Remembering Gracie & Last Autumn Around the House

I had hoped to decorate for the holidays this week, but maybe by Thanksgiving. As a blogger, it is wise to style and snap photos months in advance, and we all know I can’t ever quite oblige. After all, I’m a real human being without a staff. Rushing is not resting. I am only willing to post here as it works for my needs. Let’s peek at last year’s autumn around the house and visit with Gracie.

Lovely Autumn Glimpses

So glad I captured a bit of the beauty last year at this time since this year’s drought affected our changing colors. The maple in the front yard is such a gorgeous reminder of the fleeting nature of everything.

We had plenty of rain last year so the backyard became lush green with all those warm changing colors.

In October, the trees and plants change daily. You can almost catch maple leaves turning rosy red to gold.

Warm Interior Design Colors Continue to Trend

Not that we care about trending palettes, but I have learned my FB followers have a low tolerance at the moment for cool white and neutrals. (Here’s a glimpse of what followers were loving in October.)

The enthusiasm for warm colors and moody interiors endures.

Photos of my first country French kitchen (circa 2007), are trending on Pinterest. Bananas!

I’m still fielding questions about paint colors from that home. (Most rooms were Benjamin Moore White Sand…a warm beige.)

Does everything come back around? Those photos being repinned are from 17 years ago. I’m also shocked that images snapped 20 years ago of Ralph Lauren’s Bedford, NY, home went viral on my FB page.

I still haven’t added window treatments to the kitchen, but I’m hesitant to add decor solely because the styled photos will fetch more engagement.

Does that make sense? Just because the placement of objects in a vignette or the layering of textiles for a photo looks attractive in a photo doesn’t mean it’s a look with which I wish to live.

My breakfast nook looks bare and uninteresting without the softness of roman shades…

Yet it doesn’t feel too bare to live with the spareness in real life. We live in a time where everything seems to be recorded, documented and consumed with others. What if we could develop more indifference so that we fussed less and stopped feeling the opinions of others weighing on us?

Special Guests Visited Last Fall

This was Gracie (on the right), my folks’ dog in the kitchen a year ago. She passed away recently, and I’m so grateful she enjoyed expanses of grass and the coolish weather while she was here.

And I’m so grateful I was able to spend so much time with both Grace and Jayda.

Jayda is also of a certain age in the twilight of her sweet life.

What a gift to have these gorgeous months of September, October, and November. To have no choice but to leave my laptop and daily work to simply breathe autumn air.

Here’s our backyard which I rarely photograph. You can see the hydrangea hedge which stretches the width of the driveway and offers privacy from the road.

You can see the side yard and garden bed in this photo:

The trees border a nature preserve with trails accessed directly from our yard. It’s a perk we never take for granted.

Fall Weather & Health

My health is up and down, but I am happy to report my pancreas looked okay on my recent MRI. I have good days and bad days with my GI condition, and the Raynaud’s is tricky in autumn with so many shifts in weather.

Extreme temperature shifts cause my body to freak out. It’s no wonder I’m ever seeking more calm!

If you have chronic illness, you understand how no amount of positive thinking and calming strategies can cure underlying pathology. But these things ease the management of symptoms.

There are always good days, and what a blessing to move through them without pain.

We’ll be heading South to vacation soon, and I look forward to a break from the patterns of weather here in Northern Illinois.

It’s hard for me to imagine missing the changing seasons as we consider a permanent move. But if it means more good days than bad? I have to try!

I don’t know how we will ever sell this place though. We renovated it to suit us, and the scenery is hard to beat.

Are you feeling ready to decorate for the holidays? I hope I have the energy this year.

Last year, I decided to deck the stairs in snowflakes which may happen again this year.

While I’m not sure what my theme will be for this year, I’m leaning toward pale pink accents rather than red.

You can be sure whatever I decide, it will be SIMPLE!

Understanding This Floorplan & Why We Renovated It

What you’re seeing below is one side of the stairs, opposite of the dining room/music room side. On the other side of the arched window is a small living room.

Here’s the living room:

The 2-story entry gets plenty of light thanks to a big arched window above the front doors.

And I love how the light changes throughout the day in here. For example, it doesn’t feel strange at all to light candles in the afternoon. The thing about traditional architecture and old school non-open floor plans is you get interesting play with light and shadows.

The antique window we built into this wall is there as its own little moment on the expanse of wall. We built the walls for function and furnishing ease, and I also wanted to break up the symmetry. I designed a doorway on one side and a window on the other. It’s more informal and with the dramatic staircase.

Not sure you can tell (below) that there’s a step down…as if the details weren’t fussy enough, this home was built with not one, but two sunken, step-down spaces. The bonus? The ceiling heights in those rooms are higher than the 9′ ceilings in other rooms.

Understated, Underbaked, & Effortless Slow Living

No fussy fall decorations cluttering up the counters. I need things to be easy to clean, light, and bright. What works for me is a simplicity and a few seasonal trappings.

I may add a little greenery to the lantern pendants for the holidays, but it’s hard to know where to stop when it comes to holiday decorating.

I admire all of you who attend to every detail in a boldly festive way.

Hope you are savoring the season and finding beauty in your world…thank you so much for peeking inside mine.

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Peace to you right where you are.

-michele

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