Pumpkins on the mantel

Today I bought baby pumpkins and two big pumpkins, stuck sequins on them and placed them on the mantel. I got the berry branches from my yard.

There are four trees in my yard that are full of berries hanging from the branches. These four trees have completely shed their leaves. The trees look gorgeous. It is like God's version of pom-pom trees.

I placed the big pumpkin in front of the fireplace and stuck big silver sequins on them and placed the lovely berry branches from my yard in the black urn. Gold paint is drying on another pumpkin in the basement.

I hope you have a wonderful day!

Decorating my fireplace mantel

The focal point of our family room is the fireplace mantel and I love decorating it. Over the weekend, I thought the mantel should reflect the focal points of our life as a family, the things that are meaningful to us and hold memories for us.

So first I placed an embroidered peacock picture on the mantel which we had bought from India last summer. Growing up in India, I remember that in my parents home there were two fans made out of peacock feathers. When the electricity was out and it would get really hot we used it to fan ourselves, I think. We also used it to tickle ourselves because the feathers were so soft. And sometimes as decoration in our home. In elementary school there were many kids in my class who kept peacock feathers inside the pages of school text books. It was like a special treasure. In my husband's home in New Delhi, peacocks would fly /swoop into the balcony. Peacock is the national bird of India and when I was a kid I thought it was the most beautiful creature in the world. So this peacock reminds me of my life in India and of our family vacation in India last year.

Next to the peacock picture I placed a family picture from almost ten years ago, I think. Now, our boys are 17 and 14 and don't look very much like this. However, this is the latest one I have taken by a professional photographer. I do have lots of more recent family pictures but none by a professional.

Next, I placed our wedding picture which is super special to me. In 2013 we would have been happily married for twenty years. How time flies!

Next to the wedding picture I placed a brass vase that my parents brought for me from India in 2006.

In the vase I placed stems from Hobby Lobby. Now I want to add pumpkins, gourds and fall leaves also. I hope I will get time for that tomorrow. Have a wonderful day!

Work in progress on Mantel

I am working on my mantel. Over the weekend I decided that I wanted a full, rich look that was meaningful to us as a family for our mantel. I am far from done. Tomorrow I am hoping to complete it so I hope you will check back tomorrow. Here is a quote that has been inspiring me lately. “If you work really hard, and you're kind, amazing things will happen. Conan O'Brien <

Magazine Vignette

Today I did another small vignette in our family room. This basket contained unopened/junk mail as well as magazines. I removed the mail from the basket and am planning to keep it only for magazines.

I have an idea on what I am going to do for the mail and if I am done with it I will show it next week. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Black and White

Ever since I bought this black and white table runner from Hobby Lobby I have been drawn to touches of Black and White in rooms. Here are some pretty examples of Black and White that I found on Pinterest.

Source: heltenkelthosmig.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

I don't think I will be able to live in a room that is completely decorated in Black and White. However, small touches as in a rug, pillows, trims etc would be nice, I think.

Source: blog.stylizimo.com via Anna on Pinterest

This is definitely something I want to try making for our dining room.

Source: walmart.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: walmart.com via Anna on Pinterest

I am dreaming of a Zebra rug for our family room.

Source: cotedetexas.blogspot.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Anna on Pinterest

Thank you Zebra for starting the entire Black and White trend. Do you like Black and White in your rooms?

Calm Spaces

Source: jonesdesigncompany.com via Anna on Pinterest

I love calm spaces. I love how serene the above entryway is. I am not certain but I think it is the white curtains that makes this space calm.

Source: marthastewart.com via Anna on Pinterest

This room also appears calm to me and also has white curtains.

Source: magnoliamerryweather.tumblr.com via Anna on Pinterest

This porch also looks like a peaceful setting because of how green the outside scenery is.

Source: marthastewart.com via Anna on Pinterest

This porch is also calm due to the grren trees outside. However, it is calm in a more lively and cheerful sort of way. Do you like calm spaces? What, in your opinion makes for a calm space?

Pillows for couch

Pillows

Source: bhg.com via Anna on Pinterest

Nothing says cozy to me as much as a sofa piled up with pretty pillows. Here are some images of pillows that I liked from the Better Homes and Garden website. I was hoping to finish two or atleast one pillow by this morning but that did not happen. So last night and this morning to inspire me further to complete my pillows I pinned some images from Pottery Barn and BHG. Here are a few.

Source: bhg.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: potterybarn.com via Anna on Pinterest

I think, the above pillow would look so perfect during Christmas. I really want to try to make it.

Source: bhg.com via Anna on Pinterest

I hope you have a great day.

Pretty Wreaths from Martha Stewart

Today I would like to share some images of wreaths that I like with you. I found these images in the Martha Stewart website. Martha Stewart is soo talented. She is definitely a lady I admire a lot.

Source: marthastewart.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Anna on

Source: marthastewart.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Anna on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Anna on Pinterest

I love all of these wreaths. In the first image I like the grapevine, the pompoms, the lavenderish, grayish candles, the old looking silver candle holders, and the green ribbon. In the second picture I love the creamy white flowers and how they look against the perfect gray wall. I love the acorns tucked amid the paper leaves in the third wreath, the two different shades of gray in the fourth, and how perfectly autumnal the fifth and 6th wreath look. I think it is such a gift to have the ability and talent to create a beautiful and well cared for home for your family. Martha certainly knows how to do that. Once, several years ago, I borrowed this huge book written by Martha from the library. It was full of instructions on how to do everything perfectly for your home..from how to fold a fitted sheet to how frequently to clean the patio. Her knowledge about such things is truly amazing. Coming back to the topic of wreaths, which wreath did you like the best? Have a great day!

Butterfly Gallery Wall Complete

One day in a blog called Decor8 I found an artist featured whose specialty was butterfly paintings. I really liked the large number of butterflies she had painted. Then suddenly I remembered something from my 5th grade art class. Our teacher made us draw a butterfly and paint it with water color. After we were done we could look at each others work. Of all the butterflies in the class I liked the butterfly made by a girl sitting in front of me. Her butterfly had mustard yellow wings with black dots on it.

Also, I had been seeing gallery walls on pinterest and different blogs and I love the whole concept of a gallery wall. I would love to have one with family pictures and one with only pictures from family vacations and call it after Dr. Suess "Oh, the Places We Have Been." And I imagined another gallery wall with a Bible verse, a chalk board, a heavy rusted key, a clock and the letter J.

But I really wanted to paint butterflies. Also, our family pretty much always uses the door from the garage that leads into to kitchen to come home. We hardly ever use the front door. So I wanted to make this area welcoming and pretty. Those are the reasons I decided to do this butterfly gallery wall.

I would not have configured these paintings the way I have if it was not for a blog post on how to do a gallery wall that I saw in the blog Michaelanoelle Designs. I was originally planning to have two straight rows of pictures. I am glad I did not go that route. Thank you Michaela. Also, I googled watercolor butterflies to see images of butterflies painted with watercolor because I was not satisfied with what I was doing on my own. The color combinations, the splotches on the wings, the shape of the wings and the shape of the antenna etc are heavily influenced by the images I saw when I googled "watercolor butterflies." Thank you to Google.

The blue-green color combo is definitely something imitated from an image I saw on the web. I had never thought blue and green were a good combination.

I painted a total of  10 butterflies and hung eight of them. I hope you are not too tired of butterflies by now and I hope you have a wonderful day.