Thank you to At Home stores for partnering with us for this year’s Fall tour of homes. #MyReason
Hi friends, hope you are enjoying the beginning of Fall. It certainly has been much cooler around here these past few days. I have been busy adding touches of Fall and coziness to our home. And today, I am opening up my home to you to show you what I have done. I have also teamed up with a group of fabulous ladies who are ready to show you their homes. Be sure to stop by to tour their lovely homes and find tons of inspirations for your own homes.
Before you keep touring, let me be honest with you. While I absolutely love sharing my seasonal home with you, this year it is a bit different. I am excited yet I am feeling a bit vulnerable. You see, a few things happened along the makings of this Fall home that almost made me did not want to share it. Read on to find out what they were.
We sold our home a few months ago and moved into a rental. I shared some of the reasons why we chose this direction in this post. Apart from the horrible multi-colored paint colors, it is taking me longer to get the house put together than expected. Moving is hard in itself, along with keeping up with everything else. Plus finding things that you actually love (furniture and decor) tends to take a while. But I was beginning to get bored with a “boring” space. I think my kids were kind of getting that feeling a bit, too. Yes, I enjoyed the simplicity of lots of free space and not too much decor for a few months, but I had to do something. Especially since it is Fall, I wanted to get going to add some cozy. But this home still has a long way to go.
Within the makings of this post, my computer dropped and suffered some internal damage. Needless to say, I have been out of my laptop for over five days now – it is in the shop. Thanks to my husband who let me borrow his work laptop so I could type this post. But all my files are on my computer (hopefully still) so it is not the same as using someone else’s computer. Not to mention, both my husband and I were scrambling to share his laptop this weekend because he also needed to get work done for his job.
In addition to being out of my laptop, I was out of my normal photo editing app. A few months ago, I decided to upgrade to something better than I was using before for general photo editing. My photos are not as crisp as I hoped for you today. I wanted to share my dinning room but the lighting is not very good and because it has been raining almost all week, my photos did not turn out so well either. There are lost more that I could share because it is like the odds were against me for this post and almost made me loose all the excitement. I will spare you the rest so you would not lose your excitement, too. I have pressed on and added a bit of decor to our family room and a couple areas around it. There are still lots of rooms waiting to get their makeovers but those will have to wait. I am planning to share the rest of our porch and dinning room once I have my computer back. (Find my tutorial for the lovely blue and gold monogrammed pumpkin wreath here). I am hoping you will be able to look past my mishaps and enjoy today’s tour. Shall we?
I added some Fall decor in various places of the entryway.
My colors for this year revolves around soft blues and gold. I got my inspiration to use gold when I went to At Home stores and saw their fabulous line of gold and white Fall selection. And then I got back home and realized that I had tons of little blue items stored away that I could bring in the mix. There are also a few orange pumpkins and subtle hints of pinks. My girls love anything pink and has been inspiring me to use it more and more in our decor. But we kept orange and yellow at minimum because as you can see, the WHOLE house is ORANGE and YELLOW. Well not all, but most of downstairs. Seriously, if this was not a rental, I would have repainted this long time!!
Gold throw pillows, a blanket or two, blue gold pumpkins, gold white and grey pumpkins, pedestal candle stands, hydrangeas, vases, floor mats, grapevine wreath and a couple other nick-nacks from At Home stores helped pull the space together. And because I have always been a lover of shopping at that store, you may also see a bunch of other items that I previously owned from there. It is one of my favorite stores to shop for home decor items because I find the products well made and so very affordable. I am not just saying this – I have been shopping with At Home stores since before I started partnering with them. I have never given or thrown away a piece of item that I bought from them yet.
The mantel got a makeover to match the overall feel and color scheme of the family room. You can see my early mantel post here.
This is the other side of the room leading into the kitchen. It is one big opened space.
My kids fish made it to the tour. They do a better job at taking care of it.
A few weeks ago, I made this easy pantry sign to fill this space. You can find the post here.
You might be able to tell that I like tall decorative things – bottles, candle stands and pedestal decorative things. All things elegantly tall!!
Here is a small office area in the kitchen. Although I have another office desk in the kids playroom, this area here is where I will sit and catch up on an email or two during the day or get something done quickly if I need to.
Despite all the obstacles, I am glad to have a couple spaces that feel somewhat put together. On those cold and chilly Autumn days, our family can have a place of cozy and warmth and spaces that we can actually look forward to enjoying. The kids love to cuddle up and have us read seasonal books to them. We love to chill out and play games or drink hot drinks. Having a cozy decorated home makes all these so much better during the Fall. I feel I can relax and do more with them now that the space is put together.
Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed today’s tour and you will take a minute to stop by and check out the homes of my lovely creatives.
At Home with Zan
Your home tour is beautiful, Zan! I’m so impressed with how lovely it looks, even if you hadn’t fully decorated since it’s a rental. The little pops of blue are so fun! Love the chalkboard sign, too! The whole tour is so cozy and warm and inviting.
Thank you Sarah. Yes, I did the best I can to try to make a rental feel like home. The little pops of blue are really a fav of mine too!!!
I’m so sorry about your laptop, Zan! I remember once when I had a post due and my laptop crashed. We were on vacation and 30 miles from the nearest Apple store. I’ll spare you the details, but I know how you feel. Most of us would be in tears, but you did an amazing job. I think your decor is beautiful and I’m thoroughly enjoyed being part of this At Home Fall Tour of Homes. I’m in love with your “Hello Fall” pillow and all of your decor is wonderful. I also went with a blue (navy) and gold theme. Those colors are so cozy and glam. I love the way you styled your coffee table – it’s all gorgeous.
Well regarding the laptop – I might have shed a tear or two:) But thank you for your sweet words about the decor. And I thoroughly enjoyed your tour also – love the blue and gold (who knew we were thinking alike)?
I think it looks great! It’s no small feat to make a rental look like home, and you did it with flying colors! And I must say, I really like the pops of blue everywhere!
Flying colors for sure – hey that is just only a few rooms. Lots more to go! Thank you, friend!!
I love all the blankets and floral elements you have around your home. It feels cozy, warm and homey. Also, I think you are doing awesome for having recently moved!! I would still have boxes in all the corners, haha 🙂
Thank you Lora. They make home feel so cozy. Glad the boxes are unpacked!!
Oh what a freight when the computer isn’t working. The last time I had a problem with my laptop I couldn’t even talk to the folks at the repair place because I was too upset, my hubby handled it for me. LoL We NEED a back up, don’t we!
Your home is beautiful in every way because you’re talented with home decor. All the pillows, blankets and pumpkins give it such a cozy fall feeling. I love your chalk board! I really like the back splash in your kitchen!
Thank you so much for your sweet sweet words Shirley! I try to do what I think is best even though it may not be Pinterest worthy!! I am so glad you loved the tour and thank you for sharing your home, too!!
It looks absolutely lovely, sweet friend! Can’t wait to see it in person!! = ) Beautiful job!
Thank you Kathryne. It would be nice to have you for a visit.
Zan, your home looks fabulous! Mishaps or not it is a success. I love the gold accents. I am thinking I would like to add a little glitz and glam too. I hope you are able to get you laptop back soon. For now just enjoy your space with your kids
LOL… Mary you always make me smile! Thank you so much for the love and I enjoyed your tour too. Very pretty!!
Zan, I love that you persevered beyond all that happened to you. Your home looks like it is full of sunshine and love. Lots of great harvest touches. The most unusual that caught my eye was the mason jar with the oak leaves…how pretty was that? I hope you get your computer and photo editing fixed, but one thing in your post says it all….Be Still and know…. 🙂
I got my computer back and it is working nicely. Thank you for the beautiful comments about our home. That oak is such a pretty tree in the backyard.
As much as you suffered to get this post out the results are beautiful. I enjoy how you took the gold of the walls and incorporated it into you decor.
It nice to read post about people who live real lives in real lived in homes. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Leanna. It is sometimes helpful to let our readers ‘the real life’. Thanks for the lovely comment.
Love how your house looks. It seems to be full of light and love 😀 And I realize the fall wreath from the last post. It’s so cute 🙂 Enjoy the beautiful place you’ve created 🙂
Your home looks lovely Zan! The word that kept coming to my mind while looking at your pictures is “cozy”.
Yes, yes, I am all about cozy over here!! Thanks Shani!