Beautiful Thanksgiving Tables

I am getting so excited for Thanksgiving this year, it will be the second Thanksgiving that we will be staying at home for.  It will probably just be my hubby, little man and I as our families can't make it down here.  Even though it is just the three of us I like it to be a special day of family, feast and football!  I am loving these table scapes and they are giving me inspiration for our table, and the challenge is going to be making ours look just as great with what we already have.  The little man was picking up tons of acorns from our lawn the other day and I though about throwing them back into the yard when we were done, but I brought them in and I think they'll find a way onto our table.

 Traditional Home

Better Homes & Gardens

Better Homes & Gardens

Owls in Home Decor

Lately I have been enthralled with owls in design.  This has taken me by complete surprise, as I have always found them a little bit creepy & old lady.  However, grandma chic is in, and they can't be too scary if they eat Tootsie Pops right?!  

You may have read my post on the TV show Modern Family.  Since I am so in love with this shows set designs... they may have swayed me over to the dark side with that adorable cookie jar in the Dunphy kitchen.  Can you see it there on the island?

 Lonny Magazine

 Delight by Design

I don't even have an umbrella like these, but this stand makes me want to go out a get a few of them! 

Burke Decor

Jonathan Adler

Tammy on Twos

These last couple of owls started out as the "creepy" kind, but Tammy on Twos took a few coats of glossy white spray paint to them.  Aren't they so chic now?  I will be near Goodwill today, maybe I should stop in for a peak and see if they have some that I could transform.

UVerse Got Rid of My Favorite TV Shows!!

Photo via DecorPad

See that nice TV, and that comfortable sofa?  I would really love to be doing nothing watching a no brainier HGTV show or getting hungry watching Food Network, but THEY DELETED THOSE CHANNELS FROM MY SERVICE!!

Gorgeous Family Rooms

It's FALL {I know I have already mentioned this a time or two} and this means in the upcoming months we will be spending lots more time indoors.  I absolutely love the thought of sitting in my warm house next to the fire with a hot cup of joe watching the brisk morning air outside.  What better way to do this than in one of these charming rooms?

 

Photo: Southern Living 

The ottoman in this room is amazing and look at that bamboo mirror!  This living room has such sophistication and yet still feels like you could kick up your feet.  Not to mention that my "mommy mind" {not sure that is a real term, but it feels real to me} goes straight to how safe that ottoman would be around the baby.  It's got me thinking how I can accomplish this.

 

Photo: Southern Living

Canadian House & Home

Coastal Living

I love each and every  one of these rooms for different reasons.  Don't they just make you want to stay there forever?   

Inexpensive Exterior Makeover

So for the last few months I have been working on painting our exterior {yes I said months}.  You may remember that I started with the garage and decided to move to the back of the house since I can reach the whole area without needing scaffolding or a super tall ladder.  Well, then we went on vacation and I lost most of my motivation.  So last weekend I finished most of the back of the house, but then it got super cold and rainy this whole week.  I am hoping to finish up the weekend if the weather holds up for me.

 Here is a picture of the original color of our house. Most of the house is brick, but here at the back has a lot of siding and there is siding on the eaves.  It is a little hard to tell from the pictures, but that is mint green... Yuck!

 This is the color scheme that we are going for. The truth is that this gray/green color was in the garage, and the previous owners had used it on the shutters and front door.  They WAY over bought the paint and thus this is how we landed on this color ;). 

Sherwin Williams Happy Valley {couldn't find the actual sample, so this is close}

Glossy Black

Behr Swiss Coffee

We also have the original aluminum windows.   I would love to get new windows, but they are just not in the budget right now :(  So I am trying something out, I am painting over the aluminum {Yikes, I'm scared}.  The window frames already had some paint on them from the previous paint job, so I thought "it can't make them any worse", and then I thought "people paint wood windows".  I am trying it on this window, and we'll see how it holds up and then maybe do the rest of the windows.

So hopefully I can finish up the back of the house this weekend, wish me luck!!

I Have a Thing for Wing Back Chairs

 I have been painting, painting, painting for the last couple of days {I blame it on my husband for being out of town}.  Our office/guest bedroom is the last room in the house to get painted, and I'm almost done with adding the horizontal stripes around the room.  

But instead of finishing up, I have been dreaming of wing back chairs.  I'll admit it, I have a thing for wing back chairs.   I have long been trying to find a pair on Craigslist that I can recover, but I am a little intimidated to take the leap!  I love how they are no longer exclusive to stuffy formal rooms.  They are popping up in every style of home from feminine to masculine, cottage to modern and country to urban.  With fun prints and dramatic shapes they are sure to make a statement.

Coastal Living

 LivingEtc

Southern Living

Coastal Living

Cooking Light

This one might be my favorite, it really warms up this space and keeps it from looking too new!

Modern Custom Plates & Platters

 If you haven't heard of Etsy than you have been living under a rock ;)  What you may not know is that Etsy has this great way to search products locally through their Shop Local feature.  I can't tell you how many countless hours I have spent just "window shopping" Etsy.  Anyway, I digress, while doing the above stated pa rousing I found this great shop in the Dallas area.  r o u g e & c o. modern home accessories makes custom melamine plates and accessories.  You pick the product, the pattern, the color and then they customize it for you.  I just love how modern the patterns are.

 {photos via r o u g e & co}

Growing up we had a "You are Special Today" plate that would be brought out on special occasions such as our birthdays, for school achievements or anything that was extraordinary.   Being the middle child I would sometimes feel lost in the pack, but it was so fun to get recognized apart from my siblings.  I have always wanted to do this in my family, and these plates would be perfect for that {although I have a few more years before I think I will be in need of it}

Here is a picture of The Original Red Plate just for nostalgia sake.