Ok, y’all – the silent rumors are true. I have become a bit of a.. decorator? The walls are no longer blank. Pinot Grigio is being drunk. SOMETIMES with ice. I’m one closet full of Vera Bradley away from turning into my mother in law. (Which, tbh – I’d be lucky! She’s great. But still – cue panic attack from the last shreds of my youth, you know?)

I can’t lie, though – evenings at our house are insanely cozy and bring me so much joy now. I don’t think I’ve necessarily gone overboard, but celebrating the changing of seasons (especially Halloween! Who doesn’t love a bit of frivolous debauchery? If the answer is anything less than an enthusiastic yes, kindly see yourself out of this blog) lightens my inevitable SAD and makes life feel more grounded and happy.

SO, I’m going to tell you how I did it in a foolproof way that didn’t turn our house into something juvenile, messy, or worse – a clashing mess.

First things first : it’s going to take a lot of visits to a lot of shops. Unless you want your house to look like a straight up Michael’s clone, you have to give yourself over to many afternoons of dedication and enjoy the process. Shopping will become a part of your identity. Truly though, if it isn’t already I doubt you’d be sat reading this. Nearly everything we got wasn’t from exactly an eclectic mix of stores – Target, IKEA, Michael’s, At Home, or Dollar Tree, etc.. but they were on theme with our pre-existing year round decor. This is how my mother in law takes items from literally anywhere, WALMART EVEN, and makes them look like they’ve always been a part of the history of her amazing country home that Martha Stewart Living would be a fool not to feature. Truly magic.

For us, staying on theme meant color coordinating.. IE: saying no to anything orange, no matter how cute it was – or green (excluding plants), violet, etc. Our house is black and gold and gray and white and sometimes silver with pops of power pink (in the office) and navy (living room/bedroom). SO, if it didn’t fit that color profile – forget about it. Same goes for taste levels of the items. We like fun, but not childish. Simple, but not in an overtly boho way. I wish I could describe it better, but I guess photos will have to suffice.

The one exception here is if an item had just a touch of an undesirable color and could potentially be DIY’d. For example, we found the most perfect cream pumpkins for our floral arrangement but they had taupe stems. TAUPE. But, after literally 3 minutes with a bottle of matte black acrylic paint and a little glitter, problem solved and fab as ever. (Here’s where you pat yourself on the back and pour said glass of Pinot Grigio, FYI.)

Secondly, and most importantly – sense of space. I struggled with this nearly the first whole year we spent in this apartment. (PS: we’ve lived in Atlanta for almost a YEAR now – Can you believe?! I cannot. Can. Not.) I never understood how people had beautiful rooms that felt so balanced and like, where did they find just the right sized beautiful thing to fill said space? The honest truth is it takes time, of course – but more than that, a sense of what spaces need to be ‘filled’ while you’re out shopping is essential. I literally went through every room of our home and photographed each area so I wasn’t stuck in the “I like this, but is there anywhere to put it?” quandary every single time we went out. It’s a process, y’all.

On that note, enjoy the pictures! This isn’t rocket science. Go out and buy some decorative succulents, or don’t. Watch a video on how to make perfect bows to cover the ugly command hooks, or don’t. Go out shopping in August for Halloween to get the best stock before other like minded crazies snatch it up, or don’t! I’m not here to judge. Just share into the void. 💖

XOXO 🎃,