Happy Halloween

I can't believe tomorrow is Halloween. Is it me or did the month fly by?

Rebekah is coming over to do her laundry and help pass out candy. 

Dixie barks like crazy every time the doorbell rings and it will take two of us to corral her.
I thought I would show a few pictures that didn't make it into a post.
I had great intentions to write some more Halloween/fall  posts but I just ran out of time.



 
 Welcome!

I sprayed the pumpkins and the cottages to create this display. 
On the top, I put some garden edging and a scarecrow. 

You saw the mantel in this post. 
 I think I am going to love the little dresser for vignettes in the living room.

 The sunroom got a few decorations.

The sunroom is fall rather than Halloween but by Friday I will change it a little. The orange will all be put away. 

I will be pulling more browns and deep dusty lavender hues. 

Here is the front yard.

The porch swing is on the side of the driveway.

I did a little to the back deck but shortly after I took these pics it started raining again. 
I am so thankful for the rain but I had to put all this away. 

Bill and I found the white patio table on clearance at Home Depot. It was only $37.00. 
I had the two little chairs already. 
I tried to find a couple more chairs but no one had anything.
 I don't know why, we can finally go outside again without sweltering. 
Gotta love Texas!  

A friend and I did some cute crafty projects with drop cloths tonight. I will show off our creations in the coming weeks. 

I am actually going to try to focus on Thanksgiving and not rush Christmas even though it is super tempting. 

Here is a sneak peak of some treasures I found today.
 

I have been looking for a tin barn for a couple of years. 

I can't wait to use it for Christmas decor but I'm not going to rush it!
I also found two vintage wool throws but I already dropped those off at the cleaners. 
:)
Have fun tomorrow. 

Katie

Please Dress Responsibly

We have all seen them. 

The unfortunate People of Walmart images.

(FYI- It seems a little mean to take a picture of someone's unfortunate shopping attire. Just sayin.)

I have seen some interesting sights at Walmart but I have also seen them elsewhere. 

"Give pants a chance." 

and

"Make pants not tights."

are two slogans that come to mind after an unfortunate sighting at church!

I know, I know, I really should be concentrating on the sermon but I'm a little ADHD. 

(seriously:( 

But tights are no substitute for leggings or skinny jeans.

I am fine with leggings or tights with a dress, even a mini dress. 

But for most of us tights should be not worn with a shirt. 

Nobody wants to see that.

 :o

Except on this girl-

I guess I must be old because this is a popular trend. 
As sweater and legging's/tight's season approaches, please dress responsibly!

Katie 

;)

I have not been compensated (by the tight's industry) in anyway for this post. 

Banister Update or No More Orange

I have been very unhappy with the color of my banister.
To be perfectly honest, I have never liked the banister itself
but we have never wanted to spend the money to get something else.
This was the last of the orange colored oak in the house and it was taunting me. 

I painted the mantel.
We painted the kitchen cabinets white.
I replaced or painted the bathroom vanities.  
I have wanted to do something with this banister for a few years. 
I've thought about changing the newel post and I may still do that. At the very least, I thought I would paint the whole thing last summer. I pinned some wonderful inspiration. 
As I looked at it though, I felt that white wouldn't ground the space enough. 

After the big bathroom remodel, I just didn't have it in me. Painting all the trim, molding and doors in the bathroom was enough oil based paint for a while and I knew all the balusters on this would not be easy. 

I decided to go the easiest route. 
Stain. 

 In fact I was going to try out gel stain. I had heard and read many times on the blogs that it would cover better than regular stain. 

Ummm, no.

They had no dark colors of gel stain available at Home Depot and the sales guy talked me out of using it. 

He said it was no different than regular stain just thicker. 

Instead I opted to go for two tones of regular stain. 
I roughed up the banister with a little sand paper and then smeared a coat of Jacobean and a coat of Ebony over the whole thing.

A couple of places needed a third coat.  
I love Jacobean by Minwax.

 It's my favorite dark stain before getting to a black. 

I wanted to stain this thing rather than paint for two reasons.

It is much easier to stain something than paint it.

I also wanted to draw the color of the front door toward the stairs. 

By staining the stairs the same color as the door it will draw the eye in.

It isn't as dark as I wanted to be, but I am  pretty happy with it. 

Before:

 After:

I re-read a post from Holly at the Down to Earth Style Blog.
She hit her orange wood with black paint first. I wish I had done that to get those underlying orange tones eradicated. I did that to my kitchen cabinets a few years before we painted them. I really thought ebony stain would do the same thing but it isn't as dark as the black paint would have been. Oh well. I will probably do more to it later but for now it isn't taunting me anymore. :)
It took about three weeks for it to dry completely so I think the rest of the family would like for me to just leave it alone for a while!  

Katie   
Linking with,
Between Naps on the Porch   
Savvy Southern Style

Preschool Stuff

I have a bit of a double life.

I haven't really talked much about my real job.

I am a preschool teacher and director of a little program for 1-3 year old students.

I thought I would show you a few things my darlings have been up to the last few weeks. We have been busy!   

My co-worker Sara and I have had a great a time creating bulletin boards with our little one's artistic creations.



Our classroom and hall look very festive.

Can you be too festive?

Sara and I teach together in a class every Tuesday and Thursday. We have the thrilling Threes!

Some of our craft ideas have come from Pinterest or Mailbox Magazine. 

Some we have been making for years but they are still fun.

October is one of my favorite months at school.

We made the scarecrow craft but we also built a scarecrow out of old clothes. 

We saw the cat on Pinterest last year.

 We adapted it to create the dog. 

 I love my job. Thanks for letting me share. 

Maybe you need a craft idea for Sunday School or for the kids and grandkids. I hope these inspire you!

Katie