You first saw our empty dining room during the Duplex Tour waaay back in November. Well, being the grown-ups we are, we asked for dining room furniture for Christmas this year… and we got it (or money for it)! We knew we wanted something with clean lines and lots of seating, and that’s when we decided the BJURSTA table from IKEA would be perfect for us.

I took my parents to IKEA and left them with a list and envelope of money because we took the car into town for the holidays. A few weeks later, Ryan was going to be back in town with his truck for a coaching conference, so they made the furniture hand-off then. Major props to my parents for wrapping and taping each box in plastic so that the rain Ryan encountered coming home didn’t ruin our new purchases! Y’all rock my socks!

We instantly loved it and have eaten at the table almost every night since putting it together (which we haven’t done since we were married almost 3 years ago). If you follow me on Instagram, you know my patience, or lack there of, got the best of me and most of this was put-together the night he got home.

At the beginning of the year, I put together an inspiration board for our dining room. We already own the dishes and with our new furniture in place, now all we have left are the details and decorations.

I have a major thing for Fiestaware and love the bright colors we registered for when we got married. We also have a few other serving pieces and little blue salt and pepper shakers.

Our HOLSTEE poster will probably not stay on that wall between the window and door, but we wanted to get something on the walls and we love that piece of typography.

Overall, I’m very excited about the progress in our dining room, and we’ve already had people over to eat. With the current set-up we can actually fit seven people at the table, but we plan on getting a few more chairs in the future so we can fill the table when it’s expanded. I see many more dinner parties and game nights in our future now!

The last time you saw the front our house was about 3 months ago during the tour when I announced that we were moving. I had big plans to pick all the weeds in the front yard and spray down the house and try to clean it up some, but to be honest, this isn’t our house. It’s a rent house, a house that we plan to only live in for one year, a house that we do not need to put money into since we won’t get it back in the end. (Some may think that’s a negative way of looking at it, but every penny counts right now, and I’d rather go skiing than worry about prettying up the front yard.)

But after my ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape project last week, I really wanted to add a little something-something to the front porch area to make it feel more like home. I didn’t want to spend a lot of time or money on it, but I knew it needed life and color.

As of yesterday afternoon, this is how it looked.

I’m not gunna lie, I love it. I keep going back and forth as to whether or not I have out too many pumpkins, but most of the other houses on our street have piled the pumpkins high for fall.

I love all the color it adds and it really feels like fall is here now.

This is my favorite spot on the porch. Ignore the fact that the flowers may or may not be dying. (Everyone said mums were easy to take care of, but it seems I can’t even keep them alive. I’m watering them everyday now to see if they’ll perk back up.) I want to add lettering to the this galvanized planter, but I’m trying to decide whether to paint it or use vinyl adhesives. Tomorrow, I’ll be sharing a how-to for turning a galvanized bucket into a functional planter!

Here is my painted galvanized bucket, filled with some dollar store grass I found last year and some pumpkins. I love the way the blue balances out all the orange!

I hate screen doors, but in West Texas they are necessary. I hate them mostly because pretty wreaths get hidden behind them, but I love them because my dogs were able to watch me while I was working on the porch.

I used the same wreath from last year because a.) I didn’t have time to make a new one b.) it was free to reuse and c.) I still love it just as much as last year. The colors go perfect with my yellow mums and pumpkins.

And just so you can see them side by side… here is the before and after. Nothing permanent, and the planters I will continue to use as the seasons change. I know the change isn’t huge, but it feels more welcoming to me and I love that everyone in our new neighborhood decorates for fall. (Last year no one had out pumpkins. )

Did anyone else do any fall decorating? Last year I went all out, and I blame that on blogging because I was new to it and just wanted to be crafty. This year, I’m going for the “more is less” look. But when Christmas rolls around… well, that’s a whole other story!