My fall home tour:
These views are what I see when I look outside. And it will get even better in the next week or two. So I don’t feel the need to decorate inside.
I love seeing how others decorate for fall, don’t get me wrong, but our little cottage is small and surface space is limited, so putting together little bits of fall decor inside looks too busy and takes away from the spectacularness right outside our windows.
We are fortunate to live in the Northeast, so all this beauty is free. Oh we do pay a price: lots of raking!
Barbara sent us a box which arrived at out post office box the other day. There are some presents for Little Z that will go nicely with his dollhouse. I won’t share them here because I want to keep them secret for now.
Don got a present:
Two more book in the Hardy Boys series. He was so excited! There’s also a guitar pin and a wonderful old postcard of a cowboy.
I got some socks with Van Gogh’s Starry Night as the pattern. I love them.
And these:
Two more Petite Princess finds; the chair and the dresser. I love these dressers, as you know, and I will most assuredly use this one in another dollhouse. And this chair is fabulous! The gorgeous pitcher (just like a vintage Hall pitcher) was made by artisan Janice Crawley. Isn’t it beautiful?
Thank you, Barbara! You made our day!
And for slice of reality, this is the way my office looks right now:
There’s stuff everywhere. It’s starting to drive me nuts. Barbara included some mini wallpaper, so what you see on the work table are lots of books and weights that I’ve placed on the wallpaper in order to flatten it.
I’m starting to sort through piles of things throughout the house, so what did I do? I moved some of them upstairs to the office. And I still haven’t sorted through them.
Ay, me!
But today is for more raking and gutter clearing. What fun.
All of you who live in the area of Florida threatened by the hurricane, please take care. Evacuate if you haven’t already. We’re sending prayers to all of you. xoxo
Happy Friday.
Thank you for the pictures of your outside. Makes me miss New England. I am in awe of your miniature furniture you received. I can’t imagine the patience that goes into making them and I make quilts. Have you heard of Alibris which is a site online that sell used books? I saw that there are Nancy Drew books though I don’t know those are ones you are searching for. I am with you when it comes to decorating for the seasons. I don’t like a lot of stuff. I admit when it comes to our Christmas tree it stays up about two weeks then it has to come down. Drives me crazy.
We’ve been decorating less and less for Christmas every year. I like it much more than over-decorating Trina.
As a life-long Minnesota resident, I am obsessed with weather and climate. I notice from your photos that you still have impatiens blooming, Yet, the autumn color is much more advanced than here in Minneapolis. Impatiens bit the dust a couple weeks ago here. We have had a very rainy summer and autumn. Thank you for the fall tour! It satisfies my weather obsession and the photos are pretty too.
Well, the impatiens are in pots and sort of protected on the porch, but it probably hasn’t got as cold at night as it does in your neck of the woods, Carolyn Marie.
Love the fall tour. Real is way better than fake. We spent last night with relatives because of the storm. We were very blessed. A few small limbs down but no other damage.
So happy you are safe and sound, Janie. Thank goodness!
That’s my kind of Fall home tour! While I love to see everyone’s decor….I just simply can not do that. Even though we live in the city, we have so many trees outside our windows, that I don’t want to distract from that view. When I woke up this morning it was 70….now, it’s 49. Guess fall arrived! ;)
I know. Nothing better than the beautiful view!
Who needs fall decor inside when you live with all that beauty outside your windows!! I miss Fall in New England. Maybe I will get to the Smokey Mtns this year for a leaf look! Happy to be in CA. With my girl. I got out of GA before the storm but am praying for all in its path. Is Meredith and family OK? Love the gifts and hope Little Z will love his house. I think my whole house looks like your office!
Yes, they are fine. My nephew goes to college in Orlando and they were sent home on Wednesday evening. Mere and family live on the west coast, so they’ll get wind and rain but will be fine.
I am surprised by the amount of leaves you have which are down already. I haven’t really noticed any here yet, and just a few sporadic trees sprinkled here and there that are changing colors. We will likely get a frost in the next 7-10 days or so, and then things will change for sure. We haven’t turned our heat on yet. I looked in my journal, and last year it was turned on by Oct. 4th. I consider each day we haven’t had to turn it on to be a diamond!! It will happen soon enough.
Your Fall decorations are fabulous!! I wouldn’t change one single thing!!
We have older sugar maples surrounding the house and they always lose their leaves first. Trees are turning everywhere here and leaves are definitely falling! We’ve also had our heat on for a while now. So maybe Autumn is hitting the Northeast earlier than your neck of the woods.
I love your fall decorations, courtesy of Mother Nature! Thank you for including a photo of your office, but you shouldn’t feel so badly about its state…my office and sewing room are worse. I took out 20 cartons of unfinished projects and alterations, and fabrics. Will begin to go thru them today. I already took out a few pants from the 80’s I had needed to hem up….those went into the donation pile. Hopefully, I can whittle the 20 down by at least half….
You’re ahead of me. I have so much to go through and sort, but I’m avoiding it like the plague!
I’m moving five pieces of furniture that used to belong to my grandmother, so I have to clean out what is no longer important to me. Being under a deadline helps me, otherwise I procrastinate.
Totally understand. That seems to be the only way I get things done!
Love your “Fall Home Tour”….the most beautiful I have seen so far!! I live in northeast NY as well and this is my favorite time of year!!
It sure is beautiful here, isn’t it? Thanks, Donna.
I laughed so hard when I read about your piles of “stuff” that you moved to your office. As I am typing this note to you, I’ve had to shove aside some of the piles of “stuff” I have on my desk. Every day “stuff” comes in the mail that I don’t want and have to sort through before it goes into the recycle bin. What a pain! Love your new miniatures. So darling. You are blessed to live in the northeast. Down here in Texas we have to decorate because it’s the only way we know it’s Fall ;-)
Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley
I well remember having to do that when I lived in San Diego, Susan. Same thing. No big changes there!
Thank you for sharing your lovely pictures, they make me miss NY State. Enjoy these Autumn days!
I am. Today is gorgeous! We raked, cleaned gutters and I mowed the front lawn.
Now, I’m exhausted!
Wonderful early Fall photos of your property! And I LIKE seeing a semi-cluttered office. It just looks better. As in “real people live & work here…” And not like a stylist arranged it for a photo shoot for “Better Homes & Gardens” or “Architectural Digest” – those photos always look so… I guess the word is FALSE. Give me the real thing every time…
Oh good! Because you know I’m nothing if not ‘real life!’
Beautiful pictures, Claudia! It is has been so terribly dry here, our leaves are falling prematurely. I’m afraid no fall color for us this year. Still terribly warm here, too. Too disheartened by the stifling weather and my bum wrist to even plant any pansies this year. Oh, well, there is always next year. Thanks for sharing your beautiful scenery with us, Simply gorgeous!
You’re welcome, Dottie! It’s been dry here as well so fall is happening all too quickly!
I love your pictures. Such nice relaxing nature shots. Especially like the one with the branches, overlooking the road, and the pink bucket with the rose plant. Lovely…….
Thank you, Cyndi.
Yes, I just read that people who refused to evacuate for Hurricane Matthew are stranded and making pleas for help. My husband and I were discussing it a lot yesterday; it can be a hard call and very inconvenient and expensive to leave home (we’ve been in the situation, on the Gulf Coast, with hurricane/tornado)…but, it’s your LIFE. One thing that was difficult for us is that we didn’t know anyone with whom we could seek shelter…new to the area…and we had four dogs (good-sized ones, not the small breeds) and a cat. (And jobs. His business was media, covering the storms or disasters; in the thick of it. For me, when everything else was shut down, my boss would be at work and require me to come in…and nobody else [hundreds of people] would be in the block-long, multi-storied building. It was insanity. I’ve driven and slid on black ice trying to get to that location, not knowing what it was [I’m a Californian; we don’t have black ice], and I could have killed myself and somebody else.)
I loved your Fall Tour.
Did you read today’s comments by comedian/host David Letterman (being interviewed for a Nat’l Geo special he narrated, upcoming end of October) about Mr. Orange? (He was serious; not comedy; DT had been a guest on his late show several times over the years.)
By the way, I happen to LIKE your office space; it’s cozy!
And who is Barbara? What a nice person! Such thoughtful gifts; so kind!
(Is that enough with the exclamation points??!!!!!!)
I’ve mentioned Barbara a lot on the blog; she’s a fellow miniaturist who lives in Canada – Several of the items in Don’s Studio were gifts from Barbara.
I did read those comments, Vicki. Hillary has been using that interview in her ads for a few months now.
You know, one problem is that I watch very little TV and I miss these ads! I tend to record the few shows I watch and then go at them later so I can speed through the commercials. Didn’t mean to be irrelevant!
You are not irrelevant! Letterman’s interview ended up being a gift for Hillary, that’s for sure.
I just love to look at how others decorate their home at the holidays and all year round, really. Their homes always look so beautiful. Even if I wouldn’t decorate in the same way, it is so lovely to see how others do it. I just love people!
I do, too, Tana.
Thanks for the lovely pictures. We’ve been singing the hurricane blues here all week, so it’s nice to see such nice weather. All is well here–we didn’t even lose power at our house–but people just a couple of hours away didn’t fare as well. St. Augustine is a mess.
I’m happy to hear you’re safe and sound, Bridget.