a touch of gold for the door.

today i'm on a gold kick. 

 and then i got on a crafty kick. 

and that equals a gold craft!

instead of being smart and documenting the whole process, i just got caught up in the pretty, sparkly, festive wreath that was about to adorn our front door and forgot to grab my camera as i headed outside...(glitter = messy)!

here is a picture of the finished product...it really was quite easy...

hobby lobby was having a 50% off thanksgiving and christmas decorations

so i bought two clusters of the mini pine cones, two of the cluster of branches

behind the cones, and two clusters of the gold glittery sticks behind the branches

(can you tell i really don't even know what these things are called...haha).

first i just modge podged the branches on the wreath that wrap around it

diagonally, and poured glitter over them. once that

dried i just added the decorations. easy as pie.

that's our little scarecrow man. isn't he cute? i got him on sale at hobby lobby last year.

he was definitely the cutest in the bunch.

i love the fall!

a touch of gold.

chair

wall paper

mirror/walls/bathtub/tile

window molding

tj maxx (duh.) (with better pics)

this morning i realized that the goods looked a lot better from the pics i took on my cell phone when i sent them to my sis for approval.

the vest looks way better with a white shirt underneath...especially with the brown boots. 

but i think a black 3-quarter length shirt with black skinny jeans and some heels would look fab too.

what i tried on:

what i got: 

i must confess. i am quite jealous of these "maxxinistas" who live in cities where their local TJ's carry swanky diggs and real designer duds marked way off. i love auburn and everything about it, and i give kudos to the top dogs at the Maxx firm who decided to give our store a face lift, but i sure hope they're planning on adding The Runway soon....and getting more shoes in a size 10. does anyone else out there have this problem? sometimes i feel like women who wear size 10 and up get the short end of the stick in the shoe department (everywhere, not just TJ). sorry i'm not sorry i was born with long toes and skinny long feet, but whoever decided that any woman with a size 10 foot loves 80's style grandma shoes needs to be punched in the face corrected about their incorrect way of thinking. well complaining aside...i hit up TJ Maxx tonight. while i really wanted to leave with the 4 awesome sweaters i found, i could only bring myself to purchase one (fur vest)...because i found a great black purse and i had to get that too. duh. if a money tree sprouts in my yard overnight i'll be returning in the morning to gather the rest. until then i will hope that no one finds where i stashed the unpurchased sweaters in the middle of the boys section. hehe.

bookshelves.

i love not only these rooms but the bookshelves that accompany them.

aren't they beautiful? 

Happy Friday!

this weekend let's all try to:

hope everyone has a bright, cheery, fun, safe weekend!

chirp!chirp!

card by Bethan Samuel on Flickr.

fashion inspiration

accessory inspiration board by lizbrock822 featuring tom ford sunglasses

wabi-sabi, not wasabi.

has anyone else heard of wabi-sabi? i'm thinking most likely, especially those of you who have been dabbling around in interior design longer than myself. i have never heard of this term before last night, and i must say that it has a.) brought clarity to the kind of style that i adore and b.) given me a new word to sound cool when i'm antiquing with friends (hehe). isn't learning new things wonderful? wabi-sabi is japanese and essentially means finding beauty in things that are imperfect. Jackie Ashton over at apartment therapy puts it perfectly....

"Wabi sabi is more than an art, it is a world view that is sometimes described as the beauty of the imperfect, the impermanent, and the incomplete. Its earliest origins are from ancient Chinese Taoism and Zen Buddhism, but it began to shape Japanese culture in the 15th century when the ornate gold, jade and porcelain typically used for tea ceremonies were replaced with simple, rough clay and wooden utensils."

"Wabi sabi is aged wood, not finished floors. Wabi sabi is a flea market, not a high-end store. Wabi sabi is the broken shells you collected on your honeymoon, not the perfectly silver-plated conch someone gave you. Wabi sabi is the Velveteen Rabbit, not Buzz Lightyear. Wabi sabi celebrates the signs of age and the evidence that our items have been cherished and loved -- cracks, crevices, frayed edges, peeling paint, and even rust..."

i love this style. i love the meaning of it. i love what it stands for. i love that the look is so versatile...that adding a piece that is wabi-sabi to a room works no matter what. so much of my furniture is wabi-sabi. it is old, worn, cracked and chipped. it has been loved and used, and it is perfect in its imperfections. my favorite piece is this old counter that was pulled out of an old drugstore. it is wildly worn. when i saw it i knew i had to have it. when my boyfriend, Elliott, and i went to pick it up he nearly died when we walked up....(and by die i mean told me that if i spent more than $20 on that "rotting pile of wood" i got jipped - not "die" as in how we girls "die" (aka swoon) over something marvelous!). every time i look at it now i giggle because i think of how elliott sees it and thinks of a pile of junk and can't fathom how i spent so much $$ on it (he is all boy and just doesn't understand - but it's why i love him!), and i look at it and see character and loveliness and....wabi-sabi-ness (new word?). 

here is a picture of the "old rotting wood"...it's not that rotting right?!: 

my wabi-sabi lamp...an old column from an old house!

   

my wabi-sabi bed side table.

wabi-sabi art:

wabi-sabi kitchens, rooms, and pieces....

now if only i can quit getting confused and calling it wasabi....

"Wabi sabi is a way of seeing the world that is at the heart of Japanese culture. It finds beauty and harmony in what is simple, imperfect, modest, natural, and mysterious. It can be a little dark, but it is also warm and comfortable. It may be best understood as a feeling, rather than as an idea." - Mark Reibstein and Ed Young

images via: greigedesign, sunsetdreamer2, 

mixandchic, apartmenttherapy, atticmag, patrignone

a dash of mustard.

i really love this shade of yellow. it's not too bright and it looks beautiful with an

array of other colors. in a way it's sort of neutral (...is that a stretch..? haha).

 i wore my mustard color cardigan today and then i realized it's the only

mustard color thing i own. i think i may need to add a few more items to my

wardrobe. it's such a perfect fall color!

flowers, top, shoes, pillow

couch unknown