finally ready for fall.

over the weekend, instead of painting the bathroom door or the bathroom shelves or the bathroom ceiling or the bathroom walls, i decided to spend a couple hours getting myself and my house ready for fall, since it i can no longer live in denial that summer is long gone. and even though the bathroom is a huge project that does have a definite deadline, there is no need for it to completely consume every aspect of our lives... just most of them.

it all started in the dollar spot at target, one of my favorite places to spend surprisingly large amounts of money one dollar at a time. on this particular trip, i limited my purchases to a brown foam wreath form and 2 yards of assorted ribbon. once i got home, i added some twine, hot glue, and a few sprigs of some branchy beady twigs that my mom got me as part of a gift a few years ago. somewhat shockingly, it turned out pretty fantastical, so i went ahead and hung it on the front door with a creative combination of ribbon, hot glue, fishing line, and sticky tack.

just inside the front door on the not-a-credenza, we have this lovely little vignette. (please to be ignoring the construction materials) everything here was something i already owned, i just had to put it all together. the basket was part of a present from Mark's aunt. the yellow bottle was an impulse buy from Michaels earlier this year. i wrapped that letter S in twine one day because i was bored. the owl was one of those sneaky pieces that hang out in the target dollar spot but arent really a dollar, but he was too good to pass up. and the little wormy welcome guy was a birthday present. its so festive, and it makes me smile. 

after i took this picture, i also added a little green bird in the branches

i found these lamps a few weeks ago at Goodwill for $8 a piece. i didnt share them until now, because for the majority of the time they have graced the end tables in the fireplace room they were without shades or bulbs. not exactly a good look for a lamp. but that changed this weekend, when i bought some shades at target and filled the lamp bases with the rest of the yellow beady branchy stuff that i didnt use on the wreath or in the owl vase. and then i went a little wild and "styled" the endtable with a stack of goodwill books i picked up for $5. because apparently stacks of hardcover books are SO in right now in the decorating world. and also i really do want to make time to read them at some point.

the last place in the house that got a little fall-ification over the weekend was the fireplace mantel. and i know, i know, based on all of the design and decor blogs out there i'm supposed to put the most time and effort into making the mantel make a real statement, but the truth is that i dont really care what i'm supposed to do. all i did was set this little scarecrow couple up on the mantle in amongst all the other assorted randomness that has lived on the mantle all year. and i think it looks just fine.

i spent a grand total of $2 to decorate my house for fall this year. (i'm not counting the books or lamps, because they're not just for fall) i pretty much just used what i found in my box of seasonal decorations, which led me to stick with more general autumnal theme rather than do anything overly spooky or halloween-ish (full disclosure, i do have a silver light-up jack-o-lantern on the other end of the mantel, but thats it) this way, i can leave these decorations sit out until i'm ready to decorate for Christmas, instead of having to un-decorate at the end of the month. low maintenance decorations for the win.