~ Our Home ~ October

I used to look at other blogs and pinterest and other places on line and think, "ohhh, I love that look"  and then try to create that in my house.  I'd walk around with "my stuff" for a season and try and make it look like a dreamy decorated house I saw.

But it never worked.

"My stuff"  never fit the look that made their house, their house.

And I used to feel bad.  And want to change everything in my house.

"Gee, if  I could just get rid of this dining room table that I liked 15 years ago and get something shabby chic and white then I could do that look."

"Maybe we should get let go of our brown leather couch and get all fabric ones in light colored fabric in here, then it would look like that."

But ya know what?  We LOVE our brown, leather couch.  And I can remember us in that furniture store, all 4 of us, melting into that buttery couch and saying "sold" as we pictured night after night of being together playing games and watching shows and doing puzzles.  I remember it being a bit too high for our budget and somehow Scott making it work. And it's really good furniture.  Because Scott doesn't mess around with couches!  So we'll have it forever.  And I DO love it.  It matches our house, an old Connecticut colonial.  It's romantic and cozy and looks great with different throw pillows and blankets.  It's just perfect for an at-home date night.

And that is just one example.

Take our kitchen.  Everyone and everyone  has stainless steel appliances.  (and please, if that's what you have and that's what you love, I'm not trying to make anyone feel bad.  This post is the opposite.  It's about loving YOUR HOUSE, not wanting someone elses) When we moved into this house 16 years ago it was a white kitchen with white appliances.  And I loooooooved it.  As the years went on and the refrigerator needed to be replaced and once the dishwasher and the microwave we had the option of going stainless.  But I wanted my white.  So we stuck with it.  We're in the process of updating our counters and stove and guess what?  I'm going with what I love, not what's in style.  Because a white kitchen is me.  And a brass kitchen is me.  No one has brass pulls on their cabinet.  All I see are the stainless pulls to match the stainless appliances.  And brass faucets, really hard to find.  Who has that?  I do, just ordered one for the new sink.  So I might be one in a million with my brass faucet and my white frig but I'm happy being me.  My kitchen feels romantic and classic to me.  Just the way it should feel. (oh, and I like magnets on my frig)

A good friend (best friend) reminded me recently (when I was having a day of 'maybe I like all the other decorated houses out there better' day) that my home is perfect.  Just the way it is.  Because it's ME!  And not to let the pictures in catalogs make me doubt my style.

So I've given up 'trying' to make my house have a look.  My house is my house.

It's small.

It's old.

It's just right for us.

And I love it.

So I walked around with my Halloween bins and but 'this there, and that there' until I was happy with what I saw.  My Halloween things among all of the other things I love.

Here is all is.  (sorry for the long explanation above)



Books books books and lights!















New this Halloween...



For each year starting when Anna was in Kindergarten, a photo printed on foam core (so it stands up on it's own) to go through the years on these windowsills. Swoon!











Gotta have a puzzle on the coffee table.



















Everything to me is 'another mantle'. My kitchen windowsill is most certainly a place to keep thing that make me smile.











"If I have done anything, even a little, to help small children enjoy honest, simple pleasures, I have done a bit of good." Beatrix Potter





My Emma Bridgewater mugs... only a few... but you only need a few.







~ tea, tea, tea ~









I love my Gooseberry Patch cookbooks, every single one!



Lot's of the time I have a seasonal "oilcloth" on this table.  Weekdays are busy.  Especially at breakfast, after school, dinnertime, and evening.  Oilcloth is easy to wipe clean and you can get it all different "flavors" as Abigail says.  I like to get mine here.







I remember I was all dressed up, about to leave for teaching, and bringing Abigail to school, and the kitchen looked like this. I was so sad to leave it with the sun streaming in so pretty. It (the kitchen) begged me to stay, to make another morning cup of tea, but I stopped for a second and took this shot.







This year I decided to change around the girls desks. I took everything off and started from scratch. Some of the things we already had (most of them) and some things I added in.











Here we are in Abigail's room.













On to the viola room.







Pumpkins from Mom, silver creamer from my Grandma.





The banner? Etsy, of course!



Those little fabric pumpkins? $1 at Christmas Tree Shops!







A few pumpkins tucked into the dining room.



Yes, if I'm home, my apron is on.











Even the mud room (really a little room off of the garage that's not heated so it's really not a part of our house) but we decorate it still because it's the first thing we see when we get home.





And that's a wrap! Halloween cozy here! Happy almost weekend friends. And thanks for sharing your happy place. Your home pictures make me feel happy.

~ Have nothing in your home you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful ~ William Morris