Simply orange.

I've seen so many lovely rooms decorated in neutral tones for autumn,

but for me it's all about orange.  It's such a cheerful accent color

 that instantly warms and brightens our house as the days get shorter and cooler.

Peonies and olive bucket from Hobby Lobby 

liven up this corner of our living room.

I just plunked three bunches into the bucket.

Easy!

It's been so long since I've bought any new autumn accents,

but this pretty throw was 75% off, so why not?

A few items from my dwindling stash top my pie safe.

Orange candles and twigs from our yard decorate the mantel.

Cinnamon scented pine cones are a must during fall and winter.

These days I don't make a lot of changes for the seasons.

I have very little left in my decorating stash - and I'm not at all sad about it.

In fact, I just dropped off another load of stuff today!

I cut back all my hydrangeas today, but I didn't bring any indoors to dry.

It's been an awful season for outdoor allergies, so I'm trying to keep
our house free of my allergy triggers.

I bought a very inexpensive Wally World off-white area rug

to keep my toes warm and tide me over until......pigs fly, I guess.

It's not as blindingly bright as it appears in this photo, and best of all,

unlike my old red rug, it doesn't clash with orange.  :o)

Thanks for visiting!

Vickie

*I'm joining the party at:
The Essence of Home Share your Style

This and that.

Other than a photo for Mother's Day, I haven't published a blog post
 in almost 6 months, and how quickly those months have flown by!

I will say, it was rather freeing to unplug my laptop over the summer.

In August I held my very last garage sale.  I no longer change things up for the seasons

to the extent I have in the past, so it was high time to get rid of all that stuff.

Now that summer's over and there's a chill in the air, I brought out what remains

of my autumn decor.  I knit up a few more mini acorns and strung them across

the dining room fireplace for a little pop of color.

During my hiatus from blogging, I finally got around to painting my dry sink.
  The drawers are stuck shut, but I'm hoping a coat of clear wax will remedy that.

The woven tray sitting on top was one of my last purchases at our local

Salvation Army before they closed their doors for good last month.

Sad, sad day.

The pale bluish-green paint on the dry sink brightens up the corner of the room

which I'll appreciate even more when the gloomy gray days of late autumn settle in.

Can you spot a new treasure in my secretary?

My sister made the adorable felted wool sheep for my birthday in June.

She's knitting a wee little scarf....with toothpicks!

I haven't joined up with my knitting group all summer long,

but now that it's too dark and cold for evening bicycle rides,

me thinks it's time to start again.

The old straw hat is another recent Sally Ann purchase.

How I'm going to miss the best place in town to shop for

vintage straw hats, baskets..........

......and purses!

I've actually been known to use these purses, much to the dismay of my coworkers.

They have no sense of style.   :o)

I've made some progress upstairs.

Terrible photo, but all that's left to do is sand and paint the trim

and I've got a blank slate to work with.

I'm in the middle of building a piece of furniture for the room,

but until I uploaded this photo, it hadn't occurred to me that I installed

the 2nd vertical divider backwards with the big knot front and center.  ugh

It's a good thing I'm styling it after a primitive piece,

because there's no way I'm taking it apart to fix that particular boo boo.

Our kitchen looks pretty much the same as it did last fall.

One small change is the simple sign I painted to fill the empty space

over the kitchen doorway.  Next up is to paint the rest of the walls, and if you 

look closely, you can see a sample of the warm white color in the corner

right above the clock.  I just have to figure out which gallon of white paint it is.

Hmmmm....

The sky is blue and the sun is shining, so I'm headed outside to enjoy

one of the rare warm sunny days of the season.

Also, I hope Mr. Sun will work his magic on my bad DIY hair color
before I have to face the general public at work tomorrow.
I never learn........

Thanks for visiting and I hope you're enjoying the autumn colors, too!

Vickie

 *Joining:

Katie at Monday Social Address Party

Autumn kitchen.

  I took a week off work (and blogging) to act as girl Friday for my hubby

who had surgery a week ago.  I'd say he's well on the road to recovery

since he was able to put down his crutches to hold the kitchen chandelier

out of the way for the photo below.  It wasn't on his list of exercises,

but I think it falls under the category of occupational therapy.  :o)

I spiced up my shelves with a few seasonal accents.  The sweet pie bird was a gift

that I've yet to use for pie baking.  I've got a freezer full of apples, so this may be the year!

Yummy caramel and cinnamon flavored coffees fill the basket on my mug rack.
If you're trying to cut down on coffee consumption,
do not buy a Keurig!

I had my own list of things I hoped to accomplish this week,

 and finishing my Scandinavian inspired buffalo check fabric shades was one of them.

  They're made from a 102" long tablecloth, so there was more than enough fabric
 to make unlined shades for both windows.  They add warmth to the kitchen
 but still allow sunlight to filter through.

This window is 90" wide, so finding a curtain rod that didn't sag in the middle was a problem.

I bought inexpensive metal electrical conduit that's lightweight, but sturdy, and cut it to length.

  After I hung the shade, I ran a strip of double-face tape along foam pipe insulation and

rolled the shade around it for support and then tied it in place.

In keeping with the season, I found some Frankensteinish bolt thingies

to pop on the ends of the metal conduit.

Colors of the season.

Last fall I found the cookie dough pail in the perfect wood tone to join my
green ice cream maker on top of my pantry cabinet.  15 pounds of cookie dough.  Yum!

I bought the picture years ago at a friend's garage sale.  The print has buckled from
 water damage, but it's such a lovely image.  I'd love to walk along that lakeside path!

   I usually display the thrift store embroidered wine bottle cover with the yarn embroidery
 facing the wall, but the color is welcome this time of year.

  Green and orange have long been 2 of my favorite colors.

Harvest baskets.

A gloomy Halloween seems to be the norm for us.

Bite marks from a grandchild, or are there more sinister

forces present at 911?

My work station for this Halloween Eve.

I'm not normally the candy giver, but this year (unfortunately) the duty falls on my shoulders.
 All I have to say is brrrrrrrr!!!!

 

The infinity scarf was a quick waiting room project last week.  It looks much better hanging

on the hook than it does around my neck.  Apparently twisting and looping one of these things

 into a fashionable accessory is an art I've yet to master.

  The vintage Red Cross bag was just one item in a box full of vintage goodies

 sent to me by blog friend Linda (Itsy Bits & Pieces).  Thank you so much, Linda!

The time has come to turn our clocks back for Daylight Saving Time.
On Monday I'll be driving home from work in the dark.  Sigh.

It's very hard to motivate myself to go for a brisk walk in the cold dark night
after dinner.  I do believe with the cold rainy night that's forecast tonight,
 I'll have plenty of calories from candy bars to work off.  oink oink

Thanks for visiting and Happy Halloween!

Vickie

*I'm joining the parties at:
Tweak it Tuesday Cozy Little House
Make it Pretty Monday  The Dedicated House
Share your Style  The Essence of Home
Let's Talk Vintage  Bella Rosa Antiques

Autumn, past and present.

I didn't go overboard decorating our house for autumn this year,

as I've been known to do in the past.  In fact, I hardly did a thing!

I kept the dining room mantel very neutral.

A new wreath from HomeGoods replaced my sheet music wreath.

Of course I brought out my old pumpkin lamp, which, believe it

or not, I rewired!  Pam (House of Hawthornes) inspired me with her

 easy to follow tutorial.  Thanks Pam! 

Photo from last year on the left and proof that it works on the right!

The lamp is now home to the one and only compact fluorescent light bulb at 911.

Hmpf!  Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?!

I found a new spot for one of the hats I bought at the thrift store. 

My tool caddy centerpiece is filled with brown bottles, candles, and scented pine cones.

I love the spicy smell of cinnamon in the fall.

This little farm girl comes out to play every autumn.

I found the orange heart vase for just a few dollars at an antique shop

and the colors are perfect for our dining room!  I've had the figurine so long

I can't even remember where I got it.

Now, prepare yourself for a frightening sight of autumn past.......

Before & After

Eeek!  The photo on the left was taken...oh, about 6 years ago

when I was still trying to make our old furniture work in this house.

Truth be told, that dining room table and chairs we purchased way back in 1980
 never worked for us, so we gifted it to a needy young couple.

The furniture is still going strong, but unfortunately their marriage isn't.

That's it for the dining room.

I cut the last of my black-eyed Susans to fill canning jars on the
living room mantel.  After trying every mirror I own (and that's quite a few!)
 I settled on the oval mirror to offset the straight lines of the fireplace.

I replaced the old wicker rocking chair with this chippy
 turquoise chair to lighten up the dark brick.

A basket of old quilts covers up the black gas insert

when the fireplace is not in use.

My Limelight hydrangeas really took off this year and provided

plenty of blossoms to fill baskets around the house.

There are a few updates in this corner, like our new clock that actually keeps time.

Imagine that!  I love the color, but it's one more dark element in the room, so

I'm going to paint it a lighter color.  I also changed out our old

lampshades with new linen shades and what a difference it made!

Before & After

Yikes!
The photo on the left was taken 2 years ago, and I'm not missing that dark trim
one little bit!  Now I'm rethinking my decision to leave the fireplace as is.

Looking back, I realize I've made quite a bit of progress in lightening up the rooms
and also in practicing the Less is More design theory........sort of.
  :o)

Well, that's it for now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Vickie

*I'm joining the parties at:
Mod Vintage Life Mod Mix Monday
Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Ivy & Elephants What's it Wednesday
Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson Share your Cup Thursday