halloween

The Autumnal Porch

October 19, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

It’s been a while since I have posted anything not related to the renovation. I am still settling into the house and figuring out how I want to live within my walls. I have a ton of pictures, but I have to show some restraint in sharing them because there has been some interest in featuring the house in national publications and/or books, so I don’t want to flood the market with more pictures.

In the mean time, I have been trying to get back in the groove of design, crafting and creating projects to publish on the blog. For the first time in a while, I have actually completed a project: my fall porch. Trying to create a hybrid between all out Halloween décor and something more subtle, my mandate was to work with what I had on hand with the exception of purchasing pumpkins.

Forgive the graininess of the pictures. I misplaced my battery charger for my good camera and the battery ran out. I have a new one coming so that I can offer you better quality pictures. (Thank God for Amazon Prime :))

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

An arrangement of silk hydrangeas, bittersweet berries and ethereal looking paper wisps compliment the Halloween picks found at the local hobby store.

Gauze and lights give a nice, eerie affect.

A pile of pumpkins and gourds round out the overall design.

Inexpensive tea lights provide a sweet, nightly glow.

Vintage light globes with Halloween embellishments.

Not too much, just enough to make me feel that fall is in the air.

A fall arrangement in a galvanized tub that I purchased at Round Top.

Drop cloths provide a nice treatment for the windows.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Projects Tagged With: autumn, boo, cottage, country, fall, halloween, mckinney, porch, spooky, texas

Boo-ti-ful Fall

October 7, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

The white linen pillows from summer still work with a slight change. This fall throw from Home Goods is a simple change with a lot of impact.

Finally. It feels like Fall this weekend. Halloween decorations have been up for a couple of weeks…but it is kinda hard to get excited about it when we were still pushing in the upper 90’s temperature wise.

I wanted my fall décor to be a bit more refined this year. I am not sure I achieved that…but maybe next year. My favorite element are the brown, black and grey paisley pillows with the ivory throw blanket with grey, black and brown accents. Not a set, they contrast beautifully to reflect the change of the season without being too obvious.

My second favorite element are the vintage enamel buckets with the twig arrangements. Naturals such as twigs and cotton branches against glittered black bats and black feathers with a flickering candle in the center flank the porch nicely. My old fall back favorite of pairing the rustic with the refined.

I hope you see something that inspires you. Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

Cindy

The perfect place for holiday candy on the spookiest of nights!

Old vines from summer still there.

A comfortable corner to sit and read a book or watch the world go by as Summer transitions to Fall.

The white linen pillows from summer still work with a slight change. This fall throw from Home Goods is a simple change with a lot of impact.

The other crow sits atop the sea grass pouf and keeps another creepy light company.

More tolerable weather brings people out after the August hibernation. So comfortable seating with seasonal colors is still a must.

He keeps an eye on us….

Sitting atop an old cast iron urn with some gauze and purple holiday lights.

Just a little something to get everyone in the mood.

An old vintage, enamel bucket with window clings topped off with a flickering candle in the middle of this holiday centerpiece.

Natural and artificial embellishments feature in this outdoor centerpiece.

Some small white pumpkins act as filler to hide power cords and white gauze mutes the bright orange holiday string lights.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, My Home, Projects Tagged With: bat, black, cottage, country, decor, fall, ghost, halloween, orange, vintage, witch

Fallready

October 11, 2012 by Cynthia 2 Comments

Black urn and white pumpkin dressed with gauze for an ethereal look.

My last fall post for the year…I’ll be starting on Christmas posts next week. Can’t wait! I took down the Halloween decorations on my mantle and simplified with a fall theme to bring me into the Thanksgiving Holidays.

I tend to fill the visual space in a plentiful way; showing restraint is not always easy for me with regard to design. But I started with more and played and edited the props until I got to the final, simplifed version. It was kind of liberating to keep it as simple as it ended up.

I also included some other pictures of my outdoor decor, but I am “fallready” and ready to coast for a few weeks and then start Christmas decorating.

I hope you find some inspiration!

xoxo.

Cindy

Remember to click twice to bigify!

: Black urn and white pumpkin dressed with gauze for an ethereal look.

: An artisinal interpretation of a finial.

: Outside vintage lit pumpkins.

: Outside simple gauze, mini pumpkins and vintage orange enamel pitcher.

: Illuminated multiplicity.

: White pumpkins and sparkling mercury glass candles. Classic.

: Final Version. Multiples.

: Cornhusk crowns that look like wheat stalks, vintage tin and simple white grocery story pumpkins.

: Version Three.

: Version two, a little leaner and a little cleaner.

: Version two, a little leaner and a little cleaner.

: White pumpkins, a large wood finial, candles and orange velvet ribbon woven through a moss lined wire basket

: First version, all in.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, candles, cottage, fall, fireplace, halloween, mantel, mantle, pumpkins, thanksgiving, vintage

Boo!

August 23, 2012 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Vintage Mirror from GOOD LOOK, Inc. reminiscent of a tombstone.

Call me naive or hopeful, but I really long for the old kind of Halloween that was innocent and fun and full of simple, sweet frolic. During the holidays, paper crafting was common in the Victorian era. Taking my cues from them, I used lovely Victorian Halloween clip art that has a wonderful graphic quality and design that endures today, over 100 years later.

For my Halloween mantle, I challenged myself to use paper to make crafts and stay away from store bought, ready-made pieces. I tend to be more creative when there are greater limitations place on me. To that end, here are some of the projects from the mantle:

Paper lanterns
Paper flag banner
Accordion pleated Holiday medallions
Paper Flags
German Glass Glitter Star “scepter”
Black & White bean jack-o-lantern face in a vintage vase (vintage vase used previously in this post)
Antique pie crust mirror (from GOOD LOOK, Inc.)
End of season hydrangeas (with pretty raspberry and green variegated buds) in a lab beaker
Hurricane candle holders with black and white bean stripes, reminiscent of vintage ticking strips topped with vintage french ribbon

I hope that you find something that inspires you!

Until next time,

xoxo

Cindy

Halloween Mantle.

Remember to click twice to bigify!

: The collection of vintage and home made items for a fun design.

: Halloween Mantle

: Homemade Paper Lantern.

: An old and favorite vintage find fits right in with the holiday decorations.

: Adding color with ribbon around the edge of the mantle and some gauze for texture.

: Hurricane Globes filled with beans and topped with vintage striped ribbon.

: Mean Bean Jack-o-lantern Face.

: Old Fashioned Mercury Glass Pumpkin.

: Paper Flag.

: Papercraft Bunting.

: End of Season Hydrangeas.

: Hand Made Paper Medallion.

: Vintage Mirror from GOOD LOOK, Inc. reminiscent of a Tombstone.

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, cottage, country, craft, decorations, halloween, holiday, old fashioned, paper, victorian, vintage

Fall-i-de-scope.

July 30, 2012 by Cynthia 4 Comments

Hand made jute tassel against the vibrant orange velvet.

Oranges, greens, browns and purples. All the colors of fall emerge and act as a signal to a great time of year full of fun and frolic and the holidays. As part two of my three part series on seasonal tables, I have created a table that celebrates the wonderful, vibrant colors of the fall season.

I challenged myself to create a table that references the fall season through color and texture, rather than using established icons like pumpkins, leaves and gourds. There is a certain balance between the rustic and the refined in this table scape. The birch bark that sheaths the zinc pots to the toile that was used for the napkins and window seat pillow covers. The chippy white painted columns used as centerpiece bases to the DIY mercury glass candle holders. The beautiful vintage amethyst cut glass plates against the home made jute tassels. The elegant orange velvet bands as a counterpoint to the vintage grain sacks used as chair slipcovers. All in all, a sweet way to welcome family and friends.

Credit where it is due, thank you to Vince at Good Look, Inc for collaborating with me on this table design…you continue to be a great resource to find the items for all my zany ideas, along with your great ideas and suggestions!

Here is what you will see:

Old porch post cut down in sections for the centerpiece, holding candles and flower arrangements
Zinc pot covered with birch bark for the flower arrangements
Chair caning used for a table runner
Hand made jute tassels
Hand made coasters using chipboard with embossed pattern
DIY Mercury glass candle holders using a pattern transfer method (how-to Click Here)
Fall inspired pillow and cushion slipcovers
Updated vintage napkins
Vintage grain sacks used as a dining chair slip cover for a quick and simple update
Simple grocery store flowers and fruits for affordable centerpieces

Pictures below. I hope you find some inspiration!

Always,

Cindy

Remember to click twice to bigify!

: The Finished Table.

: Zinc pots covered with birch bark for flower arrangements.

: Birch Bark.

: Beautiful patterned linen slipcovers used for window seat cushions.

: Beautiful toile linen for napkins and pillows.

: Chair caning for table runner; a great textural element.

: Toile used as a pillow slipcover with wonderfule sage silver velvet ribbon.

: Place Setting.

: Chip board coasters die cut and embossed with same embossing pattern on glass candle holder.

: DIY mercury glass holder with transfer pattern.

: Vintage napkin update by adding linen toile to other side.

: Vintage wood column cut into sections as a base for centerpiece.

: Hand made jute tassel agains the vibrant orange velvet.

: Simple vintage grain sack as a chair slipcover.

: Kalidescope of vibrant fall colors.

[hana-code-insert name=’cottagesbungalos’ /]

Filed Under: Holiday and Seasonal, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: bark, birch, cottage, country, decorating, fall, halloween, holiday, jute, table, tassel, vintage

Falling into Fall.

July 27, 2012 by Cynthia 3 Comments

A Goulish Arrangement in a vintage orange pitcher.

This blogging thing is still relatively new to me. The idea that retailers and bloggers alike are thinking about Fall while we, here in Texas are just at the beginning of our mean season is a bit of a challenge.

The earlier the better, I suppose. It gives our wonderful and loyal followers enough lead time to start thinking about Fall design. It just might get here in the blink of an eye.

Some ideas for Halloween decor…maybe you will find something that inspires you!

Always,

Cindy