Updating Your Antiques...

I recently redecorated a home that was in transition and the client wasn't sure how to reincorporate the antique furniture she had, but still add updated furnitue and decor. The challenge here was that she planned on retiring to her beach condo in a few years and, what she kept as well as what she bought, had to be able to transition into the condo without looking out of place at the beach.  I knew that I had to give her a beach look, but not make the dining room and living room look to beach-condo-themed. 

Where we started...

The client had a ton of valuable antiques, some from Italy and very sentimental, as well as memorabilia from going to the Masters every year since she was little.  So, you had the dark green artwork and then the lighter pastel beach colors needing to work, but not compete, in this big amazing room.  It was simply a matter of figuring out how I could better display these beautiful things, but also add a more modern touch. 

 

 Where we ended...

 

 

I positioned the bar and dark green Masters art to the wall behind you when you walk in, so it didn't clash with the lighter pastels of the living and dining rooms.  It gave the memorabilia a special space to be honored properly.  Then I added teal, green and a burst of pink accents to give the feeling of a relaxing beach space in the living room, but still kept her antique coffee table and end tables.  I finished off the room adding (to the coffee table) the special family crystal candy dish that belonged to her parents, thus combining the old with the new.  For the dining room, I put all of her most important and meaningful glassware in the china cabinet that I decided to swap to the other side of the large room.  I put a tall vase on the table (there was not a chandelier to position the table under) to accentuate the high sealings.  Everything is displayed now so that it can truly be enjoyed and appreciated!



 

Kindergarten Ready!!!


My beautiful little niece, Emma, was preparing all summer for her big first day of kindergarten.  And kindergarten (if you weren't already aware) is no joke these days.  There's reading and spelling and math...it's not all fun and nap time.  So, to send Emma off on her new scholarly adventure, we had to give her a room mini-makeover...AKA, a BIG GIRL ROOM!

Here are the befores...

 

 

And after...

 

We really didn't remove much from the room.  We just swapped out one bookcase for a larger one and added a desk and new bedding.  Now Emma has real organization, and instead of having her books mixed in with her clothes and accessories, everything has it's own seperate area.  She has her primping station, as well as her "workspace" (as I taught her to call it) and is now all set for the homework load in kindergarten! This space is truly made for a BIG GIRL!

 



 

Transforming A Room For $23....

We had painted the living room a gorgeous brown.  I loved it so much that when I went to buy a new couch, I inadvertently bought one that was exactly the same color as the room. 

Solution...the room was a little dark anyways, and though it was a rich beautiful color, I thought I needed to add a little brightness to the room, but I didn't have a lot of money to do it.

Insert "Cozy Cottage" Behr Premium paint from Home Depot (www.homedepot.com) on the largest wall to accentuate the pillows of the sofa.  All the room needs now is to rehang the mirror that we made and it's done!  It just goes to show that a $23 can of paint can totally transform a room!





This is what a $17.50 end table looks like....

I wanted gold end tables, and especially unique ones that would add some shape to the room, as my couch is on the boxier side.  I found these on Craigslist for $35 for the set!  They are gold metal with a glass inserted top.  I loved the shape of the legs and the detail under the glass.  They look great next to the couch and I added these lamps that I found for 50% off at Hobby Lobby (www.hobbylobby.com).  For a total of $105, I got a set of lamps and a set of end tables that look fantastic in the room.  Score!

TIMES OF CHANGE....

I know that I haven't posted in awhile and for that I'm sorry.  Like many of you have probably experienced at different times in your lives, I've recently been going through a lot of change, and even loss.  Work layoffs, the loss of a pet, relationship changes and so on have made this a transition period, but to me, that is why this blog is so important.  Everyone goes through hard times, where material things like expensive furniture or artwork or home decorations are not realistic financially.  They aren't necessities, but instead are frivolous purchases that need alternatives.  That $5000 couch just isn't an option anymore, nor maybe should it have ever been.  I'm a strong believer that situations happen in your life in order to put things into perspective.  Do you need to spend that much on one piece of furniture?  You don't want to sit on the floor, but you need a couch and have budget restrictions that you hadn't expected, so what do you do?  Where do you shop? 

I write this blog for those that want a beautiful home, but appreciate that little red sticker that says "Clearance, $9.99" on the vase that they needed to complete their dining room table.  I write this blog for the overworked and underpaid people that deserve a nice home just as much as their wealthy bosses...the people that take a lot of pride in the $20 coffee table bowl they bought at the farmers market, because they know how hard they worked for that money.  The moms and dads that spend their Saturdays driving around to garage sales to make their house a home for their kids, but can't afford to walk into just any store and buy what they need...that's why I write this blog. 

Surround yourself with the things you love, and know that the things you should really love shouldn't come with a high price tag.  To me, what I love is this sketched picture of my sweet Gretzky, who was my best friend for 13 years. 

If what you love is a $5000 couch, that's your choice, but there are so many more important things you will one day need in life, and you need to plan and save accordingly.  We would all love to walk into a ritzy furniture store in Manhattan and buy whatever we want, but why?  I'd rather be proud of my Rooms To Go couch bargain, hit up Homegoods for some beautiful pillows to make the couch even more comfy and beautiful, and save that money.  Save it for a trip with family to make more memories, or for a rainy day, because I promise you those days will come, but then they will go, and you'll know that you made the right decision on how to decorate your life......

Mirror Mirror On The Wall...Who's Got The Best Bargain Of Them All?...

My friend Kary approached me for recommendations on of how to achieve this wall mirror pictured below for $600, but without spending as much money. Here is what I found....

I visited my local Homegoods www.homegoods.com store to see what kind of bargains that I could find...and boy did I find some goodies!

I found this gem for the low price of $49. You can achieve the above look by simply purchasing 4 of them and hanging them in a square to look like the higher priced option, but at a $400 savings!

This option was a steal at only $22 clearanced out! They had multiple, so you could put 4 together as well for under $100!

Lastly, we have a more rectangular option which you can put 2 side by side to achieve the same effect...and for only $140!

The key to shopping at Homegoods is that you have to snatch up the bargains when you see them, because they won't last and their inventory is constantly changing. If you can only find 3 of the item you need, the store is very willing to call other stores in the chain to track down the 4th one for you to complete the look. So remember, if you are willing to hunt for it, you can save a lot of money!

Spice Up Your Kitchen...In An Organized Manner....

We are a spicey couple, love to cook and love our spices, but needed a storage option that wouldn't consume the limited drawer space that our kitchen has....

Solution: I found these AWESOME magnetic spice holders at World Market www.worldmarket.com and used my label maker to print labels for each of them. We stuck them to the side of our fridge. The containers were $1.99 each and have both sprinkle and heavy dispensing holes.  They are a fun an organized addition to our kitchen!

Small Unused Space = Shoe Closet of My Dreams!....

Before you look at this video, I must warn you, this is no easy job. My wonderful boyfriend recognized my shoe addiction and lack of space to accommodate it, and he did something about it. This is a very advanced solution to filling in those unused spaces with additional storage...

 

For those of you using Apple products and can't view the video, here are the pictures... 

 

There was a 14 inch space between my clothing wardrobe in our bedroom and the side wall. It was definitely space that was being wasted. My boyfriend installed drawer racks one the side wall and side of the wardrobe that we purchased at www.homedepot.com . He cut pieces of wood with installed molding on each of them as the drawer fronts to give a more expensive look. Knobs were added to make opening easy. Each shelf holds 4 pairs of shoes and he was able to get 8 drawers in. I color coordinated the shoes and now it's, after seeing him, the second thing that makes me so happy every morning!

An alternate idea is to install a few tension rods you can purchase at www.walmart.com for just a few dollars. Use them to hang additional clothing in the space, or hang necklaces or belts. You can cut a curtain in half and use a tension rod at the top to hang as a door if you are attempting to do it yourself and don't have the woodworking skills.

This is just one of many ideas of how you can use the space you have, and organize in a way that maximizes that space.

Chili Pots and Frying Pans and Skillets, OH MY!....

Where to put them? I admit, I probably have every kitchen utensil, pot and small cooking appliance imaginable. They are my weakness, so I'm limited on the space that I have to put all my pots and pans in the cabinets...

Solution: I've always loved hanging pot racks! They are such a great space saver, as well as a nice decorative addition to your kitch. They also just seem to make me want to cook more, eat out less, polish my pots better and they definitely make me keep my kitchen cleaner! No more crowded cabinets. I found these stainless steel racks at www.ikea.com for less than $26 ($9.99 for each rack and $2.99 for each 5/pack of hooks). Amazing deal and they look great!

Rug Me The Right Way.....

I think a great rug is a good starting point to build a room around.  You don't have to spend a fortune when there are sites like www.overstock.com and www.rugsusa.com where you can find great bargains. The key is to make sure that you will be able to accessorize the rug you choose. The room can be simple and beautiful like the one above. You can also get a plain rug that you can later accentuate with bright patterned couch pillows or artwork. Just make sure that the rug color you select is a color that you will be happy with in your room's color palet. It's also helpful if you know it's a color you can find a pillow or a table accessory to compliment it with. I love a print rug, I also love a print pillow, but if you are going to put them together, they have to really work.

Eye Soars....

The AC Unit in our place lies behind a full sized door uniquely placed in the middle of the wall in our hall, about 2 feet off the floor. It reminds me of something out of Alice In Wonderland and I had to do something about it....

I found this extra-large canvas picture at a local Ross Store for $39. I decided to make it a part of my picture wall. Now it is no longer an eye soar, but instead, one of my favorite art pieces in the house!

High heels and hockey bags are colliding as the boyfriend moves in....

Last year my boyfriend moved in and we were immediately faced with the fact that I already had a fully furnished home, but he had furniture too. So, how do you make it work? And even bigger, how am I going to give up my closet space?! I immediately posted an ad on www.craigslist.com entitled "My boyfriend is moving in and thinks I'm a hoarder, come buy my stuff...garage sale!" I had a ton of people come out to the sale, referencing how the post caught their eye and how they thought it was hilarious. We were able to get rid of items that we both decided we didn't need, extra TV units, extra couches, our extra vacuum we no longer needed, etc. It has been a work in progress, but the more that you can purge together, the more room you have to grow together. Since that time, we have combined our lives so that each room is made up of things we have kept or found together. With this comes more compromise than probably either one of us would've thought we could make, but our home is now something that we both made together and we are very proud of. It's now the perfect combination of high heels and hockey bags.

Move in tip- Make a project together that will act as a centerpiece for a room in your home. We opted to build a funky mirror for our living room. We had been to many stores looking to find the right accent mirror, but everything we found was over a thousand dollars. After finding a beautiful one we loved at Z Gallerie, we decided we would try to build one like it ourselves. We first drew up the design, then my boyfriend (being the crafty man that he is) figured out how to build a sturdy frame that would hold the mirrors we would glue on. The frame had to be light enough not to be overwhelmingly heavy once the mirrors were added. We collected the wood, screws, hooks, silver spray paint for the wood and cement glue at Home Depot, then bought square mirrors of 3 different sizes at Hobby Lobby and Lowes. The mirrors cost from $3-$5 a piece. My boyfriend built the frame and attached the wall hooks. We both helped to spray paint it and then I laid out the mirror design, glued them to the wood and...VOILA!

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We are so proud of the project that we built together at a cost of $120

Upholstered Headboards...

A friend asked me what would be a a great way to make her bedroom look more luxurious. An upholstered headboard always makes the room look more expensive to me...

I purchased my upholstered headboard on www.hsn.com where you can find beautiful options from

Nate Berkus and Jonathan Adler starting at $399 seen below

 

http://www.hsn.com/cnt/search/searchresults/default.aspx?Ntt=upholstered+headboard&N=0&Ntk=Std&st=2&criteria=&days=&minprice=&maxprice=&srchCatNm=&o=bsearch

How To Pick a TV Cabinet....

My best friend is getting ready to move into her new apartment in New York City this week and she asked me to help her find the right TV cabinet for her livingroom. She selected Benjamin Moore Dior Gray as her wall color... http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/diorgray .

I suggest a bright white TV cabinet that will really pop off of the dark wall.

You can achieve this look with an affordable option, like this one from IKEA for only $290...

A Pop of Color... 

A pop of color, like a vibrant purple or a hint of orange, can pop when added against a soft gray wall...

Design Me Rich....

The goal of my blog is to show that you don't need a lot of money to decorate your life. True design can come from that amazing bowl you found at a yard sale, an old piece of artwork that use to hang in your grandmother's livingroom, or the pillows you made from that fabulous fabric sample you found for $5 at your local Jo-Ann Fabrics. Beauty is everywhere, and not only the rich have it available to them. If you really be creative, you can create a brilliant space for your home on the budget you can afford. I'm here to inspire you with the gems that I've found for my home, and help you to build your own castle on a minimal budget. I hope you enjoy my ideas!