Attention Attention

I know you know Overstock sells knock offs of interior design staples. I wrote about their ghost chair knock off here, and their many other designer chair knock offs here. Well, they are at it again!

Check this out:

A marble topped tulip end table for $220. Amazing.

If you've been wanting one, I suggest snatching it up soon.. their knock offs sell out quickly.

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[ ann sage ]

Lots of Home Goods!

I just love Home Goods, don't you? I've been three times in the last week. I was there yesterday picking up some last minute things for my CA client and had to snap some pictures of some great stuff. [Some of which I was longing for for our new house!]

I've decided in our new garden/backyard I'm going to place little birds all over. Kind of like Where's Waldo? When I get back to Charlotte, I will see if this little guy is in my local store:


The picture doesn't do this linen ottoman justice.


I loved these sherbet colored lamps - look closely, the color of the base is also on the inside of the shade! So perfect for a kid or baby room.




I would gladly take each of these lights below - I love the quirky task light and the shade of gray on the table lamp is perfect.


Awesome chest - two of them would look great on either side of a master bedroom bed.


Great console table, great price.


These were cool... look closely at the bottom. My favorite is the suitcase-like one.


Here is another item I may just need to get at my local Charlotte store. It's just so strikingly cool!
( I had a couple commenters ask how much this is and what size - I'd call it "medium" sized and I think it was $79.99. Don't remember for sure )


I really liked this blue and white china-like bathroom set. Would be great in a guest bathroom.


For my bathroom, however, I was dying to get this acrylic set! The acrylic was so thick and very well made. Could easily be used in an office too.



Charlotte told me she really wants this huge dog bed. ;)


Speaking of Charlotte, I've passed this dog three times and each time I love it more. It looks so much like a light colored Char.



And last but not least, this bright colored elephant would be fun on a bookcase.

Ikat Polka Dots

I spy with my little eye, Madeline's ikat polka dots.







A gorgeous fabric, indeed.

For those of us who are more cost conscious, here is a lovely alternative found on eBay. 120 x 16 inches (roughly 3 1/2 yards) for $30:

I spy...

First of all, thank you for the many kind comments on my vent below. This post actually has a little correlation to the vent...

I love when I spy IKEA furniture in beautiful, well designed spaces. Sure, a lot of IKEA's furniture belongs in post-college grad apartments, but many of their items are worthy of beautiful, designer rooms.

Here are a collection of designer images with IKEA furniture to get you inspired...

I spy: IKEA KARLSTAD sofa & chairs



I spy: IKEA MALM dressers

{beautiful picture from design*sponge}

I spy: IKEA EXPEDIT & LACK

{by my girl Jamie Meares of Furbish Design}

I spy: IKEA DOCKSTA table


I spy: IKEA LACK bookcase


I spy: IKEA EDLAND bed

I know there are many, many more pictures.. maybe I'll do this "feature" again.

I personally plan on using IKEA here and there in my client's rooms, so be on the lookout when the projects are finished!

space of the day & craigslist find

As promised, I'm back with today's space of the day! I'm starting to really enjoy doing these because it really keeps me accountable to blog everyday.



In today's S.O.T.D, note the desk next to the bed acting as a nightstand. I'm currently doing something similar in a clients room. Remember this picture of a Craigslist desk?



I picked it up for $35 - steal! I was thinking of painting it a dark brown, but when seeing the great detailed top, I dreamed up other plans for it. It was my first try at staining, and although it was a lot of work it turned out beautiful. It's almost finished, I just need to top it off with polyurethane!

Once it's all pretty and done, I'll be sure to share - keep your eyes peeled for that later this week!

IKEA 2010 Notes

I spent some quality time with my new IKEA 2010 catalog this past weekend. IKEA catalogs are great because it takes 20+ times to go through it to really take note of all your favorite little things. Here are some things I took note of on my 3rd time through:

NASSAJO Candle Holder - $7.99
I really love reflective quality of this simple votive holder. These are definitely on my shopping list!


Mystery Throw?
When I saw this scene, the first thing I really saw was that fabulous herringbone-looking throw. I have no idea if it's from IKEA but I'm really really hoping it is.


Metal Lighting
I love both lighting pieces in this image! Especially the task light - I wonder if it's a floor lamp or desk lamp.


Karlstad Armchair - $249
I've loved the Karlstad series for a long time, but who knew how amazing the armchairs looked from behind? Definitely eye opening (props to the shoot stylist).


Another thing I loved right away was their industrial shelving. Who says it has to say in the garage? I fully plan on putting either one of these types of shelving units in my future office. And bonus - the price is right.

Hyllis & Broder shelving units




Great floor "cushion", great price - $29

Ikea hearts Domino?

Check out what I just discovered...

Remember back in Feb I blogged that Domino mag painted Ikea's yellow Hemnes bed white? And how much I was in love with it?

Well I must have not been the only one! Ikea now offers this beauty...


It's called Edland and available for $279. I wonder if they are paying homage to the fallen and dearly missed Domino mag?

I'm crossing my fingers that one of my clients will let me put this beautiful bed in their homes so I can covet it in person :D

Craigslist Chic

One thing the blog world has taught me is that you really don't ever need to buy brand new furniture again. Sure, it'd be nice to be able to go to Crate and Barrel and pick out a brand new dining set, but if you are young and broke like us, then you know that's not realistic.

But thank god for Craigslist. I've taken to browsing my local craigslist just for the heck of it... and sometimes I get great ideas. I thought I'd share this one with you.

See gorgeous inspiration photo:

(where is this from? Please let me know).

See those striped chairs? They are so fabulous. If you read my blog, you know that I love the mix of modern and traditional, and these chairs are a great example.

On the Orange County craigslist, I found this table and chair set:



Sure, you may think this set is pretty awful, but I see past the 1993 office conference room vibe they currently have.

I think they have great modern lines and the two cushions would be perfect for upholstering in a navy striped fabric. I would try and sand the wood down to see if it's stain-able, and stain the wood to match the inspiration photo. If that's not possible, then you could always paint the wood a nice almost-black brown color. I've found a great one from Valspar:

Fired Earth - Valspar 6011-1

The closest fabric I found was this Winston Outdoor Domino fabric from Calico Corners (It's a bit pricey for me, but I didn't search too hard):

The entire set on Craigslist is only $60, I'd probably try to bring it down to $50. I wouldn't use the table, just the chairs... but the table could always be painted white and used as a craft table.

Maybe I can convince my husband to let me get them (fat chance)? He complains that the current dining chairs we have now are too uncomfortable....

On a side note, I didn't get the Craigslist find that I wrote about on Friday... I am still in communication with the seller but not sure if I'll go for it.

The Reveal: Living Room [work in progress]

And now for the reveal.... what exactly did I use robin's egg blue for?

The living room console!

{paint = "Vintage Map" by Martha Stewart for Valspar}

I've been wanting to do this for a while... remember this post?

I'm slowly, and very inexpensively, working on updating our living room. This console is definitely a work in progress... I really want to change the wooden knob, but when I went to take it off, I found it's glued in.

Does anyone have any idea how to get our a glued in piece of wood??

I think I may have to saw it off, sand down the remnants and then drill a hole for the new hardware. That's on my to-do list.

See the white box? One thing I did was find a storage option for my husband's big, clunky surround sound receiver. I'll post more details about that another day.



When I go to the Rose Bowl flea market, I am going to be on the hunt for a large, neutral piece of art to place on the table. I don't want it to be too bright to take away from this lovely little painting my grandmother did (above). Aren't the colors so 70's? I love it.

Now for the shot of the room.....



This is a serious work in progress.

Things I've done:
- Paint room
- Hung light, white curtains
- Paint console
- Re-arranged mantle and coffee table accessories
- Added leaning mirror

Things to be done:
- Jute rug (for my birthday)
- Large art for console
- Make bolster pillow
- Hang the white curtains on the other side.

I have to be honest - in a perfect world, I'd create an idea board for myself and be able to go out and buy new furniture and accessories. But that's not in the budget, not now and not for a while. Each little project I've done has been around $20, and I'm definitely working with what I have.



I'm always open to suggestions for this room - like I said, it's a major work in progress, and done on a teenie tiny budget. One thing I am asking for for my birthday is the rug - I keep going back and forth about it- should I do something neutral, like an ivory jute or something graphic and dark?

milkglass + platters

Yesterday during lunch I stopped by the post office, and since Salvation Army was on the way back to work, of course I had to swing by. Boy, am I glad I did because I found some Finds with a capital F.

Let me back track. In our kitchen, we had a Pottery Barn wine glass holder* installed above our kitchen table. Sure, it was a nice use of space.... but the wine glasses would collect dust and literally never be used (we would always use the wine glasses that were in our cabinets instead, on the rare occasion we opened a bottle).

You can see it here.....

[this is an old picture. I'm so glad I got rid of the gold]

Since I'm not a fan of unused clutter, we took it down when I re-painted the kitchen.

After seeing this picture from Eddie Ross's NY apartment, I decided I wanted to put up a cascading row of platters in the space instead.



And much to my delight, I found these at Salvation Army yesterday!



They ranged from $4.00 to $2.75 each; each of them were found in Salvation Army Clearance section. If that's not a deal, I don't know what is!

I'm not going to restore them... I kind of like them all beat up and tarnished. It tells a story of where they have been.

Next to the silver section, was the milkglass section... another love of mine. I found these vases and had to purchase the collection.


My favorites are the faceted ones. Each of these ranged from $1.75 - $2.75.

I also picked up a couple spring colored belts and three short sleeve shirts.

I LOVE Salvation Army!

* I plan on selling my PB wine shelves on Craigslist. I have both shelves; they are exactly like these but in black. If anyone reading is interested, shoot me an email!