Come, Sit.

Thanksgiving is a time for eating, laughing, and deep discussion with friends and family. It is a time of gratitude. It is a time for celebration of life and happiness. It is a warm holiday filled with love.

It is also a time to practice your Pottery Barn staging skills.

For those of you who are serious R. Simple Life readers, you know my obsession with Pottery Barn. I love me some Pottery Barn. Can't afford it though. So I fake it. And this time I took inspiration from my head. I didn't have a picture in the catalog. I didn't have a tutorial on the website. I just used what I had (and 4 place mats I purchased for $3.00 total) and thought Pottery Barn while I worked.

And at least according to my dear friend Wendi, it worked. She came in, took one look at the table and said "Looks like Pottery Barn in here." (I love her.)

And in true Mallory fashion, I took a million pictures of the table, and even a few of our end table (complete with branches I cut out of the tree right outside my house)...

But none of the delicious turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, or pumpkin pie. I guess I'll just have to show you one more of our table setting, and you're just going to have to imagine those plates filled with wonderful Thanksgiving food.

(That one has some food in it...) Did you have a good Thanksgiving? Were you more concerned about the table settings than the food too? Or am I the only one? J is the chef, I am the decorator. That is just the way things are around here. I don't think I should have to apologize for that. The food was awesome, by the way.

Pumpkins and gourds and pinecones... Oh my!

We've discussed this before. Fall is here, and we're all about embracing the change in seasons. I have brought out my boots again. I don't care that its a high of 90 today, I'm wearing my boots (thanks so much, Oklahoma, for the amazing fall weather).

We've had a few decor changes around the house as well, getting in the spirit of fall. We have pumpkins and less specific gourds scattered, pinecones hanging, and a new table runner to celebrate the season. As you may be able to tell, my decorating style is a bit minimal, so I stuck with that when adding the fall feel to our home.

We're still waiting for some great big white pumpkins and some Halloween decorations, but as we like fall in general, we wanted to make sure these new touches could carry on past October 31. What do you think? How do you change things up for this cool, crisp season? Do you decorate like us? Or go all out? Or maybe just a pumpkin spice candle does the trick (it does. It smells like fall every time I walk in my door). Any suggestions for me for some more simple fall decor?

PS I wanted to take a minute to acknowledge the fact that I have been neglecting you. You and this blog. It's been a whirlwind month, with my new job and all the amazing friends we've made, with finishing up marathon training and quizzing Jon on his flying procedures. I have been thinking of a better way to blog, and am playing with the idea of doing more weekend posts, rather than strictly weekday posts. So be on the lookout for more Saturday & Sunday posts from now on!

Autumn, Autumn, Autumn!

As summer fades into fall, we Recor's get a little more excited. I have a theory that every person's favorite season is the season in which they were born. J is fall, and I am winter. So you can imagine the excitement this morning when we saw the sky was nice and gray and we could smell the rain in the air.

I'm still not sure what to expect with Oklahoma falls, but I am still excited about bringing out the boots, sweaters, and jeans. About going to the corn maze. About carving pumpkins. About the leaves changing (even if it is only to brown). And then... about winter being that much closer.

You'll remember my quandary on when to change to fall decor. Well after much discussion, I decided to wait until the first day of fall. And since that just so happens to be today, I thought a quick table switch was necessary. From summer to fall. Early fall. Because once we get pumpkins, it's changing again!

Summer...

To early fall! Do apples signify fall to anyone else, or is that just me?

Are you ready for fall? As excited as we are? Is my theory correct? Think about it... what is your favorite season, and does that match your birthday?? Has anyone else started Autumn-izing their house??

Too Early for Santa...

But is it too early for fall? We've got a high of 87 today, 96 tomorrow, but yesterday it was nice and cool, rainy and Halloween-y. So my question is this: When can I get away with decorating for fall?

Pottery Barn

{Cowboy} Phraseology

Martha Stewart

Pottery Barn

Hometown Girl

I'm a Gallery-na!

I have a wall. It's big. It's white. It's bare. It's also a feature wall in my house. Sits right behind the dining room table. You can see it from the kitchen, you can see it from the couch, you can see it from the table, and you can see it from the door. You can even see it from outside.



Now, let it be known that I love a good gallery wall.

Photo courtesy of Elements of Style.

Photo courtesy of Alicia B. Designs.

And when I came across this inspirational picture, it hit me like a train. I knew what I wanted to do...

Photo courtesy of Knock Off Wood.

I'm pretty sure you see where this post is going. I wanted needed a gallery wall! It's perfect. I can display photos in a way that will look like one giant piece of art. I love it. And I can design it however I want. I can do whatever I want to do. And J can't say anything about it because he's in Colorado (love you LT!).

So I promptly stopped doing whatever I was doing at the time (which may or may not have been blog stalking) and grabbed a ruler, some graph paper, a tape measure, and a pencil. Because I'm a little nerdy and I get excited about things like this.

I came up with three different ideas and needed an extra opinion. To Facebook chat I went, and luck be a lady, my artistic and design savvy friend Amy came to my rescue.







I was starting to lean toward option #2, so when Amy said she "loved the simplicity of four," I knew option #2 was it. Now, how do I do this cheap?

12 frames is a lot of frames. I needed cheap frames. To Walmart, to Walmart to buy an 8x10 frame. Home again, home again, with 12 frames I came. Yep. 12 frames, $2.50 each. I can handle that.

(Remember this picture from the other day?? It was your hint of things to come.)



Once I got these beauties home, I dug out a calendar from 2 years ago (90% off after January 15) and started cutting. I decided I wanted black and white pictures. Of lighthouses. Good thing I had a calendar of black and white lighthouses laying around. I also filled in a few extra frames with some pictures my talented sister took, my aforementioned friend Amy took, and a few from my camera.

And then I had my gallery wall.



I love it! I love it so very much! I, of course, went with straight lines for my wall. What more do you expect from a girl who would marry stripes if she could? I find my eye being drawn to that wall. All the time. I'm loving the look. And what did I spend? Maybe $35? On the whole wall? All the art I need on one huge, white wall for under $40? Yes please.

And if you wanted a few close ups:









What do you think? I love it. Are you more of a random gallery than straight and orderly? Or maybe you love the order of a wall like mine? Have you ever thought about displaying art/photos in a artistic way? Maybe you have? Please share!

Keep Calm and Carry On.

Have you seen these motivational posters before?

Photo Courtesy of sfgirlbybay @ Etsy

They are all over the design world. I've seen them in about one in ten houses I virtually tour (and since I have no job right now... I tour a LOT of houses). Cool message, but really? Everywhere? Everyone has one?

So I got curious. And I googled. And Wikipedia put a big, fat light on the situation for me:

Keep Calm and Carry On was a poster produced by the British government in 1939 during the beginning of World War II, to raise the morale of the British public in the case of invasion. It was little known and never used.

Okay. Thats kind of funny. And kind of cool. And I kind of wanted one of these posters now.

And like an infection, this little poster got under my skin and just wouldn't go away. I wanted one. I needed one. And they come in all sorts of amazing colors! You could literally match one to any room. ANY room.

But was I just jumping on the wagon? Was I (gasp) a copycat?! Did I want one because I wanted one, or did I want one because everyone else has one?

Well, my most amazing husband remembered paper was the traditional first anniversary gift. And he ended my dilemma and got it for me! So now I own this little pretty thing (in the original red color) sitting in my office!



I love it, I love it, I love it! And then I remembered I didn't think it was all that special before I knew what it used to be. So there, I am an independent thinker. Take that.

What do you think?? Love? Like? Still don't know what the big deal is? Just keep thinking about it... It'll get under your skin and you'll be asking me where to get it. I know. It's okay. Now, where should I hang it?