Pumpkins, projects & what's in a name

I've been having fun decorating for Autumn this year.  I've kept it simple and natural but tried to change things a little from the usual.  I bought a dozen or so of these mini pumpkins in orange and white and placed them around the living & dining room and the kitchen.  The wire basket is new, purchased at a local craft show last month.  It's so simple and yet it looks perfect as a centrepiece on my dining room table.

I've spent a lot of time on Pinterest (who hasn't?!?) and have been pleasantly surprised at what I've been pinning.  I've always been drawn to country but thought my style leaned more towards cottage.  Nope, not at all.  I like neutral walls but prefer warm creamy white, not stark white or grey.  I like dark wood, either painted or natural but dark.  I like touches of vintage but only if it can be used.  Transferware is still my first choice for dinner ware, closely followed by white ironstone.  I lean towards clean lines.  Nothing too chippy or frilly and definitely not cluttered.  I like seasonal pops of colour, a bit of primitive and have a soft spot for 18th century English and American furniture.  It's easy to get caught up in the style du jour and lose yourself in the process.

There's been a lot of editing going on both in my life and in my home.  I want to focus on what I truly enjoy and let go of the things that no longer matter.  Once again, it's easy to get caught up in what everyone else is doing and feel that you too should tag along.  Having a serious illness really puts life in perspective.  I no longer feel that I should do something that I don't enjoy.

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful. 

~ William Morris

My blog is reflecting these changes.  For a long time, I've been feeling the pull to get back to the things I most want to do - decorating my home, puttering in the garden, cooking from scratch.  I still enjoy photography ... as a hobby.  Since giving up selling my photos, I've been enjoying photography so much more.  I like styling my photos.  And I'm really enjoying taking photos of my home and garden.

When I returned to blogging after my Mom died, I changed the name of my blog to "Simple Things".  I felt this change reflected the direction I was heading in.  Simplify.  Focus on the simple things.  The name was taken from a favourite quote of mine by Laura Ingalls Wilder (it's on my sidebar).  I like the name, Simple Things, but lately I've been wondering if I should go back to using my name as my blog title.  I know a lot of people have a blog name that's different from their address and I'm wondering, does it really matter?  There's also the issue of my domain that's been idle since giving up my website.  It's a trivial thing but I wonder if it's confusing to have a different name from the blog address??

Recently, I added {celebrating home through the seasons} to my blog title.  It's a mouthful but it's where my heart is.  Because that's exactly what I want to do.  Celebrate home.  Celebrate the seasons.  Enjoy the every day moments.

Okay, enough of my rambling for today!  :)  I have a few more thoughts I want to share with you about blogging in general but I'll save them for another day because I promised that I was going to post a list of projects that are on my "to do" list!  This is more to help me get them done because if I post about them, I'm going to have to go through with them.  So, here are my top 5:

1. Declutter my office & craft room.  It's a mess!  Everything that doesn't have a home ends up there, along with remnants of every craft I've tried and discarded (and there are a lot of them!).  Once I clear some space, I'm hoping to do a bit of a makeover.  As much as I don't want to, I will post before (and after!) photos.  Please be kind.

2. Turn the closet off the kitchen into a pantry.  I need to organize my cookbook obsession  collection, among other things.  I added small shelves to one half of the closet several years ago but really need more storage space.

3. Create a dedicated baking space and coffee/drink space in my kitchen.  Once again, everything is all over the place.  The coffee is in two different cupboards, tea in another.  Baking supplies are spread over several cupboards.  I've wanted to do this for over a year.

4. Paint mirror frame.  This particular frame has sat behind the door in my craft room for more years than I'd like to admit.  It's pretty.  I like it but the colour?  Yuck.  I can't wait to use my milk paint but need room to get to it (see project #1!).

5. Create a gallery wall along the stairs.  Another project that's been on my wish list for years (literally).  I have the photos.  I have a lot of frames.  They just need to be hung.  The mirror mentioned above will be hung on the landing and I want to hang it before I hang the photos.

So that's my top five!  There are a lot more projects on my list, some small, some not so small, but these I want to finish before the end of the year.  The first three are pretty boring but oh so necessary for me to move on to the fun stuff.  And while they're ambitious, I can tackle them a bit at a time.  I'll be sure to post on my progress!

If you made it all the way through this post, you deserve a treat!  ;)

See you soon!

xoxo,
Lynda