Playroom Update: What's Goin' On?

Hey look.....it's a post from me! I know, I know. I've been a little MIA the last couple weeks.

So what have I been doing lately....well, besides watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix (Can you say "addicted!"?) and killing all the mums I bought to decorate for Fall?  You know....all those real life things....parenting three special needs teenagers, school activities, church activities, family activities, holding down the fort while husband is on business trip. It's been my occupation for quite some time now, but I've officially given myself the title of "Person Who Holds Down The Fort." I'm a Fort Holder Downer.

In the last couple days I haven't needed to hold on quite so tightly to the fort, so I've been working on some details in the playroom. This is what I consider the fun stuff.

 

 

I've been trying to track down some baskets I like for in the new Kallax shelves. I didn't know they'd be so difficult to find....or so expensive. After looking in several stores and online, I had resigned myself to the fact that the least costly option was to wait until the next trip to IKEA (who knows when that will be) and purchase the ones they have. I wasn't too excited about that option because, 1.) I wasn't completely in love with them, and B.) We all know I'm not good at waiting.  :-)

 

But last week I came across these baskets at Target. I can't believe I hadn't seen them sooner! I used Target's Cartwheel app  (Have you tried it yet? It's great!) and was able to get them at 15% off, so they wound up being less expensive than the ones at IKEA.....and I like them better. So, two days and 4 Target stores later, I finally have six baskets to fill the cubbies.

 



 

 

I'm excited about the extra storage that I'm gaining with these shelves. Three of these baskets already hold all my candles that were taking over a closet. Yep, three baskets.....one for pillars, one for jar candles, and one for Christmas candles. I lined the bottom of the them with parchment paper to protect the candles from the rough basket.

 

 

 

 

Besides the baskets, I've been trying to gather some fun wall art and accessories. I'll share more details on all that when the room is more complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that's what's going on around here. It's a slow process, but that's okay.







A Road Trip To IKEA And A Playroom Update

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope you had a great weekend.

On Saturday, I got to do something I had been looking forward to for a while. I headed off on a road trip to IKEA with all my favorite girls. It was a Ladies Day, Road Trip, IKEA-Shopping Extravaganza!! Our traveling party included me, my daughter, Sal (an IKEA first-timer), my niece, and my Mom.

We woke up to rain on Saturday morning. BUMMER. But we didn't let that dampen our spirits. Oh no....we forged on!

(See that sky? That's what is was like. All. Day.)

 





It's been a long time since I had been to IKEA on a Saturday. It was BUS-Y!

Since the closest store is two hours away, I always try to think ahead, make a plan, and use the trip wisely, so to speak, since I don't know when I'll be back again.

As you know, I've been thinking a lot about our "playroom" and have been gathering inspiration.

So I picked up some Kallax shelving.

And I also picked up this rug. I think it will add a fun bit of color to the room. It was a good deal too. It's over 4x6 ft. and with my IKEA Family card I got it for 14.99! Rugs can be expensive, so I was a happy camper.

I got a few small things too.

 

 

I bought a couple more of these sea grass placemats. I have two already, but I wanted to be able to do a whole table setting using them.

 

The black and white striped plate caught my attention.

 

Those little metal planters are only .99. I had one, but was wanting another....for symmetry. I have a thing about symmetry. Ha!

 

I love the cork hot pads. They're great in the kitchen, obviously, but I find myself using them to raise objects up in different vignettes I do. So sometimes I run out of them in the kitchen!

 

And lastly, I thought this black and white geometrical print pillow was really cute. Another good deal at only 5.99.

 

It was a good day. We girls always have so much fun together....lots of talking and laughing. I love them all so much and it was great to spend the day with them.

 

So now I have a little start on the playroom. I want to paint and I figure I probably shouldn't put the shelves together until after the painting is done. Less to move, 'ya know? But our calendar is looking pretty full over the next few weeks, so I have no idea when that will get done. All in good time, I guess.

 

 

 

 



Weekend Treasures: Family And Finds

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

On Friday, we spent the afternoon picnic-ing with Hubster's family. It was a GORGEOUS day filled with family, fun, and laughter. Throw in good food, corn hole, volleyball, and celebrating a birthday and it was a perfect day!

In the evening we headed to a band concert and fireworks with my parents. This is something we have done for years....since before we had kids....and it is always fun. We didn't go last year because of bad weather, sickness, and work schedules so we were happy to get back to our tradition (although we missed Sal and her family!) I love patriotic music and again, the weather was perfect, and the fireworks were spectacular!

 

I got a chance on Saturday to sneak out and do a little treasure hunting. I went to my favorite Goodwill Store. Okay, it is the only Goodwill I go to, but I often find great stuff.

I found this sweet jar. I don't think it is old, but I just loved the shape. Can you see the oak leaf and acorn motif around the handles? So pretty.

 

 

 

 

I also found this cute little ironstone creamer.

 

 



And this sweet little thing.

 

 

I challenged Hubster to see if he knew what it was. "No, it's not for sprinkling cheese on your pasta!"

 

But you all know what it is, right? A little vase with a "frog" top? I don't think he believed me....so he Googled it. He was convinced that FROG must stand for something. Silly guy.

 

Then there were these pretty transferware teacups. They are English and their manor house and carriage design reminded me of Downton Abbey.

 

You might remember that I have a thing for teacups....and Goodwill.

 

 

 

 

 

I also found an ironstone tureen and a platter, but I didn't get good  pictures of them. It was definitely a good treasure-hunting day! Since I like changing things around a lot, I love when I can find pretty things I like at a good price.

 

Have you found any good treasures lately?





Treasure Hunting

Last week was our kid's Spring Break. We didn't do anything grand. We mostly just hung out at home. It was a good week. But by yesterday when the kids returned to school, I was ready for a little "Me Time."

So I decided to head out for a little treasure hunting at a couple of my favorite haunts. It was a beautiful day to be out. The sun was shining and it was warmer than it has been in a LOooooNG time!

First stop....a local thrift store just around the corner from me. There I found the ironstone sugar bowl you see on the left....for 90 cents. At that store I also found a globe, which I plan to use in a future project.

 

 



Next I headed to the Goodwill Store. I don't know what it is about this store, but I am 3 for 3 at finding ironstone there. I spied a large set of what appeared to be ironstone....a platter, a couple serving bowls, cups and saucers, a creamer and what seemed to be a sugar bowl with lid. They were marked Independence Ironstone Castleton Japan. I don't know a lot about ironstone yet, so I took a chance. I really just wanted the platter and creamer, but I felt badly about breaking up the sugar and creamer even though something just didn't seem right about the pair. It turns out that the sugar bowl may just be a piece by itself and that the sugar bowl that went with the creamer was much more slender with handles that matched the one on the creamer.

I also discovered after a little research at home that this pattern may have been produced as recently as the mid 1960's. So it is actually fairly young....like me! But it is still a very pretty pattern even if it isn't old.

I decided that the sugar bowl from the first store actually suits this sweet little creamer better even though it has a little more heft to it and the pattern isn't exactly the same.

 

 

 

My next stop was Target. I had a bunch of things I need to get there, but I was also hoping to find some clearance goodness. No luck though. I got what I needed and headed to HomeGoods just down the street

.

My first reason for going into HomeGoods was to look for inspiration for our Easter table since I will be hosting my family this year. But my second reason was to look for some specific plates. As you've probably seen in many of my photos I have a couple of these black and cream Asiatic Pheasant dishes that I purchased there a while back. I've grown to love their toile-looking beauty. So far, I have just used them decoratively, but I have been hoping to find more dinner plates so that we can actually use them some time.

 

Since I hadn't seen them at HomeGoods for a while, I had even checked Replacements.com and was shocked at the price. I told myself that if I ever spotted them again at HG, I was going to grab them while I could. Well, yesterday was the day! They actually had a good number of them and so I bought eight more to add to my collection. I was a happy girl.

 

 

 

 

My last stop before heading home was the Salvation Army store. I have just recently started stopping in there, but a couple weeks ago I saw a pair of end tables that I had been thinking about ever since. They were an awesome deal at 19.99 for the set. I had huge plans for them. But the day I saw them I just couldn't commit.

 

So yesterday I decided to stop in and see if they were still there.....and of course they weren't. (I was actually surprised to find that all the furniture had turned over since I had been there which surprised me since there were some pretty big pieces, like large sofas and china cabinets.)

 

Anyways, it just wasn't meant to be I guess and I could just kick myself. I left empty handed.



So I feel pretty good about my thrifty finds and I had a fun time doing something I enjoy. Just FYI, I don't have aspirations of having a huge ironstone collection. I mostly find myself drawn to pitchers and little creamers and so I wouldn't mind finding a couple more of those and will have fun hunting.

New Treasures

I have a couple new little treasures to show you today!

These beauties arrived in the mail yesterday. (Sorry for the lousy photo. I was excited.)  They were my very first Etsy purchase. The pattern is called Strawberry Hill and they were made by Syracuse China, a big maker of restaurant china. When I saw them, I knew that they would be great for my Christmas and Valentine's decor. Unfortunately they were a little late for this year, but just wait until next year!

I found this particular Etsy seller through the Mustard Seed Pages. Do you know Miss Mustard Seed? If not, you need to rush right over there and check out her beautiful blog! She just recently set up the Mustard Seed Pages to help bring together people who are looking to buy and sell beautiful things.

Then yesterday, I decided to stop in at the Goodwill Store....the same store where I found my first piece of ironstone. I didn't have big hopes. I mean, what are the chances? But what do 'ya know, I found another pretty ironstone pitcher! I couldn't believe it!

This one has, what looks to me, as a cherry blossom pattern. I need to do a little more research, but in the quick image search I did, I didn't find anything with the exact pattern. 

**UPDATE: After a little more searching I have learned that the style of this pitcher is called Forget-me-not.**

It's no secret that I like to decorate with pretty dishes. I love it when I can find little treasures here and there to do that.....especially when you can get things really inexpensively.

Have you found any new treasures lately? 



Four Things For Friday 10.25.13

Happy Friday!

Here are just a few thoughts that have been rolling around in my head.

1.) Did you hear me say I wanted to make Halloween costumes? Did I REALLY say that? I think it was a moment of insanity....truly. The problem is that when it comes to creative projects, I'm a perfectionist. No more, I tell you, NO MORE!!

2.) Okay, rant over. And speaking of Halloween....a friend shared a link on Facebook to this blog post about Halloween at TroubleFace Mom. I don't know what your feelings are about Halloween, but hopefully it will get you thinking about what an opportunity it actually is. I know it did for me. Tomorrow night our family will be heading to Trunk or Treat at our church to hand out candy and information about Jesus and our church to hundreds of neighborhood kids. Definitely an opportunity. 

 

3.) One of the benefits of me driving all over town to try and find items needed for said Halloween costumes the other day is that I found a little treasure. If you follow me on Facebook (and if you don't, WHY NOT?), you already saw this pretty ironstone pitcher I found at the Goodwill Store. The Goodwill Store!!! Can you believe it? With it's lovely wheat pattern, I think it's very Fall-ish, don't you?

4.) I'm starting to think about gift-giving. November and December are big celebration months around here and if I don't get some gift shopping done soon, I'm going to be scrambling big-time. My love language is gifts so I really do enjoy shopping to find just the right thing for someone. But my kids have gotten to that "hard to buy for" stage. I miss shopping for fun toys.

Well, I guess that's if for Friday. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Today's Thankfulness.....

* That the predicted October snow missed us. (There's still hope for our trees to hit their peak of color.)

* For a drama-free morning with the kiddos.

* For the opportunity to share my thoughts with you.

A Story About A Table

Here's the story....of a lovely table....that was sitting in a store for three whole months....

C'mon, sing a long with me. You know you want to!

Okay, okay...I know it's Monday morning so I'll cut you a little slack on the singing and just get to the story.

Back in the Spring, I discovered a used furniture consignment shop practically around the corner from where I live. What a find! This place is PACKED with everything from dining sets to bedroom furniture, desks, hutches, and upholstered furniture. I started frequenting the store every couple weeks because I was on the hunt for a new (to me) coffee table. As usual, I had it set in my mind exactly what I was looking for....round with a pedestal base. Because the store seemed to have a decent turnover in furniture I hoped that someday that table I was looking for would magically appear.

And one Summer day, it did!

The thing about this consignment store is that they have an interesting pricing system. Each piece has a price tag with four dates and four prices on it. After about four weeks, the price of the piece begins to drop....and continues to do so until over time it reaches the lowest price on the tag.

And as usually is my luck, the table was new to the store and was still at it's highest price. If I wanted to try and get it for the lowest price, I was going to have to take a gamble and wait it out for about 12 weeks. <sigh>  I am SO not good at waiting. But the original price on the tag was just too much for me to pay.

So I waited [impatiently]. And I went and visited MY table every couple weeks to see if it was still there. And each time, surprisingly, it was!

This weekend the time finally came for the table to be down to the lowest price. I was sure that somebody else was watching the price and was going to snatch that table right out from under my nose on the last day.

My daughter and I hurried out yesterday to the store. She had been with me for one of my table visitations. On the way there I warned her that it may not be there still. I think I was talking more to myself.

We entered the store and didn't bother taking our time to look around. We made a bee line to where the table had been. And there it was!

I checked it out more carefully and found that it is VERY heavy and VERY sturdy.

I payed for it, they put it in my van, and we were out of there before someone else could run in and claim visitation rights.

I did have a plan to paint the table. Because she does have a past.

But now that I have her home, I'm not so sure. I think I'm going to live with her for a while before I decide.

And since my mantra is "Leave no surface unstyled," I couldn't resist arranging a couple things on top while I take my time making a decicion.

So I would love to hear what you think. Paint or no paint?

Monday's thankfulness.....

* For 13 years that our son has been a part of our family and a fun time celebrating together.

* For a great time of worship yesterday and focusing on the faithfulness of God.

AND

* For the table still being in the store.

Make it a great day, everybody!

Shopping And Praying

So I'm just going to say this up front. You are either going to totally get this post OR you are going to totally think I'm nuts.

I pray about shopping.

I do. Because I believe that God cares about how I spend the money He's given us, but even more so, I believe He also cares about the little things that are important to me.

Sometimes I pray before I shop. Like the time I needed to find the white blouse and black skirt that was required for my daughter's Spring band concert and was also age-appropriate. And I had already looked everywhere I could think of within a 10-mile radius. I prayed a lot about that one.

Many times I pray while I shop. And sometimes God provides what I think I need. Like a silly owl lamp.

Yep, sometimes God says, "You're right, Jill. That little owl lamp will make you and your family smile a lot. Here, let me lower the price for you!"

And other days....He shuts me down.

Like today.

You see, I had a plan. I really wanted to make a couple pumpkin topiaries for my porch. You know, those cute topiaries made out of fake pumpkins that are all over Pinterest and about 90% of the home blogs out there. Yea, those. The ones the really cool kids are making.

But I had to make them on the cheap and here's where my plan comes in. I was going to start at the Dollar Tree and find some really awesome fake pumpkins....that were a dollar. Yea, right. I found two rather small fake pumpkins that we're not so awesome. No problem. I moved onto the second step of my plan....WalMart.

At WalMart, I planned to find larger and more attractive fake pumpkins....plus two plastic urn-type planters that were totally marked down on Summer clearance. Because you know there's still all that great Summer clearance stuff out there. Right.

You know what they say...."the best-layed plans..." That phrase is like the story of my life.

So I found myself praying and searching every square inch of WalMart looking for what I thought I needed.

"Lord, I found this okay pumpkin and it's a little more than I wanted to spend, but if you help me find some okay urns that are really cheap, I'll know that I'm supposed to make pumpkin topiaries"

Yea, I sometimes put out fleeces for God when I'm shopping....especially when I have a plan. Sad, but true.

But as I searched the store looking for different cheap options and asking God for what I thought I needed, He asked me a couple things. No, I didn't hear God's audible voice. But I felt like I knew what He would be saying to me if He was there in the flesh shopping with me.

Why do you want to be like everyone else? Everyone else and their brother is making a pumpkin topiary.   Be different.

AND....

Why can't you be happy with what I've already given you? Like that super cheap leaf garland I helped you find last week. Why isn't that good enough?

So, I finally got the message. And I left WalMart.

But not before He helped me spot these cute, cheap-o Fall soap dispensers.

Just because He loves me.

A Lesson In Scale

In our living room we have a "fauxrplace."  Really, I just made that up. But it is! Nothing is as it seems. Some day I will have to write a whole post about the fauxrplace, but today I want to talk about a specific part and that's the mantel.

I love having a mantel, but this one is extremely difficult to decorate. So on one hand I love it, but on the other hand it is the thorn in my decorating side. The way the mantel was installed, it is very shallow along most of it. It's barely deep enough to hold the shutters and word art that I have on it now. Trust me, they're holding on for dear life! Only on the ends is it deep enough to really hold anything, but still not much. For years I've had candle sticks on each end. The ones on the right were a gift from the Hubster for our first Christmas in this house.....which was almost ten years ago. That tells you how long they've been there!

                

But I've always felt that they were not the right size for this massive stone wall we have. The scale was totally off. They got swallowed up by all that stone. Scale is something I often have trouble with. I think too small. This room has high vaulted ceilings, a large staircase, and the stone wall. I need to remember to think bigger so items make a bigger impact in the room.

See what I mean? Those poor candlesticks just look so puny.

For a while now I've though that a pair of large lanterns might look nice. So I've been keeping my eyes open for them. Because the space on the mantel is so tight, they would have to be just the right ones. They needed to be large enough to have an impact, but with a small enough base.

Yesterday I found them at my nearby TJMaxx!

I think they make a big difference, don't you?

WHOooo Doesn't Like A Good Deal?

Happy Monday, everyone! Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend!

The other day I needed to stop at Super WalMart for a few groceries. The good thing about Super WalMart is that if you dislike grocery shopping (like me), you still have the opportunity to browse through their Home section. So I was just about to make it through with my wallet unscathed when this guy caught my eye. A handsome owl lamp.

He was all alone....except for the rustic, brown owl lamp that looked like he belonged in a man cave. In my mind I had a conversation with myself (I'm not the only one who does that, right?) about how much I was willing to pay for him. I checked the price and he JUST made it. He was coming home with me!

But as I tried to find the perfect shade for him, I realized that something was not quite right. There was a piece missing that would hold the shade in place. DRAT!! And did I mention he was the only one left on the shelf? DOUBLE DRAT!!

I'm not one to shy away from broken things though. I will try to make ANYTHING work....much to the chagrin of the Hubster sometimes. And one of my favorite mottos is, "it doesn't hurt to ask." So I marched up to Customer Service with the lamp in my cart. I kindly explained the situation to the lady behind the counter. She said she could give me 10% off. Meh....not great, but better than nothing. But then when she marked it for me, she said, "I'll give it to you for $5 off." Yahoo! That was way better than 10%. We're talking WalMart here folks. It was not a hugely expensive lamp to begin with.

So the lamp went home with me....after I finished the grocery shopping. And I was a happy camper.

Once at home, I used some cardboard, tape, and super glue to fix things up.

And here's how he looks now with his new shade.



Doesn't he look stately guarding over our living room?

What bargain treasures have you found for your home?