2 Items I Want…Now!

Not to be greedy or anything, but it’s so fantastic when you find something you’ve been wanting for a while. And at a semi-affordable price.

I mentioned last week that one of my goals in 2012 is to create a mini home office in our Master Bedroom. Well, I found the perfect little writing desk that would fit in the space and provide the function I need...

It's called the Julia Desk. Ain’t Julia purdy? She’s from the website Home Decorators Collections, and the cost is normally $399, but it's on sale for $190 (much more affordable). The painted white finish will work well in the room. I like the bamboo-style trim and legs on the desk. The few drawers across the top will hold pens, pencils, paper clips etc. I plan to float some shelves on the wall above it to hold baskets and bins for bulkier items.

And here's the great part ... I found a chair that I want to buy to go with the desk! It's the Sand Parsons Chair from Kirkland's...

The cost is normally $80, but it's on sale for $60. I like that the chair is upholstered - for comfort - and the color is neutral. So, it'd be versatile for any space in the house. The nail head trim is a nice little detail. The dark wood legs don't necessarily coordinate with all the painted white wood in the room, but I could always paint them white if I decided I didn't like the wood contrast.

What do you think? Like the style? Worth the moolah?

P.S. It would go on this wall of the bedroom ...

The bookcase would go on another wall.

 

***Thanks to Kirsten Krason @ 6th Street Design School for the sale tips!

Treasure Hunting

Happy Monday! I thought I'd start off the week by sharing with you a few little items I've purchased over the last couple weeks. I've been shopping around looking for functional and decorative items for the home without spending a ton of money. I'm also thinking about the upcoming seasons and holidays and what might be useful for that time of year.

The first two items were purchased at Marshalls. You never know what you'll find at this store. Sometimes you find great deals. Sometimes you find nothing. Well, the day I was at the store I could have bought almost every dish/platter/bowl/pitcher in the aisle. But I practice restraint (by slapping my hand back as I would reach for items) and only bought two things.

The first trinket is this little ceramic bowl with a picture of a birdie, nest, and twigs/leaves around it. Most of you know about my bird-crush. It's no secret, and yes, I'm considering counseling. But this little $3.00 bowl I just couldn't pass up. It can be decorative for spring/summer/fall, and will look adorable holding little chocolate Easter eggs next March (or is Easter in April in 2012?). The greens, blues, and browns will allow me to use it in multiple rooms in the house.


Item numero dos is this gorgeous white platter. You see, a couple of years ago I broke a large white platter we owned and used for all kinds of things. We've been needing a replacement since then. This was only $15.00 (!) and has a beautiful shape. When we have grill-out parties in the summertime, Joey will have a place to stack all the meat. When not being used for food, I can display the platter by hanging it on a wall or setting it up for a table display. Per-fact!


The final item(s) purchased hail from Crate & Barrel. They are a pretty common item (as in, I know many women who own them), but I just can't get enough of them. Yes, it's the Parker Mini Bowl.


I bought 4 of them at $3.95 each: Red, Blue, Yellow, and Orange. I thought the variety of color would again allow for versatility in different rooms. The red will be great for Christmas. I can fill it with ornaments or chocolate kisses or potpourri. The orange bowl will likely be filled with candy corn for Halloween. I can do the red and blue together for 4th of July etc. etc. etc... LOVE!



So, what items have you added to your decor lately? Anyone have a thing for dishes like me? Tell me I'm not alone!

Free Purchases!

Free Purchases... Sounds like an oxymoron, right? Well, it's not! I received several gift cards for Christmas and put some of them to use this weekend by purchasing a couple items for our home. So, the actual cost was (mostly) free for me!

Let me give you a quick run-down of the goods...


Item #1: Punched Ceramic Lantern - White
This captured my attention the moment I laid eyes on it. The lantern was also being sold in a bright green, which I considered getting, but I decided white would be most versatile as the lantern could be used in a variety of rooms. I will probably start by using it on the built-in bookcase in our living room. I plan to put a votive candle in it for a pretty glow.

Purchase Location: Pottery Barn

Cost: $39.99
Kinda pricey, but it was new on the shelves for spring - therefore, not on sale. I couldn't resist. It's so pretty. And my PB gift cards helped lower the cost significantly.




Item #2: Decorative Birds Nest
This item was left over from Christmas and on sale at 75% off. I just knew I could find a little home for it. It will be great for Spring decorating.

Purchase Location: Pottery Barn

Cost: On sale for $3.97

Item #3: White Milk-Glass Soap Pump
I thought this was beautiful. I'm going to use it in my kitchen by the sink.

Purchase Location: Target

Cost: On sale for $12.99 (but technically free thanks to a Target gift card)

Item #3: Large Milk Crate Basket

Purchase Location: Target

Cost: $17.99 (also free to me thanks to that Target gift card)




I'm going to use the basket to corral my husband's nightstand stuff...




...and make it look pretty to match my nightstand.




I can't wait to put my new items to good use!

I Saw It. I Loved It. We Bought It.

For quite a while now, I've been wanting a new area rug for our living room. The one we were using was kind of small for the space and didn't add a lot of color or interest to the room. I've window shopped for rugs at a lot of stores over the last few months - saying nay-nay to most of them because area rugs can be really expensive - especially large-sized ones. So, I had decided to be patient, hoping I would eventually come across a rug that would be just the right look and price for our needs.

Well, "eventually" came Friday night. After a leisurely dinner out, Joey and I walked into a local Marshalls/HomeGoods store (about 20 minutes prior to closing) to do a quick look-around to see if any good deals caught our attention. After quickly browsing through the kitchen/dining section - viewing many beautiful dishes and serving pieces - I went over to the section of the store hanging the area rugs. Within minutes - no , seconds - I saw "the one". I took a quick scan through the other options, but came back to "the one" immediately. I called Joey over for his approval and he agreed it was a good fit for what we needed. And the price wasn't half bad either. So, we decided to purchase it.

Now, impulse buying is NOT my thing. I usually ponder the thought of buying the item, check out options at other stores, compare prices, etc... but Friday night was different. It did help that I knew the area rug choices at many other locations (as I mentioned above I had been window shopping for a while), but something in my gut just told me this was it. And if we didn't buy it now, I may not find anything like it, or especially at this price point, ever again. So, I went with my gut.

At 1 minute to closing, we checked out with our new area rug and headed home - to immediately put the rug into place. Why wait until morning? I was too pumped to sleep. And, I captured some pictures for your viewing pleasure. I apologize if the lighting of the pictures is not the greatest - that's what I get for snapping shots at 11pm.

First, here's a quick peek at the old rug (minus the coffee table that Joey had already removed). The size was 5X8 and it was a neutral tan color...


...a little small and blah, right? So, we rolled it up and moved it out.

Once the carpet was removed, it revealed our beautiful hardwood floors underneath (and yes, that's the new rug rolled up on the couch) ...


This might lead you to ask why cover up such pretty floors with an area rug? Well, there are several reasons to use an area rug, most being practical reasons:

1. It helps protect the wood floors. I know I can't forever keep my wood floors from getting some scratches, dings, dents etc. But the rug will help protect some of the main area.
2. I live in Wisconsin. It's freezing from October - March (sometimes longer). The rug warms the space and feels nice under cold feet.
3. Area rugs help define the space by grouping furniture together in a way that makes the space feel cohesive - as opposed to just random furniture sitting all over the place.
4. Area rugs can enhance the rooms color scheme depending on what colors are in the rug.

For all these reasons, I wanted an area rug in the living room.

Before the rug could actually be placed on the floor, I wanted to put down a rug pad - this helps to keep the rug from slipping on the wood floor.



The pad we bought was actually slightly larger than the rug itself. The pad bag says it can be used for 8X10 or 8X11 rugs - our new rug was about 7.5X9.5 (kind of random). So, I new I would have to cut some of it off. But I started by laying the rug pad in the generally right location. And as you can see, Spike was a very curious kitty and watched the process from the sidelines...



Once the pad was in place, I laid the rug down where I wanted it. Here you can see most of the color and pattern of the new rug. And you can see that the pad goes out around the edges...



I wanted to do as little cutting as possible. So, I laid 2 sides of the rug right where they needed to be - with the corner of the rug going just past the corner of the pad.



Then I took scissors to cut the other 2 sides away.




That gave me a perfect fit around all sides of the rug. Even Spike agreed it was perfect. He immediately laid down...



And here is an up-close shot of the rug pattern. It has many colors that work wonderfully with the room. The tans and browns go with all of our woodwork. The sage green perfectly matches our sage green walls. The other colors - light blue, pale yellow, and hint of red - are all colors that I will use as accent colors in the room throughout the different seasons. And the pattern is not too formal either.



The chocolate brown color will also (hopefully) match the up-and-coming addition to our living room (set to arrive in 3-4 weeks). So, I'll share more pics with you then. And the rug location will be slightly adjusted at that time.

How much did all this cost, you ask? I will share...

Area Rug:
Original Price $300.00
Sale Price $150.00

Rug Pad:
Original Price $39.99
Sale Price $29.99

Total = $179.99

But then you get to subtract $95.00 of Katie's Christmas cash...

Grand Total out-of-pocket = $84.99

I think that's a steal of a deal!

And here is a comparable rug I had been eying at Pottery Barn...



...a 5X8 would have cost us $429.00 and upgrading to an 8X10 would have been $649.00 (!).

And I like the colors in our rug better! Take that PB!

So, what do you think? Love the look? We do!

Smart Art

It's not very often that I find artwork that I completely fall in love with the moment I lay eyes on it. In fact, generally speaking, I'm very indecisive about art and have no clue where to begin when it comes to purchasing art for my home. And this can be any type of artwork - from prints and photographs to paintings or signs or .... you get the idea. And on top of that, you have to think about things like size - how big (or small)? what color? what frame? which room do I place it in?

Ugh.

So many options.

And on top of all that, there's the big question: What is the PRICE???
Artwork can be super expensive or super cheap or anywhere in between. And personally, I'm not one to fork out a ton of cash for art. So, I'm always looking for inexpensive ways to buy or create artwork that doesn't look "cheap".

So, that leads me to my current story. I was poking about Hobby Lobby (one of my favorite places in the world) the other day, when I happened to see that one of their sale items for the week was artwork and frames. Thinking to myself, "I am going to need to fill all these newly painted walls with something", I wandered over to the art area and started thumbing through prints that they sell (most of which I would never hang in my house. ever.). Well, within a few minutes, I came across a print that stopped me dead in my tracks. I loved it. I wanted to marry it. I wanted to take it home to be mine forever. And given my general indecisiveness about art that I mentioned above, I realized quickly that this piece was a must buy.

One problem: it needs a frame. Frameless art is like homeless art.

So next, I wandered over to the frame section and started hunting - unsure if I could buy ready-made frame, or if it needed custom framing, I meandered through the aisles looking. Certain of my unsureness (is that a word?), the Hobby Lobby Helper asked me what I was looking for and I replied "the most inexpensive frame that I can use for this print". He got out his handy dandy tape measure (not "measuring tape" as my husband reminds me) and told me the print + mat was 18 inches by 24 inches (decent size) and I could pick from a whole wall of ready-to-buy (cheap) frames. Hooray.

Then I had to decide - black frame? brown frame? white frame? something else?

So, I pulled out multiple options, laid them down, and laid the picture on them to see what I liked best. It came down to the black frame or a rustic grayish/brown wood frame. The decision was difficult. The black frame was more streamlined, modern, and could be used in almost any room. But the rustic grayish/brown frame spoke to me - "buy me. buy me." It matched the beauty and color of the print so well. And so I went with my gut, and bought it.

Now to reveal the purchases.

First, the print. I love water. I love boats. I love sepia tones. The picture has all 3.


Second, the frame. You can see it is a mix of browns, grays, blacks. Rustic. Like old barn wood.

Third, the print in the frame. See how well the tones of the wood match the tones of the print? Priceless. I think it's beautiful.


The Price? Keep in mind the following was 50% of the original price.

Print: $9.50
Frame: $22.50
Tax: $1.76
Total: $33.74

That's right. 30 bucks. I was grinning from ear to ear.

I can't wait to hang this in my home. I'm still deciding where to hang it though. Probably either the downstairs hall or the dining room or the downstairs office/3rd bedroom. I'll make the final decision once we finish painting the walls in these rooms.

So what do you think? Was it a steal of a deal? or a bust?

Any art you've bought recently that you love? Do share!

Fabulous Finds...

Sorry to disappoint you, but since Joey was out of town all weekend, not much got done on the home front (other than some more unpacking/putting-away/organizing). So, I don't have much to share today in terms of house projects or improvements.

However, I did have a great time shopping with my friend, Chelsea, on Saturday evening at some of my favorite stores - PotteryBarn (PB), Restoration Hardware, Crate & Barrel, and Williams-Sonoma (W-S) - and although I could have spent thousands of dollars on the glorious goods that we oooh'd and ahhh'd over, I limited myself to a few little fabulous finds...

Find #1: PB Chancellor Napkin Holder
Price: $24.00
What's so exciting about napkin holder, you ask? Well, I currently have a napkin holder that "stands" the napkins upright in it for a supposedly easy-to-grab-a-napkin effect... I HATE this napkin holder. Why? As soon as you go to grab 1 napkin from it, all the other napkins pull out with it. Also, if the napkin holder is not completely full at all times, the napkins start to sag in holder, causing them to become wavey/wrinkled, which looks awful. Hence, it was love at first sight with this new napkin holder. It is the only item I bought that was not on sale (and I rarely fork out dough for full-priced items). This hand-polished gleaming napkin holder lays the napkins flat in it and comes with a weighted, decorative key to hold the napkins in place (great for outdoor dining)... so charming for the center of the table.

Find #2: PB Scattered Shell Placemats
Original Price: $8.00 per placemat
Sale Price: $4.79 per placemat
These will go great with the different colors I'm using in both the Dining Room and the table on the back porch. I only bought 2 though because I'm going to use them for the center of the table rather than as actual placemats. I can set a candle or other centerpiece on top of them for a pretty table-scape. The watercolor shells, sand dollars and red coral were hand painted by one of PB's in-house designers - each placemat has a slightly different pattern.

Find #3: Flowered PlaceMats
Original Price: $8.00 per placemat
Sale Price: $4.79 per placemat
I bought 4 of these specifically for use on the porch table in the summer - where my love of all things blue and yellow can come to life.

Find # 4: PB Double Wall Hurricane
Original Price: $49.50
Sale Price: $19.50
I bought this beautiful glass hurricane for its versatility. I can surround a candle with different objects, depending on the season - sand and shells, potpourri, botanicals, ornaments etc....

Find #5: W-S Dish Towels
Original Price: $18 for set of 4
Sale Price: $12.99
Good dish towels are a hard find, but I've heard great things about W-S dish towels, particularly for drying wet dishes, and once I touched the towels for myself, I was sold. They will be great for all sorts of tasks – from mopping up spills to drying pots and pans. The cotton towels are woven in a thick, absorbent twill weave. Can't wait to use 'em!

And here is my favorite item on the much-wanted-but-didn't-buy list - PotteryBarn's Sienna Paisley Duvet Cover and Shams...


Well, now you've seen a list of my newest treasures. Anything you've bought recently that you love and couldn't live without? Do tell!