As of tomorrow, Halloween is behind us. Time to take up your ghosts and goblins, and time to move towards the harvest celebration. I have tons of turkeys I put out this time of year. I have turkey platters, harvest linens, pilgrim knick-knacks and all sorts of fun Thanksgiving decor. This year, I challenge you to decorate somewhere new. Hang some pressed leaves in your window, or cut out the words Give Thanks and add them to a wreath. Consider placing some pumpkins or gourds in a bowl in your bathroom. I love these fun turkeys, and am trying to come up with new places to display them. Thanksgiving is such a great time to simply stop and appreciate your life and family before the mad Christmas rush starts!
I am not sure what happened to 2009, but Thanksgiving will be here before we know it. If you are looking for some holiday inspiration, check out the HGTV Thanksgiving Styleboards. Choose from creative styles like Green and Serene, Modern Motif, Autumn Spice, or Totally Traditional. Even if every item isn’t your style, these boards are a great place to start planning your look for a fabulous Thanksgiving celebration. Click on any of the featured items to see all the styleboards.
I wish I were still allowed to sit at the kids’ table at holidays. The fun of no responsibility would be a welcomed change. Instead, as adults we get to throw the party and set up the table for the children. That is also fun, especially with all the neat products available. Look at this adorable tablecloth with the appliquéd turkeys, Mayflowers, and fall trees. There are also cute melamine kid-friendly plates, table runners, placemats, and a Thanksgiving countdown calendar. The saying is true: it is more fun at the kids’ table.
Pumpkin carving has gone to a whole new level. The triangle eyes and snaggle-toothed mouth just don’t cut it in this day and age. I have carved some pumpkins using these tools, and they make anyone an artist. Visit HGTV’s Halloween Ideas to download our carving templates here, and watch our video with tips and tricks here.
Martha Stewart has some great glittered Halloween products. These will add some glitz and glamor to your holiday decorating. The skulls and bones are definitely a little more adult decor than your average Halloween decorations. They look especially creepy under dimmed lights.
This is the hardest decorating time for me. It isn’t summer anymore, but it isn’t quite fall. Maybe I am wrong, but it seems just a little early to put out Halloween and Harvest items. During this lull before Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have been trying to pick out some neat, transitional things. This Bizzy Bee doormat seems like a perfect transition item. It has fall colors, but can still be utilized year-round. The mat is made of bleached coir and printed pigment dyes. The Bizzy Bee Coir Doormat is priced around $30.
If you don’t have tons of leaves, these pop-open leave bags are great for yard clean-up. Each bag folds flat and springs open for easy use and storage. Simply unclasp the two toggles and this carryall springs open, ready to haul grass clippings to the compost bin, or piles of sticks to the shredder. Get one for yourself or any of the other gardeners in your life. The Pop-Open Tip Bags are priced around $20.
Since my daughter started school, I grabbed my own 3-ringed notebook and decided to get organized. We had dozens of important papers and schedules that I was expected to keep up with all year long. I took tabbed notebook dividers and made a section for each of our activities. I threw in a years worth of monthly calendar pages and blank notebook paper for notes. It has been a life saver.
This 3-ringed zippered notebook is perfect life organizer since it includes pockets and several interior compartments to hold business cards, pens and other small items. The 100% cotton cover of the notebook can be monogrammed for even more personalization. The Zippered Notebook from Creative Containers is priced around $25.
This fun project table would be the perfect room addition for any kids. The Ecotot Project Table and Two Stools assemble in minutes without any tools. They snap together, and you can take them apart easily whenever you need. Perfect for those homes that are short on space. They are also made from environmentally-friendly woods, and are non-toxic and formaldehyde-free. Available in leaf (green), fire (red) or coco (brown). Grown ups can also use this as a coffee table or accent table. The USA-made Ecotot Projcect Table is priced around $375.
Have you seen this cream and sugar set from Crate and Barrel? The Cin Cin Sugar and Creamer set is very modern and elegant at the same time. The simple set functions with formal china or every day dishes with ease. While the set looks very fragile, it is made from industrial-strength glass and stainless-steel. I love that it looks like something you would find in a science lab, or that you might buy at a museum store. The dishwasher safe Cin Cin Sugar and Creamer set is sale priced around $20.
You can’t always control your life circumstances, but you can look for the joy in all situations. Remind yourself of that with this JOY wall hanging. The letters are made from reclaimed tin, and are each a unique work of art. The tin comes from a variety of sources, no two letters are the same, and they have unique colors, patterns and remnants of labels and words. The letters are also available in the word HOME. The JOY Reclaimed Tin Letters Wall Art is priced around $25.
Paula Deen has a furniture line. You might have heard about it on HGTV’s Design Happens blog back during the High Point Furniture Market Updates. I have seen these pieces all over the place the past few weeks. This fabulous brand has been featured in magazines, on television, in newspaper ads. I have been furniture shopping off and on for years now, and while I wasn’t originally planning to purchase any Deen pieces, I am excited about this collection. I have picked out a few things, and now I am just trying to figure out when I can buy them. You can view the entire collection here at Paula Deen Home.
Over the years we have accumulated a nice little collection of wine racks. Some racks aren’t our style, or take up too much room. Others only hold a bottle or two of wine. What we really need are these neat wine wedges from Crate and Barrel. Two plastic wedges allow up to six bottles of wine to be stacked easily. If you don’t have wine to store or display, simply store the wedges in a drawer or cabinet. Wine wedges are priced around $10 for the set.
Maybe I am obsessing about a desk with all this back-to-school business. I have been known to do that from time to time. I know kids can study at the kitchen table or on their bed just as easily as they can at a desk. I may use a lap desk as a stop-gap measure until we figure out which desk we want. This Hot Pink Lap Tray by Romanoff Products sits nicely above your child’s lap so he or she may work comfortably. The two integrated side pockets are perfect for holding pencils, markers, and other school supplies. The Lap Tray is priced around $10.
I may have to get this lap desk for myself. It is attractive and even has a cup holder ! The Merci Lap Desk has a soft, beaded pillow to make studying comfortable. Use the desk in the car, on the couch, in bed, or even on a plane. Use for reading, watching TV, or playing on computers. Lap Desk is priced around $30.
The Khaki Storage Lap Desk even has audio speakers to play your iPod or MP3 player. The desk opens and has inside storage along with a beanbag pillow. This desk is perfect for your electronic child. Storage Lap Desk with built-in speakers is priced around $80.
I found a few more desk options that look promising. This Doodle Drawer Desk looks fun and functional, but I know my daughter will outgrow this desk at some point in the near future. This desk has a handy pull-out drawer under the seat. The Doodle Desk is priced around $250.
If you are looking for a bit larger, mid-priced option, the Morgan Desk from Pottery Barn Kids fits the bill. This desk has the same high-quality design, construction and safety details you expect from Pottery Barn Kids. The solid poplar legs and frame make it stable, and features like dovetail joinery, safety drawer stops and wood glides allow for sturdy drawers to store art and other essentials. The Morgan Desk is priced around $150.
If you have limited space, consider the Kids Desk 36 from Legare. It is extremely compact, fits in the smallest of spaces, and provides lots of vertical storage. Perfect for your kid’s room now; you can also use it later in a college dorm room or small home office. The Kid Hutch Compact Desk is priced around $275.
The time has come. It is time to get our daughter a desk for home. She needs a place to do homework, reading, artwork and other projects. The Avalon Desk with Hutch by KidKraft is really pretty and roomy. It contains a central drawer to store pens, pencils, paper and other school supplies. The Avalon Desk with Hutch is priced around $300.
It is hard to believe that football season is just days away! You will be ready to tailgate with this compact charcoal grill. The Bucket Grill is designed for easy, on-the-go grilling. Take it to tailgates and picnics, or use it on your patio or at the beach. The Bucket Grill is priced around $35.
Chatting with my friends lately, I realized that there is a lot of guilt involved with recycling. We all know what we should do, but we aren’t all doing it. If your community is not accomodating to recycling efforts, garbage piles up. After a certain amount plastic bags, cans and newspapers accumulate sometimes it just has to go.
Plastic bags are my nemisis, and they are not acceptible for our recycling program. I have to put those in the car and take them back to a grocery store. I have gotten much better this year about bringing my own bags to the grocery, but I forget at all the other stops and stores. The end result is that I still have tons of plastic bags around my house. To help with my plastic bag problem, I have ordered some of these neat garbage cans. The winner of the Pratt Product Design Competition, this garbage can stores the plastic bags ready-to-use, and is ready to take your trash all at the same time. Perfect! I can collect, use and recylce all my plastic bags in neat, organized way. The Urban Eco-Can is priced around $20.
Now that the C. A. R. S. program, Cash For Clunkers to you and me, is over, you might wonder what will happen to all these cars. Well, according to an article on CNN.com, a lot of these car parts will be recycled into everyday items for the home. Uncommon Goods already has glassware made from recycled windshields. The recycled window glassware is priced from $20 for a set of two.
There are tons of things you can purchase from recycled tires, too! Here are just a few: rubber coasters, purses, belts and even some napkin rings.
I have been married almost 10 years, and the other day I noticed my everyday dishes had a few chips and cracks in them. That got me thinking – at what point is it okay to buy yourself new dishes? Do you ask for them from friends and family for birthdays and holidays, or do you just have to buy them for yourself, one piece at a time? I have already found the dishes I would register for if I was getting married today. It is this collection called Baking Days from Spode. I am sure it is wildly expensive, but it is also absolutely adorable, and very “me”. Spode Baking Days dishes are priced from $10.
How neat is this? Designed by contractors, the TrayStation is an innovative, utility work surface. I thought it could be very useful in many different occupations. The first, obvious use is for painting on uneven surfaces. It includes four legs that allow you to set the tray on stairs or even a roof. You can use it for potting plants, organizing small things, in the car as a laptop computer table, job site tray or even a small picnic table for outdoor venues. My daughter took it from me and uses it as an art tray in front of the TV, which is fine until I start painting in a few weeks. It is perfect because it has all sorts of compartments to keep all your tools handy and together. The tray is reversible and weatherproof. I have a couple of handyman types that may get one of these for Christmas. The TrayStation is priced less than $25.
Whenever I send fruit to school, my daughter complains it is hard to eat. Peaches slide off the spoon and you can’t cut them with a fork. I decide this spoon-fork-knife combo would be the perfect lunchbox pal for this year. Think of it as the Swiss-Army spork, but it has a full spoon on one end, a real, tined fork on the other end and a serrated edge on the side of the fork. Constructed of heat resistant material that is dishwasher safe. I only bought one, but this pack from Target that includes ten sporks is the way to go. I can safely assume my fork will be lost, dirty, or thrown away in no time, so I better go ahead and stock up! I hear it is also great for tailgates, camping and other outdoor activities. A set of ten sporks is priced less than $25.
I love that this practical, cute lunchbox supports Breast Cancer Awareness. The tote by Cathy’s Concepts features polyester exterior and insulated vinyl interior. A great gift for friends or to use yourself, and a portion of the proceeds is donated to aid in the fight against breast cancer. The Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbon Lunch Tote is priced around $26.
See all lunch totes here.
