Mary Carol Garrity 2013 Fall Open House Tour

I can't believe it's September already. What happened to the summer? Actually, it still feels like summer in our part of Kansas. Today and tomorrow is Mary Carol Garrity's fall open house, and it was 93 degrees today. It's hard to get in the mood for autumn and the upcoming holidays in a puddle of sweat, but I made the drive to Atchison, Kansas, anyway.

By way of comparison to what I've seen her do in the past, Mary Carol really cut back this year. Every room wasn't dripping in fall decor. There were just little bits of autumn tucked around the home.

Inside the foyer, a table was made ready for fall with a simple bowl of pumpkins and seasonal foliage.

Who wouldn't love to have a foyer large enough for a sitting area?

Inside the den, only sign of fall was a wooden dough bowl filled with the colors of autumn.

And then I looked up.

In the living room, a large vase filled with faux branches made a bold statement in the center of the room.

All the upholstery in the living room is white.  I can't imagine how she keeps it all clean, especially with evidence of at least one dog in the home.

I always stop to admire the window seat.  It's always inviting, no matter what time of year it is.

The dining room was loaded with the colors and textures of the season.  I saw a lot of people buying these orbs today, but I already had one.  They are much more versatile than the ones she offered last year since they are collapsible and can be stored flat.  I found mine last spring at a local home decor store.

Notice the little knife-rest?  I'd love to find some of those!

Of course, the chandelier was dripping with pine cones and fall branches.

Through the door is the breakfast nook, which connects the dining room to the kitchen.  I love the light blue ceilings in this space.

Notice the cheese domes being used at the place settings.  This is going to date me, but we still have the marble plate and cheese dome we received as a wedding gift.  How often do you see these in thrift stores and garage sales now for next to nothing?

I love the little island in the kitchen.  Mary Carol's home is grand, but the kitchen is tiny!  It always gives me hope for our own little kitchen.

Let's go outside!  The screened porch was still looking like summer with only a few pumpkins tucked here and there.

My one purchase today was one of the lanterns seen on the left side of the hutch.  Thankfully, there was a tent set up next to the house that had them available for purchase because her store downtown, Nell Hills, was filled with people and the room with the line to check out there was horribly, horribly hot.

More pumpkins and orbs on the patio.  I'm so glad I have an orb of my own now!

The patio table was loaded with autumn's bounty carried in a small wheelbarrow.

I love these iron candlesticks.  They seem so versatile every season.

On the patio table there was a dough bowl and an orb.  Swoon!

Doesn't this look easy to put together?

I adore the little statue with the ribbon sash.  Usually, he's holding a bottle of wine.

But today, I'd be more interested in a big bottle of cold water than a glass of wine.  Eventually, summer will turn into autumn here in Kansas, and I'll be ready with new ideas to decorate for the season.  

By the way, if you pin any of these images, please give decorating credit to the talented Mary Carol Garrity.

I'm linking up...

Between Naps on the Porch

Savvy Southern Style

Lighten Up

Sorry for another disappearing act.  This summer hasn't turned out as I expected, and I've been pretty under the weather.  Being sick is never fun, but it always seems to be a little worse during the summertime.

We've managed a few un-blog-worthy projects around the house, like replacing a storm door that was literally crumbling to pieces and having gutter guards installed since the trees are now taller than the roof line (read: regularly clogged gutters).  The yard I worked so hard on this spring is now a weedy mess.  The laundry piled higher and higher, and when I was finally feeling well enough to tackle it, the washer broke.  Oh well.

During a good week, I decided I'd had enough of our dark olive green living room.  I had changed it from a ho-hum taupe about five years ago to SW Olive Grove and immediately regretted it.  It was just too dark.

Adding the overmantel helped lighten the room, but I still wanted a brighter, happier look.  I wanted to stick with a shade of green, and I finally settled on Valspar's Desert Grass that I had mixed at Sherwin Williams because I love their Cashmere paint.

It's a much more cheerful room, and the traditional cherry furniture I love seems less heavy now. This shade of green really blends well with the brass hardware, especially in the grandfather clock, my very first Craigslist purchase from about five years ago.  Can you believe I scored this beauty for only $125?  Since it had been stored in a dirty garage, I had it professionally cleaned, and the serviceman said it was worth about $800.  Score!

I've always been and admirer of secretary desks.  My grandmother and my great-grandmother had one, but I thought they were a little old-fashioned until I saw the many hutches and the secretary desk in Mary Carol Garrity's home:

So when I found a secretary that had just been put on the sales floor at ReStore, I pounced on it.  It's filled with beautiful books (that we've actually read, thank-you-very-much!) and favorite pictures documenting some of our family history.

It took five years, but I think I've finally figured out this room.

Powder Room Reveal

I kid you not, as soon as I hit "post" on the ruffled tea towel mini-tutorial, my husband called up the stairs, "I see we now have a guest towel."

Uh-oh.

If you've been following me since the beginning, you may recall that I re-did our powder room a few years ago. It even was featured on Better After, and Lindsey mocked the sunflower border.  Here was the before-before.

Yikes! That was some really awful wallpaper!  It had to go, but I had a pretty small budget for a re-do.

 

I spray-painted the 90s light fixture ORB, switched the light shades to something more contemporary, and spruced up the dated oak mirror. The walls were painted SW Meditation, and it was supposed to be soothing, but with no windows, it was pretty dark in there.  Taking pictures with my trusty old point and shoot camera I was using back then didn't help matters either.

 

The moody blue was an improvement over all that green, but a couple of years later, I was getting restless.  And I kind of missed the green, just not that early 90s green.

 

It's a small space, a five-foot square with nine foot ceilings and no windows.  I felt I could afford to be a little bold with the wall color, so I tried SW Canary this time.

 

 

I scored a new mirror at ReStore, and glued scroll brackets that I stained to match the floating shelf over the toilet.  I think the brackets make the shelf look more substantial without adding too much heaviness.  The lantern is a Nell Hills find from months ago.  It was one of those things that I had to have, but then I didn't know what to do with it once I got it home.

 

 

This is a twenty-five square foot room with two doors since the laundry is just off the room.  Floor space is precious, but I found this darling étagère at Goodwill to tuck in the corner.

 

 

I repainted in August, but I decided to wait until Christmastime for the reveal.  It's just so cheerful in there now.  I love this darling miniature winking Santa mug.  He's so tiny that he gets lost in other rooms, but he fits right in here.

 

 

I think it qualifies as vintage since my grandmother painted it about 50 years ago.  She signed it, but it's not dated.  I should ask her if she remembers making it.

 

 

The ceramic pinch pot on the left isn't quite vintage yet.  I made it about 25 years ago when I was a kid in school.  Another quarter of a century won't make it as darling as little winky Santa!

 

 

 

I'm linking up...

Savvy Southern Style

Handy Man, Crafty Woman

The Shabby Creek Cottage

 

Nell Hills Knock-Off

As soon as I saw this on display at Mary Carol Garrity's open house, I knew I could replicate it.

And here's mine:

Lucky for me, I found a decent wreath at my favorite thrift store.  Otherwise I tried to use what I had on hand.  However, I wish I had some of those long pine needles.  I'm on the look out for those.

See those moss balls?  You can see how I made them here.

 

I'm happy to be able to enjoy my little statue during Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm linking up...

Between Naps on the Porch

Savvy Southern Style

At the Picket Fence

Le Chateau des Fleurs

Mary Carol Garrity Holiday Home Tour 2012

I'm going to depart from my tour of France series because Mary Carol Garrity's Holiday Home Tour was today.

For those of you not familiar with Kansas's decorating darling, Mary Carol Garrity is the founder of several home decorating stores in Atchison, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, including Nell Hills, plus the author of several books.  She lives in a historic Greek Revival home in Atchison, and she opens her home a few times a year for tours.

And after the tour, we go shopping at her two Atchison stores.  I almost bought this lantern, but I decided I have enough lanterns to decorate.

I think Mary Carol was a little under the weather, but she kept smiling and played the gracious hostess like a champ.

 

I loved this statue in the urn next to the door.  I'm planning on copying this look!

 

 

Let's go inside!

 

 

Imagine a holiday party here.  Oh, that red against the buttery yellow walls!  This statue is available in her stores.  Someday, I'll probably regret not buying her, like those orbs from the fall open house.

 

 

I asked Mary Carol about decorating trends this Christmas, and she said that anything goes, but understated elegance was popular.  I love how she layers on vertical surfaces, like this wreath over the mirror in the foyer.  Understated yet elegant indeed.

 

 

Mary Carol's style is very busy with lots of books, artwork, and knicknacks.  I like how she uses a more monochromatic color scheme for her holiday decorating.

 

 

The pretty mantel sings "holidays" without screaming "Christmas."

 

 

Let's get a closer look.

 

 

The dining room was more understated this year.  It was set up to serve a buffet rather than a formal meal, which was clever.  My side of the family sits around the table for holiday meals, but my in-laws serve them buffet-style.  Neither family is as fancy as this!

 

 

Shall we go outside to look at the garden?

 



Today's weather was clear with temperatures in the low 60s.  I doubt she keeps those ginger jars outside all winter! 

 

I always admire how she uses basic foundation pieces, like these iron posts, to decorate for each season. 

 

 

It isn't Christmas quite yet, so if you would like to see the fall home tour, click here for the home tour and here for the garden tour.  If you pin, please be sure to give Mary Carol credit for her work.



 

 

 

I'm linking up...

Between Naps on the Porch

Savvy Southern Style

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

At the Picket Fence