pumpkins galore

 

September means the start of pumpkin season, and this week I’m on the prowl for the most beautiful pumpkins to last me the whole season, through to Thanksgiving.

 

I really love the pale clay-colored ones mixed in with white, blue, gray, and green pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. Roger’s Gardens always has a great selection, and I’m not sure if they have any yet, but I’m headed there to find out.

 

Pumpkins are fun in just about every room, like the dining room…

 

and the breakfast room...

And even the sunroom!

Here’s last year’s family room mantel, styled simply with a few of my favorite pumpkins and sprigs of eucalyptus.

 

This is the same mantel, but style exclusively for Country Sampler Farmhouse Style. I think I shot this last November, and you can check it out in the most current issue on page 97.

 

This vignette is also featured in the Autumn issue of CSFS, on page 8. Here I’ve used pumpkins that are truer in color, but still have a more unique shape. I love the long stems on the little pumpkins!

 

And speaking of little pumpkins, aren’t these sweet? This was a really fun table to set using Fete Home’s lovely napkins, tablecloth and bone napkin rings.

 

In fact, I recently listed these exact napkin rings on our Ebay Blog Shop. It’ll be hard to part with these beauties, but I’m literally running out of drawer and cabinet space. You can check them out HERE, for a song!

 

For me this is a fun way to share some of my favorite tablescaping goodies with all of you!  

 

There are also a few napkins and tea towels available. In fact, these “LOVE” towels are so cute used as oversized napkins for any occasion. Check them out HERE and then visit our napkin section of the Blog Shop. We will be listing more later this week, so please check back.

 

It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, and I have these gorgeous Vagabond House items listed that make the most gorgeous presents or striking statement in your own home.

 

Again, it’s heartbreaking to let these treasures go, but space is really limited around here.

 

Little brass reindeer are just such a cute accent, and you can see here how I used them to style a Christmas Morning Table that appeared in Cottages & Bungalows magazine a couple years back.

 

It’s perfectly alright to mix metals like silver and gold, especially during the holidays. These little guys are actually place card holders, but they look right at home just among the greenery and faux snow at the center of the table.

 

Christmas will be here before we know it, so I should really focus on fall. As I sit here finishing this post, I’m so grateful you’re here to share it with me.

 

I’m now headed to Corona del Mar to see if Roger’s is loaded with pumpkins yet. I need to pick up some fall tomato plants anyways, so hopefully, there will be pumpkins galore!

ciao! fabiana

 

 

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vintage flea market finds on sale

The annual summer clearance has arrived on our Ebay Blog Shop! During our latest Vintage Flea Market Sale, most items are now marked down to only $5. This is a great time to grab a little vintage goodie or two*.

 

I’m making room for more vintage treasures that I’ll be listing in the next few weeks. Be sure to stop by HERE and take a look.

 

 

 

ciao! fabiana

 

 

For lots of fun extras, follow me on instagram!

 

 *Additional shipping charges apply.

vacation highlights and styling projects

A typical sunrise at our beach in Sea Pines.

Summer vacation is over, and I really miss it. It's like we snapped our fingers, and it vanished into thin air! Over... so quickly. That's the way it goes with these sorts of things, I guess.

This year's two week vacation was spent at our home in South Carolina. Our first week there was dedicated mostly to DIY projects and updates in the house. 

We try to maintain the original 1968 style of the home but at the same time bring it up to more modern standards with the use of fresh paint and coastal accents.

 

Located on Hilton Head Island, our home is second row from the beach so coastal style and accessories are a must, but at the same time, we try to keep it from looking too kitschy.

 

Since we're only able to get out there for about two weeks a year, the rest of the time, the home is available on VRBO for vacation rental. 

The laundry room wall is updated with a variety of vintage baskets.

It’s been two long years since we’ve been able to travel back east, so the house needed major attention! 

We hired a painter to help us spruce up the fence, repaint the kitchen cabinets, walls and all the doors for a much overdue facelift. We tackled the more fun jobs like adding new artwork, accessories, bedding and organizing the kitchen.

An easy way to add texture and coastal charm to a room is to display a collection of baskets on the wall. 

The photo above shows our laundry room. It’s the first room that guests see when they come through the carport door, so we wanted to make it fun.

 

Most of the round baskets are thrift store finds that cost between 50 cents and $2, and I also found a couple of nice ones at Home Goods.

The wall of coat hooks is perfect for hats, bags and beach towels. We actually put that together over 15 years ago, and it's proved to be a great addition and very user friendly. 

 These vintage travel posters were thrift shop finds.

We traded out some tired artwork for bright and more appropriate beach house art and sprinkled in some new pillows and other goodies throughout the house.

 

The Savannah brick fireplace is original to the house.

The living room is a big, bright and cozy room. We simplified the look, added a few fun accents, and reupholstered two vintage slipper chairs. The bookcases did need some attention, though.

Spotted these at a consignment store, but they weren’t cheap.  

We needed a pair of vases or urns to fit into the top of the bookcases that feature arched openings. After scouring several thrift stores, Home Goods and consignment stores, we found the perfect pair.

This pair of vases were the perfect size, shape and color 

for the top of the bookcases.

I also restyled the books in a more informal manner and only used books that were in blue, green, beige, white and black tones.

 Lowcountry Produce is our favorite restaurant in Sea Pines.

Even though the DIY stuff did seep its way into our second week of vacation time, we did spend some nice beach days and dining time with our boys. Biking and fishing are also favorite activities.

This is the view from our favorite high-top table.

Here’s a peek at our top choice for dining, Lowcountry Produce. It’s really close to our home, and the food is always good. It’s more of a breakfast and lunch place, but they are open a few nights for dinner.

 

Besides the great food and surroundings, they have a relaxing playlist of music, mostly good 80’s songs. 

Their homemade baked goods are out of this world. Amazingly delicious giant peanut butter chocolate chip cookies always seemed to make their way home with us.

 

Our friend Tad came to visit us one weekend and brought his portable pizza oven, so we each got to make our own custom pizzas, which was really fun! The most unusual one we made was topped with mango pineapple salsa and local shrimp, yum!

 

Pizza night was finished off by warm plum pie from Lowcountry Produce, served à la mode, of course!

Our time in Hilton Head was really busy with all the projects we had to do, so there was no time to visit Savannah this time around. I was looking forward to visiting my favorite store and coffee house, The Paris Market, but it’ll have to wait until next time.

 

One funny thing is that while perusing The Paris Market on Instagram, I noticed that they carry a few tablecloths by Pacific & Rose!

 

The REALLY cool thing is that their website features some of the photos I styled and photographed… it's so funny how the world revolves, and then comes back compounded with the things you love most!

 

Among the pile of mail that was waiting for us when we arrived home was the new October/November issue of Cottages & Bungalows.

 

It was fun to see the little Laguna Beach project I styled back in March. We actually styled a summer look first that you can see HERE, and then we put together this quick outdoor vignette for fall.

 

We used the homeowner’s existing furniture, rugs and pillows, and I brought in the pumpkins, baskets, plaid throw, orange feather napkins, and HELLO PUMPKIN pillow.

After moving some things around, the pretty orange Birds of Paradise flowers and palms made a nice backdrop for the photo. The sunflowers really do liven things up too.

 

It was a quick “let’s just shoot something fun for fall” moment. Turned out pretty cute, I’d say. 

ciao! fabiana

 

 

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a Balboa cottage dinner party

Yesterday afternoon was so much fun! My friends Angi and Pete were hosting a birthday dinner party at their absolutely adorable Blue Door Cottage on Little Balboa Island, and I helped them by styling and setting a table for sixteen for them.

We were going for a sophisticated coastal theme, so I started by arranging four mason jars full of vibrant blue hydrangeas. The aqua blue jars were just perfect for this look since it reminds me of beach glass.

This adorable cottage is so reminiscent of Cape Cod, and the hydrangeas are too. I just picture them blooming all over Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket!   

The best configuration for this front yard patio was to have a large square table with four chairs on each side. That left lots of empty space at the center of the table for me to decorate.  

Pretty much everything for the table was blue and white, which coordinates entirely with the inside of the cottage, and I used lemons around the center lantern for just a pop of color.

Here’s the mood board I put together with the items we selected from the party rental company. 

I was so happy to know they offered so many interesting options, especially the blue goblets, blue and white china and gingham napkins, which are my go to items for a no-fail tablescape.

It's always more interesting to mix and match china, like  here where we used scalloped white dinner plates to set off the blue and white salad plates.

For a little fun, we added chunky white starfish at each place setting, and the best part of all, everyone also got their own personal “message in a bottle”.

This version is a lot more fun than the one Sting sang about. Angie and Pete took it to another level by making a whole party game out of this favor. Inside each little bottle, Angie hand-wrote interactive questions which urged everyone to participate. 

These messages in a bottle come all decorated with a tag and little anchor tied on with twine. They’d make great place cards too to for each place setting. Simply write your guests’ names on the little tag that’s already attached!

A white lantern was the perfect choice for the center of the table, as if offers a little height but doesn’t block dinner conversation.

I surrounded it with greenery, scattered lemons and more white starfish, inspired by my interpretation of a summery coastal California look.

Yesterday turned out to be the perfect summer evening for this alfresco birthday dinner. Check back soon for more on the Blue Door Cottage and get a little peek of the inside!

ciao! fabiana

 P.S. After I left Pete ran out to get some more votives for the table...
candlelight is so important to set the perfect mood!