it was a beast to work on. Size, bleed-through, braded hardware instead of screws, warped wood...but oh my and a great big sigh - I adore this piece.

This is a family piece for my client and is even more meaningful now.

The piece came to me like this:

Already insanely gorgeous - but needed a little pick me up to suit the clients tastes and home. It was such a joy to work for Jackie. She is darling and so very kind. She was sweet enough to offer me comfort and a little mothering while I worked on this piece. Things have been a little rough for me lately and she just seemed to know when I needed the mothering and a hug or a call. I have been so blessed by her in this.

She chose Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in French Linen because she adored it on my old striped table and thought it would be perfect for her space.

I just love all the detail on this piece. It's carved to gorgeous perfection!

It turned out just wonderful and I couldn't stop touching it. I love the buttery soft finish of a waxed piece. It just makes me happy.

She loved it and as soon as she got it home and in place she sent me a quick picture. I'm so happy with how it looks and I love that she is thrilled with the piece. It's so amazing how you can be so touched by a client. The relationships you form are just incredible in this business!

Cowgirl Round Up Birthday

My baby is 8. Eight!!! How did that happen?

Way back in August I had asked her what type of party she wanted thinking I was such a good mom for remembering to start early with the planning. She said she wanted a cowgirl party. 

Well, I asked her in advance and had good ideas, then promptly forgot about it until she gets in the car with an invitation to another little girl's birthday...a little girl who's birthday is a week after hers!

"Mama, my birthday is in 10 days! Have you sent out the invitations yet?"

"Ummmm, no. Who do you want to invite? I need to do text invitations because snail mail won't work. I'm so sorry Duchess I forgot!"

"Don't worry mama. Let's just have a few over and make it really fancy and a sleepover!"

"Deal!"

So, I said 'deal' like it was no big, but I panicked. Yes I did. How was I going to pull off intimate and fancy in 10 days with my work load? 

Another issue is (and this is brutal honesty time) I'm a little depressed. I've been in slow mode for the last few months. After my mother passed, I worked around the clock for months. Then we moved, and I worked very hard for a while in the new house. Then I just kind of shut down. I'm finally feeling like that is over and I'm moving forward, but this party was my first to ever do without my mother and I'm not going to lie - it stunk. I think I cried at least twice a day while working on party stuff.

But, I finally pulled it all together and this is what we ended up with.

These hats only come in blue and red with matching badges on them. She wanted burlap, lace, and baby pink as the colors so I got to painting with some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Antoinette and a detail brush.

I also hot glued some cuter badges on the hats

This is what I ended up with for the party favor hats

Jade's badge was gold and I used pink ribbon around the base of hers instead of jute.

All sassy and happy before the girls arrived.

I also made her a banner. This will be slightly modified and hang in her bedroom now.

The "R" was her favorite letter.

So the table and photo booth area looked like this:

I made the cake

And the cupcakes

The western lettering (an artist I am NOT)

The s'mores pops - which are awesome!

I even made individual chocolate milks for everyone.

Then came the games:

We had sawhorse roping

then sawhorse riding

Then barrel racing with stick horses

We also had a game of horseshoes and paint can bowling. I was cold so I quit taking pictures and the girls were freezing so we went inside as soon as all of them had done all of the games. It was time for the photo booth.

My daughter is a ham.

Nothing like cowgirl hats, pancakes, and giggles for breakfast the next morning.

And one tired, but happy little girl with her kitten after it's all over.

Something I Adore

I like light. My husband always said if we ever custom build a house it will be my love of windows that will blow the budget. I love bright, airy, white spaces, cottage appeal with hits of color as accents. Having said that I am desperately falling back in love with black.

I used to have black furniture and I loved the look - but 2 kids later, living in the dustiest place on the planet, and I was rapidly painting everything lighter again.

My dear friend  and fellow designer Lisa is partially responsible for me heading back to the dark side. She loves black. She loves the deep dark feel of it especially for lounging and sleeping spaces. I have to say her love of it is inspiring me right now.

My chalkboard wall got me to start in this direction and then after seeing some of the things Lisa has done in her own home, I'm feeling the need to use it a bit more.

 Here are some examples of how I like black:

As an accent wall

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As dramatic accent in a stark space

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To flawlessly show off fantastic moldings

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To completely swathe you in cozy/sexy

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As stripes...always

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Of course my favorite use of black is via Sarah Richardson...as always.

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Her use of black is my favorite because she uses just enough for effect but it's in a bright and airy wrapper - which is just exactly what I am wanting to do.

Black has me all excited right now. I'm going coastal cottage in this house, but I'm going to see how I can incorporate black into the decor.