Christie's Mobile Home Diary

September Sunflowers for Late Summer

In the mornings, there's a little bit of a change in the air.... in our area. I have been eager to see the calendar change over to September. It's been so hot, I'm so excited for the upcoming fall season and all that it brings...how about you?! I have been decorating for fall, and I am currently in the process of getting photos for an upcoming fall home tour post, too. I have so much to show you, in my upcoming blog post and video, which I'll be posting soon!

But today I want to show you how I changed up my flower arrangement that is in my silver teapot by just adding in some sunflowers. I'm a little behind on posting this, but I still wanted to share it and put it here in the photos of my home diary.....

This flower arrangement has been slowly evolving... since the Fourth of July, the blue hydrangeas and red geraniums were replaced with creamy white flowers after the 4th, and then at the end of August I found these sunflowers to add in, from Walmart ($3.98 for a bundle of 5).

For September, I put some sunflower pillow covers on the pillows that are on my sofa, in the living room too, and I changed out my throw blanket on the back of the sofa, with a vintage inspired patchwork quilted throw.... that I found new, a few years ago on ebay. I love looking at the different patterns on it... it really does bring in a lot of pretty colors for late summer. I feel like you just can't go wrong with a patchwork quilt.

The sunflower pillow covers will be moving to my back porch rocking chairs when I bring out my pumpkin pillow covers for the living room for fall, very soon. I actually bought them for the back porch, but loved them so much, that I wanted to leave them inside for a little while to enjoy...especially after finding the faux sunflowers at Walmart. I actually was buying them to use out on the porch too, ha! It's funny that one thing leads to another when decorating...a girl can change her mind though, right?

Are you as ready for fall as I am? Have you started any decorating yet?

Until next time...

Stay creative and have a beautiful day!

Joining these fun parties this week:

Vintage Charm, hosted at: My Thrift Store Addiction and Our Hopeful Home

Summer Flower Arrangement~ A Few Changes in the Living Room

Today, on this hot summer day, I've made a few little changes in my living room... on the top of our side accent table with drawers, (though not really a table, I believe it was once was a child's French Provincial chest of drawers). I was in the mood for a change in here... so I went with my favorite colors..... in shades of greens and creams, and a little more neutral colored flowers for a little while.

Changing out a few flowers was an easy fix, for a quick room refresh...

The ivory colored crepe myrtle looking flowers that are in the market basket (below), are charity thrift shop finds that were 1/2 price that day I was there....they are brand new and high quality, and were donated by a boutique shop owner, that closed shop...earlier this year. The total cost for the two bunches were $4. I was so tickled to find these....they are what I'd been on the hunt for... for some time. They remind me of the crepe myrtle trees that I see blooming away this time of the year, around town.

I also found some little white daisies for $2. Finding them made me want to change out the flowers that were in the silver teapot too....to a more neutral arrangement, for a little while (above). So, with these and some flowers I already had.... I made some changes to this arrangement. Really all I did was take away the blue hydrangeas and added in the little daisies. I'm loving the way it turned out....

I also took out the blue hydrangeas that were in my wall basket, and added a few sprigs of eucalyptus....

I can see now, from these photos...that maybe I need to work on it a little more....it looks more wild than I thought....it looks like the birds have been busy in there.... maybe I'll just leave it alone, and call it good, lol! I'll be adding some fall looking flowers soon anyway....

I added the little Thomas Kinkade Cottage to the table for a change too....it lights up and was a thrift shop find a while back, (I think from last year or the year before),...it had $15 on it, but they were having a 1/2 off sale that day, so it was only $7.50....

What have you been up to... this late summer day?

I hope you've been staying cool, and that you've been staying inspired too.

Until next time...

Stay creative and have a beautiful day!

Linking up with these fun blog parties this week:

Karins Kottage Linky Party

Vintage Charm Link Party hosted by:

My Thrift Store Addiction

Our Hopeful Home

Thursday Favorite Things hosted by:

Follow The Yellow Brick Home - Amber

Katherine's Corner

Eclectic Red Barn - Bev

An Artful Mom - Pam

Crafts ala Mode - Linda

Summer Decorating Ideas, (After 4th of July)

I'm enjoying the summer sunsets and evenings, but if I'm being completely honest, it gets so hot and humid in our area, here in Florida, that by mid-summer.... I wish I could move... and I say that every single summer. lol! Every day is almost 100 degrees (with the heat index), and I've been guilty of wishing for cooler temps and wishing summer away on some days. All that to say, that our summers are very long and my summer decor will be here for a while, so I like to change things up a little bit through the summer months. The day after the 4th of July, I took away the patriotic decor and changed out some things here and there. I'm usually ready for something different for the rest of summer....

Here's how things are looking right now....

In the sitting room the English country garden theme continues with a few little changes here and there....

This wreath is one I made several years ago, from an antique (torn and very worn) cutter quilt that I found for $1. It was easy and fun to make...I cut the pieces of quilt that was salvageable, and tied the pieces around a wire coat hanger...I am so happy I could repurpose that old quilt into something useable again...someone spent so much time making it....

George likes hangin' out with me in the sitting room...he says hello....

And here's the changes in the living room and dining room, the hydrangeas will stay a little longer, but will soon be replaced with some creamy white crepe myrtle looking faux flowers...that's what I'm seeing a lot of blooming here in our area....and over the weekend I was lucky enough to find some, while thrifting.....they were brand new and were 1/2 off...two bunches for a total of $4 (I should have taken a photo of them to show you)....

This early 1900's post card makes me think of what summers should be made of......maybe some time to do some leisurely things like painting in the English Countryside....

a few seashells always bring back sweet memories of summertime...

and a few nature inspired vine balls and moss balls and river rocks in the coffee table bowl.... that remind me of a summer vacation, close to nature in the Great Smoky Mountains, near beautiful creeks and waterfalls....

In the kitchen and dining room I changed out the plates, flower arrangement and throw pillows too...

The flower arrangement is one I already had....the flowers came from Walmart several years ago in a bouquet bundle...I simply cut them off the stems and placed them in this yard sale wicker basket find....I think I've got about $14 in this arrangement.....

Emma and George are napping on the wicker loveseat at the dining room table while I take some pictures for you today...Emma says hello...

But then went fast to sleep again, to join George for an afternoon nap...

I hope you are having a beautiful, fun and restful summer season....

Until next time...

Stay creative!

Joining these fun blog parties:

Vintage Charm Blog Party hosted by Cecilia from My Thrift Store Addiction &

Kathleen from Our Hopeful Home

Thursday Favorite Things hosted by Katherine's Corner, Eclectic Red Barn, Follow The Yellow Brick Home, Crafts a la Mode, & An Artful Mom

Romantic Country Cottage Summer Secret Garden Tour

Summer is definitely here, the temperatures are soaring outside.... so today, (before my poor plants have had it with the heat lol!), I wanted to take some summer photos of our little potted shade garden area that's underneath the oak tree...it's an area I often refer to as my secret garden, because it has been an oasis retreat for me since we added the garden bench a few years ago. It's a place to relax in the shade a while, and talk to God, and read my devotional and sometimes look at some magazines....