Hello, hello! In between Thanksgiving and Christmas and nursery prepping, I have actually done a tiny bit of unpacking and decorating of our new rental house casa. Nothing groundbreaking, of course, but I thought I'd start sharing these little decorated corners and niches with y'all!

You guys have seen a lot of action in one corner of my living room, over by the fireplace. So far on that end, we got a flashy new paneled mirror to fit over the fireplace, I decorated the corner in a colorful Christmas style with a big ol' tree, I decorated the corner again in a rustic + metallic Christmas style with a tiny tree, I prepared for fall/winter by adding some cozy new accessories... I mean, this corner has gotten all kinds of action! But what about the opposite side of the room?

Our living room here at this house is kind of a tight space as it's a somewhat narrow rectangular room. We placed the couch in front of the TV in the middle of the room, as the fireplace is at one end (as you know!). I balanced the fireplace end out by adding the Ikea Expedit bookshelf to the other end. This also provides us some extra, needed storage space in the living room.

Waaaay back when (like, three and a half years ago!), I arranged the books on this bookshelf in a fun color-coded rainbow style. That style is so pretty on the eyes, but didn't work so well for function as the types of books were sort of disjointed and wonky. So, I made it my goal to use the pretty rainbow system again but with an organized tweak. I also wanted to make sure and add some decorative pieces to the shelf. I attempted to style the built-in bookshelves at my old rental house and I honestly think I failed pretty miserably. Styling this Expedit shelf was my chance at redemption! Oh, and did I mention that this has to be toddler-friendly? Yes m'am.

Okay. Less talking, more pictures. Let's start at the bottom, which holds HDawg-friendly items like magazines, baby books and a selection of some of his favorite board books.

Next up, I organized my books by topic- fiction novels and genre organized non-fiction, like Bibles, law school text books, sociology books, relationship and self-help books, etc. For row two (which is still within HDawg's reach), I decided to put the chunkier books that he would mess with less. At least that's the plan and it's worked pretty well so far. They're too heavy for him to pull off the shelf! On the third row, I categorized the fiction books by color. Prettttty!

It's nothing too drastic, just a few shelves of browns, reds, yellows and blues that make me smile.

Up top went the decor knick knacks. Obviously, I'd like to have them spaced all over the bookshelf, but inquiring toddler hands have dictated a different method.

I think this side needs a little help still. Maybe a plant in the basket?

I love the top shelf, which holds my coveted antique book collection and my favorite DIY piece of all time- my rustic pallet sign.

So there you go! My color-coded + organized + toddler-friendly Expedit bookshelf, all styled up and hopefully making a fun presence on that side of my living room. I'll be sure to share more of these decorated niches around my home soon!

Since we've been in this house (for almost a month now!), I haven't done much decorating. Except this mantel! So far, it's been decorated with Threshold knick knacks, decorated in a cutesy + spooky Halloween motif, secretly decorated for Christmas and now it's decorated for fall/Thanksgiving (more on that later!).

Needless to say, this hard-working space deserved some new jewels. And I chose to hook up the mantel with a hot new mirror! You like?

The mirror is this piece from Home Decorators. Of course, mirrors are the best way (especially in a rental house) to open up a tight area and really get some light bouncing around a space. 

But this mirror is extra special! I really like how the frame is sort of antique and vintage, but also sort of glamorous. We don't have a lot of glam in our house (one girl versus 3.5 boys!) and this is pretty statement piece is a nice departure from that.

The side panels are really cool, because they reflect light and images from other dimensions across our wide-open downstairs floor plan. Look ma, there's my kitchen in the living room!

And it wouldn't be a mirror post without a mirror selfie, yeah?

She's pretty, she's shiny and she's alllll mine!

*Home Decorators supplied me a gift card that went towards the purchase of this mirror but the product choices, opinions and descriptions here are solely my own!*

 I have officially unpacked my first box at our new house! We are slowly getting settled in over here. I really appreciate all of your love and support... hopefully y'all are as excited as we are about the new casa and all of the potential it holds! You know I'll keep you guys posted along every step of the way.

So, the first box that I unpacked... it was something necessary like dishes or baby items or linens, right? Nope. This girl unpacked a fun box of cozy fall living room decor accessories! Priorities, right? My friends over at Target (I know, those are some good friends to have!) sent me a few items from Target's fall Threshold collection. And friends, I am telling you, it is gooooood.

To start, I'm totally smitten by this bird pillow. The colors are just beautiful and I love the texture created by the stitching on the bird. I'm also head over heels for that cozy, soft gingham throw. I set this pair up in a corner of our new living room on a slipper chair that I picked up at Target many years ago. These fun accessories have created a cozy little reading nook!

 

My living room mantel is officially adorned with Target accessories, like the turquoise earthenware candle holder and the beautiful swan bookend. No kidding, peeps, these items look and feel like they are tres expensive. Such great quality.

 

I threw another great pillow from the collection- a gold and gray beauty- on our sofa. Doesn't it fit right in with all of my other pillows and my spray-painted lamps?

A match made in heaven. And once again, the texture from the embroidery on this pillow is divine.

The collection also includes this amazing overdyed bench, which is sitting in my living room right now but may very well end up at the foot of our bed in the master bedroom.

So pretty, right? The colors and, once again, the texture! I'm swooning, for real.

 

I really love the nailhead trim on the sides. Perfection.

 

Even Tucker thinks it's feeling pretty cozy in here.

 

So there you have it, a few fun cozy fall accessories to spruce up my living room. Wouldn't you have unpacked this box first, too?! Don't worry, you can snatch up your own Threshold accessories at your local Target store. All of these items are in-store now! Or you can check out more of the Threshold decor accessories online right here. Happy shopping!

Disclaimer: Target graciously sent me these fun items to review, but all thoughts, opinions, swooning and cute dogs belong solely to me!

Hi friends! Hope y'all had a great weekend. It was another one for the "perfect summer weekend" books around our house. David and I played hooky and took a vacation day from work on Friday. We spent the day sharing a date with roller coasters at Six Flags Over Georgia. It was so much fun! We spent Saturday at the lake with dear friends and Sunday lazing around and getting stuff done around the house. It really doesn't get much better than that!

One thing we have had so much fun doing lately is spending time on our back patio. We bought a new grill last month and spend most of our nights grilling supper and hanging out in the back yard unwinding. At our old house, we had such a great outdoor entertaining space- the covered screened-in porch, the patio and fire pit and, of course, the swimming pool! Our digs aren't quite as nice here in our rental house, but we are trying to create a space for outdoor entertaining that is just as fun and inviting.

To get the party started, I just bought this new outdoor rug from Lulu & Georgia. Don't you love it?! I'll share more about it once I get it in the next few weeks.

The fireplace mantel at our rental house is whack. Well, that might be a little harsh. But it’s kind of hard to work with… mantel, it’s not me… it’s you. Seriously.

If you remember from the rental house living room tour, the brick fireplace is halfway painted so it’s a ghetto shoddy nice mix of tan and antiquey white paint. Furthermore (ten points to me for using that word in a sentence!), the mantel itself is really bulky and really high on the fireplace. It makes for all kinds of awkward decorating, which is why it’s probably taken me three months to decorate this thing.

But, ta-da, a decorated living room fireplace mantel.

I decided to use a layering effect to give some dimension to the mantel. Because of how oddly high it is, a lot of three-dimensional pieces (vases, bowls, etc.) looked weird up there. So I stuck with frames, but got some depth by layering them.

I mixed together white frames to brighten the space with dark wooden frames to ground the vignette. Most of the frames have family pictures in them (ie. lots of HDawg!) as well as some art mixed in. I think it works!

On the left side of the mantel is an Etsy art piece we used to have hanging in our master bedroom at the old house. I got the sunshine art from the Country Living Fair last year.

 

I printed out this iPhone photo of H and put it on some grass cloth wallpaper for unconventional matting. I love the texture it lends to the space.

On the right side of the mantel, I have cute baby pics and a framed vintage dictionary page stamped with the letter “R.” The page is actually from the R section of the dictionary, which is super cool. I picked it up at the Country Living Fair last year, as well. I’m pretty sure it cost a quarter or something. Love it!

Here’s the view from afar.

Wonky paint color and awkwardly placed mantel aside, I love how it’s looking today! What do you think? have you ever had to work with an awkward mantel like this before? Share your tricks!

Nobody likes a bad hangover, right? Well boo on me, because I think I've left some of you feeling a little blah after our holiday mantel link party! I told you not to take that last shot of tequila, but you wouldn't listen! You didn't listen to me about dancing on the table to "Call Me Maybe" either....

I promise that the party doesn't have to be over, though. Now that the holiday decorations are down, have you thought about decorating your mantel (or fantle, your faux mantel) for winter? Not sure how to winterize your space without simply slapping a few snowmen up? I've had a few of you ask about what I do with my mantel after the Christmas season is over. While I haven't gotten my buns in gear to redecorate my mantel for winter yet (yup, it's currently sitting empty with no decorations at all!), I do have a few go-to thoughts on decorating this time of year. So have no fear, as today I'm coming atcha with three easy steps to a fabulous winter mantel!

1. Add texture, texture, texture.

When I think about winter, I think about layers of textures. Soft, chunky sweaters paired with leather boots. Fluffy white snow on top of scrappy, rough pine trees. Do you see what I'm envisioning? Bring that dichotomy into your home by layering textured items to your mantel.

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2. Dress your mantel in winter whites.

Let your mantel break the "don't wear white after Labor Day" rule and dress her up in all shades of winter white. Even with a few pops of color, such as icy blue, white on white easily creates a pretty winter scene.

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3. Bring in natural elements.

Typically, we reserve decorating with nature for other months, such as the flowers of spring or the robust leaves of the fall. But get your game face on to get bundled up and get your hunter/gatherer on because shopping the elements of nature in the winter creates some beautiful winter decorating moments.

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Now I need to take my own two cents on winter decor and get my own mantel decorated! Do you have any fun tips for decorating your mantel this time of year? Do share.

I'll go ahead and put it out there. Our sweet little 2012 Christmas tree is a tad more Charlie Brown than Rockefeller. But that's okay with us. David was traveling a lot for work during the last week of November and the first week of December, so we never had time to go pick out a real tree. And we were really ready to put up a tree for sweet baby H, who loves looking at lights. So one night, we just decided to throw up this little fake guy that we had sitting in our basement. I used about half the ornaments we normally put on our tree, so it's definitely afar cry from our gorgeous tree from 2011.

But do you think this kid cares?

Nope! He's in love with the sparkle and the lights, which is all David and I care about this year! : )

But since you know I'm not going to leave you hanging with just pictures of a sketchy Christmas tree, I thought I'd share pictures of both of my mom's Christmas trees! Oh yes, she has two- a "fun" one and a "formal" one! And they're both beautiful!!

The fun tree sits in her den, where we spend most of our time opening presents on Christmas day. It's filled with multi-colored lights and sparkly, colorful ornaments. I love it!

But I have to say that I love her formal tree more. It's gold and white color scheme is just classic and beautiful. And was totally inspiration for my rustic glam golden mantel I created this year!

So pretty, right? Momma done good.

Now it's your turn... did you decide to go real or faux this year with your tree?! Either way, share your beautiful evergreens over at Megan's blog today!