Spilling on my Splurge

As you know on Friday we had to make a trip out to San Antonio for visa stuff. It's quite a trip to get out there, and well... I wanted to make the most of it, so when we drove past signs declaring the San Marcos Premium outlet stores along the way I begged P to make a pit stop on our way back.

You see, I had secret insider knowledge on the San Marcos outlets... unlike our local Round Rock Premium Outlets - severely lacking in home decor stores - the one in San Marcos had not only Pottery Barn/Williams Sonoma outlet, but also Restoration Hardware AND Crate and Barrel SCORE!!

Of course, given our commitment to saving money and get our debt paid off by August the plan was merely to window shop, and return when the debt was behind us.... but y'all know me better than that!

By the time we got there it was already late in the day and we were hot, sweaty and irritated, so we decided to pick just one store and spend "a little money" as P likes to say.

I ran into Pottery Barn as fast as my legs would carry me. After reading about Katie's fab finds at her local PBO I was certain that here I would get the most bang for my buck.

I must say, I was pretty disappointed. The incredible deals that Katie finds regularly, $16 lamps, $7 placemats were nowhere to be seen. Instead, it looked just like a regular store, only the prices were moderately lower and the selection smaller.

(still need to remove tag from rug. Whoops!)

Determined to find a bargain I headed to shelves with bright red placards announcing 30% + discounts. And that is where I found these little beauties for $6 and $7 respectively.

(Please ignore ugly center piece, it doesn't work.)

I also found this cute table runner (at last the perfect length for our 6 ft table) for just $12 beans. And finally snagged the perfect father's day gift for my father in law from the Williams Sonoma section of the store.

It seems I need to spend more time figuring the place out and learning where to look for the excellent deals Katie Bower finds. But I am up for the challenge and am looking forward to our next trip out there... It's good to have a reason to look forward to a visit to your local immigration office for once! Honestly, I could have easily walked out of that store having spent A LOT more than the $30 I did.

OK. SO you're thinking... GEEZ Ros, $30 does not blown budget make! Ahhh, but there's more...

So on Sunday I was cruising my fave online stores, trying to distract myself from the idea of work the next day, when I decided to take another peek at JCPenney. Now, all in all, JCP is totally not our style and I rarely see anything there that even remotely interests me, but like I said, I was bored and in need of distraction.

As usual, I headed first to the clearance section and that's when I saw these! Yep, that's right, less 50%! After a quick Google of the phrase "JC Penney Coupon" revealed a further 15% discount available for the month of May these were in my cart quicker than Grease Lightning.



Grand total spent on 3 blinds for living room windows: $82
Grand total savings on 3 blinds: $92

Husbands comments? "Are you kidding? It would have cost you more NOT to buy them!" God bless him! :)

So, the blinds are the perfect color to go in the living room and were the perfect price.

Curtains were next on my to-do list, but the ones I wanted from Ikea are $30/pair so those will remain on the list until after my birthday as we renew our commitment to saving... PSYCHE!



Yesterday I receive my weekly Ikea sale email and lo and behold, but are the very same curtains I wanted for the living room not marked down to $9.99 per pair?!?!?! This is a-freeking-mazing! I am NEVER this lucky. I think the big man upstairs is watching over me.

Throw in the free Ikea breakfast and we're there with bells on, (right after we acquaint ourselves with a local church of course. We've much to be thankful for this week!)

Now on to the important question... I need your opinions... grey, white, chocolate or beige?
Remembering that we (currently) have a grey/brown sectional sofa, white accents and will have a combination of blue/grey and brownish paint on the walls. Here's the "color story" again to refresh your memories.... (Gah! I still love that phrase)

Paint

Shades
Table (must still update you on the "finished" look)

I created a poll on the right side -------> I need help!

Yellow?

Is it just me, or do y'all think that this area needs yellow accents? I've seen so much yellow around lately, and I love it, but just can't figure out how it will work with my taste AND I am sure that yellow is just a passing fad so I refuse to spend a fortune on anything yellow... but seeing those bananas in the green bowl on the table made me think... wouldn't a great wire, or otherwise sculptural bowl in a bright glossy yellow look sublime on that table? Or maybe a grouping of yellow candlesticks or something...

Gah! Not sure how that will work the the paint color on the opposite wall though...

This is the "color story" I am playing with... (Don't you love that phrase?)
Do you think yellow in place of the River Bank would look totally out of place in a room edged by Spanish Galleon? Any suggestions as to how I can change things out to suit? (Remembering that the dining area and living area are in one big space together, and my couch is a dark chocolate color (that really looks like a chocolate grey if such a color exists...)

Weekend Project Update!

We made some progress on the porch this weekend! One coat of white trim paint down, one more to go... well, we're going to wait until after we put the new decking on the porch before we go with the second coat, in case of nicks and bumps during installation.

The bench looks fabulous out there, don't you think? I am a little nervous because the bicycle chain that we bought won't fit between the slats, nor the tabs I sewed into the cushions. Dumb me forgot to measure properly before buying the chain, but another one is not going to be hard to find I am sure.


For now, I will just hope for the best and pray that no one would think of messing with our cute little porch.


In other news I went ahead and painted the last of the coffee table paint onto the dining room wall and LOVE it! There wasn't enough to do the whole wall, and it still needs a second coat, but this gives me a good idea of how it will look when it's done and I love it! What do you think? I know it's not a great color for resale, but we can neutralize it when it comes time to sell.



So far the progress on the spare room is still limited. I did manage to empty two boxes and get them out of there, but if you could see the state of the room, you would know that this really isn't much progress at all in the grand scheme of things. It is literally wall to wall boxes, bags and stuff in there and we're nowhere near to calling that room "done" just yet. I want to make it my mission to remove at least one bag or box per day this week and see how I do with that. It's probably a good thing that my mom is coming out for my birthday in July as I HAVE to have the room finished by then, so that will light a fire under my butt.

Ohhh what the heck... here's a picture of what is becoming known as the black hole...
... don't judge me....

I X Lattice! $%&#!!!

Just a quick note to myself... Never, NEVER ever fall in love with ANYTHING that needs painting and has any lattice in it whatsoever.... From now on, if you need to paint it, and it has lattice, run, don't walk away from it!

On the plus side, painting is going well. Halfway done with the table so I am on track to hopefully have a "reveal" pic for you tomorrow.

The BEST part is... I found the perfect, perfect shade of grey AND I decided to try it out on one of the walls in the living/dining area and it ROCKS! It's a bit dark for the whole space though, so I went and picked the most stunning main color that works with this as an accent. I am totally in love, and feel like rushing back to HD to grab the paint so that I can put it up NOW! But alas, I need to wait on wall repairs before I do that... although... I could just get a little extra and do a patch job later.... hmmmmmm