Fall Decorating: Outdoor Décor

Nature will give you a helping hand with the outdoor décor. You can pick up on the natural color scheme to complement your outdoor decorating. Pretty fall flowers in colorful planters make a nice touch for the porch or deck but there are plenty of other ideas to give your home a warm, welcoming appearance. Welcome Mats What could be more welcoming than a clean, new, attractive welcome mat? There are many designs from which to choose but natural fiber welcome mats add something special to fall décor. If natural materials don’t strike your fancy, you may want a custom … Continue reading

How about Some Dual Purpose Furniture for Outdoor Living Spaces?

I love home and garden centers and home improvement centers. I could get lost in these places all day. I like Home Depot as much as my husband does. He even shopped for one of my birthday presents there and his friends all told him he was going to be in big trouble when he gave me a pair of sawhorses for a gift. “Nope, she wants them,” he replied, and he was right. Not only do I want to be able to play outside but I also want to be able to work on my hobbies outdoors too. I … Continue reading

Outdoor Living Spaces: Simple or Extravagant?

Does the area you enjoy outside your home have to look like your living room or appear to have been created by a designer to be considered an outdoor living space? I don’t think so. If it’s an area you use often or “live in” such as a patio, deck, or even just part of your yard or garden, I think it qualifies. I don’t have anything fancy, as our land is still a work in progress, but I prefer to stay outside more often than not when the weather is right. I enjoy barbecuing instead of cooking in the … Continue reading

Real Life Christmas Grinches

It seems as though every time I turn on the television I see yet another news report about some wacko dismantling, destroying, or stealing homeowners’ outdoor Christmas decorations. Just this week alone, seven homeowner’s in our city reported incidents of vandalism and theft involving outdoor nativity sets and inflatable holiday lawn decorations. It got me wondering whether this was an isolated event (as in just in the Midwest) or whether real-life Grinches are stealing Christmas decorations across the country? I discovered that while it is not a national epidemic, there have been numerous reports of holiday vandals wreaking havoc on … Continue reading

Outdoor Décor: Decorate Your Yard for Christmas

It’s that time of year and it’s starting to get exciting! If you’re looking for ways to add some Christmas spirit to your yard, you might like some of these: Christmas Candy Pick up some round stepping-stones and paint them with red and white swirls to look like peppermint disk candies. Form a pool noodle into the shape of a candy cane and paint it to look like one. This makes a good decoration for the exterior front door or it can be hung from an exterior wall. Just tie a ribbon around it, make a big bow, and hang … Continue reading

Is Your Yard Ready for Christmas?

Wow! Have you seen all the great outdoor decorations available for Christmas? I like the lighted giant snow globes with faux snow flying around. They are adorable. I also like the inflatable outdoor Christmas decorations such as giant snowmen and Santa figures. The best part is many of them cost less than most people might imagine. There are all kinds of displays to choose from, such as fiber optic reindeer and angels and Christmas trees. My favorite is the fiber optic Nativity Scene. The soft glow of fiber optic lighting looks beautiful against the night sky. There are other figures … Continue reading

Home and Garden Review: October 2 – 8

I don’t want to fill the post with nothing but links, but here are this week’s articles at a glance. We’ve got it all, from entertaining to organizing and little known facts. If you missed any of these articles, or you’d like to find them easily for reference, just visit the Home Blog Archive and click on any title. Oct 2 The Lawn You Never Have To Mow Decorating for Halloween or Harvest Day Flowers in the Home? An Old Thought Oct 3 Decorating Tips From Our Parade Of Homes Tour “Fluffing” Your Home Fall Decorating and Home Improvement Flowers: … Continue reading

Fall Decorating Ideas: Outdoor Décor

While nature does a beautiful job of decorating for fall with changing leaves in gorgeous colors, there are a few natural touches you can add to really dress your home up for autumn. Porches and Stairs Add large pumpkins and other gourds or squashes and create an arrangement in the corner of your porch. For smaller porches, planters in fall colors may be more convenient. Surround the planter with pumpkins or try a basket filled with different sized pumpkins and gourds with some raffia as filler. For the stairs (if your stairway is wide enough to avoid trips and falls) … Continue reading

Easy Fall Decorating Ideas

We have done the baby food jar thing in Kid’s Crafts before (see related article listed below), but we can use them in Home and Garden too. These little jars are just too handy for seasonal and holiday decorating projects. They are just right for a few of the fall decorating ideas that I would like to share. First, make sure baby food jars are clean and dry. Then, pick an idea from below and get started: Candleholders Put a medium sized taper candle into a baby food jar. Hold it in place so it’s standing up straight, or get … Continue reading

Outdoor Décor

Do you spend a lot of time outdoors? Do you wish you could enjoy your yard or garden more often? Maybe it isn’t exactly the inviting space you’d like it to be, or maybe you just need a little inspiration to get things started. Your garden, yard, patio, or deck can all be transformed into great extra living spaces. Gardening goes way beyond cultivating fruits and vegetables or planting trees and flowers. Today, it means trying your hand at outdoor décor so that all of your available space is useable. You’ll find terrific items and ideas that you can use, … Continue reading