Stairs

We had our runner installed last night.  I was a little nervous of how I would like the pattern, but I have to say I not only like it, I love it! When we first moved in I thought I didn't want to compromise the steps by putting carpet over it. But having a toddler changes things, it's all about safety! Now that we have carpet on the steps, I don't know how we lived for almost two years without it.

We are still in the midst of other home improvements, so stay tuned for more pictures to come.

Here is the runner.  Again we went with Smart Carpet, a Costco vendor.  We paid $862 for the carpet, binding and installation.  I also received a small runner for my hallway, all included in the price above.  The carpet we chose is by Milliken and the style is Modern Flair, Nickel.  The carpet is nylon and has a basic pad underneath.

My Wreath Project

Now, I'm not Colette of "Moving to the Country" but I did try my hand at making a wreath for our front door on my own. To my surprise, I enjoyed doing it too!

For what seems like forever, I've been searching for the perfect wreath and didn't find it until I went on Etsy.com. BUT I didn't want to pay the price of nearly $100. So, I did some research and found out that I could easily duplicate the wreath.  So here is what I did:

I went to Michael's, which lucky for me has an 35% off coupon  that week, and I got the following:

• Three 6 ft vines of artificial boxwood leaves (it is plastic, better to have this over silk for the elements). I paid  $11.99 per vine (all prices below show the coupon discount).
• One wire wreath frame at 16 inches for $2.99: http://www.michaels.com/search?q=wire%20wreath
• One Fleur De Lis wreath hanger for $4.99

Then I found the other items at Kirklands and Home Depot:

• One monogrammed wooden letter plaque from Kirklands.com for $12.99: http://www.kirklands.com/product/Wooden-Monogram-F-Wall-Plaque/171599.uts
• One can of Thompson's clear, wood sealant from Home Dept at $4.99 for the wooden letter: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Thompson-s-WaterSeal-12-oz-Clear-Multi-Surface-Waterproofer-TH-010100-18/100122967

Total savings for doing it myself is $40.00!

Here is a comparison of my wreath (on the right) to that of Etsy (on the left):

Here is a full door view:

 

 

 

 

 

 

PAINT!

What a difference paint makes!  It's been almost 2 years, and we finally started  to paint our house. We waited for the year nail pops and for seam repair work. We're painting one room at a time.  But here are a few pictures of our rooms; the office and the dining room.  We also changed out the light fixture, added molding and chair rail--bye-bye builder grade!  It's hard to see in the picture, but our office is Sherwin Williams, Repose Grey and our dining room is Comfort Grey.  The dining room in person is more of a green-blue grey and the office is a traditional grey.  One of these days I will break out my professional camera opposed to using my iPhone.

Stay tuned for more fun pictures to come as we continue to paint. Happy building and decorating everyone!

Lately

Hi everyone!

So much has been happening over in our neck of the woods. First, my daughter turned 1!  Man, it feels as though I blinked and that she went from a baby to now a full fledged toddler!  We had a "Sweet Shop" themed party and I enjoyed all the party planning aspects of the event.   Below, is a picture of the yummy and awesome cake that my neighbor, Alicia Baker made.  Alicia is not a professional baker, but from the taste and the look of this cake, I think she needs to go into business.

Our floors were replaced last Thursday. Although the creaking is gone, the process of  ripping up the floors was a pain!  I am most annoyed that now I have to show how baseboards are cracked, walls are dinged, and I also have glue on my new floors.  It makes me think that had Ryan did the floors right in the first place we could have all avoided this drama.

Now, we're onto the next issue, seam work.  We have bumpy ceilings, walls, and some cracked areas where  the metal framing is poking through the drywall. We are scheduled to start the work next week. I hear the dust is a pain in the butt!  I guess I will need to get a cleaning crew out again to handle the clean up.

Onto better news--the rooms that don't need work done--the dining room and the office are currently being painted and we're having molding added to them too. Once it is finished I will add pics!

Still shopping...here is a new table for our foyer that I ordered from West Elm.  I also found the fun shaped latern from you guessed it, HomeGoods!

Chairs Update

So the chairs work in the room; the color is magnificent!  I don't need an 8 piece setting, so I will delete two chairs from the table. What do you think?

Shop Till You Drop!

I don't really have much to post about the house except, I have chosen my paint colors! The palette will be gray, green/blueish and beige. But the project is placed on semi-hold because the hardwoods still need to be replaced---ugghhh! The good news is my contractor is very understanding and is willing to do the job in stages. So, we'll start with our foyer, and upstairs and then move down to the rest of the house.

So, this post is just about pictures. Here are a few of my buys from my favorite places--HomeGoods, Costco, Target, Pier One,  Ross, TJ Maxx, Macy's, and  Marshalls.  I also bought a runner for our stairs!   Enjoy the photos and happy building and decorating!

Spruced up my lamps with this top. I found this at Pier One on clearance for $9.99. It adds the right pop of color for the room. 

Full view...

Nate Berkus metal artwork. I found this at Target on clearance for $7.98!

Here is a sample of what my stair runner will look like (this runner only has two colors cream and beige). Below is a picture of the print up close (our pattern will have 3 colors--gray, beige, and cream). Just like this picture, our walls will be painted gray. The color, by Sherwin Williams is Repose Gray. 

Milliken "modern flair" print, the color is nickel. This will go on our stairs as a runner.  I found this at Costco. Costco has a contract with a local carpet store. In our area the store is Smart Carpet.  They'll come to your house, measure and will show you samples of carpet, hardwood, laminate, tile, you name it.  I already knew what brand, color, and style I wanted because I did my research.  I was shopping around to see where I could get the best price.  And the Costco connection saved me $500 and will provide me with not only a runner for my stairs, but runner for my hallway.  Check your local Costco to see if they have the same program.   The carpet above is our standard carpet that we chose from Ryan. The color matches well.

Our family room is really starting to come together.  I have new window treatments  coming soon.  I will update once they arrive.  Leather furniture is from Macys, the Clyde collection. Small tables from HomeGoods, which were $49.99 a piece. Orange blankets also HomeGoods, $19.99 a piece. 

Artwork from HomeGoods... $29.99 each. 

This picture shows my dining room paint color, Sherwin Williams, Comfort Gray.  The color is really unique. In our dining room it appears to look blue/green next to my peacock pieces.  I can't wait to see it! 

I am debating on placing shutters on our sliding door in our morning room. If I get these, this will be another Costco connection.  I was quoted a price of $1600, which is about $130 cheaper than I was quoted from another vendor.  What do you think, do you like the look?

My buy for this week found at Marshalls.  These are Cynthia Rowley dining chairs at $99 a piece. The color is hard to see in the picture, but is teal. These chairs will compliment my peacock inspired dining room.  I have these chairs on a "paid hold" at the store.  I love this concept, I have a few days to think about it and if I see something different or think it will not work for my space, all I do is go back to the store and make an easy return. And in most cases, not hassle of lugging back cumbersome objects.   This really helps at stores like HomeGoods because you know if you see it, you better get it because nine times out of ten it won't be there when you go back.  Hopefully they will work in the room. The store had two chairs in this pattern. I think using these chairs as anchors at the end of the dining table would really transform the room. I will keep my four other  chairs that came with the set. Again, I hope it works…I will keep you posted.

Back of the chair, showing off the nail head pattern.

Office space storage benches.  These are faux leather, got them for $39.99 a piece from T J Maxx.  I placed them together and put a table runner (Tahari Home, HomeGoods $16.99) to make it look like one piece.  We store CDs and movies in the benches.  The tray on top is from HomeGoods, $18 on clearance, and the pedestal candles are from HomeGoods priced from $9.99-11.99. Finally, the silver candles are from Pottery Barn. 

Office art wall.  All these items were found at Ross.  NYC picture $29.99, @ sign $7.99 and family artwork $6.99.

Love these pillows!  Found them at HomeGoods for $16.99 a piece. The lamp is from Macy's, on clearance for $130.00.

Better picture of the lamps base. The lamps are solid wood, with a brushed nickel base.  I didn't plan to have two in the room, but Macy's decided to give me two for the price of one. Gotta love online shopping!

DWTimes2…We got a Kirklands!

This post is for my girl, DWTimes2 because she always writes about the deals at Kirklands. OMG…she was not kidding because we just got a Kirklands in Cherry Hill, NJ and let's just say I've been there so many times the sales people greet me when I walk into the store {blushing}.

I've bought some really great decor items, such as chalkboard containers like these.  I also found more amazing  accessories for my peacock inspired dining room for only $18 bucks! I racked up on Christmas decorations for next year as well. I went there the day after Christmas and everything was 75% off. So, if you have a Kirklands near you, go check them out or shop online too at www.kirklands.com.

Happy shopping!