The previous two years, I sort of missed out on “fall”.
We were living in an RV while building this house. We moved in Nov 5th, 2017 and I immediately started decorating for Christmas. I think I had a naked Christmas tree standing up on the day we signed the papers and hauled in a mattress for the first night.
I promised myself that I would make the fall of 2018 bigger and better than ever. I had an entire house, a huge front porch, and specially-created front steps just to accommodate my deep longing for pumpkins. The way our land was terraced, creating a drop to put 2 steps was an extra expense and very intentional. I take my front porch entry seriously.
Early in September, while the temperatures lingered into the 90’s, I started in the kitchen. I brought down all my fall boxes from the previous house and added a few things new this year since I had a lot more square footage to use.
I started with the coffee bar. We met over coffee, fell in love over coffee, and we both still enjoy collecting mugs and trying new flavors. When designing the kitchen, we wanted a space just for coffee and shelves for our everyday mugs.
The seasonal mugs, on the other hand, have an entire cabinet for display and ease-of-use. In the previous house, mugs were behind a cabinet door and I had to dig for my seasonal few that I could fit with other stuff.
This display cabinet is inspired by a similar cabinet I saw over 10 years ago in a magazine. Stephen never forgot that detail and he designed the kitchen floor plan so he could have this end cap for my bowls. I love and use colorful bowls and I have a great collection that stay here most the of year.
October-January, my seasonal mugs get a chance to shine.
I am blessed with a lot of counter space. I like to keep them open with just 3 appliances year-round. I keep my mixer, food processor, and blender on the counters. For the fall, I’m adding a few things to the counters.
I love these Goose Berry Patch cookbooks. My grandmother gave me the first one years ago and thought it was something I would enjoy. She was right. I love not just the recipes, but also the stories and home hacks and tips.
Every faithful watcher of Fixer Upper must have a tiered stand. I keep my hot tea items here.
This little bucket holds my spices and protein powder for my blended coffees and shakes.
About 8 years ago, Stephen built this for me. I never wanted a traditional China cabinet. My heart was always settled in farmhouse ways long before it was so mainstream. Open shelving, painted white, a few details. Simple, but beautiful.
Since Atlas has joined our little family, I’ve struggled with trying to keep all his “stuff” in specific places and not thrown all over the house. And, confession time: I’m not a big Rae Dunn fan. I have 3 specific mugs I bought off ebay because I’m not into fighting for dishes with words on them. After those 3 mugs, I thought I was done with Dunn.
It seems that T.J. Maxx knew I was coming in that morning. I walked out with Rae Dunn for puppies. Dishes and his “dog food” canister for his treats. Now, I’m officially “done” with Dunn.
Next up, I have the great room and bathroom tours. Yes, I have pumpkins by my tub. I made a promise to myself to enjoy fall 2018 and tub pumpkins are a great way to keep that promise!