Sharing Shadymont, My Mountain Cottage

As I've mentioned recently, I'm trying to not over decorate for fall this year.  After 3 months of bright oranges throughout the house, it can get a little overwhelming.  I've placed more subtle decorations around and called it done.  Today, I will share some of those areas with you. In the dining room, I've used this old gallon glass jug that I got free at a moving sale.  I've used it for spring and summer, and for fall, it holds 2 stems, and a raffia ribbon tied around it.  I love its simplicity. A touch of fall was added in the breakfast area by simply sticking a couple of fall stems and a sunflower into the silverware/napkin basket on the top of the cabinet. Nothing says fall more than a sunflower.  I love it next to the texture of this thrifted basket. The corner cabinet holds this fall spray, also a frugal find. Just simple additions to these areas, say fall without being overpowering. Later I will share a si...

Fall is showing up in nature in NE Georgia. The maples are starting to put on a show of their own. I've been gradually adding a few more fall touches to the house, still trying not to over do it.  I've got the fall curtains (tablecloth) hanging, so they bring most of the color.  I'm just adding a few more touches here and there. I visited a couple of consignment/antique shops on Thursday, and found some nice items.  My favorite is this pretty table runner. It is embroideried with bittersweet vines, and the reverse side is equally as pretty. I found this in an antique shop that I had never visited.  It is a huge store, with many booths,  a little expensive for my frugal ways, but I couldn't resist this runner. It's the perfect fit for the breakfast table, so I added this wood compote that I updated, as the centerpiece.  I placed brown gift bag filler in the compote, topped that with the bittersweet ring, added the dollar store c...

I've been finding some great books, not necessarily for reading, but for use in my decorating.  Using books is a great way to add interest to vignettes, shelves, mantles, on tables, anywhere you need a spot of color.  They are great for stacking, and emphasising an item placed on top. Here this book not only provides fall color for the hall tree, but also lifts the pumpkin off the table. Here's some of the ways to use books in your decor. Use them on your mantel.  Here I have layered them in with other items. I found the taller green book ("Victory"), at Good Will. It's vintage, copyright 1915, 2nd printing, 1921.  It's in excellent condition.  The RD Condensed book was a consignment find. This book is by Eugenia Price, and is one of her Georgia Trilogy books. It has a beautiful binding, and the turquoise design on the front. I paired it with another GW find, with a turquoise cover. By color coordinating the books, I have added int...

Recently, I showed you how I used fabric table cloths in the dining room for curtains.  I am loving them, so much color, nice looking, and frugal!! They are 102" long, and hanging them above the transom requires 95", so I simply folded 7" to the back, and clipped them to the rod.  Easy, peasy. Well, you know since the dining and family rooms look into each other, I decided to purchase 2 more table cloths to hang in the family room.  The required length in there is only 84", so I cut off 16" and pressed the top down and clipped them to the rods in the family room. I only hung two in the family room, even though 4 could have been used since I'm hanging them on 2 sets of french doors. We don't use these doors to enter/exit the room, so they act as windows instead.  I decided that hanging one on each end of the family room doors would ground the drapes, and match fine with the dining room.  View from the front door. I...

I spent several hours one morning last week,  trying to get the fall decor on the hall tree in the foyer to look like I wanted. After several tries, I finally liked it well enough to stop tweaking it. First I removed everything I had on it. before I swapped out everything on it including the lamp.  I decided to use this really old one.  I do like this lamp though. Alot! Do you remember these lamps?  I think some people used to place ruffled cloth shades on them.  When were these popular, maybe the 70's? I kept it simple, the lamp, a brown metal vase with fall flowers, a book with rust, orange, and green colors, and this owl.   after Then I hung this wreath I decorated the other day, on one of the hooks, and called it finished. On the bottom shelf, I placed a long brown wooden container filled with fall leaves and pumpkins. That's it, nothing too over the top.  Just a simple theme that will last through...

A quick trip to the consignment shop netted me a few goodies that I can use for fall decorating.  They will add a subtle fall look which is what I'm after this season.  I don't want a whole lot of bright color, just a subdued touch of color.  I have the colorful curtains in the dining and living room (made from fall fabric tablecloths), so I don't need a lot of other things. This fabulous tin is one of my new treasures.  I just love the colors, and it has an unusual curved shape.  I got two of the orange berry candle rings too.  So this is one end of the mantle. I bought this Readers Digest book because of it's colors, rust, gold, and the front has green and orange, so it blends in perfectly, used to elevate the small picture, which I found today.  It's not as big as an 8 x 10, but the picture is probably 4x6.  The tone of the colors are perfect for my subtle vignette. On the other end of the mantle, I gathered books in fall...

Quite a while back, I painted my knife block, bread box, and hanging mail/bill holder in a turquoise color from a paint sample from Lowe's.  I stenciled fleur de lis on all the pieces, to make them a set. I decided to give them a makeover. I used Waverly, White Chalk Paint, and a little mod podge to attach graphics. BEFORE: AFTER: I found the "bread" graphic on Graphics Fairy, and the one of bread loaves from a CANSTOCK site. The tile backsplash in the kitchen has the design below above the stove top, and various tiles have one vegetable, as you can see above. To continue the theme, I found pictures of the same veggies to place on the mail holder. I added a little distressing along the edges. I like the change.    This was an easy and free makeover since I used items I already had, and just printed the graphics and photos off the computer. Sharing here: Tweak It Tuesday @  www.cozylittlehous...