FALL DECORATING FOR THE HOME

Even though the temperature out side does not show it (90 degrees), summer is quickly drawing to an end and fall is fast approaching.  We just returned from a two week trip to see our family and friends in Washington state. It's hard to believe we're almost to the middle of September already - seems like summer just flew by !

I love fall and all the vibrant colors that come with the change of season.  Autumn is a great time to bring the red, yellows, brown and orange colors into your home along with elements from nature like pumpkins, gourds, leaves, branches and pine cones.  I did just that yesterday.  Here is a little sneak peak of what I did.

Starting in the dining room.  

I used one of the burlap table runners I made for rehearsal dinner.  I then made a floral arrangement using flowers also left over from the rehearsal dinner.  To give it a touch of fall, I simply wrapped it with some orange fabric.

USE FOR MASON JARS BEYOND CANNING

Canning season is in full bloom, with our garden producing abundantly means it's time to be putting up the produce for winter by canning.  Even as a child I was expected to help in the canning season.  As children, we helped pick the produce, snipped off bean ends, helped husk and cut corn off the cob.

While working on caning my beans this week, I thought about how the mason jars have taken on so many more uses over the years other than just jars for canned goods.   Today I thought it would be fun to share some of the uses for mason jars that I've done myself.

 Two zinc lid pint jars displayed in a small wire basket in our dining room.

Candle light

A BEDROOM TRANSFORMATION

It's great to be back as it's been quite some time since my last post.  I took a little blog vacation and worked on getting some projects finished around the Parsonage.

I'm sure many of you have thought I'd total forgotten to show you transformations that have taken place since February when we moved into the Parsonage.   Today I'd like to share the smallest bedroom in the Parsonage.  When we lived here before, this room was our son's nursery.  It's hard to believe how time flies and he's now in college. 

When we moved here, the room had peeling wallpaper on the lower half of the walls. I'm very thankful for a few ladies from the church who labored away and got it removed from the walls before our arrival.  This is how the room looked the day we moved in...

wall paper paste and old paint on the walls as well as the old window.

DIY BATHROOM MAKEOVER

Since our move in February, I've been working fast and furious at getting everything unpacked, and started right into painting projects. I wanted our home to be ready for all the guests coming for our son's wedding.  In spite of my best efforts to have everything done before the wedding, however, there was still a half bath that needed some TLC.  Since I was missing our children and grandchildren, I thought a little project would help get my mind off of missing them.

Our half bath was the perfect project.

PAINTING HORIZONTAL STRIPES ON WALLS (DIY)

I love the look of stripes on walls.  Stripes can be horizontal or vertical, wide or narrow, soft and subtle or bright and bold.  Stripes can add something unexpected to an area making a small area appear larger, for example.  Vertical stripes can make a room look taller and horizontal stripes make a room look wider.  Stripes on walls has been around in the decorating world for some time, but it's a first for me.   Today I thought I'd share how I painted horizontal stripes in my back entry hallway.

SMALL BUDGET BUT BIG IMPACT {STAIRS MAKEOVER}

I've had so many projects going on in the house since we moved here in February.  I've been working hard at new projects every week, but the problem is that I don't want to share them with you until they're at least somewhat complete. I have been working so hard to meet the dead line I've set for myself.  You see, all our children and grandchildren along with other relatives are coming here in a few short weeks for our son's wedding.  I really want the house to look somewhat finished when they arrive.  Now you can understand why I haven't been posting a lot lately.  However, I have a finished project to share! Yah!!!

I really wanted to make over the stairway to our basement.  All the guest bedrooms are in the basement, so this area will be seen by everyone coming to stay at our home.   When we lived in this house previously, the entire stairway and basement was carpeted, but sometime between then and now the carpet has been removed leaving the stairway to look like this.

Not my favorite choice of style with speckled paint on the stairs (it looked like paint splashed all over the stairs and basement floor).

NEW WINDOWS

Life has been very busy at the Parsonage. Even though you haven't heard from me in a week, I've gotten a lot of things accomplished.  I finished my nursing continue ed course, attended a lot of graduations, done more painting and varnishing.

The best project to have completed is the windows.  Back at the end of February and first of April the construction began on the Parsonage.  The siding and windows were removed and replaced with new.  Since then this is how our windows have looked, no casing or trim.

Every evening we hung table clothes, sheets and drop cloths over the windows for privacy.