Summer Living Room Decor

Can you even believe that it's September already?!?  On one hand it seems like the summer has just flown by, but on the other hand it feels like it will take forever before the cooler temperatures will return around here.  We usually get the beginnings of fall temps in early October here in north Florida and I am seriously looking forward to it!  

I've been itching to start on my fall decor already, but I decided I should do a quick post about how my living room has looked for the summer months first...you know, now that summer is basically over.  :)

Here's a not so great cell phone picture to show you it in bigger perspective.  I love adding lots of red and blues for a patriotic feel, but this year I also just wanted more color in general.  Bright and cheery and happy.

I didn't bother with any sort of display on the coffee table, just a simple tray holding magazines.  My kids clear the top of this multiple times a day to build Legos, color/draw, or to eat lunch so I kept it really simple.

Of course, my picket fence flag took its place of honor again.  I've had that almost my entire marriage and still love it to pieces!  I threw the rest of the shelf decor together very quickly one afternoon before some company came over and that's how it stayed all summer.

A metal baking tray with a star shaped design continued the patriotic feel, and a license plate, vintage flour sack towel, and a sweet pitcher all brought touches of red and blue.

Even the wooden cheese box has red and blue and on it.  I love using the old picture of my husband's dad in his little league uniform.  Nothing says summer like baseball does.

To the side of the couch I replaced the plainer wooden crates with this colorful stack of old soda crates as an end table.  I found the navy blue lamp at a yard sale for 75¢.  A little bit of faux ivy sits on top of an old pulley as well.  Did you notice my curtain in the background?  I messed up a shower curtain order and instead of throwing it away I hung it up here in the living room to use as a window curtain for the time being.

On the other side of the couch, I replaced the black lamp with this more colorful one.  (You can read about its makeover {here}.)  I moved a potted plant over here and added a simple basket of croquet balls for even more color.  In the background you can see my antique penny square quilt displayed over my wooden ladder.

Our bedroom throw pillows came out to the couch as well as some thrifted blue pillows for a mix-n-match look.

Over on the loveseat I draped a small blue floral throw blanket and added the adorable throw pillow I got from my friend over at Peek Pillow Originals.

Isn't it just the cutest?!?  I liked how the "star" theme of it once again fit in with the patriotic feel I had going on.  If you haven't been over to Etsy to check out her pillows you must take a minute and stop over there!  She's got the cutest designs and has even come out with some amazing fall designs as well. And....if you ask very sweetly she's even willing to do custom designs.  So be sure to check out her shop.

The only thing I changed on the other side of the room was too add this wool plaid blanket with the perfect color scheme that I found at a yard sale for $2, as well as a little throw pillow.  For the pillow cover I simply wrapped a piece of fabric around it and safety pinned it closed.  Ta-da!  An instant "new" pillow.  :)  (You can also see that I took the shelf out of part of the entertainment center to make room for our scrapbooks/photo albums to be on display and within easy reach.)

I just loved this combination of patterns!

So, you can see I kept things really simple for the summer and didn't stress over having everything "blog-worthy" and perfect.  Just a few touches to freshen things up for the summer months.

Now that these pictures are shared I can move on to warm and cozy fall decor!

* P.S. - In baby news, I'm a little over 5 months along now and baby is healthy and active.  I had an ultrasound done, but baby didn't cooperate and we still don't know the gender.  I have another one coming up in a couple of weeks and we're hoping to find out then.  I guess one of these days soon I'll need to get started on making space for this new little one's crib.  :)

                                                               

Simple Patriotic Decor & Table Setting

I know July 4th is already over and most bloggers share their tablescape pictures a month in advance so as to give their readers ideas to copy, BUT....I didn't really know what my table and dining room would look like until about an hour before it was time to eat.  So...you're getting pictures after the fact.  : )

My sister and her family came to stay with us a few days and we all celebrated together.  

I kept the decor really simple, but it felt festive and fun just the same.

You might have noticed the curtains.  Those are new.  I finished making them a few weeks ago, but I hadn't shared them yet.  I love them!  They add so much life and color to the room, and it's nice to be able to block out the hot sunlight.  You might have also noticed the buffet.  I've never shared it either.  It's a dresser that I found on Craigslist and I talked the guy down to $60 for it.  This is its "before" look.  I have plans to change it up.  You can also see that we are still using a plastic folding table as our dining room table.  But that won't be for much longer.  Last week I scored a table for FREE as well as the two darker wooden chairs you see.  It needs a makeover, but I hope to get it done soon so we can eat at a real table again.

For the table setting I used a plastic tablecloth from Walmart, then folded a small gingham tablecloth that I already had and laid it across the middle.  The wooden box napkin holder is always on our table.  I didn't bother with a centerpiece.  I used our everyday white plates and our everyday flatware (that I've had for 12 years!) and just bought small flag themed dessert plates to put in the middle.  My sister brought the cute colorful napkins.

Next to the adult table I set up a kids table, with paper straws as a quick and easy centerpiece.

I already had the game board, pitcher, and rooster set up.  

I just added a few paper decorations from the dollar store.

The game board was a yard sale find from a couple of years ago, and the pitcher was a recent thrift store find for $1.99.

My rusty rooster has made his return finally.  He was a $1 yard sale find a couple of years ago as well.  

I love him with much love!

Above the table I hung two more paper thingy-ma-bobs from the ceiling fan chains.  You can see my collection of aqua Mason jars in the window in the background.  You can also see raindrops on the glass.  Just as I started taking pictures the clouds rolled in and it started to pour.  My husband had just started grilling too.  I did the best I could with the lighting I had, and he still turned out some yummy hot dogs and hamburgers even though he says he risked his life by grilling in a storm.  : )

Festive colorful decor doesn't have to be complicated or expensive.  Quick, easy, and cheap can still look great and it leaves you plenty of stress-free time to enjoy the day.

My sister and her daughter have stayed on a few extra days and while the cousins are having a blast playing their hearts out together, my sister is helping me finish up some painting projects around the house.  It'll feel good to have a few more things finished up!

                                                                     

Patriotic Summer Decor

Hey y'all!  Happy Independence Day!

I thought I'd share a bit of my patriotic summer decor with you today just in case you decide to check in after you're stuffed full of hot dogs and watermelon, or while you're waiting for the fireworks to start.  : )

Not long after I got the gallery wall put up, I added some decor to the opposite wall, the one behind the couch.  I've had it up for a good long while now, but never got around to sharing it. 

I've had this shelf for almost as long as I've been married, but it's getting a little war torn.  If you look closely you can see that it no longer sits straight.  After 6 moves in 12 years it's gotten a bit warped.  But I don't mind too much, I still love the style of it as much as I did when I bought it.  I've also had the picket fence flag for my entire marriage.  The first 2 years of having my own home I had Americana style decor, but then I sold off almost everything and started a new style.  The flag was the one thing I couldn't part with, though, and I still put it up every summer.

I wanted to add lots of touches of red and blue to the house to evoke a sense of patriotism without being like, "here's a hundred flags flapping in your face."  I used lots of non-flag items, like a wooden cheese box, baking powder tin, and a vintage tea towel to accomplish the look.  The picture on the little clipboard is of my father-in-law as a young boy.  Nothing says American summer as much as baseball, am I right?  A little glass milk bottle from Lima, OH (where we used to live) holds wildflowers from the woods next to our house.

This end of the shelf has another rusty license plate (love those things!), an old insulator, and a stack of vintage ice cream cups leftover from my ice cream social 2 years ago.  C&C Cola stands for Cantrell & Cochran, so it's meaningful to us since our last name is Cantrell.  

I shared the blue pillow on the Facebook group page a couple of weeks ago.  It was my only Fun Friday Find for that week, a 99¢ score at a thrift store.  I paired it with a throw pillow from our bedroom set that we're not using right now.  On the other end of the couch is a feed sack pillow.  I simply placed a throw pillow down inside the feedsack and folded the ends over.  And there stretched out taking a nap is our little kitten, Snuggles.  She was only 4 weeks old and weighed 1lb when we found her, but now she's 12 weeks old and weighs about 2.5lbs.  She's so playful and funny and the kids are just loving her.

That's it for me today!  I'm off to fix a big breakfast for my visiting family and then I have lots of cooking and baking to do for the day.  Hopefully the fireworks show won't get rained out tonight.

I hope you all have a happy and safe 4th of July!

                                                                   

A Vintage 4th of July

For this July 4th, I had my hubby help me carry our kitchen table outside into the shade of the large tree in our yard.  I shopped around my house and used what I had.  The only "new" item I used was the checkered tablecloth, $1 at a yard sale last weekend.  Over that I layered a vintage replica flour sack tablecloth that I've had for years.  I confiscated the bench and chairs from the front porch and put them to use here.

The base of the display is a vintage metal cherry themed tray that's usually on a shelf in my kitchen.

The cobalt blue canning jar glasses were a gift from my hubby a few years ago.  I spotted them at an antique store in a nearby town but didn't buy them.  I kept thinking about them though, and a few weeks later he surprised me with them.

The old Sun Crest bottle has a little metal piece in the mouth of it that has a bunch of tiny little holes in the top.  I'm told this was used for sprinkling water on clothing during ironing back in the day.  

The clear canning jar has some red and blue game pieces added to it.

Old Cantrell & Cochran soda can, meaningful to us since our last name is Cantrell.

And here it is with place settings added.

Again, I just used my regular everyday dishes.  Nothing new, nothing fancy.

But I LOVE how it turned out!

How about you?  Did you do anything special for the 4th?

Linking up to:

{Titus 2}sdays - Time Warp Wife

Thrifty Thursday - Thrifty Decorating

Frugal Friday - The Shabby Nest

Time to Shine - A Diamond in the Stuff

Fabulous Friday - Faith, Trust, & Pixie Dust

Saturday Nite Special - Funky Junk Interiors

Folk Magazine Submission - Funky Junk Interiors