FALL Y'ALL!

The official start of fall starts in September, but I usually don't start decorating for fall until October. The main reason being because it stays so stupid hot here in Louisiana well into winter that it is hard for me to get motivated so early on. Something about seeing my mums and pumpkins just melt away in this heat makes it less fun.

I do adore October, however. So once it arrives I usually start getting excited about fall and decorating.  October is one of my favorite months and is always a super busy one for us. Along with celebrating Madden's birthday, and usually our anniversary early, and Halloween fun, we always seem to have a slam packed month. Because I love October so much, I tend to go all out with decorating. This year, however, I am trying to be pretty minimal because of all the chaos we already have going on this month and also because of a really exciting event that will be happening in November that I can't wait to share with you guys!

But anyways.....to start the tour..... I purchased all my live pumpkins from Walmart this year for like $3 a piece. I was super impressed to see that Walmart was even carrying the cute "Cinderella" pumpkins this year. Those pumpkins are my absolute favorite and I usually have to drive about 45 minutes out of town to a farm to find them every year. We will still load up the kids this year and take them to that little farm because they love the hayrides and being able to pick their own pumpkin from the patch, but for today I am super pleased with my Walmart pumpkins. I picked up the corn stalks from Lowes along with all my lovely mums.

I put more emphasis on the decor on our back porch since it is the door that most of our guest enter through. Our home sits so far off the road that nobody driving by can see any decor on our front porch and our back porch is the closest entrance for someone when they pull into our driveway so I treat it as my front entrance.

Our patio furniture is from Walker Edison Furniture. We got this set back during summer and I am still loving it just as much. It sits on our screened in porch and is the perfect place to curl up on a cool fall night and watch some football. 

Like I said the fall touches inside are very minimal. And I actually kind of like it. I added some plaid pillows and a few craft pumpkins from Michaels here and there.

 

So about those plaid pillows........I wanted to make some new pillow covers that would allow me to add a touch of fall without having to buy new throw pillows. After looking at the prices of fabric and determining how many yards I would need to make the pillow covers the price was ridiculous. But when I was in Target this past weekend, I came across this plaid table cloth from Threshold for $18.99 and was smitten. I decided it would make the perfect pillow covers. And guess what! I was able to make 5 pillow covers out of that one tablecloth and had enough scrap pieces to make a dish towel and 8 table napkins. WIN WIN! Now I kind of want to go back and buy another one to actually use as a table cloth, but how cute are my new pillows!

A little masterpiece by my sweet Madden.

Thanks for stopping by! 

XO, Brittany

Wallpaper!!

I'm sure yall have already seen this beautiful wallpaper from Anthropologie before. I have been drooling over this pattern for years and lately I have been seeing it pop up more and more in lovely homes on Instagram, which only increased my desire to have it that much more. However, like most things from Anthropologie it did come with a hefty price tag and clearly out of my realistic budget. When I finally decided I could no longer live without it, I could only muster up enough courage to buy just one roll. So I knew I would have to choose one wall to use it on and it would need to be a fairly small wall. 

I finally settled on using it in our tiny (and very bland) powder room. The blue in the pattern coordinated so well with our antique vanity and I thought it would add so much character to the small space. 

 

To be honest, I have been holding onto this wallpaper for a few months now. I have absolutely no experience with wallpaper. After scouring the internet I didn't find many tutorials for hanging it online and the instructions that came with the packaging were very vague. It was intimidating, to say the least. I actually ended up begging my mother to come help me hang it, because I knew she had some experience with it before. And my mama is AMAZING yall! She came over and by herself had it put up within 30 mins. Apparently she is like a professional wallpaper installer....my mama and all her secret Wonder Woman talents. 

After she finished hanging it up in the powder room I still had quite a bit left on the roll so we went ahead and put it in my laundry room too. It completely transformed both of these spaces. Doing the laundry doesn't feel like such a chore anymore, because the room is just so darn cheery! 

 I also still have enough left on the roll to put some in our camper.....which I am totally doing! I'm kind of obsessed now. I want to wallpaper my entire house, because have you seen Jessica Wasserman's house! It's to die for!

In honor of our first camping trip of the summer coming up this weekend I thought I would share a little tour of our camper with yall. Last year my husband and I decided we needed a hobby to do as a family. Growing up as a child my weekends were always spent camping with my family. Those weekends will always be some of my fondest memories and that is something I want my children to experience as well. Also an interesting little fact about my husband and I is that for the first two years of dating we lived in a teeny tiny 18 foot camper while my husband was getting his doctorate degree in PT. You learn a whole lot about a person being stuck in that small of a space with no doors and no separate rooms. There was never anywhere to run and hide when things got tough. We had to confront any issues and problems we had with each other right in the moment, because we couldn't lock ourselves away in our own space to cool off. Let me just say though that those two years were so FUN! We were so connected with each other. At the time we were poor, we didn't even have TV, so when we weren't studying we were doing simple things like taking walks or playing board games and cards. We were just together, without distraction, and we were totally content and happy with just having each other as company. And that's what we want for our family. Something we can do together. Something that makes us take the time to disconnect from the rest of the world and just enjoy each other....because really! that's all that matters.

 But back to our camper. When we started looking for campers, I of course dreamed of something vintage that I could renovate and make our own. My husband, on the other hand, wanted something new/reliable and that he didn't have to do any work to. During our search he came across this White Water Retro Camper and I was totally smitten....with the outside that is....for something so cute and authentic looking on the outside.....the interior just did not match.

See! Isn't it just completely opposite of the outside. Not what I envisioned!

We compromised that if my husband could have the new camper he wanted, then I could do whatever I wanted to the inside. So the next weekend my husband drove a few hours away to the nearest dealership and picked her up. As soon as she made it home I gave her a new paint job and all new linens. It's amazing what a few small changes can do. I still have things I would like to update like the floor, the countertops, and add a backsplash, but for now I am completely happy with the way she turned out. And I can't wait for all the fun memories we will make in her together as a family.

 So without further do.....Meet POLLYANNA.

When you enter the camper the bed on the right is where the boys sleep. When that bed is not turned down it is also the dining table and seating. We choose to leave it folded down as a bed because we have a fold out picnic table we use outside of the camper for our dining. The door with (my favorite) hippie sign hanging on it is the water closet with the potty and shower. 

I used chalkboard paint on the front of the fridge so that the boys could have a fun canvas to use aside from their coloring books we take on our camping trips. And yall know how much I love chalkboards anyways!

The other end of the camper is where we sleep. The cabinets built in around the bed offers nice storage for our clothes and the bed actually raises up so that we can store all of our other camping gear, such as our small grill, chairs, table, etc.

And that's it! She's super tiny, but she forces us to be close and together. And I know we will appreciate all the memories we get to share while traveling with her.

XO, Brittany