Living room shuffle. Again.

An Autumn Greeting
"Come," said the Wind to the Leaves one day.
"Come over the meadow and we will play.
Put on your dresses of red and gold.
For summer is gone and the days grow cold."
author unknown              

This is my first official post in fall! For me fall has always brought a promise of new beginnings and a fresh start, more than any other time of year. And as we are pulling out our warmer clothes to dress more appropriately for the brisker days, our home, too, has been redressed.

The item that got the ball rolling was a large area rug that I have imagined in my dreams but didn't think I'd ever find at an affordable price. A few days ago I found a beautiful Kipling area rug at the Goodwill that is right up the street. This was a lucky find - I always take a peek at the rugs and before now there's been nothing even remotely appealing to me. It's roughly 6.5' x 9.5' and just the change I have been looking for to spruce up the living room. The $20 price tag sealed the deal and it took the place of our previous braided area rug, (smaller), just beautifully.
*To see pictures of our living room previously, please see the Our Home link to the left which will lead you to a photo album tour*
 
For giggles, I checked the price of Kipling area rugs in this size online, and they retail for roughly $750. $750!!!!! This gorgeous $20 thrift find is a wicked steal!
 
I love how the accents of olive green, dusty coral, navy blue and flecks of gold work to 'ground' my very light and neutral living room. The large allover pattern is also appealing as my slip covered sofa and chairs are solid white.

{I have an idea for rearranging the seating soon, but it requires large muscles, (Matt), to carry up a heavy chest I have down in the basement. I can't wait to see how it all comes together!)
 
Another fun little switcharoo was with my throw pillows! I feel like I read this all over the place, (and admittedly get tired of seeing it), but it's so true - changing out your decorative pillows is one of the easiest, cheapest, most satisfying updates you can make when you've got the 'itch' for something different.


 I am extremely lucky to have a super duper talented friend who was able to take some fun fabric finds and turn them into pillow covers! The king size pillow with the faded blue chevron pattern above was previously flour sac fabric that I found in Lititz, PA! The small allover floral 16x16 on the rocking chair below was a sheet I found at Goodwill. Cool, huh!?! I also replaced the thin light green throw blanket I had draped over the chair for a heavier navy wool. This is my morning spot and I definitely love wrapping up in my blanket while I read and drink my coffee. :)
 
*See the end of the post for the contact info of my handy friend, Megen!*


And last, but not least, I'm also a sucker for faux flowers. I have them on every floor of my home. Some faux flowers are more obvious than others so I look with a careful eye when I need something specific. I brought down these deep maroon flowers from our bedroom and switched them with the little white and cream ones we had in this spot by the mirror facing our front entrance.
 
I love the reflection of everyone's hoodies in the mirror. Hoodie weather is my favorite!
 
This is so fun for me - changing things out and getting ready for a new season, (literally and figuratively). I'm not so sure my kids will appreciate the new, larger rug which has swallowed up the cool painters tape car/train track I made for them last weekend.;)
 



 
Oopsie. When they wake up from their naps today we will be learning about rerouting.:)

My beautiful pillow cover maker, Megen, is as talented with her sewing machine as she is at putting together fabrics and patterns. She has an interior design degree from James Madison University and can help you decide on just the perfect fabrics to spruce up your space - then make you some gorgeous pillows that are as unique as they are affordable!

These are actually for Shire's room, but they'll hang out in the living room for now. Megen used the sheet fabric for the back of the king size pillow. Her work is amazing and the covers will surely endure the wear of active little ones :)

 
Megen Minter
 
Thank you for stopping by!
 
~Chelsea

Birthday swag

My sweetheart's birthday was last week and as is our custom, we did it up.:) Celebrating birthdays has always been a big deal to me. I love to fuss over those I love on their day of birth, whether they like it or not! Since having kids our birthday celebrations have changed quite a bit! For my birthday earlier this summer we went to the National Zoo....it was actually a blast, though I would have never thought of going there if we didn't have 3 tots in toe.

So for Matt's birthday I tried to think of what he would enjoy doing, but that the kids could enjoy with us, too....GOLF! So, to Woody's putt-putt we went!
 
 Impressive multi-tasking!
 Woody's is in Sterling and is the best putt-putt course we've ever played - though scary as all get out, especially if you're a toddler with a wild imagination! So, the twins played with Noanie, (my Mom!), by the driving range...or behind it, rather...where it's safe ;)
Noanie to the rescue!
 
Meanwhile this guy hardly noticed the the dead monkies hanging from the trees or the pig-monster jumping out of the brush with loud snarls, or the crazy realistic looking crockodile coming out of the water towards the putting green....
 
...he just had a good ol' time, in true Mason form.

 
The face of true innocence and total mischief. He's complex ;)
 
Birthday boy with my Dad; must have had another ***lucky*** shot.
 
The boys, analyzing a tricky hole
 
Post game birthday meal!
 
Complete with chocolate-chocolate, (chocolate, chocolate, chocolate) cake.

And no birthday in our home is complete without the honorary 'birthday' banner that I made a few years ago. I love pulling this out for all family birthdays...I'm sure they will grow tired of it eventually, but it's fun hanging it up to mark each person's birthday week. And as always, birthday cards become part of our decor for a little while, which I cherish.
 
Thanks, Dad, for your Bud Light addition to my glass vase display. Didn't think I'd notice, did you :)

Do you have any birthday traditions? What is your favorite way to celebrate?

~Chelsea
 

Finish landscaping: CHECK

We made another huge check off our to-do list this weekend. The landscaping! Earlier this summer I posted that we would be tearing out all our old overgrown bushes and replacing them with fresh, current ones. Well, it only took about a month and a half longer than we had predicted. HAH! We were definitely over ambitious! It didn't help that I broke my foot and was essentially useless for quite some time over this process. But, my husband is The Man and got most of it done with his own two hands.

You may remember these pictures from a while back, after my Dad and Matt pulled all our old bushes out:

 
Almost 6 weeks later, we've got this to come home to:





 
Everything is so young that our plants are still a bit small and spaced apart, but we look forward to watching our garden fill in and bloom with color and fragrance! It feels wonderful to finally have the outside and the inside of our home mesh together and reflect our style and personality. And I have to give my Matt all the credit. His were the hands behind this makeover and I am so, so grateful for his work on this!

And after a very hard working weekend on both our parts, I am happy to report that we were all still in our pjs as of 11am on Sunday.:)
Oh. Yeah. That's good stuff right there.:) 
This kid was hard at work, too, apparently. Found 3 brand new teeth that completely cut through over the week, and we didn't even know it! No wonder last week was misery!
 
In the coming weeks I will be working on a larger project than I have ever done before, and I am so excited to share the details with you....soon! ;)
 
Thank you for stopping by!
 
~Chelsea