Thursday, August 19, 2021

Late Summer Decor In East Texas

Hi, Friends,
If you are new here, welcome! 
I took some pictures of the late summer decor at our house in East Texas. 
I had the cutest helper. 


Twenty six years of changing bulletin boards every month may have contributed my need to decorate for the seasons. My relationship with August is complicated. It has not been one of my favorite months. My dad died one hot August night when I was only 17. My sister and my brother were in the garage where he collapsed. I was in the kitchen trying to call the ambulance. It was like the dream where you can't dial the phone. This was before 911 and I could not dial the number for the police. I had nightmares about it for years. The Lord redeemed August, to a degree, with the birth of our oldest son. He was born near the anniversary of my dad's death. August now had joy. We loved planning special birthdays for our son. 
How kind of the Lord to do that for me. 

 
Texas is so hot that I want to rush the month in order to usher in some fall weather. Burnished gold tones echo the typically dry landscape. This year has been an exception, as we have had more rain, but the grass along the roadways is usually crusty and dry. 
Fall cannot get here quickly enough. 
Lastly, while I loved teaching, August meant that the restful days of summer were at an end. Inservice and the start of school completely reversed the lackadaisical days of June and July. The end of the school year and the start of the school year are exhausting. When school started, it meant that fall and cooler weather should start as well but cooler weather doesn't usually arrive until October, if we are lucky. 
While I don't love August, I love August decor. Sunflowers are some of my favorite ways to decorate in August. 

That explains the why to a degree. Let's get into the what of the decor. 


The little plate was an antique store find. It's the Ridge Daisy pattern by Blue Ridge Southern Pottery. The Tennessee company manufactured hand-painted under-glazed dishes in a wide variety of naive, folk art like designs from the 30s to the 50s.  They went out of business as plastic dinnerware flooded the market. This type of dinnerware is perfect for thematic decorators as they have a wide variety of patterns. Even though this is supposed to be a daisy, it looks like a sunflower to me. It is very reminiscent of some of the Franciscan patterns such as Apple and Dessert Rose. 
Some faux rudbeckia rests in a pitcher. We have had a gnat problem so I'm avoiding real flowers and plants for the time being. My wild rudbeckia bloomed all summer but has called it quits for now. 


The mantel is a little too small for the firebox but we're not ready to switch that out right now. I think this was built by the former owner's brother. He did a lot of the DIY projects around the house. At some point we'll find the perfect piece of lumber to use as a mantel but it works for now.  

I rearranged the furniture in the corner opposite the fireplace. Bill and I felt like the room looks bigger this way. 
It's very cozy. 


The cat isn't as thrilled because she loved sleeping on the back of the sofa near the window. 


A sunflower pillow from Pottery Barn coordinates perfectly with the sofa. 



A new light fixture replaced the old ceiling fan. 
I'd like a bigger rug but we were in the midst of the pandemic when we closed on the house.  Bill grabbed two of these rugs from Home Depot our first weekend in the house. 

The living room is cut in two by a walkway to our bedroom. 
It's annoying but it is what it is. We created two seating areas and can pull chairs closer to the sofa for more conversational seating. 


We brought out a buffet from the other house. The $5.00 garage sale find was very damaged oak. I painted it white in 2013. I stripped it, recently, and painted the bottom black. The chair next to it was thrifted. The cane seat was broken though. Bill removed it and cut a new seat which I upholstered in cotton duck cloth. 


The top of the buffet got a little seasonal decor. 



The flower crate from Nearly Natural got a reboot with geraniums and sunflowers from Hobby Lobby. The bougainvillea was removed and will be packed away until next summer. 
We got the live edge frame from our daughter for Christmas. I was out there with no access to a printer so a paper napkin came to the rescue. This set of napkins from Michel Design Works. We got it as a house warming gift. I've since been home to access the printer but I like the napkin so it stayed. 
The duck was carved by Bill's dad. 


Quite a few years ago my sister in law and I stopped at an antique store in between her house and Canton. Our new house is on the same route. I wanted to return to the shop but I had not been able to pin point where it was until Bill and I found it two weeks ago. We picked up a few things. They had a few pieces of Lincoln by Adam's China.  Two plates, four bread and butter plates, a platter and a vegetable bowl were only $8.00. I thought it was a fun addition to our little ranch house. We will be back to the shop again. 


The silverplate, napkins, stemware and placemat were all thrifted over time. 


I found the little table at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. It was red but I painted it my favorite Lichen green chalk paint by Ceramcoat. 

A homemade prim sunflower rests in some corn shaped bowls. 


We are loving the new counters and sink in the kitchen. We're already babying them less and less. Bill pour red wine in glasses last time. Everything so far wipes right off. The sink is another story. I'm still babying that. 



We got my little cabinet hung up. I don't need it to disguise the counters anymore. 


I spent a lot of time editing the counter decorations. 


Putting a little lamp in one of my dark corners made a huge difference in cozying up the corner.




I love the graphics on this bag of coffee. 


That is it for now. 
We have owned the house for 10 months. The initial phase of redecoration of the main house is complete but it's too hot to work on the cabin. 
Work on that will resume this fall so there is much more to look forward too. 
I'm blogging less and I when I do, I would like my posts to be more authentic, if that makes sense. 
Hopefully, more of the real me will come across in the future.  I hope that will be a good thing. 
Stay safe out there. 
Katie 

6 comments :

  1. Hi Katie. Love your early fall decor. As soon as I get all the posts on the changes to our new condo I will be blogging less too. There will be less to share so when I do blog it will be a little different. Love to see your posts. xoxo Kris

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  2. I love your home. It does look very cozy. I enjoy your posts.

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  3. The fact that the real you shines through each post is what I've loved most about your blogging, Katie. Your ET farmhouse is just so wonderful. I totally love your kitchen and it's so fun seeing your decorating there. Miss Caroline is so adorable and makes herself comfy anywhere. She looks like a good traveler. Our kitties squall until they're exhausted in the car, no trips for them. I don't want to leave Dixie out. She looks happy to be there too. Stay cool, September is on the way.

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  4. The house looks lovely. You guys have really accomplished so much in 10 months. You should be proud. The transformation is amazing. So cozy. The kitchen looks so cute. I love it!

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  5. I have several pieces of the Blue Ridge pottery. They were in my grandmother's kitchen.

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  6. Cats are the best models! I love watch them sleep and yours is an angel! I hope she doesn't mind the car. I love all your vignettes. I wish August could last forever (even this week in the 90s!) but we aren't Texas and I suspect those summers are pretty grim!

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