Fall Decorating Inspiration

Bring on the boots, cozy sweaters, dazzling leaves, and crisp days! Fall is such a beautiful season! Here in the south, we will have to wait a while longer but today's low 70's temps have me dreaming...

so I have been looking back at our fall decor over the years. So many memories, so many years... in some ways it makes me sad, sad that Grandma Cottage and our "boys" aren't here with us to welcome another season. But I'm excited about all that this season will hold- and because of its one step closer to pulling out my trees!!! Yes, I am totally counting the days... 

The house and style have changed so much over the years but I wanted to share some of it with you in hopes it will inspire you to see pumpkins everywhere -Wink- and for those of you who love Christmas as much as I celebrate, its a little closer!

Ahhh... be still my heart! I love white pumpkins so much (granted this one is very yellow).

Back when our walls were green... Wow, the house looks so different!

This year we swagged brown chiffon up the staircase with beautiful leaf and berry garland.

This wreath we brought home years ago when Grandma Cottage was still decorating the Cottage. It's timeless around here and it's exit from the attic always is the first that falls is about to grace us with it's presence.

Chippy wagon, filled to the brim with pumpkins, giant chalkboard, and coffee- does life get any better?

This year we strung a simple leaf garland with Christmas lights (they have so many uses!) around the door and placed scarecrows on either side. To one side of the door, we added a strawbale with cute rubber boots little chalkboard signs and a pumpkin with a crow on the top. I miss those crows! They were so fun!!! I need to find more!

Hydrangeas in rusty buckets and chippy benches make my heart happy- they also make this corner of the porch so inviting.

Over here we have our old wagon loaded down with pumpkins and sunflowers.

Down the stairs, we placed mums and different colored pumpkins alternately. I think I need to go pumpkin shopping right now...

Those colors... *DROOLING*

In here we went with a hydrangea and pumpkin centerpiece with tarnished silver candlesticks.

We added moss and green pumpkins to the crate box on the coffee table to bring autumn to this area of the living room.

Over here we added dried hydrangeas in a basket and a cotton garland.

Building A River In The Garden

Grandma Cottage absolutely loved Jesus, ponds, and roses so when we moved to this house 18+ years ago she was thrilled. There was plenty of room for ponds and a rose garden! We had a convenient, rather large gully in our yard that always collected water and was a pain to mow. Just like that, the idea for the big pond was born. We tried a hard plastic liner, but Mr. Cottage just didn't care for it so we pulled it back out and dug the hole wider and got a rubber pond liner. We covered the edges with rocks a variety of rocks (most of those are from our yard believe it or not). Originally we had a river behind the waterfall so the water traveled down it and then over the waterfall but we ended up changing it to what you see now. 

A while later we added a small little plastic pond further down the path, again we didn't end up liking it so we removed it and used a rubber liner and covered the edges with rocks. Grandma always wanted to add a river between the two ponds but we never got around to it- until now. Last week after several days of rain I decided to make her dream a reality.  

This is the pathway and patio before we started our project, the bushes have grown out enough that it was annoying to walk down the path. We put our cowboy grill and extra chairs from our outdoor table out here so we could enjoy the evenings.

Related Article: Beginnings Of The Cottage

We already had some of the landscaping done, with some slight transplanting we had it set.

We pulled up 4 rows of stones along the walkway to the pool and all the stepping stones along the path.

We dug the outline out slightly so we could see it, once we got the angles and layout right we went ahead and continued digging.

We decided to have the river cascade at this point into the smaller pond. We removed the rocks on the end and dug a ditch 4 inches deep to the big pond. Don't worry that isn't the water line on the smaller pool we drained it to get the gunk off the bottom from several years of just sitting there.

We got a little too wide so we ended up backfilling and raising sections to 10 inches tall.

Related Article: Cottage Garden Tour

We picked up 2 rubber liners from Lowes, and attached them together with tape (also from Lowes) then spread it down the ditch making sure it was well over the sides. We tried to get as many wrinkles out of it as possible. We saved digging out the section next to the big pond for last so we wouldn't have water everywhere. We ended up cutting some of the excess off the side of the liner and using a piece to help cover the seam between the pond and river so we wouldn't have any leaks. Next, we added rocks, one of the very few good things about having a rocky yard.

It took a little adjusting to get the flow right, but after some shifting and digging we got it working right and began thinking about landscaping!

Here is another view of the river flowing down to the little pond.

We stopped by our local Lowes and found some beautiful flowers on clearance for 50% off and "adopted" them for this space.

The brown mulch was also on sale so we went with that to mulch around the pond. I love how rich the color is!

Mr. Cottage also built a bridge for us [Tutorial coming soon!]! We also brought two of our butterfly benches out to the patio and some cute garden art. It's so nice to sit out here in the evenings and watch the dragonflies and butterflies dance through the air and listen to the water!

Do you have a water feature in your garden? 

2017 Christmas Tour

Merry Christmas! I dearly love this time of year, the decorations, the lights, the cocoa and yes the Christmas treats. The smell of a real tree, a warm fire and wrapping presents.  I love all of it! But especially the decorating, Grandma cottage was a huge Christmas lover and every year she would decorate every square inch of the house

One year she filled an entire room with Christmas village except for a tiny pathway. It was beautiful! This year we didn't fill an entire room with village but, I still think it looks beautiful. So welcome to our farmhouse Christmas tour and our Cottage. We have one rule, anyone who steps through our door is family. So grab a cup of something warm and cozy (and if you have cookies that is even better) and stroll through the Cottage. 

I'm totally in love with the broken mirror trees on our mantel! We snagged the very last ones that Big Lots had. Over the mantel, we hung our Decor Steals wings. We rehomed our silver candlesticks from the table to the mantel with silver ornaments, bronze candelabras, a beautiful floxed pinecone garland from Hobby Lobby and our homemade burlap and muslin stockings. 

 

We swapped out our cream Ikea couch covers for white and paired it with green and cream ribbon throw pillows.

Coffee filter Christmas trees! So easy to make and so pretty, all you need is a cone, coffee filters, and a glue stick. Yep, that's it!

We framed the fireplace with distressed buckets filled with Duraflame logs.

Touches of Grandma Cottage's village grace our TV consul, we added a piece of garland over the TV also.

Fun fact- see that awesome vintage camera on the TV consul? Mr. Cottage brought that back from his time in Germany. Isn't it neat?

Old books and touches of the sea. You can take the girl away from the ocean, but you can't take the ocean out of the girl.

Ok, I admit it, I was on a bit of a garland kick this year. If I hadn't run out, it would be over literally every doorway. *Yes Mr. Cottage you should probably be worried* The garland over the door is actually handmade of our grapevines and live greenery (also from the yard).

I truly love the sound of a record player, that crackly sound as it plays the song- yep heaven. Next to it is one of Grandma's village churches. It reminds me of the one they wanted to build in the Bishop's Wife.

Crocks and Christmas trees, a vintage camera and cotton wreath. We flanked the armoire with two cream chairs and cute throw pillows.

In case you were wondering those furry white pillows on the couch are as soft as they look! We scored them at Burkes.

For the centerpiece on our crate coffee table, we used this adorable crate filled with reindeer moss and this beautiful cupcake holder from Kirkland's.

You might notice as you wander through we have a lot of trees, yeah we kind of like them. This one is our real one, covered with frost garland and glass, butterflies and seashell ornaments.

 White paper packages for beneath the tree we tied them with burlap, blue and silver ribbons and raffia with homemade salt dough tags.

We picked up that giant galvanized bucket at Lowes for 19.99, once we got it home we dry brushed it with American Paint Company "Uncle Sam's" chalk paint to take off the shine.

You may remember our very long kitchen remodel, we finally were able to decorate for Christmas in here (last year we didn't have countertops and the paint was only half finished). 

We put a cotton wreath on our pantry door and one over the stove. On the island, we put trees in galvanized tubs and crocks. On either side of the sink, we put white and silver trees, two bowls, and a crystal candelabra decorates the corner.

For this tree, we used mercury glass ornaments and a cute metal basket to hold it. We placed a cute horse-drawn sleigh and small tree to decorate our Pioneer Woman cake dish.

We replaced the aprons that normally hang here with adorable ticking stockings. 

This is my favorite spot in the whole kitchen, the window seat! Bonus points it's right next to our coffee station!

We decided to use ornaments as napkin rings, I happened to have these burgundy ones left over so I strung them on a piece of twine. To keep the burgundy tones we used a table runner the same color as the ornaments. For the centerpiece, we used fresh greenery, cotton garland, white and silver trees and a small tree in a crock (scored from Burkes).

We used silver trays for chargers and these bone china plates with gold stars. 

We decorated this end table with a galvanized tiered tray, wood trays from Decor Steals and a cute urn we picked up at Hobby Lobby years ago. 

A mixture of vintage and new treasures, those beautiful old books we found at an Estate Sale!

Some more of my favorite village houses and another beautiful church.

In the main entryway is Mr. Cottage's tree, 8 feet of Christmas glory. For this one we go with Americana & nature ornaments collected through the years, we usually add a few things each year. The Santa's hung on one of my Grandmother's tree's (she had an ornament for each child and grandchild) but passed to us after her death. 

In the background, you can see the Remembrance Tree, filled with ornaments for loved ones no longer with us.

Told you I was on a garland kick, this strand runs up our staircase. I clothespinned Christmas cards people have sent us and pictures of some of our favorite memories this year. 

In this family, you are never too old for a fairy tale, so welcome to our fairy tale themed bedroom.

In a fairy tale room, you have to have a fairytale tree so here it is. Covered with roses, pearls, delicate swans, wings, beautiful horses, works of literature and topped with a crown.

 I have to say I love this little guy, we picked him up at Big Lots - I regret nothing!

I usually hang my earrings on here (does that give you an idea of how many earrings I own - don't judge it could be worse) but I decided to spruce it up a little with live greenery and beautiful satin ribbon (way cheaper than the one Brianna wanted to buy and just as pretty).

And finally we come to the Master Bedroom, we used a beautiful winter berry garland over the bed which really popped against the Cottage sign.

The bed is loaded with lacy sheets and soft cream and white pillows. That cute believe pillow we snagged at Big Lots, I just love the way it looks.

We wanted to keep this tree neutral so we went with beautiful white snowflakes for ornaments.

On the dresser, we used this beautiful vintage christening gown and a stack of gorgeous old bibles, treasures from the past we discovered at estate sales.

On the other end, we place willow tree sculptures and a bucket filled with beautiful blue ornaments and a cute little Christmas tree.

Over the top of the mirror we used a piece of magnolia garland, I love how it looks up there.

And that concludes our Christmas tour, we hope you enjoyed it! Merry Christmas! We hope you have a wonderful holiday filled with love and laughter and lots of memory making. May the blessings of this season follow you through the New Year, and may you find yourselves on our doorstep again next year.