Trick or Treat

I have a few more little Halloween tricks up my sleeve.

Some harvest colored books, a few paper bats, my ceramic pumpkins, and vintage flash cards made for an easy vignette.

Down in the living room a gather banner and a few gourds should keep things festive through Thanksgiving.

I'm loving all these warm fall colors! Now I just need to pull out all my sweaters and hunker down with a fun size snickers bar or 2 10. This girl is looking for all coziness and treats this season!

What's your favorite Halloween treat?

<3
Hattie

spooky kitchen

I never really decorate for Halloween. I'm more of a pumpkin and fall leaf girl because it's a look that can last from September through Thanksgiving. However, our recently acquired vintage typewriter (Question: doesn't a typewriter pretty much have to be called vintage?) inspired me to spookify the kitchen a tiny bit.

Brad is actually the one who fell in love with the typewriter, and I'm glad he did, because I knew I had to use it to leave  "a dark and stormy night message."

I paired the typewriter with a bowl of mysterious silver pumpkins and fruit.

On the nearby cabinet, a bat tree adds a little extra creepiness. It was super fast to create - just a few branches and some bat clipart.

My tablescape should last all the way through fall.

I copied Pottery Barn and filled my lantern with pumpkins and gourds.

A small dough bowl holds silverware.

No one was coming to dinner, but I had to try out my apple place card idea for the pictures.

Now I just need a pot of cider heating on the stove and the kitchen will be deliciously full of my favorite fall things!

What kind of Halloween decorator are you? Do you stick to the harvest look? Do black cats and bats make you smile? Or do you go for the full ghouls and goblins scare?

<3
Hattie

Linking here:

Flavor of the week: maps!

Hello, lovely blog friends! I decided to start a new weekly feature around these parts: flavor of the week. The plan is to highlight something different that I'm loving once a week. It could be related to design, fashion, food, life, etc. This week I'm loving maps! They deserve the exclamation point because I am crazy for them.

I love maps on furniture.

I love free maps to print and play with.

I love globes all in a neat row.

I love globes in a big colorful mish-mash.

I love the globes I've collected over time.

Some for free or cheap.

and some that were not so cheap - but I had to have. I'm talking to you, beautiful medium globe, second from the left.

I love that they are all wonderful shades of aqua. I love that they show this wonderful world that God gave to us to explore. I love that they are educational sculptures. I just love all things map/globe!

Are you on this bandwagon with me? What's your flavor of the week?

<3

Hattie

My living room is on vacation

I love the game theme I did for the living room, but seeing back to school items in stores this week (seriously, people!) had me clamoring to live up the summer for as long as it lasts. So, I decided to bring in a little beachy, nautical vibe to keep September far from my mind.

That's why this:

Turned into this:

To start, I took the blue tray off the bottom and flipped it over on top of the divided box.

Hmm... yeah, looks like I didn't bother to paint the bottom. Scrapbook paper to the rescue!

Now, just add a fish bowl full of jute rope.

And I have to make a little ribbon nautical bunting. (sew through little ribbon scraps - super duper easy)

Add a candle and some sea shells for the finishing touch - and there ya go!

I also added my "S" and a vintage nautical oil panting to extend the look to the rest of the coffee table.

Now when I'm sitting in the living room watching far too many hours of netflix streaming, I remember that it's OK, because I'm on vacation!

<3
Hattie

kitchen dreaming

Here's a little kitchen idea board for the dream house:

1. We are going to go with an Ikea kitchen, appliances and all. This is the mock up Brad created on their website. Note the counter tops are missing, see number 3 for what we're planning there. We also plan to use trim around the top of the cabinets to cheat them up to the top of the ceiling and edge in crown. That weirdo gap on the right side will be filled in in real life.

2. This is the feel I would like to have in the kitchen. We plan to go with a very pale aqua wall color and lots of pops of red in the accessories.

3. I am super open to counter top suggestions! All I know is that I want something that looks like carrera marble at a much cheaper price tag.

4. We are going to build our own island, and I really want to find lab stools to use in place of bar stools.

5. These nautical/industrial lights are awesome! I think two or three of them will look great over the island.

I can't wait to get started on turning these ideas into reality! Our closing date for the construction loan is set for the end of July and we are praying that it all goes smoothly.

If you want to see more kitchen ideas, check out my pinterest board.

What would you have to have in your dream kitchen?

<3
Hattie

Get your booty on the floor

Well, I'm sure to get some weird Google search hits from this title! Today I'm talking about getting your booty on some cushy floor pillows. We don't have a lot of seating in the living room (only four tushes can sit comfortably) so when I found these huge, ugly floor cushions, I knew it was time for some DIY sewing action.

A little trip to Hobby Lobby, and a few hours later and I had these faux tie envelope pillows.

The two tone tie look was a happy accident involving me being cheap and buying half a yard too little of the striped canvas fabric. I ended up loving the look, and here's how you can recreate it on purpose.

Sandwich your pillow between your chosen fabric. You want enough extra on each side edge for your seam allowance. Cut the fabric on the open top end shorter than the top of the pillow, leaving a little of the pillow visible. Hem the two top edges.

After hemming, wrap the fabric around the pillow again, to measure your second fabric.

Once you have all your edges matching, hem the top edges of your second fabric.

Now you want to make your ties. Take four equal strips of fabric. Mine measured six inches by 8 inches. Fold the strips in half along the long edge with right sides together, and sew to form a long tube. Turn right side out, and tuck in the raw short edges. Top stitch to close the short edges.

Sew your straps to the top edges of your big piece of fabric, two on each side.

Almost there, only three straight seams to go! Overlap the top edge of your big piece of fabric on top of the top edge of your extra fabric and sew together.

Now, you should have one long pieced together sheet of fabric. With the right sides of the fabric together, fold your striped fabric in half along the bottom edge. Now fold your linen fabric in half along its bottom edge.

Note how the fabric overlaps, this is what forms the envelope that allows you to take the pillow in and out without fooling with a zipper. Can you spot the mistake I made in the picture?

Yup, I overlapped my fabric the wrong way! The linen fabric should be on top of the striped fabric. I didn't notice this until after I sewed up my side seams. I was too busy ripping my seams out and banging my head into the wall to take a picture of it the correct way. Anyway, after you've overlapped yours the correct way, with the short fabric overlapping the top edge of the long fabric, pin your edges and sew up each side. Now all you have to do is turn the cover right side out and pop in your pillow. Oh, and tie your little straps into a cute bow.

Yay, for extra seating! I've already plopped down on these and enjoyed having a cushy seat to pull up to the coffee table.

Do you go in for floor pillows?



<3
Hattie