Inspiring your Home and Lifestyle
The cooler weather has arrived and we are here for it! Here’s a roundup of beautiful spaces to inspire you in this new season, so grab a cozy blanket and a hot cup of coffee (or a pumpkin spice latte—‘tis the season).
There’s a lot to be said about meeting people’s expectations when it comes to seasonal decorating. After all, you don’t use shamrocks for Valentine’s Day, or lush banks of blooming flowers for the Halloween show on your front lawn. But you aren’t limited to a certain number of elements or prescribed colors every time you create a seasonal show. Many elements can be injected into your holiday tablescape that are not just unusual in themselves, but also bring in a color you might not have thought to use before. And that color can be from the purple family.
The color range for fall decor is typically restricted to the fiery tones, and for good reason. Ripened squash and pumpkins are always in various oranges or yellows, leaves turn into flame, mature wheat and cornstalks are, well, the color of mature wheat and cornstalks. But think back to art class and that color wheel. The use of contrasting colors, which are found on the opposite side of the wheel, can bring a bit of zing into your design. And they don’t have to be wildly exotic. Using African violets and a thrilling cerise phalaenopsis—both of which can be found at my nursery, as well as lots of other sources—can add a much-needed note of newness to your design.
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Cooler temperatures often send us into the kitchen for warm, hearty meals—and, of course, holiday treats. Thanks in part to its key ingredient, pumpkin bread reigns as one of winter’s most scrumptious delights.
PUMPKIN BREAD
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Mix baking soda, flour, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. Slowly mix dry ingredients with butter and sugar. Fold in pumpkin puree until mixed thoroughly. Grease a 9×5 pan and pour batter into pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
GLAZE
Ingredients
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
2 T milk
Combine milk and sugar, then drizzle over slightly cooled pumpkin bread.
Today, Kathryn J. LeMaster is giving us step-by-step instructions for recreating two of the handmade elements that made her fall porch design so cheerful, warm & eclectic.
Burlap and Twine Banner
Learn more about Kathryn and view her work at kathrynjlemaster.com.
See more images of Kathryn J. LeMaster’s front porch decor in the October issue, HERE.
Living in the beautiful state of Arkansas provides a wonderful opportunity to enjoy and decorate our homes as the four seasons change. For me personally, I adore fall. There is something special about the crisp, morning air while enjoying a hot cup of coffee or embracing the cool nights layered with a favorite blanket. Fall’s arrival also brings forth an array of pumpkins, gourds, and colorful mums scattered among front porches.
Front doors are also a fabulous backdrop for additional seasonal décor. Each year, Indian corn is gathered and displayed on my front doors as a fond reminder of my childhood home’s fall decor. You may also create this festive display using the following items: 3 ears of Indian corn, 4 to 5 stems of wheat (I used artificial found at a local craft store), ribbon of your choice (2 varieties), twine, and scissors.
Lay 4-5 stems of wheat gathered together on a flat surface.
Next, fluff the husks on the corn to add dimension.
Place 3 ears of Indian corn on top of the gathered wheat. Ensure the top portion of the corn meets the gathered point of the wheat.
The 3 ears of Indian corn create a triangle when stacked.
Secure the Indian corn to the wheat with a piece of twine tied on the backside.
Cut a 50” piece of ribbon of your choice and tie in a bow on the front side.
For a layered look with a punch of color, add another 50” piece of ribbon tied in a bow.
Backside of the Indian corn and wheat
Display the Indian corn and wheat on your front door by securing the backside of the ribbon onto a brad nail hammered into your front door at an angle.
With the addition of your new Indian corn and wheat front door décor, I hope you enjoy this beautiful fall season!
Learn more about Jana and view her work at janahunter.com.
See more images of Jana Hunter’s front porch decor in the October issue, HERE.
What a gorgeous fall we are having! I can’t believe it is already October, but I am absolutely loving the mild weather and blue skies lately. I hope you are, as well! I decided to take advantage of some of that beautiful weather this weekend to get the front porch and entry dressed up for autumn. I didn’t go quite as big as I have the past couple years, but I still wanted a little something to celebrate the season in style. So, I thought I’d share the transformation with you, in case you are in need of any easy ideas for decorating your own outdoor spaces.
The entry had gotten a little drab, to be honest. The begonias I planted this spring were fading, and the door mat had certainly seen better days. The variegated maiden grasses at the stairs are in full bloom, however, and made for a good start!
I began my seasonal makeover by tossing the door mat and swapping out the old begonias for new ornamental cabbages, along with pansies and violas in beautiful red-wine tones.
Next, I decided to use a pair of urns I found recently to anchor the doorway. I love how tall, narrow and simple they are. Filled with these vibrantly hued chrysanthemums, they stand out nicely against the dark color of the house.
The urns are nice in their own right, but they also serve as the base for an arbor of grapevine and bittersweet. To create the arbor, I simply pulled apart a grapevine wreath from the craft store, stuck the larger ends of the branches into the soil in the urns and trained the vines over the door. A small concrete screw and some wire anchor the very top, so it won’t fall down.
Once the grapevines were in place, I added branches of fresh bittersweet throughout the arbor. The rich colors of the bittersweet echo those in the mums and cause the arbor to “pop” against the dark brick.
Next, I hung a natural honeysuckle-vine wreath on the front door and embellished it with more bittersweet to match the arbor.
All that was needed then, was the final finishing touch (You guessed it!)…pumpkins, pumpkins and more pumpkins! As I said I took it easy this year, compared to past years, but generous piles of fresh squashes, pumpkins and gourds are a must for me and help tie the whole front porch display together!
So, one more year’s autumn display is under wraps! I hope my neighbors like it as much as I do, and I hope it helps inspire some of you to Live Outside the Box by enjoying your outdoor spaces, as well as the bounty of the season!
Exterior designer Daniel Keeley is an Arkansas native and founder/principal of DK Design. His work has won numerous awards and accolades and is featured regularly in various publications. For more information visit dkdesignoutdoor.com.
Follow the Outside the Box house through the seasons, by reading Daniel Keeley’s other posts, HERE.
For more fall DIY door and porch decorating ideas follow the blog all this week, beginning with Cara Hazlewood’s post from yesterday, HERE.
When At Home in Arkansas asked if I would be interested in designing a fall front porch for their October issue, not only was I flattered that they thought to ask me, but it gave me the perfect excuse to build a quick and easy console table that I’d had my eye on for quite some time. I was totally onboard.
While I’m not a designer by trade, I jump at the opportunity to share an easy and rewarding a do-it-yourself project in hopes of inspiring others to create a home space they are proud of. At Home in Arkansas’ fall front porch challenge sounded like the perfect opportunity to spruce up my friend Alicia’s Hillcrest front porch for fall AND try out this super simple DIY console table, made from just 5 boards. This table is plastered all over Pinterest and I was ready to give it a shot for myself.
Here is a great step-by-step tutorial from thriftyandchic.com.
This table had been on my radar for a while, so I was excited to put my toolbox to work and build one for my friend Alicia’s fall front porch. In fact, this little table was so easy to build, I built two for my own house while I was at it!
Supply List:
1 – 1×12 pine board cut to desired length of the table top (the table in this post is 46” long)
2 – 1×12 pine boards cut to desired table height (the table in this post is 33” tall)
2 – 1×6 pine boards
4 brackets
Drill/Screws
Hammer/nails
Wood glue
Paint
After deciding how tall I wanted the table to be, I cut the top and two side “legs” to size and attached them together with a couple of brackets to make the table frame, using wood glue at the joints for added support.
Then, laying the 2 – 1×6 boards diagonally across the front and back of the table, I knew where to make the cuts before nailing them into place.
A quick coat of pale blue paint later, and we had the backdrop for our fall front porch scene. Not only was this table a breeze to build, but now Alicia can use it year round in her home.
Read the article online to see all three autumn porch decorating schemes > HERE
See Cara’s past DIY projects with step-by-step photos > HERE
Cara Hazlewood is a real estate broker with The Property Group and a devoted do-it-yourself-er. She writes about her home transformations on her blog, Live the Home Life
Anyone who knows me, how I approach my craft, or what excites me knows I love pumpkins. I use them from the time I can first purchase them—sometimes directly from the grower—then deep into winter and beyond. (They can last many months—a fact that wasn’t lost on farmers in the days before refrigeration.) I feel you can’t beat their vibrant colors, wildly varying textures, or happy shapes.
Here’s the thing: they don’t have to be relegated to Halloween displays, carved up into jack-o-lanterns. Pumpkins and all their range of colors and textures are wonderful complements to the fall garden.
Have you ever noticed how, oftentimes, we love our gardens the most at the end of the season? Everything is at its verdant peak—the colors more saturated, the growth more lush. You can add a mix of pumpkins (and ornamental squash) to the plantings you’ve nurtured all summer long. It will add further visual interest and make the approach of fall a little merrier.
To really get the most out of your pumpkins, why not put them on simple pedestals? You highlight their addition to your garden, add height and interest, and ensure they’ll be noticed. And appreciated. We carry these metal pedestals at Botanica, and you can use them throughout the year.
Think about the area you want to use them in. Do you want them to trace the line of your walk? Give height between foundation plantings near a wall? Create visual interest at the end of a path? Provide punctuation to an existing design? Then give them each a small stage, so that they can have their moment in your garden.
Notice that I’ve mixed them. It’s far more interesting to use pumpkins that differ in size, shape, and color than featuring all the same type. The pedestals make the point here that you’ve found really interesting shapes and colors, even warty ones, and you’re now taking them to another level. They become part of your landscape, part of your hearty end-of-season garden when used this way.
It’s a really simple idea, but (as is often the case with simple ideas) it’s a good one. And those little pedestals can be used to display seasonal bits of interest in your garden all year long. Once you elevate a bit of garden color and texture, you elevate the senses and the design appeal, which is what makes your guests want to come back, season after season.
Chris Olsen is a nationally known home and garden guru, designer, author, TV personality and public speaker. In his book, Chris shares his landscape and gardening knowledge along with his unique flair for home decor and design.He is also a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers. Learn more about Chris and all of his work at chrisholsen.com.
Want to read more from Chris? Last month, he told us how to create a spooky outdoor atmosphere this Halloween–check it out.
I hope all of you are having a wonderful month so far and that you have had a chance to enjoy the November issue of At Home. It is packed full of gorgeous homes, and I am so excited to see the feature we shot last year at my outdoor Thanksgiving gathering! I am so thankful to the At Home team for all their hard work and to my patient (and good-looking!) friends for joining me. It was a great evening, and I hope you will be able to take away some good decorating ideas and recipes for your own holiday soirees this season. I can still taste all the delicious dishes prepared by Chef Jen Lewis. Yum! If you haven’t already seen the full article, check it out here. And get bonus recipes from this menu tomorrow, right here on the At Home blog!
Around the Outside the Box House, we have been having fun decorating for fall and enjoying the transition of the garden and surrounding landscape. Most of the summer annuals finally succumbed to freezing temperatures, so those have been removed to make way for tulips and other spring-flowering bulbs which we will be planting soon. To celebrate the season, we set out piles of pumpkins and gourds at the front garden gate and front door. I decided to go with a mostly-white-and-green theme this year, as well as with smaller, asymmetrical groupings. Don’t get me wrong: I loved last year’s pumpkin explosion! I just felt like something simpler this year.
As usual, I carried the theme to the large urns in the front garden by placing squashes and gourds among the asparagus fern which is left over from spring planting and still looks great. I also couldn’t resist showing a little botanical support for the Arkansas Razorbacks by adding red and white cyclamen. They have been going like gangbusters for almost a month now and also coordinate perfectly with the shirt of a friend who was visiting recently for a home football game. [You can see him relaxing on a bench in the front garden in the reflection in the window!]
In the planter boxes near the front door, we replaced the ivy and succulents that were planted under the boxwoods with a ‘mulch’ of mini pumpkins. This is one place where I deviated from the green and white theme, and I think the orange stripes look really nice against the dark brick of the house.
In the fountain garden, we floated more of the same mini pumpkins in the fountain for an unexpected, whimsical touch.
In decorating the front entry, we trimmed the variegated maiden grasses that flank the stairs to make the new pumpkins and gourds more visible. Instead of tossing the trimmings, our dedicated employees decided to make a couple of beautiful arrangements for tables inside and out. Recycling garden clippings like this is an easy way to get free material for decorating during any season, and who doesn’t like the sound of free?!!
We also recycled the ivy and succulents we removed from the front planter boxes to create this fun centerpiece for another table. The gilded skull was found by a friend at a local flea market and makes this a great conversation piece!
And that is just about it around here. Before I go, though, I thought I would share a couple more gates I saw recently on my travels. As I said last month, I love garden gates and entryways; for me, they add such a sense of intrigue! This grand gate marks the entrance to a historic horse farm near Lexington, KY.
And these much simpler portals lead to private courtyard gardens in Rosemary Beach, FL. Don’t you just want to go in and see what is behind them?
Thanks so much and Happy Thanksgiving. See you next month!
Exterior designer Daniel Keeley is an Arkansas native and founder/principal of DK Design. His work has won numerous awards and accolades and is featured regularly in various publications. For more information visit dkdesignoutdoor.com.
To see the progress at the “Out of the Box House,” read Daniel Keeley’s past updates!
[photo source: http://ciaonewportbeach.
We can’t help but be overcome with Porch Love this time of year. The thought of cooler nights by a fire, the perfect place for a morning cup of coffee, or lounging away on a lazy Sunday afternoon gives us serious porch envy.
[photo source: http://www.marthastewart.com/
[photo source: http://www.houzz.com/photos/
[photo source: http://www.houzz.com/photos/
You will find us on the porch all fall until the winter air chases us inside. What about you?
Its your turn. Lets talk (on the porch).
At Home in Arkansas offers you a look inside the state's most inspiring homes. The magazine features monthly advice from the experts to help you plan your next remodel or redesign, entertain at home, or find Arkansas's best kept secrets. It is your definitive guide to the state's finest homes and gardens, design professionals, fashion and entertaining essentials, and premier shops and showrooms.