The Living Room

I went on a rampage today. The kids got out of school early, so as soon as I picked them up we ran about 528 places to find some things for the living room. After way too many trips to multiple fabric stores, I finally narrowed it down. Since trying to do this room on a budget, I knew I would have to find ways to cut costs. I've had this swatch of fabric from Ballard Designs that I love and haven't been able to find the same color anywhere, but it would be a small fortune to spend the $30/yard that they were asking. So my first stop was to Home Depot for some canvas drop cloths. I've seen a few different bloggers reupholster with drop cloths and thought it the perfect solution- it's the exact color I want and I only spent $60 for all the fabric I'll need.

I'll be using it to cover these chairs:

Although mine have more curves, I'm hoping with a bit of nailhead trim they'll have a similar feeling to this chair:
And since I don't have a clue about reupholstering myself, my mom and are taking a little trip to the Florence prison next week. Supposedly it's the cheapest way to go and they do an excellent job. I'll let you know. :)

I made a stop at Mesa Sales to pick up a couple yards of this fabric for another chair that Candice so kindly let me use for the space as she doesn't have a spot for it in her house.

For the dining area, I want slipcovers like this for the parsons chairs, probably in white twill- durable and washable. I'm still searching for the best price on fabric.

A chandelier similar to this would be beautiful above those chairs, don't you think? I'll have to find a cheaper version than this one for $950.

After fabric, I headed to Cost Plus World Market for some curtains. I looked online where I thought Potterybarn had the best deal- white cotton voile tie-top panels for $25.99 each. I need 6, so I didn't think $155 was too bad. Then I did a search for other cotton voile curtains and Cost Plus popped up. A set of 2 for $24.99? Done.

Last, but not least, a quick stop at Hobby Lobby for a lavender branch to put in my glass bottle from Architectural Salvage. I think it'll look great on the new mantle. And so it begins.

Flowers For Me

I'm not usually one to buy fresh flowers for myself, but especially during spring and summer it's hard to resist when there are so many beautiful blooms that are near impossible to grow in AZ. I met Candice at Trader Joe's yesterday for some groceries and she had some lavender in her cart. When asked why she was buying it, she replied "Because I like it and it smells good." Silly me. So I picked up a couple bunches for myself. On my way home, I stopped by Goodwill to see if they had any vases to put my lavender in. No vases, but I found this cute Ball jar for 99 cents.

I think it's the perfect combination.

It adds just a hint of color to the kitchen and of course it smells heavenly! Fresh flowers are definitely a good thing.

Regret

Have you ever had the strong impression to act on something, but you didn't do it and now it's something you'll regret for the rest of your life? Well, it happened to me yesterday. It's not some earth shattering incident, but I am left with an awful feeling and wish I could go back and do it over. I was out making my weekly thrift store rounds, one of which was Salvation Army. It happened to be their $1.00 clothing day, but I had my kids with me so I didn't stop to rummage through the racks. I did find a few silver dishes and then went to the line to check out. The man in front of me had his arms full of work type clothes- ties, dress shirts and pants, a belt, and a pair of shoes. I'm guessing there were 15 items because he pulled out a $15 voucher to use. The cashier started ringing him up and when he got to the pair of shoes he said "These have a red tag which means they're only 50% off. The original price is $30 so that would make them $15 and that's going to use up your voucher." The guy thought for a minute and then quietly said "I'll just take the shoes." My heart started to pound and I was feeling so bad for him. He bought the shoes and walked out the door, but one minute later he was back. He asked where the restroom was and the cashier told him he had to leave his backpack at the counter. I was checking out at this point and all of the clothes he couldn't purchase were still sitting on the counter next to me. A thought kept coming to my mind- I could tell the cashier that I wanted to pay for the man's other items (it probably would've been around $14 worth) and leave them there with his backpack and I'd be gone before he came back from the restroom. He'd never know it was me. Great plan! But did I do it? No. I chickened out. And I'm not saying we should go around buying things for random people, I just had an impression that I should in this instance and I didn't follow through with it. I felt sick while I was driving away and I wanted to turn around and go back, but I knew it was too late. I know with time I'll get over it, but I don't think I'll ever forget it. Am I being ridiculous?

Word to the Wise

Never attempt to make-over multiple rooms at the same time. Bad idea. I decided to hire painters to get the job done a little quicker and since they were already painting the bedrooms I figured why not have them do the kitchen as well? ( I have wanted the kitchen painted for a while, that's another post for another time.) So you can imagine the mess with 4 rooms being torn apart and I'm a very tidy person, but it was getting ridiculous. Candice was afraid for my well-being. To make matters worse, I had to be gone all day when the painters were here, so I didn't get a look until they were done. I thought I made a good decision on the color, but I hated it! I chose the same color for the kitchen and the girls' room, which means both need to be re-done. So that's the point I'm at now. At least Clay's room and the playroom are good so I'm working on getting those finished up. I've been trying to find photos of playroom inspiration and they're hard to come by. Probably because most playrooms are for function over style. I did come across this room though:

Aren't the chalkboard walls fun? I just love that. Probably not very practical though because the room would be full of chalk dust!


Candice sent me this idea of doing a gallery wall; half being photos of the kids, and the other half being artwork by the kids. I love this.

Did You Know?

Did you know that you can shop Goodwill online? How did I not know about this? I found this info. as I was looking through the latest Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I guess it's like e-bay, only more addicting, if that's possible. Check it out here.

On a Whim

Well, I did something really stupid. Once it's finished I think I'll like it, but right now our house is a disaster area. I decided on the need for a playroom. I've given it some thought, but finally decided to go for it. However, Clay's room is the perfect spot for the new playroom because it's just off the family room which means his newly made-over room will get moved to the girls room, the girls will get moved to the guest room (because the guest room has it's own bathroom and a walk-in closet), and the guest room will no longer be. Bad news for me because I LOVE all the decor in the guest room, but good news for you because I have lots to sell! I've added a few items this morning, and in the next couple of days I should have quite a bit more. Hopefully I can get it finished up this week!

Challenge

Last Sunday our Bishopric challenged us to go 7 days without grocery shopping or going out to eat and only eat what we had in our home. It would have been easy if I had gone grocery shopping Saturday like I ususally do, but I hadn't been since the Wednesday before. Well, I made it to Thursday (which in reality was 8 days), and my fridge that's usually pretty full looked like this:

I guess we could have eaten rice and beans for the next few days, but I couldn't go another day without fresh produce! It was a good challenge though. It forced me to do some creative cooking and made me realize that we need to educate ourselves about gardening so we can actually grow our own fruits and vegetables (although we did have a delicious salad one night with romaine and spinach from our garden!)
After the grocery shop:

I may have been hungry when I went.

Garden

Since we planted our garden months ago, it started to sprout and then went dormant. Derek thought they weren't getting enough sun. So, we kind of gave up and stopped watering it. Then a few days ago Derek told me to come with him outside, and I saw this:

A head of lettuce growing right NEXT to the garden. We thought it very odd, but enjoyed it anyway. For dinner we had burgers on the grill and topped them with the lettuce. It was yummy!

Ebay

These might be my best purchase ever. I have found some fun treasures on ebay including dishes, mirrors, frames, etc., but never furniture. Until I saw these. I've been looking for SO long for chairs for my bedroom but have never found just the right thing. Yes, they need to be reupholstered, but they were just what I had in mind. Even better- they were $46. I think I did good.