Fall Home Preview & Mudroom Reveal!

I truly love Fall. When I think about pumpkins and crisp nights and crunchy leaves and soup and cider, I am like a giddy schoolgirl. Jeremy has rolled his eyes every time I have come home with a new pumpkin in the past few weeks…which has been often. I just keep buying all the pumpkins!

That said, nothing says fall like cozy clothes. Boots and scarves and jackets and cardigans. While we are still very much in “transitional” fall weather here in middle Tennessee, I look forward with anticipation to the weeks ahead when it’s cool enough to layer up before heading out. Fall comes later here than in the North, but we get to experience a extended, gradual changing of leaves and crisp, lovely temps from about mid-October through the end of November.

With all those layers often comes a mess in our house, however. We come inside and shed the jackets and scarves and boots and scatter them around the living room and the basement. That’s why I am so excited about the newest completed project in our house: a mudroom. As soon as you enter the basement, there is now a spot to hang those sweaters and kick off those dirty shoes.

I don’t have very good pictures of the “before” from the angle of the back door, but this is a really awful photo of what the basement looked like for the first two years of us owning the house. When you walk into the basement from the carport (the door we use 99% of the time), there used to be an open L-shaped room in front of you.

Then we decided to construct a half wall in order to create more separation between the entrance and ceiling overhang (thanks, air ducts).
Then we installed a light fixture, hung shiplap and let it sit for a few months.

Finally, Jeremy built a bench last week, and we hung hooks below the light, and we have a designated mudroom space! Usually, I invite you in from the front porch. But, come on inside our home from the carport door. Kick off your shoes and make yourself comfortable!
I decked out the mudroom for fall with white pumpkins, my favorite booties, a cozy plaid throw and a pillow, and some fall accessory essentials. Also, dried hydrangeas from the yard are one of my favorite ways to deck the house at the end of summer and early Fall.

The hooks were a flea market find, and the light fixture was on clearance at Home Depot.

Jeremy built this bench one afternoon while I was at work. We stained it with “Dark Walnut” from Miniwax. I originally wanted a built in bench, but now that we have this one, I can’t imagine liking a built in bench more!
Here is what it looks like from the basement staircase that leads up to the kitchen.
And an evening shot with the light on…

Mittens always wants in on the photo shoot.

Thanks for coming over! Soon, I’ll do a full fall house tour!