West Elm Sale

I love a good West Elm sale!   West Elm is giving customers 15% OFF clearance items until September 23 with promo code FALL15.  They have great house decor items, and I did a little online shopping yesterday and am now awaiting the arrival of these three pretty items.

Sculpted Origami Pillow Cover in Heather Oatmeal

Final sale, $19.99

West Elm

SHORT NARROW VASE in WHITE

Final sale, $14.99

West Elm

CROSS DYE BASIC NAPKIN SET in red pepper

Set of 4 on Final sale, $9.99 

West Elm

I plan to use the heather oatmeal color pillow and the small white vase in our bedroom.  I'm thinking the color scheme of our bedroom will be shades of grey, blue, and white, with dark wood furniture.  My inspiration pictures are here, here, and here.  So far, we have dark wood nightstands and a dresser from Ikea and a gray duvet cover.

The red napkins will add some cheery color to our table, and they are also more earth-friendly than using paper napkins (right now we have a big bag of Costco ones) when guests come over.  Double win. :)

Making Old Furniture New

This past weekend we moved a lot of furniture into our house that was giving to us by my parents.  My dad was storing furniture for a few years with the idea of giving it to his children when they moved into houses.   My mom recently sold her house and will be moving to Florida, so she is also giving us a lot of furniture that she won't be taking with her.  I am very happy to be getting some beautiful pieces that have been in our family for decades.  Some of the pieces are in great shape, and we wouldn't think of touching them with paint or taking them apart.  But others... let's just say they could use a little TLC.

Which got me thinking about how best to make some of our old furniture new.  There are many great tutorials out there on the WWW about painting wood furniture, some clever IKEA hacks, and much more.  Here are three of my favorite furniture makeovers that I've seen recently.

1. Censational Girl's Thrift Store Cabinet Makeover

Wow!  Kate used a sander, paint, custom cut glass, and pieces of flat lattice to make this old piece look like new.  Can you believe it cost her a whopping $10?

Censational Girl

2. Dressed Up Dresser

Claire Zinnecker posted this into a great, modern piece on Camille Styles.

Camille Styles

3. Reupholster a Chair

We have some great chairs that could seriously use a new, fancy outfit.  Jessica wrote out a step-by-step tutorial here that I am itching to try.

Four Generations One Roof

So... which of our old pieces of furniture is up first?  I'll have to think about that.

Etsy Planting Pots for Less Than $25

Look at this little succulent baby!  This is a burro's tale succulent (related to the donkey tale).  It was given to us by my husband's mother about 1.5 years ago when it was teeny (like in the photo), and since then, it has grown so large that its vines now hang over the side of the pot and down off a shelf.  Succulents are a great way to bring some life to your house, since they require very little water, so if you forget about them for a while or go out of town for a week, they will do just fine! 

We have a lot of different succulents, and most of them are in cheap pots we found at Home Depot or got for free at our local nursery.  I've been thinking it's time to get some inexpensive but beautiful pots for our succulents, so I searched Etsy.  Here are three great and inexpensive options to brighten up your rooms.

Succulent in a tiny wooden box planter, $6

Yellow Elephant Planter, $15

BUYING A HOUSE

Storage bin found at Home Goods

Closing on our first house in TWO DAYS. While we have a growing to do list...

(1) find a plumber, electrician, and an asbestos abatement company
(2) choose paint colors
(3) figure out how to take down some seriously old and outdated wallpaper
(4) decide whether to hire somebody to refinish and stain the wood floor in the dining room and living room
(5) prioritize our to-do list!

...clearly it's more fun to shop for home decor. SO. Off to Home Goods I went to return a few things, and after a quick look through the store, I found a great PANTRY find. Two canvas bins from Home Goods! Cute and sturdy.  #avoidance  #timetodecorate