…just a wee bit but it is definitely coming! Not soon enough for me but I am trying to be patient. What is it and how do I know it is coming? Well it is FALL of course – and anyone that knows me even a wee bit knows I LOVE fall, I LIVE for fall! (well not really – but almost!) It is just the most glorious time of year when I finally feel like myself again after the hot summer – and after this *$^#*$&%^#** summer, it is going to feel even better!
And how do I know it is coming? Well that is very simple…
I am starting to see signs of it everywhere! We had the most glorious day in months and months and months yesterday. Dry, cool and breezy! The perfect combo to keep our house cool and I so enjoyed it. Today it was in the high 40’s when I got up and now is a little warmer and less breezy but still delightful! It is going to be very warm and humid tomorrow so I am soaking this in!!
But the temps are not the only sign that fall is coming. While working on a project on our back deck today I saw some early leaves turning…
and noticed there is a warm golden glow in the living room….
I heard that someone special took a trip to the orchard…
and pumpkin patch too!
I made some chai tea and I am using cinnamon more and more…
I think that the bittersweet is almost ready…
and pumpkin is showing up in the most interesting places!
Did I just hear you ask if I have been busy painting? Why yes indeed I have! The dry sink was painted in Caromal Colours. Caromal Colours is a textured paint system that really gives things an aged look. Textured is the key word! The basecoat is very thick and is not meant to lay smooth when you are done. I first painted the dry sink in Peppercorn textured basecoat, then used the Chipping Crème and then painted their Mustard textured basecoat over it. Chipping Crème allows you to sand off your top color without sanding off the color underneath.Then I used the CC Toner – which is like a stain and I wiped that off and when it was all dry, I sealed it with a matte spray varnish. I get Caromal Colours at Homestead Primitives in Fitchburg. MA. Click ~here~ for their website. Roger and Charleen can advise you on how to use it and they schedule workshops throughout the year if you want to learn by doing. If you are not local, you can find a dealer and instructions on it’s use on the Caromal Colours on website by clicking ~here~.
The dry sink before was mustard over black but I always found that mustard too harsh. At times it looked glowing green.
I like this new color because it is so much softer
and warmer (though lighter) and blends in with the soft mustard in the flamestitch fabric on my sofa so much better.
And then my settle bench got a makeover too. It was black and a dark stain and I got this at Homestead Primitives as well. And while there was nothing wrong with it,
I am adding more warm colors to our home and this piece lent itself well to what I wanted – a rich cinnamon color.
I used a craft paint in a creamy vanilla color on the stained section and Benjamin Moore’s Earthly Russet paint over the black. After distressing it I used the CC toner and the spray varnish as well. I will be using this color again on some smaller pieces!
And last but not least, my slant back cupboard was a dark green but because the end of the hallway is dark without the light on, many people thought it was black.
I have wanted to lighten it up for a long time and I thought this was the perfect spot to get brave with yet another shade of Pumpkin! And brave I was!
This time I used California paints – made here in MA, and I used the actual color Pumpkin from their historical collection and I distressed and sealed it the same way. Even after 3 coats, the color was not as dark as the paint chip but I was sure that the toner would soften the color enough. Well folks, the verdict is still out on this one. I will live with it for awhile but I am already thinking that if it doesn’t grow on me more, I just may have to buy the Caromal Colours in Pumpkin and redo this sometime in the future.
This post marks a milestone… it is my 250th post!! When I started, Jay was about to get. Jen hadn’t met the great guy she is with now. Lili wasn’t even here! I was retired from one job and still deciding what I would do in the future. At that time I had a lot of free time to craft and blog and read other blogs and chat in forums and do whatever I wanted. So much has changed Behind My Red Door since that first post and my life is so wonderfully full with our granddaughter and family and friends and work on the magazine. I even thought about quitting blogging but during my break I missed it and you too much. Blogging sure has changed a lot since that first post as well. Back then I had a handful to keep up with and now there are so many more folks blogging and visiting mine and asking questions and wanting decorating advice and it all takes so much more time – time I don’t have. But that is OK – because I love spending time with Lili and my family and friends and working for the magazine has been such a joy. I wouldn’t turn back time even if I could. Okay, well maybe I would… just so I could have gotten the Caromal Colours Pumpkin paint first !!
Speaking of fall - I need to go work on dinner – one of my favorites fall meals - pork tenderloin w/apples, onions and garlic; butternut squash and garlic mashed potatoes. I just take the pork, sliced apples, sliced onions, some minced garlic and put in all the slow cooker with a package of brown gravy mix, about 1/4 cup water and simmer it for several hours. The apples and onions mix with the juices and the brown gravy mix to make the most delicious flavored gravy! There is something about apples and pork that say fall to me and it is perfect on a cool evening. And the leftover meat and gravy are the perfect starters for pork chop suey too .
Next time I hope to share more fall decor and hopefully I will have my bittersweet by then. You can check out my tutorial on my side bar.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Prim hugs, Grammee Linda
