Fall Door Decor

I spent a little time adding some subtle Fall touches this week around here.

Better a little late than never!

Here's my take on

Fall Door Decor

for this season!

I tried to keep it simple because our house is currently on the market.

And it was a little easier on the budget too if you know what I mean :)

But I couldn't resist adding a little hints of fall in a few places.

I just love the greige pumpkins! 

 I thought they would work perfect for this door in our home.

I'm not one to go crazy with the oranges and deep reds of the Fall Season.

I love love love to see them in landscapes and embrace their warmth when the season hits.

But I just don't see them over powering my subtle simple style and color pallette.

Also for me...fresh is the only way to go!

No thank you on the plastic fake stuff.

(Okay so maybe I do have a few pumpkins in my dining room.)

But I prefer the real deal!

Just goes to show you. 

You do not have to spend a fortune to add some simple seasonal touches to your home.

I only spent $25 updating this room for fall.

2 Greige Pumpkins

1 package of moss

 The Shabby Nest
French Country Cottage
Funky Junk Interiors

Carrie

Bathroom Before & After

So this week I thought I would get back to our updates.

I have a few more areas of our house that I haven't had a chance to share yet.

So here goes.

Here is our bathroom redo.

I mentioned this bathroom way back when...you can see it here.

before

I wish our before shot showed the colors that were originally here.

A yellowish beige with a green trim.  It really wasn't good.

Unfortunately when we first moved in I didn't have the blog yet.

The old mirror was greenish with a brushed gold,

very ornate (and plastic) and NOT in a old and charming way.

after

So this bathroom had your typical 80s bad oak bathroom vanity as you can see.

Ughh....and gold nobs too double ughhh....

So I went for a fairly frugal approach.

New paint for the walls - Behr Granite Grey -$25

 (one of my favorite colors in the entire house to this day:)

2 Coats of Primer to the vanity

2 Coats of a Behr White paint - $0 (I had it left over from painting our trim work.)

New Light Fixture $89 Lowes.

New nobs for the vanity $16 Lowes.

The mirror was a wedding gift from Dwellings.

 We also updated the tub surround,

which I did't photo - it's a basic white fiberglass $100 Lowes.

Towel bars $30 Lowes.

And added a new shower curtain Target - $10

Total bathroom redo $270.

What do you think? 
Definitely presentable to our guests.

Does anyone have an opinion about mixing hardware?

I go back and forth with this.
I hate when things are too matchy matchy.
I love the cottage look of mixing it up a little.
I tried it here as you can see without getting too crazy mixing the different finishes.
Tips:
Throughout our house the light switch covers and plug in covers are all the brushed bronze.
I think that is part of the key for me, keep it consistant.
I pulled in the brushed bronze with the light fixture as well.
Then added pops of nickel in the vanity knobs which left me able to
save the faucet instead of changing it out and saving $ while keeping the vanity consistant again
and lastly adding the nickel towel bars pulls the two finishes onto the walls.


I'd love to hear your thoughts on mixing hardware finishes.
I'm contemplating these options in our next house
(even though we are not even started yet) too and I really want
to make sure I pull it off right throughout the house. 
Especially the bath and kitchens.

Linking up to:
Between Naps on the Porch
Southern Hospitality
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Perfectly Imperfect
Miss Mustard Seed
The Shabby Nest
French Country Cottage
Funky Junk Interiors
House of Hepworths

Fall is Upon Us

It is that time of year.

The chilly Midwest evenings have arrived.

Fall is here.

photos via Pinterest

Just thought I would share a few things that make me think of Fall.

Carrie

The Inn at Irish Hollow

So, this week nearly got away from me!

Sorry, I haven't posted much.  I've actually been working behind the scenes to

improve the overall look and feel of our blog.  It's getting there, but not completely done yet.

Where did I leave off???

Oh yeah....I was sharing my memories of our wedding since we celebrated our

2 year anniversary this week.  

So after all the festivities ended on our wedding night.

The next morning we had brunch at my Mom's.

the happy couple

And then we headed off to..

The Inn at Irish Hollow

in Galena, Illinois

The drive from LeClaire to Galena is beautiful in the fall.

We drove along the Mississippi River in Illinois towards Galena.

the main guest house

The Stonewood Cottage

This was our honeymoon cottage.

It was absolutely charming. 

It was the picturesque charming countryside cottage. 

The Inn at Irish Hollow is just outside downtown Galena.

We drove through winding hillside country roads with rickety old fences

and Midwest farmhouses to arrive at our romantic retreat.

Old Orchard Cottage

There are several cottages at the Hollow.

If you are looking for a Midwest fall destination trip.

I would highly recommend a stay at The Inn at Irish Hollow.

It was the perfect ending to our magical wedding and honeymoon.

We celebrated our wedding along the Mississippi Riverfront.

We headed out on our scenic fall countryside drive.

And ended up at the most charming little cottage.

It was truly better than we imagined!

If I've inspired any of you to stay at the Inn, please let us know!

I'd love to hear about it!

Carrie

Our Two Year Anniversary

9.12.09

In honor of our two year anniversary which we will be celebrating Monday,

I thought I would reminisce a bit with you this week.

So, this week's posts will be devoted to some of our wedding highlights.

It gives me a reason to look back at all my favorite wedding pics and besides

I never got to share them then because I didn't have a blog, right?

I wanted to show you how we transformed the LeClaire Levee Riverfront.

Some before shots...

floral before

floral before

tent before

head table before

And the afters...the good stuff

This is photo truly captures everything I hoped the decor would be and more.

You can see our head table in the center which Travis made.

All of our decor ideas were decided between my older brother,

myself and our florist and family friend Marge.

We were blessed to have such talented friends and family to help our

vision come through in such a beautiful casual elegant way.

head table after

head table after

My older brother Michael (right) and little brother Matt (left) w

walked me down the aisle.

My handsome groom.

My cousin Mandy and bridesmaid's little girl

Madeline was our flower girl.

Mr. and Mrs. Travis Corson

An absolutely perfect and serene day and evening we will cherish

for the rest of our lives.

Happy Anniversary Travis!  I love you more today than ever!

Here's to many more!

Carrie

Linking up to

Between Naps on the Porch

Chic on a Shoestring

Blog Anniversary

Happy Anniversary!

The Corson Cottage turned 1 year old on

9.6.2011

Read our first post here.

When I started this blog it was an opportunity for me to have a

creative outlet and document our renovation journey.

While we got a little side tracked......temporarily,

 with all of my back problems this last year.

It seems as though we've found our way through & came a long way!

Our current home is all done and now on the market.

Thanks so much to all of you who have joined our journey

as followers and those of you who stop in from time to time.

We have had the opportunity to make some friends along the way

and look forward to the renovation journey in our future in our new home

 and making many more new friends along the way!

Along with a new year I thought we could,

naturally, use a new fresh modern look around here!

Don't you???

So, remember that $100 AMEX Gift Card we won from

HGTV and The Letterd Cottage a while back.

Well, I saved it for a special treat!


We are going to be working on updating the blog.
So, please bare with us!

Thanks!


Carrie

Living Room Before & After

Today I thought I would share our living room before & after pics with you all.

This project was just slightly outside the scope of my handy man's talents.

So, we called in reinforecements!

Enter my Uncle Jeff.

Luckily for us Jeff had his own carpet laying business for years.

Now he just helps out with the occassional family favor.

Thanks Ucle Jeff!!!

before

during

This photo reminds me of my Dad.
He would of loved to be there right in the middle of this project.
Jeff and my Dad were always the handy man pair in our family.
Now it's Jeff (right) and Travis (left).

during

after

We actually chose carpet for the living room because our
 hardwoods underneath were just in too bad of shape to refinish. 
So, saving time and money we opted for carpeting.
Not necessarily our first choice, but considering we are selling it would work.

before

The living room paint is Haybail from Ralph Lauren.  While I like the color. 
Had we been staying.......I would have went with something a little lighter.
This room was the first room we painted 3 years ago right after we moved in.
Again....since we are selling.  It stays!

We also updated our sofa temporarily. 

We had an old worn out PB  basic knock of from Penney's.

It had seen better days to say the least.

My little brother was storing this sofa at my Mom's.

So, thanks to Matt we are borrowing this for the time being.

It looks tons better than our old sofa!

And we did not have to invest in a new sofa that would work in this house

and may not end up working in the new house.

Let us know what you think of our transformation.

We love your comments!

Carrie

Linking up to

Between Naps on the Porch

Thrifty Decor Chick

Life Made Lovely
The Shabby Creek Cottage