Made By Katy: front patio

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Happy fall, once again! I thought I would post the rest of our fall decorations today. Hope you like them as much as I do!

In hindsight, I should have taken these front patio pictures in better light, but it is what it is and I'm a bit lazy, so excuse the over-exposed photos :).

I love our patio this year, for the most part. My mom gave me this wreath last year (she made it way back when) and I added a few feathers. It has the prettiest grapevine. I also love my pumpkin display this year! There isn't much room on the patio for a big production or anything, but a few pumpkins, some moss, and a grapevine garland seemed to be enough for the space.

I also spray painted some old lanterns that I had and put some little wooden pumpkins in them for an extra touch. (I think I got those at JoAnn on super clearance a few years ago.) I'm still debating on how happy I am with the green color. It may get changed to gray before Christmas.

Out of necessity, I decided to just decorate a couple of areas in our house since most of it is pretty bare (like 90% of it). The first is the entry way, which I posted about here.

I spray painted those little plastic pumpkins gray and white. They are from Wal-Mart and I bought them on clearance last year. I love the wheat bundle best! I'm a bit obsessed with wheat.

Okay, this doesn't actually stay on our dining table all the time, but I had extra decorations so I stuck them here and thought it was pretty. I SO wish I had curtains, blinds, and other decor in here! Curse you, money and expensive furnishings. ;)

(Sorry, this picture is super blurry looking...)

I'm keeping the little dome and cake plate set-up on there at all times. I got the dome at a garage sale this past weekend. I've decided that garage sale-ing is my new hobby (among a thousand others that I don't make time for). I love it!

Here is a little console in the corner of our living room. I really just added the faux pumpkin and those pears. I still need to spray paint that pumpkin, haha. (Wal-Mart clearance)

Aaaaaaand I may have changed the fireplace. I couldn't help it. The other looked so dark and really traditional so I attempted to simplify and brighten it up. (Can you tell that the darkness of this fireplace is driving me nuts?) I also took the orange pumpkins out and moved them to the patio. I have a real issue with any bright colors being in my house. This quirk annoys me, but again, I just can't help myself!

I like this mantel a LOT more. All of the mercury glass balls are from TJ Maxx or Crate and Barrel (wedding gifts).

I really, really, really wish that the leaves were turning in Lubbock but they aren't yet....so I just clipped a branch from a crate myrtle in our yard and called it good. I got the little tree stump at a garage sale for 25 cents. I love it.

Oh, and we are in Colorado this week! I always forget how beautiful it is here in the fall. My family lives in Highlands Ranch, which is seriously like the perfect little bubble of a suburb. Being here always makes me weirdly nostalgic, because I tend to forget about it when I'm in Texas. It's nice that nothing seems to change when you go home....you still listen to the same radio stations, your mom still cooks the same meals, and you kind of get to revert to being a kid again :).

Anyways....that was a weird little side note, haha. Have a wonderful day!

Monday, September 2, 2013

I need to start off by saying that this makeover won't be lasting for too long. ;)

We are planning to replace our front door sometime in the next year or two in order to let more natural light into our entryway. I would really love to find a door with a glass insert and paint it a fun color--and of course--add our address number to the front of it like we did at our last house. I loved those vinyl numbers so much!

BUT.

Our current situation was pretty boring, and I knew it would make the wait for a new door that much longer with everything looking so plain.

See what I mean?

I also really wanted to decorate the patio for all of the holidays that are coming up and a grungy white door with a broken storm door to top if off did not set the best scene for a pretty patio display.

With money being pretty tight at the moment, I thought that I would just have to deal with it until we saved up for the new door, but then I got an idea: why not check the glorious money-saving "Oops" paint section at Lowe's? (Don't you just love light bulb moments like that?) I headed to Lowe's and pretty much hit the jackpot with two color options for only $2.50 a quart. That's right! Go to Lowe's, it can be your best friend, too.

The colors I had to choose from were a navy blue and a basic red. I was of course drawn to the navy (I love my blues!), but ultimately decided against it since our house is painted a dark taupe color (not my fave but it's great to cover up aaaaall of the west Texas dirt) and I have two black flower pots that pretty much live on the front patio... and that kind of clash is no good in my book.

I normally steer clear of reds....but this one... I LOVE.

Yep. LOVE.

It is truly amazing what a little bit of paint can do.

I used some supplies we already had to patch and freshen up all of the trim with a glossy white paint (I still need to touch up a few spots...), and I also attempted to DIY gold leaf the doorbell (but I kinda hate it in person, so I'm still working on that one ;)).

Before...