Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Too Weird For Words?

I am a pillow addict. They are spilling out of every closet, out from under the beds, in garbage bags in the garage. I bought 2 more last night. For my bedroom. They didn't work there. Rather than resigning them to a return bag in my trunk, I tried them in the living room. Now, there is not really any blue in this room. The couch is sort of grey-green and persimmon. The walls are a soft caramel and Svelte Sage, a grey-green. This is a little weird. But for some reason, I kind of like them! Am I losing my mind? Should I just return them and look for something else that actually has green in it? Or is this one of those situations where you can just throw an accent color in that has nothing to do with anything?

I've seen other bloggers with green walls, a tan couch and brown and blue pillows, all not necessarily matching exactly but there is a flow. Perhaps that is what i'm looking for here. Lord knows i've been trying to find the "perfect" accent pillows for this couch for 4 years. They don't exist. So whaddya think? Is it too weird for words?




p.s. If you are going to tell me to use the ones I got from Goodwill yesterday, they're in my bedroom now where they are very happy...

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Shutter Update & Goodwill Finds

Thanks again for all the advice on my shutter dilemna yesterday. After reading all of it, I decided to try Chris & Nester's advice and turn the shutter on it's side. I would have stacked the other one on top, but then the clock would have to go somewhere, and it probably would have misplaced another item, so I opted for a blend. I think this works so much better spatially. I like the lightness, texture and symmetry. And I promise it looks so much better in person... refer to yesterday's post for a summation of my photography skills. Anyways, did I mention I have 2 more identical shutters, for a total of 4? So technically I could have lined them vertically across the back of the couch and had a whole wall of shutters, but it may have been too much. I hope that info doesn't change anyone's advice! I also put a "cute" little hole in the adjoining wall when I lost my grip on a shutter {dang those things are HEAVY} and hubs was like you did what to the shutter and what to the wall?

Anyways, tell me what you think. I can always tweak it some more.
Chris, if you're reading this, your plate arrangement suggestion made sense to me but it felt off to me with the size of the plates compared to the clock... I have more of each size if you think it would look better another way: I have 2 more large ones, and 2 more small ones.


I also dropped into Goodwill today. I found 3 decorator pillows in mint condition, minus part of the trim on this one. But doesn't it look fab on this dark chocolate patterned "friendship chair"? It has just the right aqua in the windowpane plaid, and it reminds me of men's suiting material, a good match for the ticking stripe window mistreatment. It was $3.


I also found these 2 cuties for $3 each. They smell brand new and they are the exact right grey/green/blue that i am trying to accessorize with in the living room.

For the record, I was in the same Goodwill last Friday and found nothing. It really pays to go often, and after the weekend. People bring in their yardsale leftovers or stuff they found around their house while doing weekend cleaning. I always find my best scores in the beginning of the week.





Last but not least is the updated dining room centerpiece... the 2 porch posts on the left I got at a thrift shop 2 weeks ago and have just made them into candle stands by doing nothing more than setting a candle on top. Wha-la. Instant candle garden.




That's it for now. Or until I tweak something again!

Monday, July 13, 2009

How to Shutter {help, please!}

I suck at photography, must as I would love to be better. Now that we've got that out of the way,
you can give me your opinion on these pictures without wondering how I could have possibly taken such terrible pictures. It's easy: 2 young kids, a crappy camera {too lazy to drag out the big boy one in the closet} and only 14 seconds. There. Now back to the dilemna at hand.

After reading quite a few posts on shutters, I finally got inspired to use some I've had sitting in my garage for over a year. A friend remodeled {a friend who knows how crazy I am and loves me anyway} and offered them to me. Of course! Tired of my above couch display, Ifirst propped them on the floor flanking a PB shelf and clock. Here's how that went, notice the umpteen tweaks I made to the contents of the shelf:

#1 Dishes, books, and 1 topiary


#2 Dishes, books, 2 topiaries and a seashell:


#3 Dark horrible picture of asymmetrical grouping:


Then I decided I was too bizarre for words and nailed the bad boys to the wall {with email help from Nester} and flanked them with more of the just-scored-stash of ironstone from Goodwill.

#4 No shelf, lots of ironstone.


So, which look do you prefer??? I am so undecided. But I do know I love the shutters. They are very textural and kind of lighten up my heavy couch. I want to keep them, but if all the options are just horrible, tell me that too. Just in a kind way.

Thanks.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Keepin it Real: Price My Space - Family Room



After having house guests all weekend, and a raucous mexican train and wii championship til 4 am this morning, my pictures understandably are a little lacking. But I was so excited about The Nester's Price My Space party that I just had to participate! Please understand these pics were taken tonight, at dusk, after everything I mentioned above...


Here is the room as seen from the entry hall of my home. It is kind of a weird room, almost part of the kitchen, and we have treated it as such. This is where all our family meals take place, we sit and chat with friends, and people gather for BBQ's. The patio is right through that slider. There is an ugly builder grade ceiling fan/light casting that weird glow in the room, and we have yet to replace it. Keeping it real, remember? If you want to read about the paint color which I love, go here.

This is our table and chairs and rug. The rug was free because we borrowed it from my parents who had it in storage.

- The 2 slipcovered end chairs are from Ikea, 7 or 8 years ago, and were about $100 each. I bleach the living daylights out of those covers pretty often and they've held up great.

- The table and chairs {which i must disclaim I bought primarily for the farm table, and I hate the chairs but they're sturdy and great and easy to wipe down so I keep them, for now} was just $120 on Craigslist and never used.

- The ironstone tray and vintage silver sugarbowl on the table were both anniversary gifts, price: the cost of marriage. Hee hee...

- Here are my window mistreatments, which I blogged about here. They consist of a $7 Ralph Lauren sheet ripped in two and tacked up with upholstery tacks.

- The platter above was about $8 at Marshalls
- the rug below {LOVE it} was about $15 at Target. I have a big one that matches it in my kitchen... you can see part of the cabinets and counters on the right. I am not including that stuff in this post though.

- Oh, and the cool urn at the top of the cabinet was $4 at Goodwill and the green ball was part of a free topiary that I cut the stick off of.

Remember I mentioned the cute flouncy ruffle at the bottom of the RL sheet? Could it be any cuter?

Once again the firplace area.
- Free picture/display-ledge-turned-faux-mantle cause I'm cheap and lazy.

If I had my druthers this whole room would be pimped out in beadboard wainscotting with moulding everywhere, but my druthers are nowhere to be found. I guess they're caught up in the recession and the constantly declining value of real estate. Ahem. Back to the picture.

- The mirror was $10 at a garage sale, the sconces were $20 each at Home Goods, and the vintage butter pats were $1 each at an estate sale.
- The moroccan pouf was a gift and the suitcases were $20, $12, and free {gift from a friend} in ascending order.

Here's my fave part of the room.

- This is the "friendship chair" given to me by a friend. Price: free. If I ever decide to get rid of it, I have to continue the tradition and give it to another friend. So sweet, and so much comfort and character! You should see the legs! I guess I didn't capture it well.

- The dresser is my $50 dresser from 10 years ago that I've repainted a million times and blogged about here and here. I love it like The Nester loves her white dresser. It's so versatile and I've used it EVERYWHERE. Right now it holds craft supplies and puzzles for the kids.

- Back to the chair, the aqua throw was $10 clearance at Marshall's
- the linen pillow was $13 at TJ's
- the little pillow was won in a giveaway from Marley & Lockyer. Love her! {Please don't notice I didn't even fluff the pillows for you. Just keepin it real.}


- The clock was $50 at HomeGoods
- the lamp was $20 at TJ Maxx
- the birdcage was $22 at Beverly's crafts
- the topiary was about $13
- The little faux succulent was .69 clearance and the little silver cup it's in was about $1 thrift.
- And the robins egg blue iron piece was about $13 at Ross 5 years ago.
- The plates on top are vintage french and were $8 each {bit of a splurge for me}
- the blue plates below which match the platter over the door were $3 each at Marshall's.


But I saved the best {worst} for last.
- Here is my ...gulp... $750 armoire. Yes, I said it. And yes, I'm ashamed. But I LOVE it.
- And it's next to a free bookshelf I fixed up with paint and a $4 remnant of fabric.
- And the basket on it was $5 on clearance and is lined with linen.
- The vintage window above was $15 at the Alameda Flea Market, bought on this trip. I lined it with burlap for texture, cost about $2.

So my whole room has totaled out at about $1,415.69. But I realized I forgot to show you the bar. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed what you did see!

Friday, July 10, 2009

Lamps: Walmart vs. the Big Boys

I couldn't sleep last night. So at 3 am I decided to shop for lamps online. I found some great lamps at Walmart that are identical to Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware lamps for a fraction of the cost. Check it out:

Pottery Barn: $110 for lamp base, $29 for shade



Walmart: $30 total. These are great and they even adjust up and down for added height. I might get 2 of these for either side of my sofa. The aged bronze finish matches the nailhead trim on my sofa and I love the modern simplicity of them. Here's the link if you're interested... and they don't seem to have them in all stores, mostly online: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10788943


Here's a Restoration Hardware lamp priced at $179

Here's Walmart's version for just $39.97 found here:




Walmart has loads of great lamps, like this one for just $35.88 found here:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11037995




Or this one for just $29, found here: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10910142 A little bit too severe for me, but very beautiful and so Restoration Hardware!


Or this one, which I may seriously consider for just $30! http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=10910136



I heart Walmart, even though I'm a little chagrined to admit it.