A Woman's Haven: October 2012

House Haven Tour: The Golden Sycamore

Hi! I'm Allison from The Golden Sycamore! Just want to start out with a huge thank you to Chas for featuring my home! You really feature absolutely beautiful homes with impeccable decorating and design ... I am so very thankful for the opportunity to share my humble abode with you and your readers!

My husband, daughter and I moved into our current house just a year ago. We have been working on updating it ever since. We have done a lot of remodeling, but haven't quite gotten to the decorating part of things quite yet. The house was in good shape when we bought it, but most of it was stuck in the '60s and needed to be updated.

When I say that we've been working on updating our house ever since we bought it, I mean that literally. We actually ripped out the rust-colored shag carpet in our daughter's room the day we closed on the house. There was no way we were going to allow her cute little toes to even touch that gross, old carpet!

I hope you enjoy the updates we have done to the house so far. Like I said, we have a long way to go still with adding personality and our family's style into the decorating, but now we have a clean slate to do that with. A year into living here, I'm finally starting to feel like this is my family's haven. We rented our last home and I am so thankful to finally own a home again. I love how we can add our own personality to it and feel like this is truly our space!

Be sure to stop by my blog soon to check out where we started just a year ago so you can fully appreciate the transformation!

Our newly painted kitchen. We painted the cupboards with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and absolutely love how they turned out!

One of the only places in the house that is actually "decorated"! Our "mantel" in the dining room that I get to update every season.

Our basement bathroom which has probably been the most updated of any room in our home.

Our guest bedroom.

The living room. So glad we got rid of the old carpet which revealed nice hardwood floors underneath! (I'm hoping to do a gallery wall here some day in the huge open space above the couch. Just need to get enough frames!)

Thanks again to Chas for featuring me and my humble home. I truly appreciate the opportunity!

House Haven Tour: Harbour Breeze Home

What an honour to be asked to be a part of this Haven House Tour series. I’ve spent a little time going through all the previous tours, and have enjoyed every one of them!

I’m Rita Joy and I blog at Harbour Breeze Home.

I love how this series has the word “haven” in it. It describes a place of peace, comfort, and safety. That’s certainly what I’d like our home to be…a sane place to come in the midst of all the crazies of life!!

I feel absolutely blessed to be living in a history-filled old house {right on the beach!} with my husband and boys. I have found much joy in working on it room by room as it is transformed into a place that feels like “home” to us. A small budget has taught me how to be more creative in re-purposing, re-using, and re-designing things that I already have…and thrift stores are one of my favorite things.

Come on in! I’ll show you around.

Fall Entryway

Seaside Kitchen

Beachy Living Room

Dining Room {with Fall Tablescape}

Master Bedroom

Basement Craft/ Laundry Room

Thanks so much for joining me on this tour. Come visit anytime. I love to meet new friends!

DIY Photo Frame Clip

I picked up five of these empty frames this summer at a yard sale for 10 cents each. The package that they came in stated they were embroidery frames. I liked the size, depth and color of them and knew I could transform them into something crafty.

I glued burlap fabric to a piece of form core for the backing.

and then I glued a metal clip inside of each frame.

Leaving the frame open with no glass allows me to easily change photos.

So simple and I love having a new way to display my favorite photos of our family.

Idea File: Candy Corn Roundup

One thing I LOVE about fall is it is candy corn season. Here is a celebration of the wonderful fall treat!

{Candy Corn Meringues}

{Candy Corn Macarons}

{Candy Corn Treat Bags}

{Candy Corn Tree}

{Candy Corn Pumpkins}

{Candy Corn Wreath}

{Candy Corn Cheesecake}

{Candy Corn Candle Filler}

Scenes From My Weekend

I made this {Crockpot Lasagna}

and {this} desert…both were very yummy!

I Fluffed the nest a little with some Autumn décor…

and we had a great time hanging out with this little guy!

House Have Tour: The Lily Pad Cottage

Hi! I'm Kelly from The Lily Pad Cottage and I'm so excited to share our home with you! Thanks Chas for giving me this fun opportunity! You have featured some amazing blogger's homes on your lovely blog and I'm honored and excited to be in their company. So here we go...
This home is sooo our haven! After moving 6 times in 8 years (I get exhausted just thinking about it!) this is the first place that truly feels like "home". We have returned to our roots (Michigan) with this house, we bought a lot on the lake where I spent every summer growing up. Luckily my husband feels at home here too :)
We were able to design and build it to fit our family perfectly, it's not too small, not too big, it's just right, I guess that makes me Goldilocks? It is still a work in progress and always will be, but we have the next 40 or so years to figure it out. So come on in and see what we've got so far...