Updated Fall Dining Room with New Bench and Runner and Joy to the World

A few weeks ago I showed you the farmhouse table I built for our dining room and a few days after that our fall decorating in that room. Although I was pretty excited about the table, I was not a fan of my autumn decor in that room. It was a little dark and drab looking. It might have been fine for November, but just seemed too dreary for September or early October, especially seeing how the weather is still so warm here. Last week I finally played around with it and am so much happier with how it looks. The first thing I did was build a bench for one side of the table. It took a little while but was relatively simple. I upholstered the top of it once I built the base and then added some nailhead trim to dress it up a bit. I took photos as I went and as soon as I have time to edit them will do a tutorial. 

Sometimes I feel like things look better in photographs than they do in real life and sometimes I feel like a photograph just doesn't relay the feel of something. In this case, I was disappointed in the photos I took of the dining room and the bench. I think the fabric and trim on the bench add a nice little shine and dress the bench up which helps keep the room from getting too rustic but it's hard to really see in these pictures. 

After I finished the bench I felt like the table needed a runner so Lillie and I made a new runner. It's basically the same as the one we had on our old table but a little bit narrower and quite a bit longer. The one from the last table didn't fit on this one. And then after that we added some fresh hydrangeas and white pumpkins to the table and sideboard. I like it so much better in here now!

I also wanted to let you know our Joy to the World pillow covers in Cranberry are now available!

I hope you all have a lovely week!

Autumn is here...

A few weeks ago I took some photos of Lillie and Lola. I don't think I've taken any setup type photos of them together since last fall and they've grown so much since then. Lillie is wearing our Briar hat, made by my sister, Dana. We are hoping to have them available again later this fall.

Lola's hat was a gift from Jon's parents for Lillie when she was little. It's from a store in Indiana called Lola Rue. My mom made Lillie's plaid jumper. Lola's dress, little jacket and shoes were also Lillie's. I guess that's what happens when you are the second child. =)  The dress is from Gap and her little jacket and shoes are from Joyfolie. 

Our neighbors, Chloe and Bayley came along too and wore the Briar hats in gray.

I also wanted to introduce you to our newest sponsor:

Vinyl Wall Decals

Head on over to their website for a wide variety of vinyl decals at great prices!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Our Front Door and Wreath Giveaway

 I regularly show you photos of our back porch but almost never show you the front of our house because, well, there's not much to show. However, I am really excited about this wreath that Meagan of Custom Wreaths by Meagan sent me earlier this week! It was packaged wonderfully so it arrived in perfect condition and I was thrilled with the size of it! I loved it so much I was torn on where to put it. I played around with it in Lola's room (I will show photos I took yesterday with it in her room decorated with autumn touches next week) but ended up with it on our front door!

If you are interested in ordering a wreath, head on over to Meagan's facebook page and send her a message. And today we are giving away a wreath from Meagan to one lucky winner! (Please note: due to the time-consuming manner of the wheat wreath in these photos she is not taking any more orders for this particular wreath at this time).

The colored mums are thanks to Lillie and Lola. I always buy the cream colored ones but when you tell two little girls to "help pick out the prettiest mums they can find" these were naturally the ones they went right to! They aren't my favorite, but oh well. =)  They had fun picking them out and really love watering them every day.

I thought I would also show you the other wreath Meagan sent me this summer:

And here is another wreath from her facebook page:

And here is the wreath she is giving away to one lucky winner! It is a lovely 18 by 18 square moss wreath. (Or if you would prefer another style she will give the winner a $55 credit towards any style she makes).

So, how can you win this wreath 

(or a $55 credit towards a wreath of your choice by Custom Wreaths by Meagan)?

 

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post!

You don't have to have a blog to enter, either. If you aren't a blogger, just enter a comment and then where it says "comment as" scroll down near the bottom and click on anonymous. However, if you do that, make sure to leave your e-mail address so we can confirm that you are the winner. If we draw the name of someone who doesn't leave any identifying information we will simply draw a new name. Make sure to check back here on the blog to collect your prize!

You can comment each day if you would like to up your chances!

For an extra entry simply "Like" Custom Wreaths by Meagan and come back here and comment that you did for another extra entry!

This giveaway runs through Monday.

Early Autumn Family Room

Yesterday I finished making a bench to go with our farmhouse table. I am hoping to get it photographed later this week. I took photos as I went so I can do a tutorial, although it might be another week or so before I get to that. Today I thought I would show you the autumn changes we have made in our family room so far.

The wreath was from Pier 1 several years ago. The pumpkins were both from Hobby Lobby (I think) quite a few years ago. I purchased them after Halloween when they were just a dollar or two and then painted them. We finally have real pumpkins here in Williamsburg. We've bought a few for our front doorstep and I hope to get some more to add in here and replace these faux ones once the weather gets a little cooler. It's nice having the fake ones, though, while we are waiting for it to cool down a bit.

And yes, we've added another little spot for toys in this room. Not too long ago I got this basket at TJ Maxx. Last fall I did a post on where we hid all of our toys. Back then Lola was just a few months old so she really didn't have any, it was just Lillie's stuff. Now that Lola's toys have been added to the mix we had to find one more little spot to help contain them. =)

Another painted pumpkin:

I hope you all are having a wonderful week!