Welcome Fall!

On this first full day of fall, I want to wish everyone a wonderful autumn season.  I am always so conflicted at this juncture, as I am so reluctant to say goodbye to summer and all it's specialness.  But then, it seems that a switch is thrown and I am suddenly ready for all the beauty of fall.  I'm ready for sweaters, for heartier meals, for football, and most of all for fall entertaining.  People who spend the summer away are back and it is so exciting to get together and catch up.  Here's a photo of our driveway gates taken last fall.  We don't have pumpkins or corn stalks out yet here in Georgia, but I'm stalking (no pun intended) the garden centers and I'll be decorating asap.  I'm hoping to welcome many of our dear friends through these gates for fall!

Tour of Fall Decor

 I thought I'd take you on a tour of our home dressed for fall.  Come on in!

Here's what will greet you at the road.  

These mums will soon show a lot more color.  I buy them in bud so that they will give us color until Thanksgiving.

At the Y in the driveway, we've put this little grouping.  That is not a strange weed to the right.  It is a pumpkin vine that sprung up from last year's pumpkin.  It got to be about 8 inches around and then it disappeared overnight.  Did the deer eat it?

As you come up the driveway, you'll pass the cutting garden.

Through the gate, the garden is sadly done for the season, except for the mums.

Then, come in the front door.  So many of our pumpkins and gourds came from Whole Foods.  They have a great variety of heritage pumpkins and they are very reasonable.

Out in the back, we've continued decorating, as we have so many windows and doors that look out to this area.

Beside the fireplace.....

the French boy is gathering harvest, too.

Inside, in the living room, the mantle gets a small vignette.  I'm not usually one for an overdone mantle with layers and layers of seasonal stuff, so this is a lot of decor for me.

A LOT of stuff.

Unfortunately, I broke this black metal pedestal.  I'm still trying to replace the middle rod.  I'm carrying it around from hardware store to hardware store.  I am NOT giving up! 

These orange roses are so lovely.  I wish they would stay this way all fall, but they'll be done soon.

This faux bois vase always holds birch sticks from the yard, but for fall, I've added the Chinese lanterns and bittersweet.

In the dining room, on the sideboard, I've done a vignette with real and paper mache gourds.

 

And on the chest, these faux bois pedestals are filled with fall colored flowers.

They are so vibrant that they look fake, but they are real, I swear.

This step back cupboard in the breakfast room just gets a slight nod to fall.

In the bar, another grouping of gourds and small pumpkins.

And some small pumpkins filled with fresh flowers.

Soon I will get out the Halloween stuff, and we'll enjoy that, but I'll wait a couple of weeks, as I get very tired of  that.  Love it, but it's too much for very long!

Joining:

Tutorials and Tips at

StoneGable

My entry into No Minimalist Here Open House Party  sponsored by Appliances Online.

Feathered Nest Friday at

French Country Cottage

Hallways Before and After

I posted about the remodeling of our living room recently.  You can see it here.  After I re-read it, I realized that I took a lot of credit for the improvements, but it was a total collaboration with Mr. Pressed Pants and I didn't give him enough credit.  He was totally involved and without his participation, this wouldn't have happened.  So much for my disclaimer!!!

 There were a myriad of details just in this hallway that connects the master bedroom part of the house to the kitchen part.  It runs along this stairway behind the sofa.  Upstairs, this same area was changed dramatically, as you will see here.

Here's what we started with.  This newel post was huge, and from the front entryway, it actually blocked the view into the living room.  I couldn't get rid of these ceiling lights quickly enough.

That area looks like this now.  We refinished the stairs and replaced the banister and railing, upstairs and down.  These iron spindles made such a difference, especially from the entryway.  There was no railing on the left side of the wall, so we added it for safety.  Southern Staircase did the work for us and they were just wonderful to work with. 

The next decision was how to carpet the stairs.  I really wanted sisal, but was concerned about the wearability.  I settled on this sisal/olefin blend with a subtle diaper pattern and bound it in matching tape.  Then decided to install it "tight" instead of "waterfall", which means that it closely follows the edge of the step.  Details, details!  I put it on the stairs that go down to the terrace level, as well.

Here's this area from the other end of the hallway.  The master bedroom is down this hall. You can see the inappropriate light fixtures are gone and replaced with simple pot lights.  My electrician thought I was crazy, but fortunately, he didn't get to design this!

I'm so into Soumak rugs.  I chose this one for the run down the hall.

This wall gave me the chance to use some artwork that I had been storing for a while.

These are prints, but the subject matter is appropriate for this house in the country.  See the setter?  Love!

And the top one has a setter in the boat.  Who would do that?  I've had setters, and they are way to flaky to put in a boat.  But they are truly sporting dogs, so they lend themselves to this genre of art.

If the house caught on fire, I might just have to run in to save these sconces. I love them that much.  The photo is a bit dark, but these sweet doggy faces make me so happy.  I found them years ago at an antique shop and had to have some repair work done to the candle cups, but I was sooo willing to do so.

The previous owners had this......

and this.

But we  closed up the balcony.......

and the second floor railing.

We inserted this wonderful antique French gate into the wall for interest.  We had such a good time choosing the perfect piece.  We found it at Architectural Accents in Atlanta.  Then quite a planning session occurred with the carpenter to be sure that it would never fall out.  It is heavier than you'd ever believe.

This upstairs view.....

became this.....

and this.

Besides visually simplifying things from downstairs, this project gave us a large wall space to hang these four special art pieces.  Years ago, when we lived in Cincinnati, Mr. Pressed Pants served on a capital campaign for the Historical Society.  They gave the committee members these limited edition re-strikes of views of Cincinnati in 1835.  They are really quite large when framed, so there weren't too many places that we could hang them and keep all four together. 

I didn't have a runner here for a long time, but I finally bought this at auction.  I don't know anything about it, but it gave me some color that I needed.  Do  any of you know what I have here?

As you pass the gate from the upstairs hallway, this is the view you see into the living room.

And if you look through the bars, this is the view.  I keep hoping that three little boys don't decide to launch water balloons or something here!

And, from the downstairs entryway, this becomes the sight line.  Sooo much better!

Thanks, Mr. Pressed Pants for the fun we've had on this project!!!

Check out these blog parties which I am joining this week:

Seasonal Sunday

]http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

Metamorphis Monday

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Happy Earth Day 2011!

To mark Earth Day 2011, I thought I'd post what Mother Nature has sent us so far this spring.  Actually, these pictures were taken about a week ago and things have really changed in that length of time.  Here's the front gates of our home.  Our real forsythia is long done here in Atlanta, but the forsythia on the wreaths remain....at least till next week.

We plant pansies in the fall and they bloom all winter long.  Here are a few remaining with the daffodils by the entrance.

 
 

These will soon be ripped out and replaced with impatiens for the summer.

I just planted this viburnum last year and it is at least making an effort to bloom, bless it's heart!

Here's the view from the back of the house looking down to the lake.  This dogwood specimen is beautiful, but the woods are full of wild dogwood, too. 

Most of the azaleas are these George Tabor variety.  They are my favorite.  The blooms are bigger than the average azalea and they cut for arranging very well. 

These are just sitting in the back turn around waiting to go to the garden. This is Mr. Pressed Pants favorite plant, so I pick them up as soon as I see yellow hibiscus in the garden center each spring. I wish they would winter for me.  I've tried and tried, but I have to replace them each year.  I don't mind since he loves them so much. 

I must say they really have a showy blossom.

Here's another view looking over the railing of the circular white deck down toward the lake.

The woods are full of native azaleas and wild dogwood.

This dogwood is so much fuller and whiter this week.

I've spent several years filling this terrace bed with perennials.  It is so rewarding to see these return.  Not everything has come back, but I'm making progress.  My goal is to not have to put any annual color into these beds, but as you can see, I'm a ways away from that.

The back pond has since been cleaned and the stones reset.  I love the lamb's ear in the bed here.

The lenten roses were awesome this year.  We have lots of these.  I wish I could figure out a good way to cut them and use them for floral arrangements.  Their little heads just droop too much.

This front fountain is just beginning to fill in.  The daffodils are done, but the hosta which surrounds it, are just poking up.  Time to get out there with the deer repellent.  Now!!!

The boxwood topiaries that I had in these cement pots didn't make it through the winter.  I replaced them with standards of gardenias. 

The flowers do show up and.....

they smell divine!

I'm working toward removing all of the nandina and small plantings in the front and making it just fern beds.  These guys want to join the party again this year!

Thanks for visiting and saluting Earth Day with me.  I hope your little corner of the earth is blessing you with similar treasures.  If not, be patient, they're coming!