Halloween!

A little Day of the Dead/Sugar Skull for this Halloween.

Oh Billy! ( Ikea and World Market newbies in my house )

On this wall was just two floating shelves, and the sofa backed up to it. I was never really satisfied with the look. The proportion was off. So it was time to change it.

I bought 2 Ikea BILLY bookcases, and bought the optional doors. The Bookcases are cheap, but the doors are not. However, I need the polished look of doors here, and since my living room is small, I needed the reflective shine of the doors to make it seem more open.

Styling the shelves was easy, I just shopped my house and added my favorite things. Making sure that proportions were correct. Just keep stepping back, look at the textures and make sure you mix shine/wood/metal/pattern. And layer! Always layer.

These skeleton key plates were found in the dirt in my backyard. Pretty fun. I added some of my grandfather's books and a huge fun lightbulb. Why not.

We needed more seating as well. The problem is, adding chairs did make the room a bit more small. We are going to live with two chairs for a bit and see if we actually NEED both.

These blue beauties are from World Market, they went on sale and I snatched them up.

I usually dont go for armless chairs, but these are actually quite wide, and you can sit criss cross on them ( a requirement in our house ) and they are so soft and comfortable.

As the holidays continue I'm sure I'll be adding decor and moving some around for fun. 

( My hydrangea box will likely be on top of the bookshelves )

FALL ACCENTS! ( on the cheap )

This is absolutely my favorite time of the year! ( I mean, who really does not like fall? ) Which makes it even more fun to decorate for! However, I havent been able to bust out my decorations due to the fact we are on the brink of a major remodel ( more to come on that ) so in the meantime, here are a few inspirations for ya.

And before you go asking where the heck you can find an antique urn and not pay an arm and a leg, I'll let you in on a secret. Go to Home Depot ( or any home improvement big box ) and check out their PLASTIC URN PLANTERS. Most of them already have an aged look so they look like the real thing. Check this out...$11! Boom!

And if you dont love the color, so what! Buy a $3 can of spraypaint or dab some leftover paint from the garage on it to give it the aged look you want.

This can be done for free. The below picture is from my dining room last year. We had some old wood laying around in the garage, that was obviously weathered, and after deciding how big I wanted it, we just cut it and put finishing nails in it. Very very easy.

Joanns and the Dollar Tree are the best places for faux gourds and pumpkins, as well as other fillers for the boxes. Ikea has the cheapest candles! Have fun with it.

Another tip, if you're looking to achieve the above look, with mums inside pumpkins, I suggest you buy the faux pumpkins from Joanns ( always on sale ) so that you can reuse them. Real pumpkins arent cheap and wont last! For about the same price you can get the look without the rot. Remember to mix the faux with the real though!