Get Rid of that JUNK!

Categories:  About Us, Decor

After the hubs and I got hitched, it didn’t take us too long to realize how much stuff we really had. There were things we had for our kitchen that we ended up being given nicer versions of, so the old stuff had to go! We also had a lot of stuff from our old (parents’) homes that we just had no use for anymore. Boxes upon boxes of stuff were stacked up, and we decided that it was really time for a garage/yard sale.

Thankfully, my husband’s family (his parents and brother’s family) wanted in on the garage sale too. So, we decided to plan a 3 family garage sale. The perfect weekend we thought? Well, of course, living in a college town, we went for the bye weekend, which was this past Saturday.

We really lucked out doing this. Since a lot of people thought on the same page as us, there were garage sales everywhere! So, I think a lot of serious people made it their Saturday morning to hit them all up! We even had a lady tell us at our garage sale that this was her 12th one for the day! Wowsa!

We ended up having 6 completely cramped tables of stuff, condensed to about 1 1/2 within an 8 hour garage sale. We were troopers haha..in actuality, time really flew! :) About $600 later in sales between the two families, we were done! My husband and I made about $270 of that. :) Not bad for the stuff we consider JUNK and now, our home is mostly clutter free!

We just purchased this neat-o looking futon to put in our other spare bedroom (aka the hubs’ office) using some of the profits. I think it looks pretty neat, and it would give us another bed, if company came over.

Futon

We’ve also made a vow to NOT clearance shop anymore. Clearance shopping results in clutter, and we don’t need it! :)

Are you finding yourselves overwhelmed with clutter after the wedding?

The evolution of Fall decor

Categories:  Decor, Holiday

Since it’s officially Fall, I feel a little less guilty decorating outdoors beyond the wreath I made. I love to think back when I was a kid, because I have to laugh a little at how my tastes in decor have changed. I used to beg my parents to buy this stuff!

When I was a kid, I remember my dad making a daunting chore more of a fun task. He got me hooked on these pumpkin looking leaf bags! I loved filling these little cuties up!

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Along with carved pumpkins and my mom’s fabulous wreath of the year, that was really our fall decor when I was a kid.

I remember we moved on to little inflatable ghosts and pumpkins to hang from the trees in the front yard. Those were fun, at least to me! I just hated when the wind blew them down!

Now that I’m a newlywed in a house with my husband with no trees in the yard to hang things from or leaves (since there are no trees) to fill bags up with, I need to get creative. Hehe…

I really love the idea of different fall vegetables, mums  and pumpkins on a haystack.

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It may just be boring decor to the eye at first, but I will make this function for me in a few ways. One, I’m going to choose my carving pumpkins early so I can get a really pretty one before the rush happens in late October and let them just chill for a while on the hay. I’m also going to buy a couple of pie pumpkins and place them in the decor as well, just in case the pumpkin shortage holds true.  I would then need to roast/puree some last minute pumpkin for Thanksgiving since Thanksgiving just isn’t the same without some pumpkin pie!

By the way, did you know that Libby’s pumpkin puree isn’t really pumpkin at all? That’s right…pumpkin puree is a browner color, and so to get that rich orange color, Libby’s uses a variety of squashes to make their puree. No big deal, since pumpkin is also a fine member of the squash family. So, no need to panic…it’s not much of a difference, but more of a “did you know?”. You can bring that up to the dinner table when mom’s cutting into the pumpkin, er, squash pie! :)

What are your ideas for decorating this Fall? If you are a newlywed, are you excited about decorating for the first time in your home?