Fall Into Home Tour 2016

Welcome! If you are new here, my name is Rachel. I live in the suburbs of St Louis with my husband and 3 kids in our first home– a 60’s brick ranch that we have been making over– room by room– for the past 2 1/2 years. We still have plenty to do, but I would love to show you around our home decorated for fall!

This tour is hosted by my sweet friend, Rachel from Maison de Pax, as part of the Fall Into Home Tours. There is a very talented group of gals sharing our homes today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, so be sure and check them out  linked at the bottom of this post)!

The first thing you see when you walk into our home is our entry way. I did things very simple this year, with a few bottles, some grass, shutters, and a frame, all on top of the shelf I built that acts as a pseudo-mantel (since we don’t have a legit one).

Below the mantel is a church pew I bought a couple years ago and painted. It is super handy because I can store baskets underneath with things like hats, gloves, scarves, items that need to be returned, library books, etc. They are accessible but out of sight. This bench is not often this clean– I normally see lots of backpacks and jackets– even though they should be hung up! 😉

The leaves of one of our trees outside just barely started turning the prettiest shade of yellow this past week, so I seized the moment and clipped some branches. You will see a lot of more of them in my dining room. 🙂

This shelf is something I love to switch up seasonally, and you can see my spring decor that carried me into summer HERE.

I tried spending very little money on seasonal decor this year, because I find my tastes change each year and it feels silly and wasteful to buy new stuff every year– it’s better to get creative and not go overboard– it will transition to the next season easier too!

Entry Sources: Knit blanket – Birch Lane, Floral Pillows – Made by me but similar here, church pew – vintage painted by me, wicker baskets- HomeGoods, Straw Tote – Target, Olive jacket – Target, similar here, Shutter- vintage, Aqua bottles – HomeGoods

Our entry is just one side of our front room, which is often the room we sit in when visitors come. The kids don’t play much in here, but they do love to lounge and watch a movie or read a book on the sofa.

It has been awhile since I shared our front room. Actually, it has been since last Christmas when I first installed the moulding along the back wall and got the rug. Since then, I moved some furniture around.

I painted the piano gray and decided to make it the focal point of the room by placing it dead center on that pretty wall. That meant I had to get rid of a couple pieces of furniture (now sitting in my basement awaiting my next sale). I sold my green victorian sofa and got this new tufted chesterfield sofa (that I’m obsessed with) from Joss & Main. It is very deep and comfy, plus the fabric is so soft.

I’ll share more about this sofa later this week, but I love the more tone-on-tone palette of this room. It makes a normally small space, feel open and airy. You might also notice that beautiful watercolor artwork in the frame– it is a free printable from Craftberry Bush that I printed on canvas. The end table is one that I designed and built.

I’m still on the hunt for a new coffee table, but for now I’m loving the elevated look the room has now. When the sofa arrived, Bruno (my husband) said, “Wow! This is like gold status upgrade!” hahaha

From the front room, if you look to your left, you see our kitchen.

We put so much work into this kitchen last year right before Christmas and we are still enjoying the fruits of our labor. I built the island, installed new butcher block counters, installed backsplash, switched out the lighting, painted the cabinets and got new hardware, a new farmhouse sink, and a faucet.

If you are a regular here, you know that these pictures look familiar from my farmhouse kitchen tour a couple weeks ago where I shared our favorite fall recipe: Harvest Hash.

In the kitchen I just added a few things here and there, like this cute ceramic squirrel (I got mine at HomeGoods but I saw them at Target last week)

I also like to add things that make it ‘feel’ like colder weather is coming, even if it IS in the mid-80s outside haha! So pretty teacups, with tea and sugar in jars is a fun addition. I think a good tip here is make sure your mugs or teacups look pretty. Maybe keep the ones that have bright colors or huge words on them in the cupboard. 😉

Our dining room is adjacent to the kitchen, and like all the other rooms in our home, is small. However, it fits our table and our family, so it works for us! I set the table for a weekend family gathering, which is a bit more “made up” than I normally do. This could easily work as a thanksgiving table or a fall gathering family dinner… or just anytime! I think it is fun and cozy to add a flannel throw and a couple pillows to the seats– it definitely feels more inviting.

I made some butternut squash soup last Saturday with some rosemary french bread and anything involving food, means that this kid is going to make an appearance:

Owen is almost 11– his feet are as big as mine, is 5′ tall, and he eats twice as much as I do. He could hardly hold still for any pictures because apparently he was “starving!!” haha

This tablescape I’ll be showing a lot more of tomorrow, including all the sources. But for the centerpiece, I’ll share my process of how I put it together:

Step 1: Place 11″ wide board down on the center of the table– length can vary for your table length. This board is about 2 1/2 feet long.

Step 2: Place 8-10 short fall branches on the board, with the them fanning outward toward the edges. The board is long and since there were will two group of candles, arrange the branches so that they aren’t all going in the same direction, so it makes things a little more interesting.

Step 3: Arrange 4 large white pillar candles of varying heights on either end of the board (so 8 pillars total). Use a wood block if necessary, to get some height variation for the tallest pillar. Then add in 2 small votive candles on each end, spaced a little further out from the pillar candles, but still close enough that they are part of the ‘group’. Add a couple of tea light candles to a couple of glass jars and place them off the board, but close to the ‘group’ still.

Step 4: Add in velvet or real pumpkins to fill in any gaps around the grouping of pillar candles (and to hide the wood block used for height variation).

I’ll tell you what– when these are all lit, it makes things look quite endearing. You’ll have to come back tomorrow to see what that looks like! 😉

Off of our dining room is our living room. This room is where we definitely spend the most time.

I shared this room last week as part of week 2 of the Farmhouse Holiday Decor Series, but I wanted to include a few pics I didn’t include before.

After school there is always some reading that happens here…

and here…

Alex is 7 and is the family jokester, fiercest competitor, and worrier. New routines and new teachers still are taking some getting used to, but his smile will light up a room– his whole face changes and it’s impossible not to be happy when he is happy.

This pallet accent wall is the statement for the room and I dressed it up with some cotton stems, a marble pumpkin, antlers, a couple of candles, and a yard pom pom garland I made last year.

I haven’t changed up our bookcases since summer, but I did take out the aqua and replace it with green accents.

I also used some fresh stems from another tree in our yard. This tree hasn’t turned colors yet but when it does I will be sad because that means thorny little seed pods will be dropping and covering our lawn. They hurt bad when you step on them!

On the other side of the room, I have my sweet little layered gallery wall that include my newest addition: a new painting I did, called Autumn Storm. I offered it as a free printable last week, so if you want to download it for your home, you can go here.

The last room I’m sharing in my home is my master bedroom.

I also shared this room a couple weeks ago when I showcased the new rug we got.

For fall, I kept a similar color palette as the rest of the house just to keep things cohesive.

This is the chair I sit in every day to get ready and it gets some refreshing sunlight from the window when the blinds are up.

As you can see, golden yellow has really taken hold of me this autumn season. I love how varying shades of it look beautiful with so many colors but especially with the deep blues that I gravitate towards and use year-round. In the fall though, when paired with grays, greens, and natural wood tones, it has a distinctly cozier, moodier feel– reminding me that cooler temps are coming!

I hope you enjoyed my tour… be sure and let me know your favorite part!

And don’t forget to visit the other homes below!

 

Monday

Maison de Pax | Nina Hendrick Design | Shades of Blue Interiors | Finding Silver Pennies | ZevyJoy

Tuesday

Bless’er House | A Burst of Beautiful | The Wicker House | So Much Better with Age

Wednesday

Cherished Bliss | Tidbits | Love Grows Wild | Craftberry Bush | Liz Marie Blog