My home is feeling especially cozy right now, which is a good thing since we are racing as fast as an out-of-control sled down a steep, snow-covered hill toward winter. Am I ready? No. Funny thing, that march of time. It happens whether I’m ready or not. While I might not be ready for the upcoming winter, it’s fine. My home is cozy. I don’t need to leave it. I’ll just hunker down for the next…oh, shoot. I have to leave the house every day this week. Adulting is over-rated, folks. Over. Rated. We’ll revisit the hunkering down thing next week. In the meantime, the pool towels and the lawn games…

I found the most gorgeous wood music stand to add to our music room. Did we need it? Absolutely not. But is it perfect for this space? Oh, yes. Yes, indeed. I’ve been idly looking for a music stand for years. As a pianist, I don’t really need one because the piano comes with its own. When I go through one of my “attempt to learn the guitar” phases, I usually just look at chords on my phone, so I don’t need a music stand for that. Although, it probably would help my posture to have the phone propped somewhere more ergonomically correct. When it came down to it, I…

Do you know what lights my fire? Pretty matchstick holders. I recently found a vintage cast iron matchstick holder to hold chalk, not matches, but that’s a story for the end of this blog post. The point is you don’t have to store matches in the boring boxes they come in. There are really pretty matchstick holders – new and vintage – to hold your little fire sticks. I flame to please, so check out these pretty matchstick holders. Cast Iron Match Striker | Schoolhouse This cast iron match striker from Schoolhouse is perfect in its simplicity. I love that there’s a place to set down spent matches. (image: Schoolhouse)…

Nature art in all its forms – landscape paintings, dried flowers, prints of bouquets – is my jam. It’s soothing to me. Plus, it’s a bug-free way of bringing nature inside my home. Love nature. Not too fond of the bugs. I’ve been collecting nature art for a while now. My love for nature art and landscape paintings started when my aunt painted a scene of my child running along a trail. There’s nothing like a tug on the heartstrings to get you started down the path of an art collection. Now, when I spot nature art at the thrift store, it often comes home with me. Believe it or…

It takes me a long time to decide on window treatments but I finally hung buffalo check curtains in our kitchen. What’s a long time? 4 years, 2 months, and 19 days. But who’s counting? And it was totally worth the wait. I know these photos do not look like a kitchen but trust me when I say there is a sink full of dishes right behind where the camera is positioned. That’s the perk or quirk of having a galley style kitchen. A kitchen table could probably be squeezed into this space you’re seeing. For reference, the rug is 5×8. However, there are also stairs to the right and…

Our fall front porch feels so welcoming right now. It’s one of those ‘walk up to the front door and grin because of how it makes you feel’ situations. That could have something to do with the smiling trio. Aren’t they the happiest? The smiling trio was created using the simplest idea – transform black duct tape into Halloween decals. Specifically, jack o’lantern faces for these planters but I also made bat decals. You can get the instructions here. “Trio” might be the theme of this year’s fall porch because, on the other side of the front door, I have a pumpkin topiary created with a trio of pumpkins. In…

The only thing better than a vintage toolbox is a vintage toolbox with flowers in it! If you want a big bang for your flower arranging buck this fall then create a vintage toolbox flower arrangement. Let’s face it, we all want our buck to go a little farther these days. The rustic vibe of a vintage toolbox lends itself really well to this fall season where we are all about getting cozy. I’m sure fall can be fancy but, in my head, I associate fall with things that are a little more rustic and earthy like apple orchards, haybale rides, warming hands around a firepit, crunchy leaves on the…

Pretty Bluetooth speakers. That’s what I want. I want to listen to my music and I want it to come from a Bluetooth speaker that looks good in my home. That’s not too much to ask, is it? Eh. Sometimes it feels that way, so I’m on a mission to dispel that myth. If you can design a speaker with killer sound quality, surely you can design a speaker that looks elegant, fun, sleek or any other adjective that fits the style of someone’s home. And I don’t want to use one that comes with a voice assistant like Alexa. No thank you. Just play my music. Don’t try to…

Last week I shared how to leaf stamp on wood. You know I don’t make crafts unless I plan on using them, so let me show you my fall mantel featuring a grouping of leaf-stamped wood rounds. I do declare that it looks beautiFALL. That probably won’t be the last bad fall pun in this blog post as I’m feeling a bit acorn-y today. Our dining room fireplace is my favorite of our three fireplaces to decorate seasonally. It’s the only one that I change the decor on regularly even though spatially speaking it is the trickiest to decorate. The overmantel, the spot above the mantel where decor goes, is…