Beautiful Ways to Decorate Your Pumpkins

via Thistlewood Farm

It's been a really crazy week around here for me.  If you follow me at all on Instagram you'll know that we had a film crew in our house for a couple of days filming a pilot for a TV show.  The show is about construction so we also had the four finalists from last year's Canada's Handyman Challenge finishing part of our basement.  We had such a blast but I'm exhausted. Today I've finally been able to sit down at my computer and pin some things for Fall decor.  To be honest, I'm actually not a huge fan of Fall decorating and find it to be a little tacky.  I'm also not a big fan of orange but I have found some really beautiful Fall ideas using pumpkins that I hope inspire you.

You can see above they just spray painted the pumpkins, put candles in them and placed them on candle sticks. Below they've used string, spray paint, markers and buttons to create some gorgeous designs.

via book Artful Halloween

via The Glitter Guide

via The Nest Blog

Love the pumpkin above and the leaf spray painted gold below for name tags.  

Simple but beautiful!!

 via I Heart Nap Time

Above is just pages from a book that have been glued to the pumpkin and below they glued gold glitter to make polka dots.  Again, simple but beautiful!!

via Babble

Love this idea of using a pumpkin as a cooler. You have to make sure you place a bowl in the pumpkin first and then the ice and bottles.  I think it would look better with polka dots like the one above - but I love this!

via Martha Stewart

Here's one more idea - just because I love flowers - placing flowers in a vase and then putting them in the pumpkin.  Love this for a centerpiece.  You could also put  a pot of Fall mums in it and use it inside or outside. 

via Better Homes and Gardens

Hope you can use some of these ideas in your Fall decor.  I've got a can of gold spray paint and a bottle of gold glitter  waiting to be used.  

If you need more inspiration, you can see what I'm pinning on my Fall Decoration board.

Cozy Fall Ponchos & Sweaters

image via Pinterest

It's been a little cold here lately which has me thinking about Fall fashion.  If you're like me and like bundling up on a cold day, you must get one of these ponchos for Fall.  I love how far the design of ponchos has come. They used to be just an over-sized triangle (that your grandmother knitted for you)  and now you see them with sleeves, cowl necks, v-necks, round necks, stripes, fringe...  I love them all!  Here are just a few I've picked out. 

*** 1 *** 2  ***  3 *** 4 *** 5 *** 6 ***

I'm also loving this over-sized sweater with bat wings from CiChi  and the wide-cut brown sweater below it from H & M.  Both of these are similar to a poncho and would look fantastic with skinny jeans and boots.

Hope you all have a great Monday!!

Cottage Style Bedrooms

In my last post I showed you some outside pics of this  amazing Muskoka retreat we went to for Labour Day weekend. Here are the inside photos I promised!  Even though it's a very high-end property, being a cottage setting the inside is a very relaxed and sophisticated feel.  The space is full of built-in benches, beautiful mouldings and gorgeous views.   I felt like I was in Cape Cod.

The first room, the room we stayed in, had a French- country vibe with painted furniture, toile linens and French quilts.

Here's a close-up of the French quilts - I just love the detailing with the scalloped edges and intricate needlework.  Beautiful craftsmanship!!

Each room had a window seat which was extra wide for sleeping. There was storage 
underneath and a spectacular view. 

Below is a pic of the boy's room, which again had a cottage feel. There were lanterns for lights, a log bed, fish motif pillow and patched quilts.  All the kids' rooms had a wall-mounted book case/holder which I thought was a great idea. (You can see it on the far wall).   This would be great for anyone who has a small space and doesn't know where to place books.  It doesn't take up any floor space and the book covers act as art.

Here's the sweet pink girl's room.  

I've talked about using symmetry and white linens before when you're staging a space to sell it because it gives off a calm relaxing feeling.  You can see how the designers did that here in this cottage as well.  Each room has calm linens and two side tables with two lights.  Notice how each bed has white pillows with one or two decorative pillows in front of them, which co-ordinates the whole space.  
It's an easy way to decorate a space - any space - not just a cottage. 

Below was a tiny room in one of the cabins on the property.  I love how they created a headboard with wood which also acts as a shelf and is used for storage.  They then mounted two lights (symmetry) in the wall because there was no room for end tables.  Great use of space and simple beautiful design. 

In each of these bedrooms, because the walls are a neutral white and the linens are neutral, it would be easy to change the country / cottage decor by simply changing out the quilts at the bottom of each bed. This is why I love white linens on a bed - well, really it's because I get bored and change things a lot.  

Hope you were inspired and enjoyed this cottage.

I'm still working on my teen girl's room and hope to have some more pics of that soon.  I've had a lot of fun with black paint over the summer... I think it's mid-life crisis.

Have a great weekend!!

Muskoka Summer Escape

I've been a little slow on the blogging end lately - trying to get my kids ready for school and fitting in a mini vacation just before school started.   

If you've been following me on Instagram you'll know that we went up north with friends to Muskoka for some final summer fun.  (Just a little aside, I love Instagram.  It's like art in a box.  You can follow me there too:).  Our friends invited us up to stay with them in Muskoka at BG Signature Properties which is absolutely stunning.  I always like to share great style when I see it so here's a little taste of what we experienced.

Above is a view from the main cottage of the boathouse which I would be quite content to live in.  It sleeps about four and we put all four teenage girls in it (hormones).  Unfortunately I didn't get any inside pics of it because the girls had "moved in" by the time I got there. It had a kitchenette in the middle and a sitting area to one side and bed on the other.  The design here was very well thought out.  Each space had a view of the lake - beautiful! 

I spent a lot of time on these lounge chairs.  

I just love these English benches which were beautifully placed all over the property. Again, great style. 

When the kids weren't on the water slide (yes it had a water slide) or in the hot tub, they were usually on the trampoline - so much fun!!!

Hope you all had a great Labour Day weekend and finished your summer in style. 

I'm going to be sharing the inside of this beautiful place coming up so stay tuned!