Some Fall Style and Home Inspiration

 

Fall Style and Home inspiration1

I can’t believe we are almost here but we are. I really should know better, because it was always the same when I was a kid. Once my birthday past, the summer seemed to fly by. I’m morphing into panic mode though because I homeschool my kids and I haven’t finished buying all the curriculum we will need. I have Roo going into her 7th year (our 8th year of homeschooling) and Merle is starting 1st. I was excited for a bit because people on my local homeschool Facebook page have planned to start a coop. Which is a weekly gathering of similar aged homeschool students to be taught a subject or two in a group setting. Then I found out it was a Christian group. Which in itself is perfectly fine and the most common type of coop in the homeschool world but it is frustrating when you are a secular family in the minority and it wasn’t mentioned until 2 weeks before school starting. The group is open to people of all beliefs, but we won’t join it because while I can usually skip over any religious talk in other subjects, I can’t in this type of setting and refuse to do that for Science. I need to come up with a science alternative and have spent hours pouring over ideas and plans. Honestly, you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find a secular homeschool science curriculum. It’s like the unicorn of curricula.

So to take myself off the science ledge I put together some things I like for fall. Things that have been on my want list or in my online shopping cart lately. Back to school shopping was my favourite time of year as a kid because of the new wardrobe (I hated the school part). When we were going through the mall the other day Roo was pointing out all these things she liked and I was laughing because I felt like I was transported back to fall of my 1994-95 school year. Half the things she liked I once owned in a similar version. So funny.

  1. Room Darkening Curtains – I don’t know how people can sleep without a dark room. Maybe they get up when the sun rises? I have always wished that I was that type of person but I am a roll over and make a pillow tent to avoid the sun person. At 37 years of age I need to accept that and gets some damn darkening curtains because the pillow over the head makes me wake up with a headache. I saw these curtains at Ikea last week.
  2. Fall Sweaters! I’m not going to lie, I bought these two.  The grey one arrived yesterday, the brown one should be coming Monday. The brown one has some awesome wrist ties. I love interesting accents on an otherwise plain sweater.
  3. Grey Sweater from above – This is a sightly shorter, wide sleeve sweater. It will look great alone with high waist jeans or with a longer t-shirt/tank layered under.
  4. Cropped ankle jeans – A 5’3″ any time I get excited about an ankle jean and try them on they fit like regular jeans 🙁 I would love to give these a shot though. Damn short legs, I might have to cut a pair off myself.
  5. Bralettes – I have said I want some for a while and have yet to bite the bullet. I only have two bras that I wear regularly, I just alternate. My size isn’t a size you find in the store very often (28DD) so I order them online which can be pricey. But wearing underwire daily is a literal pain and since I don’t have a large chest I would love to get a few bralettes for under t-shirts and sweaters. They seem loads more comfortable.
  6. Some cool barstools – one of the things that I want in our future home is an open kitchen with a breakfast counter that has barstool seats. I love the wood/black combo of these.
  7. Throw – Where I am partial to neutrals I am also very partial to bright/colourful/patterned accents throughout. This vintage, handmade throw checks all the boxes.
  8. Black Chelsea boot – I want these. They are great for fall with cropped jeans (if I ever find a pair that actually looked cropped on me).
  9. Black Leather Crossbody – I have a brown cross body and would like a black one too. Regular leather, not suede since it is partial to stains and marks when it gets wet which is hard to avoid in the fall.
  10. Red Adidas Gazelles – These come in a variety of colours. I think I narrowed it down to black or red even though the green is awesome.
  11. Black Adidas Gazelle – Same as above.
  12. Yellow Rug – my living room rug is ugly. It is big (covers a very large area and helps to muffle the sounds of loud children. It was cheap, and totally does the job but how amazing would this bright yellow one look?
  13. White Book Case – Quite a few years ago we bought 4 large bookcases to house my collections. They are in a dark black/brown wood and are starting to wear. I want to slowly start replacing them with white ones. This style from Ikea with the partitioned shelves is awesome.
  14. Mirror – This flower shaped, painted mirror would be a beautiful addition to any room. I don’t have a lot of empty wall space (weird shaped walls and windows in random places) but I could probably find a place to squeeze it in.
  15. Oversized t-shirt – Once again, I just ordered this. I love how comfortable oversized tees are. This striped version also comes in a thicker striped pattern. I couldn’t decide which one I wanted as usual.

I notice that I haven’t bought a lot of new things over the last few months. One pair of jeans during a 2.5 month period. But now that it is almost fall it is inspiring me. I wanted a couple more sweaters and t-shirts so this is a good start. What I really need aside form underwear and towel 😉 is a pair of winter boots. I haven’t owned a pair for 6 years since Tom puked both in and on my last pair (which is a story I will share later).

Do you have anything new on your list for fall?

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Sara

Sara is the founder and creative behind livelovesara. A George Brown College Fashion Styling Graduate, she provides advice on finding your personal style regardless of age and budget. She is always on the hunt for the perfect wardrobe piece and is a vintage and thrifting enthusiast who can't wait to share her newest finds. She is also trying to learn French.

9 Comments

  1. Great collection, Sara. I agree about the brown sweater with just the right touch of detail. Love the mirror, throw, rug…all of it really. I’m with you on the undergarment type.

    So, I ordered that Topshop biker jacket. I’m worried it may be run small, after reading some of the reviews (post-ordering, of course). I have my fingers crossed.

    After wrangling three cats into their shed/converted home—due to heavy rains today—I’m pretty worn out. Oh, and our A/C decided to die. So I’m pretty sure I look as much of a disaster as I feel.

    Meanwhile, I ordered a really cool floor lamp that was on super sale. I had it shipped to the local store for pick up (as I had with two other orders from the same retailer). Well, somehow it ended up being shipped to a store in another state (?$&#&(&$(@?). Since the orders went to the correct store, I have no idea why this one went elsewhere. They said I’d have to get a refund for this order (and wait up to seven days for the refund), then reorder. By the time the refund comes through either a) I’ll be so disgusted I won’t want it anymore, or b) it will no longer be on sale or simply gone. It’s turning out to be one of those weeks. Oh well.

    I’m sure you will put together a great science class, perhaps with some local related excursions/road trips? I wonder if there’s a traveling science labmobile out there somewhere. Hmmm. So many fun sciency things to consider. Can’t wait to find out what you come up with.

    P.S. I really appreciate the distraction from the-week-of-things-breaking-down. 🙂

    • Oh shit. What a rough couple of few days. I have many, many times only read reviews after I have ordered an item and worried about the size based on people’s complaints. For what it is worth Topshop has always fit me true to size so I hope it is in this case too.

      Omg I would die without a/c. I hope you are making out all right. We have central air in here because it’s a condo but in my last apartment our a/c died and that place got direct sunlight all day long. Like seriously, we never had to turn our heat on all winter because the sun heated the place up into a sauna so when it died it was an awful few days. We hibernated in my room with the curtains pulled and two fans. This summer has been so brutal I would have died without it though.

      The lamp issue is bullshit. The should 100% rectify the situation for you by sending you another one to the right location and just returning the one that went to another state. It’s not like they lose money on the product. Ridiculous. When I worked in retail we shipped between stores all the time for customers at no extra expense to them.

      Roo decided that being an alchemist would be a cool job so we are focusing on chemistry this year 😉 I think I may have found a few good things and then maybe a membership to the Science Centre because they have an awesome astronomy section which is always fun to learn about. I just wish we could see the stars from our balcony with a telescope. Too bad the building doesn’t have a roof balcony.

      I hope this week turns out better for you.

      Sara

      • Thanks so much for your reply, Sara. It’s all appreciated. I know things will work out, just one of those weeks everyone gets to have, yes?

        I love that Roo is so interested in alchemy, what a girl. Feel free to share how your schooling plans pan out, what chemistry adventures you both end up having.

        My jacket is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so with fingers crossed I will get back with you about it.

        Have a lovely day, Ardith

      • OK, so my topshop jacket arrived yesterday. It does in fact run a bit small, plus the texture of it doesn’t quite look as it does in the site photo (which makes it look more like real leather). I’m not sure I’ll be keeping it as I’m not in love with it. And for the price, I need to be in love with it. I’ll be trying it on again today to see if I still feel the same way. Cheers, Ardith

        • Nooo 🙁 what a disappointment. I agree, you need to love it and if you didn’t as soon as you put it on it isn’t the right one. How frustrating. I hope you find one because I know how annoying it is to be on a continual search.

          • OK, Sara, here is the final installment on the biker jacket saga. I am returning it. I do not love it, and at the price point I think I should. Plus, it is a bit tight. The real kicker though is this. It will take 28 days (I’m guessing from the time they receive the jacket) to process my refund. 28 days. Who does that these days?

            For a pair of shoes for my husband via Amazon, I was actually refunded the money as soon as the return label was generated (we just exchanged sizes).

            Anyway, this will be the first and last time I order anything from Topshop. For an online store, their refund policy is absolute BS. Too bad for them, eh? Cheers, Ardith

          • That’s utter bullshit. I assume you don’t have a topshop store in your proximity? I’ve only returned something in store before with no hassles, but 28 days is so excessive. I got pissed when I returned some jeans to Gap through the mail and it took several days to process the refund. I returned an online item at a Zara store once and the refund process was easy aside from the obnoxious sales associate who rolled her eyes. I can’t imagine having ever rolled my eyes to a customer. It’s like ultimate rule customer service 101. The other rule being “never tell a customer you can’t do something. Tell them what you CAN do for them.” It seems like topshop may need to review that manual 😉 have you seen any other jackets that you like?

    • Oh Wow! Thanks so much for this! I am always on the lookout for new curriculum so I am definitely bookmarking this site.

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