Decorating the Blog with Diversity

I struggle to keep this blog ag, K-State and rodeo centered. Because I like random things like decorating and cooking (sometimes) and I always love clothes and would love to be able to do what Sheridan does over on Stitches Without Riches but I don’t want to deter from my real purpose for the blog. So while I will probably start to put more random domesticated blogs in here, never fear because K-State, ag and rodeo will always reign supreme.

See how I put decorating in the title? I bet you didn’t know this was going to be about decorating. I tricked ya.

I have put a lot of time into decorating our ~~trailer~~ house for fall, especially since it’s the first house we’ve had room to decorate in since we’ve been married. So, today you’re getting a splash of fall decorating in and around our ~~trailer~~ casa and also some excitement of DIY. Very domesticated I have become (that was Yoda speaking). Oy, marrying a nerd is rubbing off on me.

Ok let’s kick start this with some DIY excitement – I have a lot of jewelry and nowhere to put it all so I can choose what to wear.

See this right here? That’s a jewelry board with cool vintage-y knobs from Hob Lob that I made using a piece of barnwood from the old barn across the road. Total cost: $8 – I saw one on ebay selling for $40. I am such a saver.

And this?

Oh, just a burlap monogram letter of the family name. No biggie – knocked that DIY project out in one night. Easy peasy.

And this lampshade?

Purple spray paint is the bomb.

I made those things, folks. With my two hands. And some power tools. and a flame torch. Also, I did some fall decorating on that table with the wooden duck and a pumpkin candle. Ba-zing.

And now for the decorating portion of today’s random blog post:

This is in our living room – I found the barnwood shelf/cabinet on Craigslist and the framed copy of A Tribute to the Stockman by W.H. Mumford is a gift from my sister-in-law, Hallie. The wooden dish is made from eucalyptus wood that we bought it in Australia. Glammed up pumpkins are from Michaels, as is the hurricane jar and candle. Wine corks were already on hand 😉

Next up the ~~mantel~~ top of the entertainment center

I don’t like to buy a lot of things to decorate, because I’m cheap. So I use whatever I can find in our house or stuff we have purchased on different trips. I like to incorporate items from our international travels – like that bowl (which needs to be dusted) with the colorful orbs and string. Both the bowl and the orbs are from South Africa and so is the pronghorn horn. See the homemade monogram sign up there? Forgot to mention that cost me all of $3.50 to make since I only had to buy the spray paint. Which I also used to spray paint the lamp shade and a small ceramic dish that is hiding elsewhere in the house.

Oh and check out my friend Ernie, perched atop some fall colored books – all but two of the books are from international trips we have taken.

These fall flowers are actually kind of recycled – I bought the orange and red one but the ceramic vase with raffia and the yellow flower are from my sweet friend Lindsay. In the spring, the whole thing is full of the yellow flowers that she gave me for my birthday a few years ago.

We live in a ~~trailer~~ modular home with an open floor plan so there isn’t a lot of designated space for a big kitchen table or other shelves but this woven bowl from South Africa filled with gourds is doing a great job of looking fall-ish on table that we rarely eat at.

And now we’ve come to the outdoors portion of the tour – from left to
right: our front door with pumpkins, gourds and some corn stalks; close
up of pumpkins (purchased from East Side Market); the porch at the back
door (aren’t my yellow mums pretty?).

And if, for some reason, you all like this kind of stuff please let me know. Maybe I’ll do a ‘house tour’ or something. Or recipes I am going to use in my new crockpot that I finally got from Hyatt. Show me some comment love!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~