Fall Centerpiece Idea: Pretty White Mums in DIY Painted Pots

Now that it is mid-September, the days are getting cooler, kids are back to school, football season is in full swing,it is getting dark earlier, and pumpkins are for sale at the grocery store - I think we can officially start celebrating fall! Lord knows I love fall and I am READY! This was actually a project that I did a couple of years ago that I never posted about, but it was seriously one of my favorite DIY decor projects and I love how it turned out! I have found myself coming back to it a lot this year for inspiration!

I'm always a fan of fresh flowers around my house and try to use live ones on my dining room table at all times. That being said, I thought I'd try my hand at keeping some mums indoors for a season. (I'll be honest, I struggle with keeping my outdoor mums alive but I had great success with having them indoors for a month!) 

I also want some pretty pots that tied in perfectly with my dining room. 

This project is so easy I probably don't even need to type out instructions since the pictures are so self explanatory, but I'll do it anyway - Ha! Basically I bought three terra cotta pots from Home Depot and painted them the same color as my dining room wall (Martha Stewart's "Falcon"). Super easy, took all of 15 minutes!

Once they were dry, I wrapped some painter's tape underneath the top lip, and painted a white border. 

Once dry I added in some white mums and ta-da! Easy peasy, beautiful centerpiece!

I actually still have these pots and we are currently using them our deck! (Miles planted some acorns and is patient waiting for a tree to grow! Love that kid!) 

Also... exciting news!!! Make sure you come back on Monday to see my Fall Home Tour! I have paired up with over THIRTY other bloggers and Kirklands to bring you some awesome home tours with beautiful fall decor! I CAN'T WAIT! I don't know if I've ever been more excited for a post! 

So, have a great weekend and see you Monday? 

Blue Cabinets - Yay or Nay?

i don't know exactly why, but I have been SO DRAWN to blue cabinets in kitchens and in laundry rooms lately! From light baby blue with gray undertones to dark navy, I am just completely smitten. I feel like it is a good balance of being fun and lighthearted but still sophisticated. 

I don't think I could ever do it in my own kitchen, though. Maybe if I had a beach house  ;) Or maybe I could pull it off in a bathroom or a laundry room. It would definitely have to be the right space, don't you think? Here are some of my favorite blue kitchens/laundry rooms that I've collected over the last month or so. 

Caitlin Wilson

Decorpad

Decorpad

Source Unknown

Dream Book Design

Stiff & Trevllion

Source Unknown 

Jillian Harris

Jillian Harris

Emily Henderson

House 214 Design

Jillian Harris

Decorpad

Note to Self

Addison's Wonderland

Decorpad - Erika Bonnell Interiors

So what do you think... 

And if you said you liked it, I would love to know what shade of blue you'd pick and where! Comment below! 

I think my first choice would be a light blue/hydrangea blue laundry room.  

The Plan to Finish The Boys' Room

It's been a couple of years since we've touched Miles' big boy room. We basically decorated it when we moved him out of the nursery, and haven't touched it since! Well, now that we will be moving Leo in there soon, we are putting some last finishing touches on the room. 

Here is where we left off:

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In terms of what we want to do next, we recently ordered two of these beautiful Millbrook Iron Beds from RH Baby & Child! I've had my eye on them forever and just love the classic style. I think they will go perfectly with the room decor and function well for years to come. Only downside is that they are on backorder until December. Boo. We also picked out these awesome sherpa throws (in navy!) on final sale! They are SO SOFT! Miles absolutely loves it. We are also going to move the tent up to the room to make it the ultimate big boy bedroom (we've had this one for a couple of years now). 

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I think that should be it and this room will be 100% FINISHED! I'm not sure I've ever been able to say that about any room in our house before - ha! Can't wait to share pictures when it is all done... In December! ;) 

Lifestyle Goal: Unstructured Time for the Kids

As Evan and I have talked about our goals/visions/dreams for our family over the years, one of the major themes we always keep coming back to is that we want to give our kids an abundance of unstructured time. Most of it comes from fond memories of our own childhoods. Evan grew up in the country with three brothers, and his favorite memories were playing in the woods from sun up to sun down, riding dirt bikes, making forts, climbing trees. For me, I loved spending my days catching frogs at the creek, making playhouses and playing dolls in the basement for hours on end, meeting up with the neighborhood kids and riding bikes, making up dance/gymnastic routines, and playing until our hearts were content. All of these things are pretty much activities that come from having a lot of unstructured play time at home and numerous opportunities to seize our imaginations. We both strongly agree, as a kid there was just something about waking up in the mornings with little to no formal plans (other than a soccer practice here and there) and feeling like we had the world at our fingertips! It is incredibly important to us to give our kids that same flexibility and freedom that meant so much to us, and to encourage their creativity.

While it may sound like an obvious goal or come very naturally to some families, for us, it was a very conscious decision that we had to make to change our current lifestyle in order to give our kids this lifestyle that we consider ideal. We really had to make big changes to our daily life (see here) and many of our other life goals to make this happen.  There are definitely trade-offs, but we feel like this goal is just about at the top of the list, so we made it the priority. 

I read this quote yesterday that totally spoke to me. It said "We are so caught up in trying to give our children 'advantages' that we're giving them lives as multi-tasked and stressful as ours. One of the biggest advantages we can give our children is a simple, carefree childhood." Boom. This totally struck a cord with with me as one of the hardest parts of leaving my job was feeling guilty that I was walking away from an income that could help enrich my kids lives. However, I think at this point in life the best thing Evan and I can give our kids is quality time, more peaceful schedules, and our undivided attention. It's only been a month, and I already see the changes. Although we were originally totally focused on doing this for the kids, it is surprising me how much we are ALL benefiting from this lifestyle change.  We are all sleeping a lot better and are eating so much healthier. Our house is cleaner and feels like a lot less work to manage. We feel like our quality family time has increased 100x over. Our TV is on significantly less. We spend sooo much more time outside. The most amazing benefit, our "difficult" child suddenly isn't so difficult anymore and is a lot happier, more easy going, and calm. We are all just HAPPIER and it feels like time is moving so much more slowly. It feels so good. 

Here are some cherished pictures of my tribe <3

I look forward to sharing more on this topic in the future!