Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale. -Lauren DeStefano

It’s that time of the year. The beginning of the school year excitement has settled, first round of report cards are complete and I’ve worked with my 5th graders to help them each host a Student-Led conference with their families.

The beginning of the school year as a teacher is no joke. I spend those summer months forgetting the long hours, stacks of beginning of year assessments and alarm clocks, just to re-live it all again each fall. It’s do-able, but there is something oh, so sweet about reaching mid-October. It’s when most teachers come up for air for the first time since August. So, before we jump into talking fall decor, if you know a teacher give them an extra smile or hug this month because they survived Back to School. 🙂

As promised sweet friends, I’ll post here and there as #schoolyearwife, especially around the holidays, or at the turn of each new season.

Fall. The air gets crisp. The leaves start to change — not as much in TX, but you get the point. So when designing our fall home decor I went a little more Halloween in some places, since it is October and all.

For example, I used Pinterest for FREE Halloween printables from Ella Claire. I used the same frame I had a map in this summer on the mantel to frame a label skeleton skull. I wanted to not lose the light & airy feel of my summer mantel (or maybe I’m secretly trying not to admit summer’s over), so I used lighter colors than I typically do at this time of the year. A little bit of orange and black, but mainly whites & silvers. Sometimes its fun to think outside the box of typical holiday colors.

I also use my pumpkin soup bowl to decorate. I place them all over the house. On shelves and in the china cabinet they live until it’s cool enough for soup in Texas. I usually host one pumpkin bowl dinner with my in-laws and family in mid-November. Mine are from Target, but here are some similar ones from World Market.

And lastly, I wanted to share this darling cotton/twig wreath I found in August at At Home. It was about $24 dollars! Can you believe it? Most often cotton wreaths go for much higher and I feel like this one is a great quality for the great price. I linked some similar ones here.

Happy Saturday!