Sunday, October 2, 2011

Bring on the fall!

I've been feeling the need to fall up my house lately. I'm hoping that if I insert a few touches of cooler weather, cooler weather might come to me. And then I burned my feet walking on the road today so yeah... it's going good.

I had a plan. New pillows, a few flowers, some wheat and old tractor gears. And I had a budget. Cheap. Real cheap. So I went to the only place that never fails me. Goodwill. This time I was intent on finding some cable knit sweaters to make into pillows like these beauts from Pottery Barn...


I don't even know how much these are because they're not available anymore. I'm guessing a lot. Well, I found exactly what I was looking for AND another great find. These two leather arm chairs.


And guess how much they were....


Heck yes! And I found the perfect way to incorporate them into my new fall living room.

The only thing that bugs me is we NEVER use that room. It's basically a glorified hallway from the front door to the great room. In fact, I don't think I've ever even shared pictures of it until my union jack rug post. Here's the room now all fallish.





See that "The Vintage Bus Co." pillow? A while back my sister and I went to a home decor shop in Phoenix called the willows. I saw this pillow and fell in love.


But the price was CR-A-ZY so I vowed to replicate it. I know what you're thinking. "This girl is the cheapest person I know". And you might be right. But price is not the only reason I copy from designers and stores I love. In this case it was because who the heck would buy a $300 throw pillow, but most of the time its a different reason. I'll post more on that later in the week.

Here's my version of the pillow and the pillows I made from cable knit sweaters from Goodwill.


Here's a close up of the bus pillow. The cream part is duck cloth, the grey is vinyl and the words are also vinyl. I used my friends cricut cutter to cut out the letters. I have really got to get me one of those! I have since secured the letters in place with a matte Modge Podge. If anyone knows of a better product for fabric, let me know!


And one of the other sweater pillows...


I also got this amazing bench from the ranch last weekend. It once belonged to Tara and I think my mom won it in a hand of cards or something. So I traded it for a framed picture and now I have it! It's how we roll.


The last thing I did to the room to make it feel more fall was something I saw on pinterest. The first thing I thought was how STUPID and completely impractical it was. But it worked. I turned my books on my bookcase around so the pages are showing instead of the spines. And I like the bookcase so much more now!


Did you even notice? I'm hoping my husband won't either when he gets home. I can't imagine he's going to let me keep it this way for long. I already know what he's going to say "I know they say not to judge a book by it's cover but geeze!"


p.s. Only two more weeks till my lover face comes home to me! Wahoooo!

11 comments:

  1. I LOVE the sweater pillows idea, seriously. As for the books, I turned all of ours around like two months ago and nearly everyday, Cody gives me so much crap for it. I love it and the way it looks so much cleaner and lighter but it drives him crazy! I still can't believe you got those chairs. Its insane. Blast Valdosta and its one and old shanty little Goodwill.

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  2. Simply..wow! Whatever Goodwill you have there, is a completely different GW from ours! lol chairs are usually anywhere from 50-200!Great find, and I LOVE those sweater pillows! I've been meaning to make some of those as soon as I get off my .....you know what! Happy Week!

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  3. looks great! just last night i saw the same thing on a pallet bookcase! those chairs were a killer find!!

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  4. I can't believe the price on those chairs, great find. The room looks so cozy, I was surprised to hear that you rarely use it.

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  5. Remember how I agreed to not post criticisms publicly on your blog? Well, I like everything on here except one item, and I'm going to let you guess which one.

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  6. I am so jealous of those pillows!! way to go! ha, I think all my friends classify me and the cheapy one too! looking forward to the barn sale!

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  7. You're my hero. I'm completely jealous of your leather chairs!!! The sweater pillows are so cozy--I'd forgotten about that idea and my husband has the perfect unappreciated sweater. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. I KNOW you have to clear out one spot at a time to take a good picture without a Lego Warrior posing somewhere. Your living Room is actually 2 spaces now. Good Job!

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  9. Those pillows are really great! Were they difficult to make? Also, the leather chairs are ridiculous! They have to be a Goodwill find of the month.

    Thanks for sharing, I'm a reader of Better After and decided to stop by.

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  10. I cannot believe you got those at Goodwill!! First, ours NEVER has good stuff like that. It's all junk! And second, if they did, they'd charge at least $100 for that. Seriously, I've seen $10 junky Ikea end tables for $15 at ours. GREAT find!

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  11. I am a new follower & have found so much inspiration on your blog. I started current & am working my way back through your posts. I look forward to 10 free minutes to browse your stuff!! :)

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