I hear Christmas music in the stores. I see Christmas ads on TV. I see trees and decorations going up. But I, for one, am not ready to quit on fall. Maybe that’s because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday – one where the very purpose of the holiday is about gathering together with family or friends to give thanks and show gratitude – oh, and eat turkey and all the fixin’s, too. 🙂 I am one who won’t put up my tree or any Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. Of course, I’m also from Canada, and if we celebrate Thanksgiving in October, you might think that would leave a lot more time. And yet, I just can’t do it until after American Thanksgiving. I want Fall to get its just due. I want it to be honored and treasured. And November is not just a shoulder month between Halloween and Christmas. It is a month to savor, to consider gratitude deeply, and to reflect … a time to balance the change of the seasons with creating room for stillness in our lives. It’s time to pull out the winter sweaters, light some candles or a fire, and cozy up to apple cider drinks and soups. Oh and there must be pumpkins… lots of pumpkins.  So come on in and join me for a “fall/November house tour”.  🙂

I have an impressionistic painting of fall trees I like to put on the fireplace this time of year. An old scale, still loving my old window, and a little “give thanks” banner welcome the season (I made it into a free printable download if you want to make one yourself). I love my old bowling pins (from Yellow Door Goods) and vintage porcelain glove molds (found at the Burton Antiques Market).

The front foyer, music room, and kitchen also get their fair share of pumpkins and decorations, too. I like to mix fresh pumpkins with any other kind of pumpkin (glass, cloth, wood, ceramic, etc). And I don’t limit decor changes to flat surfaces – walls are fair game, too!

Thank you for joining me on this tour. May your November be full of peace, joy, and thanksgiving. 🙂

Recently I had a very tough decision to make and I really had to go deep with in myself to understand what would be best for me. It wasn’t easy and I really tried to hone in on what my gut or intuition was telling me. Oftentimes when faced with difficult decisions, I like to get the thoughts and perspectives of many people. But sometimes when I do that I get overwhelmed by the variety of responses I’m hearing, and I can’t get into the space to trust myself. There are so many pressures – societal, familial, friends, etc. that are put on us, that sometimes it’s hard to see that we have our own very individual path and that only we can truly know what’s right for us. I would ask people “just make the decision for me”. But of course they couldn’t do that. And yet, I was getting more and more stressed and couldn’t determine what my intuition was saying.

A friend of mine who is also an executive coach, encouraged me to just step into a place of peace and look at the decision as though nothing is permanent and no matter the choice I made good things would happen, and that I should try to do so calmly and in a very relaxed state. Somehow getting to that place of peace was only possible by removing some of the attachment to it and letting myself think that nothing is permanent. I believe that focus shifted something in my mind to allow space for what my intuition was revealing. I was feeling that one decision was the “right thing” to do versus the other that I wasn’t ready to give up, even though it may be a less conventional path.

Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. – Steve Jobs

By getting to that free state, I was also able to see some other options for evaluating the two choices. For example, I was able to consider the two options as to which one or some variation might be available again in the future. Or which was most likely to enhance my life right now.

Ultimately I came to a decision. And now I feel free and peaceful and ready to accept new experiences as they come. But what I learned is that trusting intuition is very powerful and takes way more courage than going with the flow. I sometimes think of intuition as magical phenomenon – but I need to remember that it is formed out of past experiences and knowledge. With this experience, I built a level of confidence in myself that will hopefully come to light in the next decision I have to make, and the next, and the next… 🙂

From the moment you reach the driveway of this Mentor home, you get a hint that driftwood culled from neighboring Lake Erie beaches will be an important design element for homeowners, Tara and Doug.  And that their shared fondness for all things vintage, worn and loved, will be another.  Doug purchased the home five years ago and his penchant for wood-working and building combined with Tara’s prowess in decorating and crafting have combined to create a cozy space honoring and cherishing their finds from markets, estate sales, etc.

The house is decorated for fall, and we are greeted by an old milk can Doug collected.  Tara surrounds it with pumpkins and fall foliage, and a handcrafted wreath on the front door.



In the kitchen, Tara has a beautiful candle display she created by layering dried beans in a trifle bowl.

A well-worn chair anchors a corner, maybe enjoying its time alone or maybe waiting for a stack of books or a plant to take advantage of the seat.

A bar cart Tara repurposed in a cheerful yellow and blue anchors the other corner presenting stylish options for drinks and snacks.

The sun room displays many of Tara and Doug’s treasured finds, including lamp making parts from an abandoned factory nearby and accompanying free(!) coffee table and chest.  The room also includes many finds from nearby City Salvage in Grand River.

But the highlight of the room is the sculpture artwork the duo crafted out of driftwood from Mentor beaches into a magnificent work of art!

In the bedrooms, vintage windows and salvaged ladders are displayed artfully along with a special piece Tara made Doug from scrap fencing.  I love the use of the old turquoise school desks as nightstands!

The basement houses a room devoted to the couple’s office and craft space or “croffice” as Tara refers to it.  🙂  Tara’s corner contains all of her supplies organized and grouped on a desk and pegboard Doug made for her.

Doug’s corner showcases his collection of antique fans, bottles, and a few Shur-Stop Fire Grenades he scored on a recent trip to the East coast!

The basement media area houses a gallery wall showcasing Doug and Tara’s travels to the East and West coasts.  With room for many more adventures, I’m certain the wall will be filled, as the couple recently got engaged!

A chapel sign find from the local abandoned lamp factory awaits its permanent home as we end our tour of this lovely vintage-inspired home.

Thank you for joining me on the tour!  🙂

“It all started with the deck”, said Beth and Mark, as they began to describe their backyard transformation in the Franklin suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio.  When they moved into the house 2 years ago, the yard had been grossly neglected and presented a blank slate and opportunity for them to create exactly what they wanted.  These two are avid hikers / campers and knew they wanted a space at home but outside to decompress after long days at work.  The idea of a deck immediately began to take shape as the first connection to the house.

As Mark will say, “just prop up some chairs and sit with it for a bit to start dreaming”.  That’s exactly what they did, and a plan began to take shape.  They roughed out a 12×20 deck connecting the main house to the back yard.  Mark has a construction background and knew he and Beth could do all the work themselves.  They started digging the holes (they did rent an auger from Home Depot) and creating a foundation.  As they secured the flooring and created the main structure, they decided to pursue an industrial look by using plumbing pipes for the handrails and galvanized pipes instead of wood for the rail posts.  They also saved a lot of money on the way (i.e., $2/wood spindle vs $2/10ft of pipe)!  The end result offers a less obstructed view of the remaining yard and trees.  They had established a place to relax and furnished it with a dining table, seating area, and of course the charcoal grill.

Did I mention Mark loves to camp and fly fish?  The idea of a river flowing through it came to mind as their yard had a natural dip that sometimes collects rainwater.  They began to build a riverbed with a collection of rock they received from a neighbor’s egress project discards and Mark’s brother.  They also found a great piece of driftwood to set off the space, and Mark built the bridge over the entire area.  These projects filled a summer.

After enjoying the riverbed and bridge and dreaming of one of Mark’s favorite states, Wyoming, he longed for some split rail cedar fences, evergreen trees, and a mountain-like setting to spend cool fall evenings.  So the work on the yard continued this summer.  He began by connecting the bridge to split rails and planted blue spruce to frame the area.  A fire pit soon followed and then serendipity happened – they procured a pressure washer (to maintain their new deck!), a wooden chaise lounge, and a wooden swing seat all from neighborhood tree lawns!  Mark built a small pergola and secured the swing.

A few new cushions, adirondack chairs, accessories, and the final touch – a campfire sign from campgroundsigns.com – solidified the area as their suburban backyard mountain retreat.  Last weekend we put it to the test – we snacked and chatted inside the house, moved to the deck for dinner, and then to the fire pit area for conversation and laughter well into the night.

Does this spur any ideas for your own backyard?  If so, I hope you enjoy the journey as much as Beth and Mark have!