Fall House Decorations For About $20

I have been surprising myself lately with how much I’ve been excited for Fall! I love Spring and Summer, and for a long time I seriously dreaded Fall. But in the past couple of years it’s become such a sweet season for me. A big part of that is making my seasonal bucket lists and making a big effort to savor the season.

Even though it technically isn’t even Fall yet (the equinox is in a few more days), I have been getting in the Fall spirit already. I recently spent about $20 at Trader Joe’s to make our house feel more festive, and I’m so happy with how it turned out!

Grace LOVES Halloween, so she has a bunch of Halloween decorations she likes to put up toward the end of October. In contrast, I think these simple decorations are perfect for September and into October, and hopefully the pumpkins and gourds will last into Thanksgiving season.

I love a little row of mini white pumpkins. Trader Joe’s was selling these for about 60 cents each.

I also bought the mini gourds (for the same price) that are in the letterboard photo above and also the tablescape below.

Even just a couple of mini white pumpkins adds such a cozy feel to surfaces in our house.

Lastly, I bought a couple of potted mums in a pretty color for our front patio. I can’t remember exactly how much they cost, but I think they were $5 or $6 each.

And that’s it! I realize this is not the most original Fall decoration post in the world, but these small (and inexpensive) seasonal touches are making me so happy! Trader Joe’s is the best :)

Do you decorate seasonally?

Our Little Yellow House

I am so excited to finally share this post! I've been looking forward to doing a home tour since we moved into our house last October. Grace and I chose not to live together before getting engaged, so sharing a space, combining our styles, and coming home to each other at the end of every day is all super new. We took our time decorating, which was intentional, as we wanted to create a layered, collected look. And we're still building that! But I thought it was "ready" enough to share, and I hope you enjoy.

A little bit about our house: I'm not sharing photos of the outside of our house because this is on the Internet, but we live in a one-story, two-bedroom house in West Hollywood. We LOVE our neighborhood so much--we both lived in West Hollywood in apartments prior to this, and our house is almost in the exact middle of our old places. West Hollywood is my favorite part of LA, and I feel very lucky to live here! 

If you're curious where anything is from in these photos, I have a bunch of links at the bottom of the post :)

The right door of the two doors in the above picture is our front door, so when you walk in, you step into our living room. We chose to have the sectional face both the fireplace, on one side, and the TV on the other. I personally like living room setups that are not entirely focused on the TV, though let's be honest--we end up there most nights! Lately we've been watching Riverdale (just finished season 2), the Handmaid's Tale, Evil Genius, and Jersey Shore (ha).

Across from our couch area is our entryway with a long table that we set mail, keys, etc. on.

Next, after walking through the living room, you get to our dining room. 

The built-in bar area behind our dining room table is one of my favorite parts of our house! I love the shelves and the mirrored back.

And above the bar are three photos from our Alaska trip:

We have a cute little record player corner in one corner of our dining room. It also is home to one of my favorite pieces of art in our house: the painting of Casper that Grace commissioned for me as a gift a few years ago.

Then on the other side of the dining room is our music nook! This spot has probably been the most "work in progress" of the house. There's this little bump-out in our dining room with kind of weird tile and huge windows, and we weren't sure what to do with it. Then Grace had the idea of making it a "music nook," and her parents so sweetly sent us their piano they weren't using. 

The music nook is one of the areas of our house that I'm most proud of, because it really mixes functionality with style. I love the look of the guitars on the wall, and I love that the piano is a gorgeous family heirloom, but it's also a space Grace uses every day to practice her music.

Just past the music nook is Grace's office. This space is a HUGE bonus of our house. We knew Grace needed a home office, but we assumed we'd find a place with two bedrooms and turn one into an office. So when we found our house, with an office separate from the two bedrooms, it was a dream come true!

Next up: our kitchen! I love our kitchen view right now; it's filled with bougainvillea (the pink flowers). 

Some favorite Polaroids taped to the fridge

A coffee cart I bought & styled for Grace's birthday a couple of years ago. Coffee is Grace's love language for sure.

And then our laundry room is right off the kitchen. It's also where we keep most of our dog food and supplies.

Swinging over to the other side of the house, we have a long hallway with our two bedrooms and bathroom off of it. First I'll show you the bathroom. I love it because it's so bright, open, and airy. When we first started looking for a place, having a window in the bathroom was a non-negotiable for me. We ended up with three!

And if you're curious, here's what our hallway connecting the two bedrooms and the bathroom looks like:

Here's our bedroom. We were determined to fit a king size bed in here, so the room is very full (of bed) but it feels super cozy to me. As a result, we have very little else in our bedroom, but I personally think that makes it feel extra restful!

We definitely need some kind of artwork or something over our bed, but we have been slow to pick something out. It might be a good spot for wedding photos, so I'm fine leaving it empty for now.

Right across from our bed, we have this skinny dresser/decorative shelves. It was actually an IKEA "hack" that Grace put together. We then have another little dresser and a wall of shelves inside our closet, which is basically a very small walk-in closet (in case you were wondering how two people fit all their stuff!).

This little bunny lamp is one of my favorite details in our bedroom. I had a pet bunny a few years ago who was (and still is) very special to me. Bean reminds me a lot of her, actually!

Last (and probably least) is our guest bedroom. Grace almost said I just shouldn't include it on the home tour, because we've done SO little with it, but I think it's still a cute-enough room, and we've already had several guests stay with us in it! We have nothing on the walls in there and it's currently kind of a catchall for wedding related crafts, and all our wedding gifts we've gotten so far (I'm superstitious about unpacking anything from the boxes until after the wedding). But I like to think it's still cozy and comfy, and will only get more so as we have more time to devote to making it nice.

I love that the bougainvillea is visible from this cozy corner of the guest room too.

I'm really excited to work on this house even more over the years and create an even more "gathered" decorated look as time goes on. We feel incredibly lucky to live here!

To close, I had Grace tell me her three favorite things about our house (without telling her mine).  Here are both of our answers:

Mine: 1. Our fenced in yard for the dogs; 2. Our hardwood floors throughout (with tile in the bathroom and kitchen); 3. That we have a washer, dryer, dishwasher, and central A/C and heat (all things I never had in my previous 2 apartments in California). Honorable mention: the lemon tree in our backyard!

Grace's: 1. My office; 2. Music Nook--love that it's an open space that flows to the rest of the house, so making music is a part of the house (and not a closed off space); 3. Our living room and how we almost always have fresh flowers there.

Sources, in photos from top to bottom:

 Living room curtains: Crate & Barrel

Living room curtain rods: Target

Letterboard: Letterfolk

Lantern Lamps: Blueprint Furniture (on sale, found in the back of the store gathering dust)

Couch: Blueprint Furniture

Globe Floor Lamp: Target

Throw Pillows: assorted from Anthropologie, Target, and World Market

Coffee Table and matching TV Table: Aiden Collection from World Market

Corner pouf seat: World Market (from a few seasons ago)

Basket for blankets under TV: Target

Entryway Table: World Market

Round Mirrors Over Entryway Table: Target

Basket for Dog Supplies on Entryway Table Shelf: Target (no longer available online, similar here)

Blue Chair in Entryway: World Market (apparently only comes as a set of 2 online)

Eucalyptus Wood Dining Room Table: CB2 from a long time ago, similar here

Mirrored Tray in Bar Area: Amazon

Black Frames Above Bar: Framebridge

Custom Framing for Casper Painting: Aaron Brothers

Drop-leaf Table for Record Player: IKEA

Speaker: Marshall 

Record Player: Grace Can't Remember Where She Got It

Basket for Records: Target

Curtain Rods in Music Nook: Target (same as in living room)

Curtains in Music Nook: Urban Outfitters (in Mint)

Armchair in Music Nook: World Market (as are the faux-fur throw and pink velvet pillow)

Side Table in Music Nook: World Market (no longer available online, similar here)

Lamp on Side Table: World Market Shade: World Market (no longer available online, similar here)

Plant Basket: IKEA

Music Nook Runner Rug: Rugs USA (I'm obsessed with Rugs USA)

Guitar Hooks: Guitar Center

Piano: Baldridge Family Heirloom

Frames for Grid Wall in Grace's Office: Aaron Brothers

Grace's Desk: World Market

Grace's Desk Chair: World Market

Sheepskin Throw: IKEA

Wall Sconce: World Market

Bookshelf in Grace's Office: Target

Letter Light Box: Target

Round Rug in Grace's Office: Rugs USA

Kitchen: pretty much everything has been collected for a long time and I can't link, but I will link the coffee cart here

Eyelet Shower Curtain: Target from a long time ago, similar here

Wooden Bench in Bathroom: IKEA (no longer available online, similar here)

White Bath Mat: Target (no longer available online, similar here)

Hallway Gray Sheepskin Rugs: IKEA

Master Bedroom Bed Frame: Crate & Barrel

White Duvet: IKEA

Throw Pillows: World Market

Bedside Table: World Market

Lamp: World Market (same as music nook lamp but with a different shade)

Leaning Floor Mirror: Target

Master Bedroom Curtains: Crate & Barrel (in silver/cream)

Master Bedroom Curtain Rods: Target

Master Bedroom Rug: Rugs USA

Dresser/Shelves: IKEA

Bunny Lamp: World Market (no longer available, similar idea here)

Guest Bedroom Curtain Rods: Target

Guest Bedroom Curtains: Urban Outfitters

Guest Bedroom Bed Frame: IKEA

Guest Bedroom Duvet: Marimekko from years ago, similar here

Guest Bedroom Rug: World Market (no longer available online, similar here)

Guest Bedroom Chair & Ottoman: IKEA