Early Fall Table Centerpiece

I love this time of year!  It's not quite fall, but the summer nights are starting to cool down and the Utah gardens and fruit stands are abundant with fresh fruit and veggies.  Baby Bumblebee, who has been regularly checking our growing tomatoes all summer is beyond excited that they are finally red.

Harvest time gave me my inspiration for my early fall table centerpiece.  I didn't want to start using pumpkins and gourds quite yet, so I was thrilled to find these faux tomato stems.  As I've said before, I wanted to keep the basics of my table centerpiece all year and just change out a couple of items for the changing seasons.  This is a really simple way to update your home and keep things fun. You can see more of my seasonal table centerpieces below.

Mantel Decor

Happy Monday friends!  Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  It's starting to feel like fall around here and I am getting anxious to start decorating!  I wanted to take a few pictures of my current decor before I completely change things for the next few months.  Starting the first part of September I put away most of my basic decor staples around the Hive and they don't come back until the Holidays are over in January.

I haven't shared my mantel yet, so I wanted to do that today.  I'm still not sure if I did the right thing by painting it white when we remodeled.  It used to be  just stained dark wood, but I really wanted a white mantel. It turned out to be such a stark contrast to the rock, I'm really having a hard time getting used to it.  I've decided to keep it white for a while and see if it grows on me. 

Two side notes about the above picture.  I waited all evening for the perfect light to shoot the mantle.  It can't be too sunny or the windows make it impossible to get a good shot.  I took the shot I needed at the perfect time and then as I was uploading it to the computer later that evening I realized that Baby Bumblebee had pulled out the top metal bar of the fireplace leaving a huge gap in the photo.  By the time I realized this it was to late to take another shot, the sun was gone. So here it is.  I'm just keeping it real and leaving the broken fireplace for everyone to see.:) Also, just for fun, can you find my heart shaped rock?  I have a big heart shaped rock in my fireplace.  See if you can find it.  

I love my metal "L"!  It's such a fun accent, rustic and whimsical!

This photo turned out to be one of my favorite things.  I had the photo actually printed on wood.  If you look really closely, you can see the wood grain at the top of the photo where the sky is.  I love how it gives the photo a soft glow and it has a rustic quality to it.

My dad, who I've mentioned before is a talented wood crafter, made the wooden star for me.  He used wood from an old turquoise shed that was being torn down.  The color was perfect for me. The white vintage wooden window pane is from my dad's house, a old bungalow that he has restored.

Books are always a great way to add a little color and texture to a space and they were the perfect thing to finish off my mantle.  Baby Bumblebee is obsessed with letters and while he and his grandma were on a walk, they found the "J" that I used for a bookend above.  He insisted on bringing it home to me.  My little guy knows a good find when he sees it.

The Importance of Lighting- Kitchen

Lighting is one of THE most important aspects of interior design.  One of the biggest mistakes I've found that people make is they scrimp on their lighting budget.  Lighting is one of the last decisions people make when building or remodeling their home.  Often by the time you come to choosing lighting you have stretched your budget pretty thin and need to make sacrifices.  Don't sacrifice on lighting!  Plan ahead and save money elsewhere, because lighting is one place you don't want to cut corners.  

I think that it's important to have multiple sources of light in each room, but especially the kitchen.  In your kitchen you need a fair amount of task lighting.  Consider your lighting needs for your kitchen island, over your sink, and under your cabinets.  You don't want to have dark spots or shadowy spots where you are trying to work.  Various lighting sources also creates mood lighting which is a must for a well designed lighting plan.  In my kitchen I have under cabinet lighting, canned LED lighting, island pendant lighting, a schoolhouse fixture over my sink, and a large fixture over my dining table.  They can each serve a purpose individually, or I can turn them all on to light up the room.  My mood and energy seems to shift with a brightly lit room.  I love it to be bright and full of light when I'm cooking and cleaning.  One of my favorite times of the day though, is after dinner when the kitchen is "closed down" for the night.  Everything is cleaned up, the dishwasher is quietly working away and only the under counter lights and the light above the sink are on to give the room some mood lighting.  It makes me happy just thinking of it.

Lighting is one of the best ways to make a statement in a your home.  Great lighting is something people will instantly notice.  I like to think of lighting as the jewelry of the room.  It gives your room that little bit of bling and is a great way to give your home some personality.