Fall Decor and Neighborhood Charm

Happy Weekend!

Remember Mr. Rogers and the song "These are the people in your neighborhood".

Today I want to show you my charming neighborhood and also share my outdoor fall decor.

The first time I drove down our street I fell in love with the charm of each of the houses in this neighborhood.  Each home is unique and no two are a like.  These homes were built in the late 40's to early 50's.  

Unfortunately we are seeing some of the charming homes torn down and these bigger modern homes going up in this neighborhood.  While they are beautiful homes I feel they take away from the charm of this neighborhood.

This neighborhood reflects a wonderful time in American culture when homes were built to last with families in mind.

 

This is our cottage home dressed for fall.

My sweet harvest angel is hung on my front door to greet any guests.

I love that she has those sweet freckles just below her eyes on her cheeks.

My flower boxes are stuffed with fall pumpkins and gourds.

Welcoming fall at the new house.

Terry and I are busy working on the inside decor to share soon.

It still feels like summer here this week.  It was 82 today and 77 tomorrow.  Next week we are suppose to drop down in the 60's for our normal fall weather.

Have a great weekend.
Hugs,
Kris

Armoire Re Love

Good Sunday to all of you.  Hope the weekend is going great.

Remember this great armoire I scored for $50.

After some heavy duty sanding by my great handy man Terry we got it down to the bare wood.

As you can see my assistant Peggy is checking out the progress!

The next process was to take white paint and water it down.  I did one part paint to one part water. I just used white paint I had.  Nothing fancy like chalk paint etc. just regular paint.   Then I took a wet brush and white washed the paint onto the cabinet.

The next step was to take steel wool and rub off the paint.  This was after the first round with the steel wool.  We did this about 3 more times to get the desired look.  I did not follow any rules just kept putting on another coat of white wash and then used steel wool to take off the paint.  To get it to the desired look I wanted it was about 3 times of doing this process.

Each time the cabinet took on more of the white wash.  If you like the french look of the wood really coming through you would only have to do this process one time.  I wanted more white on this piece so it would live happily with the other white chippy pieces I have in this room.

This is where I ended up after 3 rounds of white wash and using the steel wool.  It lets some of the wood show but I get the gray and white effect I wanted.

I was going to just paint the inside of this cabinet but after playing around with the steel wool on the inside I kind of liked that it looked much like the outside of the armoire.  

Now I have a small armoire to bring in a small TV for the upstairs and also gives me some storage.  I am thinking a cute basket with my throws in that open area next to the drawers.

This piece now fits nicely with all my other chippy pieces in the room.  It has been a rain filled weekend and no sun.  These pictures are a bit drab.  If I try to brighten them too much they get washed out.  Hoping soon to take pictures of the whole living room reveal.  Maybe soon I will have some sunny days to capture this room better.

Have a great new week.
Hugs,
Kris