Front Porch Goals

I have always wanted one of those fancy front porch entryways that I see on Instagram.  You know the ones?  With lots of enormous planters with beautiful, colorful flowers.   And a bench with pillows for lounging and the layering of an indoor rug with an outdoor mat.   Those are my #frontporchgoals. 

That is is not what I have.  I live in Arizona.  It's extremely hot and dusty.   The only flowers that survive (my) front porch are succulents that flower.   Pillows and indoor rugs would last like five minutes in the dessert -- if the sun doesn't get them first, the numerous dust storms eventually will. 

Therefore, this is what I have:

It all starts with a lovely wreath.  Doesn't it always start a wreath?  It does for me.   And this one I got at Pier One. 

And these Chrysanthemums from Costco are amazing.  They are so vibrant and fragrant and beautiful!   Add some faux pumpkins and all of a sudden its fall!

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I think in years to come it will get a bit more elaborate but for now, I think it looks good enough for someone else to think it's #frontporchgoals. 

 Streetview not as impressive as close up......

P.S. This year I completely skipped Halloween decor.   I know. 

Project Two - Kitchen Curtains

Project number two is complete!  Well, sort of.   I still have to hem the curtains because initially I wanted them to puddle on the ground, but then I realized with cream colored curtains it wasn't the best idea.   So I pinned them, now I just need to hem them.

I know neutral colors are not everyone's first styling choice but it's always been my favorite.

I love how clean and polished it looks.   Eventually I'm sure I'll try patterned curtains in a popular color but for now I'm loving this look.   

We've had this table for about 12 years now.   It's soon to be replaced with a new table and a round rug.  Also, I have a plant coming in to fit in the the corner that will add some lovely green color to this corner of the kitchen.

Next up is Project Three: master bedroom curtains!   

Project One - Living Room curtains

A before picture:

An after picture:

And an in-between picture:

I bought a curtain rod that extends to 144" from the Home Depot.  The picture above shows the rod about 80".   The picture below shows it about 95".   I extended the sides to about 10 inches on each side of the window which I think looks a lot better.  I was able to widen the curtain just a bit without compromising the size of the window.  

I'm really pleased with the quality of the curtain.  It's called the Tibast from Ikea.   It's 98" inches long so it worked really well on that wall.   And because I love neutral colors, I am so very happy with how they look.   

Project two is next weekend:   curtains on kitchen windows.

I'm going to post.....

A video!   How is it that I just realized that I could post videos on my blog?   For the next few months posting a video might be easier than posting pictures.   I want to be able to capture my before and after's but taking pictures is time consuming.   With all the unpacking (almost) done, I have been able to focus more on decor and this will be a great way to capture all the fun changes.  It will also help me remember specifics about new purchases.  

This is a test:

I think I'm going to like this SO much better!  At least for the next few months!

Halloween

The temps are dropping in the valley.   In the past couple of weeks we've gone from the lower 100's to a high of 76 today and it's glorious!    It is starting to feel a lot like fall!  I heard it will warm up some in the next weeks and then linger in the 80's.    But that's okay as long as it's not 100 plus, I'm good.

I was so ready for fall to come this year; it seemed especially hot this summer.   And I also couldn't wait to start decorating with my Halloween/fall stuff!   I purged most of the holiday decor when we moved to our new house at the suggestion of Miguel.   He said that most of it was old and he said he knew that with a brand new home I would want to buy brand new everything.   Who was I to argue?

I did keep a few things like the "Happy Halloween" banner:



But these guys are new.  I found them at Walmart for 98 cents each and I should have bought a third solid orange because then I could have switched the black one out for a solid orange and viola an easy fall transition.   Live and learn.




p.s.  there is still SO much decorating to do.  My bare walls stress me out a little.....
But notice that fish tank in the corner?  We just got it this past weekend.  It's still in the
setting up phase.   Maybe by next weekend we will have water and fish!




How cute are the white pumpkins?  I picked those up from the Target dollar spot.  One of my favorite places by the way.



I'm sure I'll hang on to these for quite some time....so adorable!






And the black and white chevron from last year made it into the "keep" pile, of course!   The colors make me giddy.




I could sit and look at this  a l l   d a y   l o n g!


That coffin is was filled with candy.  It mysteriously keeps disappearing.....


The kitchen gets some Halloween/fall love too:







I ran into Ross looking for pillows and came out with these:

I


And there's another set of the white pumpkins.

Happy Halloween!!

🎃

Updates

Just a quick update so I can keep track of progress.  I had forgotten just how much work moving into a new home is.   We moved in just two short months ago on July 25th.   Getting all the furniture and the boxes in the house was actually the easy part since the movers did all the work.   The tedious task started as soon as the first box was opened.   

There is still SO much more work to do.  I still have boxes in the garage, in my office, in Miguel's office, in the linen and hall closets.   Oh and in the master closet.   Yep.   Still.   

But on the bright side, the master bedroom is looking pretty put together:

The kitchen is completely unpacked and is also looking pretty:

Have you ever bought furniture at Costco?  We bought our bed (and mattress) and nightstands, the stools for the kitchen counter and the couches in the living room from Costco.   I don't know if that is unusual or not, but we find that Costco has great quality furniture at great prices.

My office in its current state:

It's a process...

On Saturday, we will be in our new home one full month!  It's hard to believe that it's been only 4 short weeks while at the same time it seems like it has taken forever, and I do mean forever, to get some type of organization going.   This morning, I walked out of our bedroom and realized that for the first time in weeks, there weren't boxes piled up everywhere or items laying around that didn't belong.   We are making progress!

Once I have everything in it's place, I can start the fun part:  accessorizing.    For now, I'm happy that we have a place to sit and watch TV!   Little wins!