Keeping up with Katy: Falliday Decor 2018

Eeeeeeks! I love decorating for the holidays. I get it honestly, too. My mom would completely transform our house every fall and Christmas. And by completely, I mean every last knick knack was removed and replaced with a seasonal knick knack.

I'm not there yet. Give me time.

Now, we aren't big 'halloween' people. You will never find me putting a witch towel, ghost figurine, or anything else of that nature in my house. That's just not my jam. What you will find is a plethora of pumpkins, a lot of leaves, and ample amount of acorns and several scarecrows.

I usually decorate for fall around mid-September, but this year I was actually decorated by the last week in August. With our due date of early December, I'm shifting everything forward. So I was decorated for fall when it was still 90+ degrees in Texas, and I'll be decorating for Christmas (...brace yourself) today.

I know I know I know - I'm decorating before Thanksgiving. And don't get me wrong, usually I am ALL about giving the pilgrims and turkeys their spotlight and not getting my ho ho ho on until the weekend after Thanksgiving. But alas, since we are getting a new addition this year and technically have no idea when she's coming, I have to front-load.

Cause if I don't, my mom and sister will be forced to decorate my house while I'm doing that whole newborn thing, and we put up four Christmas trees in our tiny home. We DO Christmas. So it's a lot to ask of a person. Even your mama and sister.

Okay - back to fall. So this year was actually my first year to decorate our married home with fall decorations. Last year we were getting married around this time, so we went straight from wedding into Christmas. So in a way it felt like all my decorations were new since I hadn't seen them in two whole years!

Which, speaking of, I always like documenting our decorations each year for a couple of reasons... 1) I like that it serves as an inventory of my decor - super helpful when I find something at a store that I 'need' but can't remember if I already have something similar, and 2) we're not in the house we'll be in forever (well, at least I hope not - we're already busting at the seams!). One day I will want to look back and reminisce at our first little house as a family, and these posts are perfect to do just that (like this post about the falliday decorations in my last apartment as a single woman, or this post about my fall decor in the house I shared with Kelsey). Me and posts about decorations go way back :)

But alas, let's get down to a little tour of this year!
Also, I'm not a professional photographer - so thou shalt not judge the photo quality.

Welcome to our little front stoop :)

I could have swept the leaves off the mat, but I just wanted to show a little authenticity.

..not really, I was just lazy.

My sister gave us the door hanger at a wedding shower last year (she knows me well), and we all know the story behind my dad and I building the little welcome post. We actually also have/had a cute little flower bed to the left with a fall flag, but with the crazy month of storms we had here in Texas, the little flower bed is no more. Wamp wamp.

Here's our little entryway when you walk in. This piece of furniture is new this year, so it was a blank slate when it came to decorating. Luckily Kirklands was available to help a girl out!

This house basically has a larger living room that feeds into a breakfast 'nook' and an open concept kitchen. And as far as fall goes, that's where all of my decorations reside. Like I said, I don't have enough decor for all the rooms yet. I'm working on it :)

The mothership.

There is nothing I love decorating more than a good mantle/hearth!

I've said this before, but the little montage on the bottom left will always have a special place in my heart. The first year I decided I wanted to embrace fall decor (back in 2012 or so), I asked my mom to go to the Hob Lob with me one weekend I was home visiting my parents. At the time my mom was (rightfully) focused on taking care of my grandmama, so it didn't look like the trip to Hobby Lobby was going to happen...

But then my dad stepped in. And that sweet man took me to Hobby Lobby, looked through all the (extremely overwhelming) aisles with me, and got on the floor and started putting together a little 'setting' - all right there in the middle of the aisle. So that basket, bale of hay, scarecrow girl, and pumpkin/leaves I will forever remember as my first fall decor!

I think he did a pretty good job, too! It's like he's watched my mom decorate for two decades or something... :)

To the right of the fireplace we have my little pub corner:

Fun fact: that pub table is actually the sign in table my dad built for our wedding!

...I also am realizing I can't remember at all what 'everyday' decorations went here before I put out the pumpkins. See? This is why I need pictures in a post.

I am still as obsessed with my subway art today as I was when Lisa gave it to me 4 years ago. I drew out the above on a really janky piece of scrap paper, and she brought it to life. It's such a fall staple in my house!

Next we have some subtle fall decor on the TV console...

I am completely obsessed with these extra large acorns I found at Hob Lob this year. They just make me SO happy!

A close up on the little cubbies with two things to note:

1) Those 2-lb purple weights I bought when I first found out I was pregnant so I could work out my arms for all the baby holding. I've lifted weights once since I got them.

2) If you look closely, you can still see the tags on the basket. I am notorious for wanting a 'trial period' with things I buy to see how I like them. And then x months later you can see the tags still on them. If you take a stroll through my house, you'll likely find no less than 10 tags still attached to things. I get side-tracked. Sue me.

Our little coffee table - that usually has about 6-8 pumpkin themed cooking magazines on top, but I removed for the picture :) I also usually ensure the Baylor coasters are on top, but considering the OU colors worked better with my decor, Jeff won this round. :)

And THIS is probably my very favorite spot in the house - no matter what time of year!

I. Love. My. Coffee Bar.

And those pumpkin mugs from Pottery Barn are just the icing on the cake. (Pssst: they're actually on sale right now if you need some of your own!) I know we're decorating for Christmas today, but I most definitely left these pumpkin mugs out for the time being. I told Jeff this box could not go to the garage yet because it was necessary that I drink coffee out of this mug on Thanksgiving while watching the Macy's Day Parade!

My little pumpkin spice mason jar painting makes me happy. It also was five whole dollars at Michael's. That also makes me happy.

Now, since we don't have a formal dining room, this little breakfast table is all we have - which I love, but I really like to leave it 'set' for holidays. ...well, and every other time of year. I just think a set table makes you feel on top of your game. Plus it makes you look way fancier than you really are.

Like those are paper plates on top of chargers. Again - the fancy nancy is allll an illusion!

A little neutral sign to give you a break from the orange/rust, as well as a plant my mom told me was impossible to kill yet I've had to work to bring it back to life about 6 times. Sigh.

And just because it's not a true holiday without some festive dish towels (that you aren't allowed to use). Jeff LOVES these... :)

And what might be the most important fall decor of all - that was a new addition this year - is this one of a kind original art piece made by my 6-year old niece. Just. For. Me.

It says FALL. Who needs to be subtle when you can just SPELL.IT.OUT.

And that concludes our little fall home tour this year! This took my mom and me about 1/2 day to decorate. Christmas will take us about 5 days. We have a healthy amount of fall decor, but it's going to look like Christmas puked in our living room.

CAN'T WAIT.

And because it's a real feel of like 10 degrees outside, I will leave you with this: