finding fall home tour

Welcome to our fall tour of homes! Each year, a group of bloggers gets together, and everyone shares their real decor in a little tour of sorts. You’ll find some inspiring ideas to kick it into gear for festive fun!

It’s hosted by Finding Home, and if you just dropped by from Julie Blanner, welcome! Isn’t her home just beautiful? Be sure to check it out in case you haven’t stopped by yet. If you want to start with the whole shindig, be sure to check out the very beginning with Better Homes and Gardens, here.

So without further ado, it’s time for a little taste of fall with The Handmade Home!

Around here in the tropics of South Alabama, we’re a little slow to get started on the whole Fall decor side of things. I’m not a big seasonal decorator, so you’ll find some subtle hints of fall mixed in with the colorful, fun laid back feel that we love.

We always have good intentions, and then come up a little short with it all. Probably because it doesn’t drop below 105 until we’re well into October. Though things have cooled off here this week, and you can find us in the back yard at night with s’mores because, well, s’mores. It’s gotten us into the mood to spruce things up on the cozy side!

So we’ll start with our little front porch – You can see a hint of our haint blue ceiling on the outside, and it’s been one of our favorite, simple updates when we took it from dull and brown and gave it a little personality.

Since fall is like the south’s second spring, we added some flowers, and a hint of mums with some of our favorite pumpkins to go ahead and make things look a little more fall-esque.

Before long, the porch will probably be lined with the kiddos’ Halloween concoctions. It’s their favorite holiday {I would dare say they love it as much as Christmas for the sake of dress up and candy}. It’s the little things.

They can’t wait to get things kicked off around here!

When you step inside, our foyer greets you. It’s a bit of a catch all, where we keep shoes and all that every day stuff, but a bit of an extension of our homeschool room.

We’re on our third year this time around, and never saw ourselves doing it, but really have enjoyed this little adventure. Most days. ;}

We realized very quickly that we needed some space for their work, and it was the biggest lesson learned in breaking rules and creating space as you need it for your family. We never missed our formal dining room, and have used it nearly every day.

We decided to spruce it up with some of  their simple creations, and leave the rest easy peasy for all their school necessities. It’s been a challenge to keep our school space in harmony with the rest of the home, organizing it smartly while still providing what they need. It motivates us, too!

We love that we placed this bench in the entryway, which really kind of expands the homeschool space. The map serves as a dry erase board for the kids to work on, as well.

You can check out more details and sources on the homeschool space and handmade map here.

Our kitchen has been one of those step-by-step processes since we moved in to our home.

But it was one of the first things we changed, from a boring builder’s laminate brown, to fun and simple and open.

And today, we’re sharing a sneak peek of one of our collections, coming soon in The Handmade Home studio this November!

We’ll be offering one of a kind fabrics, prints, paintings, found items, apparel and much more.

So stay tuned!

One of the easiest things we love to do for fresh plates, is layer simple whites with cheap melamine finds for easy updates. They really do work for any season.

We paired them with some copper mugs, and silverware, for some warmth and contrast, along with copper tags we grabbed from the dollar bin. And these marbleized coasters for fun place settings!

Surfaces like chalkboards never get old to us, because we can keep it fresh and fun with sweet sayings that work with the season.

Our living room still looks the same as last season, though it’s about to get a little spruce up with some of our very own fabrics.

Flowers are such a great way to keep that fresh feel in your home.

And golden pinecones never get old.

Sweet readers have been asking about our egg painting – this is one of our original creations, and prints will be offered by us in the studio this fall!

We added another batch of fresh pumpkins and mums to fall-it-up. One of our favorite redos ever has been our mantel makeover – a piece of our home that finally feels like the rest of it. We still have our handmade compass decking the walls… it comes and goes all the time, but I find myself returning to it. It just felt natural to leave it – such fun colors to carry us through ’til Christmas!

This is the heart of our home – we love the layered feel against a neutral backdrop – it’s easy to change out colors as we feel like it.

One of our favorite ever creations is our instagram collage. We’ve had it up for about four years now {?!} Wow time flies. We update it every now and then and the kids love looking at old photos and memories of themselves. It keeps our walls personal and easy.

Even our laundry room got a little dose of fall this year – with some pumpkins in the corner, and simple chalkboard art.

One of my favorite times of day is our studio in the morning light.

The sunlight comes in and hits this mirrorball, and it’s a small party that sparkles all the way into the living room.

It’s the little things. ;}

In our bedroom, we layer natural textures and simple additions to cozy it up.

And little punches of color with this never hurt.

It was really cool in the back earlier this week, so we did what any Alabamians do who have just relished in the thought that the weather actually dropped below 105 – we started a fire!

I mean, how can you neglect such a classic at the first hints of fall? {You can snag some of our fave recipes, and free printables to go with them, here!}

We’ve truly loved our back yard, with the fire pit and pergola updates, along with our handmade hideaway.

It’s our favorite little escape!

Even when we burn our marshmallows.

Thanks so much for dropping by our little tour for fall.

This year, we’ve added something extra special. We all want to see YOUR fall decorating ideas. Want to be featured? Simply share some of our favorite fall ideas this week on Instagram. You can find me on Instagram @the_handmade_home

(If you don’t have an instagram….just e-mail me a picture and I will feature it on my Instagram feed)

Share pictures of your fall decorating on Instagram and use the two hashtags:

#BHGCelebrate for a chance to be featured on BHG’s Instagram

and

#findingfallhometour for a chance to be featured by me or one of the other bloggers participating on Instagram

For the next stop, be sure to hop on over to At the Picket Fence and don’t miss their awesome fall goodness!

You can also start the tour from the very beginning over at Laura’s by clicking here.

And a giant shout out to Better Homes and Gardens for partnering with us.