The beginnings of fall, and a new horse..

 I finally got started with my fall decor, but I didn't get as much done as I would have liked.

I haven't bought anything new...I used leftover's from years past. (No money spent = really pretty to hubby) lol

 I am loving the new over-sized mantle that hubby built when we re-did the fireplace with the airstone (faux stone).

 I absolutely love the rich, vibrant, colors of fall.

I wish it could be fall all year long.

Now, the real reason for this post...No, it is not a real horse. Sorry if I got your hopes up.  A while back, I ordered an over-sized poster from All-posters. It is a 48x36, for $36.00, using a discount that they were offering at the time, and free shipping. Take a look...

It has been awful trying to get a decent picture of it, and this is the best that I could do with the poor lighting in this room. It looks all washed out, and it really isn't. Now, after I got this poster, I just simply could not,  would not pay the price that everyone wanted in order to get it framed. The least amount that I could find a frame for at this size was $500.00!!! Whew...this would defeat the whole purpose of trying to find a piece of art at a reasonable price.

We have friends who owned a gift/frame shop, who recently closed to go home and enjoy life, who had leftover material's, and when I asked...he was happy to frame the poster for me. Ahhhh, thank goodness for bored friends. I only had to pay $25.00..and that was for the glass. He wouldn't take another penny. His name is Mr K. D., and I am so grateful that he was willing to help me out. (He knows how tight hubby is) Now, I have this huge picture in my new dining room, with a total of $61.00 invested....not $500.00+.

Here is a close up of the frame that he wouldn't let me pay for. Thanks, Mr. K. D.

Hopefully I will have more of the new dining room to share soon. I just simply can't get decent pictures with the poor lighting and this latest camera that I have.

Finally, A Stone Fireplace

 Ok....on to our latest DIY project. I have wanted a stone fireplace forever. Hubby even went so far as to contact the brick layers that did our brick, and they said no way. The stone would be too heavy because our slab wasn't built for it in the beginning. So...what's a girl suppose to do..just give up?? No way! There are several kinds of "faux" stone out there. Some still require "professional" installation, but some don't. Well, take a look at my "faux" stone fireplace, that I did myself.

It is airstone, from Lowe's. It is really easy to install, and doesn't require a wet saw to cut.

 

There may be a few "imperfections", but what real stone is perfect?

 We started by tearing out the cabinets where the tv was,  over the gas fireplace, and closing in the top of the bookcases. I knew that it would look more "massive" going all the way up to the ceiling, and I was sick of trying to find things to decorate above the bookshelves with.

 After hubby closed in the area above the fireplace so that I could lay the stone work, I painted it black so that if there were any cracks in between the stone, the black wouldn't be as obvious as the unpainted plywood....only to end up using grout for a more "real" look, so painting the plywood black was a waste of time.

 Then off I went! I wanted the stone all the way to the ceiling for that "massive" look. That was all that I had on my mind when I started!

 Oh, did I mention that the bottom part never really crossed my mind until I finished the top?? Oh no, It never crossed my mind to start from the bottom. Nope! So then I start ripping the bottom apart only to find a huge hole, with nothing but the gas insert sitting there. The two pieces of wood on the sides are the only thing holding this whole outfit up.

But hubby came thru as usual. He had to rebuild the whole bottom part, and I was so thankful that the top part didn't come crumbling down!! I will start from the bottom and go up on the next one....yes, I already have plans for a next one.

This is a pic of one of the before looks of the fireplace and surround. The picture is covering a huge hole where the tv once was. The mantle is not deep at all, and very difficult to decorate due to being so small. That has all changed now, and I cannot wait for fall....to decorate my new mantle!

 I am not being paid to do this post for airstone, and I am going to speak the truth. The stone comes in a box, and the particular stone that I used came with 12 wrapped packs. Well guess what, only 4 of the packs were colored, the other eight were the colorless concrete color. Very plain with no personality whatsoever. The stones were broke in most every box, which didn't bother me, but the lack of color did! I got out several different paint colors and stains and went to work. Every box was like this, so it was a very time consuming project having to paint/stain every stone before you could apply it to the wall.

These are the ones I started with, then narrowed it down to the colors that I liked best. 
This stone fireplace has really "cozied" up this room, although it has no furniture in it at this point. I just haven't found that perfect, oversized sofa yet, that is affordable, but I will!

I couldn't leave without showing you our sweet Annie, that is all grown up now. If you don't remember Annie, you can view that post Here
Sophie was probably picking on her in this pitiful looking picture, she does that a lot.

These are Annie's new friends. I rescued a mama dog and her eight puppies, and Annie has been in Doggie Heaven since they came to live on the farm with us, but more on that in another post. I just wanted to show everyone what a wonderful and sweet personality Annie has, and I don't regret for a second taking her in!!