autumn table decor
The holiday season is just around the corner. With a late thanksgiving this year, my mother and I were already able to throw a fancy dinner party. When looking for inspiration for table decor, I found that a lot of the autumn themed decorations tended to be a bit hokey. We kept it fairly simple and decorated mostly with birch logs and little woodland animals that my mom already had from her christmas tree last year. We added some glitter and fake leaves just to spice it up a little then lined the table with real leaves that I collected back East, candles and tiny pumpkins. My mom also found some birch lined planters to house a few ferns. I loved how it turned out and it was not terribly difficult to set up. It even felt like fall in seasonless Los Angeles.
mineral mantel
This weekend I was possessed by some strange nesting demon and had to work on home projects. I’ve been slowly redecorating our living room all year, without a ton of progress. Though I did paint the room a very satisfying light blue green, I haven’t sorted out any of the details. It’s August and I still had our winter terrariums up.
After visiting the mineral hall at the Natural History Museum, I was really inspired to incorporate some more natural things into our decor. I envisioned a combination of minerals and geodes in some geometric display in combination with some plants. I found tons of items that would fit this bill, but didn’t exactly fit my wallet. Plus with all the movie watching we do, our living room is often left dark; not exactly the best atmosphere for growing things.
Instead of ordering a bunch of perfect pretty things online, I searched around the house for some rocks and other bits we already had laying around. Surprisingly we have a lot of rocks and weird little things hiding away in closets. It was enough to get me started and see where I want to go. I like the contrast of heavy rocks with some antique glass canisters. I’ll still have to come up with an alternate for plants and I’d like to add some height on the sides. I’m also happy that it showcases our Mondo ET poster.
The room as a whole has quite a bit more work to go. Here is my long term list:
- Add a few select pieces to the mantel
- Make covers for the arms of our couch – The cats have gotten a little too comfortable scratching the couch corners. Some covers will hide the damage they’ve already done and stop them from making it worse.
- Reupholster my chair – The slipcover I made has been a good temporary solution, but it’s not a permanent one.
- New lighting fixtures – I’m not particularly fond of the sconces we have now, but of course, every sconce I’ve liked has been drastically out of our price range. This antler sconce is my favorite. I also have been looking at art deco sconces, but with four in the room, it’s unlikely that I’d find a full set that would work.
- Repair chipped paint on floor moldings / touch up window paint
I should probably make one of these lists for every room.
falling fast
Weeks ago I had grand plans for Halloween decorations. I thought it was high time we put some of our strange medical props to use and make our place into a creepy mad science lab. But of course, I got too distracted chasing Endeavour around town this weekend to really get things together. We’ll see what kind of magic I can pull of, but for now I’ve just tackled a couple little projects.
I found the pumpkin and candy corn fabric weeks ago and sewed it into a festive table cloth. It works well since we have a lot of pumpkins around. Since my zombie dishcloth has seen better days, I stitched up a brand new werewolf towel. Had I remembered my science lab theme, I would have made a heart or some organs, but in the end I like the werewolf quite a bit.
For the authentic touch, I have this little squirrel skull that we found on a trail. It’s my first time cleaning a skull and it is wonderful how much nature can do on it’s own (thank you ants and bacteria). I have a few larger bird bones but they’re still a little too fleshy and gross to bring inside and I don’t think my neighbors would appreciate me cleaning them in our common areas.
It feels like October is nearly gone already and we’ve only had a single cool day. I wish time would slow down a bit more. Everything feels like it is flying by at lightning speed and I don’t want to miss it.
Mantels
I have to admit that I still have our holiday decorations up on our mantel. Since it’s more winter themed than holiday specific, it’s not so bad, but it has been 80 degrees and sunny so it’s time to start figuring out what’s next. Previously we had our mantel decorated with these terrariums, but I think I’d like to put a little more thought into it.
How pretty are these mantels? Up top is at Shawn’s sister Missy‘s house. I love the natural and rustic style. I’m particularly fond of how the rocks and fossils are displayed (as we have quite a few ourselves). My favorite part is the little modern owl.
I also am a big fan of this mantel from Shawn’s aunt & uncles house. Mainly I just love the artwork; it is really showcased but everything also to flows together. I think my previous mantel decor has been seriously lacking in the height department. Not to mention I would love to have some sort of garland, of course on a smaller everyday scale. Oh and again with the adorable modern animals. Those deer are just stunning.
Now to figure out how to combine the two…
palm springs
With the last few posts having their fair share of words, I thought it might be nice to balance things with some photos. We spent the weekend with my dad in Palm Springs on a mini vacation for all of us. We walked around, took lots of photos and ate some surprisingly good food. It was good to have a change of pace and get away from home even if just for a day or two. It was quiet and relaxing and I hope we’ll get to go back in the future for a longer stay. Shawn discovered that we were staying at the hotel where Frank Capra wrote It’s a Wonderful Life. Wouldn’t it be lovely to spend some time in such a tranquil setting, just writing? I think so.
