Monday, May 31, 2010

Budget Finds: West Elm




The latest West Elm catalogue arrived in the mail this past week. Luckily over this long, holiday weekend, I had some time to relax and peruse the pages. Here is what caught my eye:

1. Metal Picture Ledge

Photo courtesy of West Elm
I keep going back to picture ledges of all kinds. They can be found anywhere from Target to Ikea. But, West Elm is the only place that I have found with metal ones. The question is: are they worth paying over $30 for?? Especially when the ones from Ikea and Target are significantly less? Perhaps I could consider buying afore mentioned, less expensive ones and giving them a coat of metallic paint?? Now we are cooking...

2. Weathered Wood Hanging Strand

Photo courtesy of West Elm
Not only does West Elm have these in wood, but in the catalogue there is also a oyster shell option. Could be cute addition to almost any space, especially if it was DIY'd...which could be a total possibility!

3. Recycled-Glass Lanterns

Photo courtesy of West Elm
I absolutely love these! So much in fact that I purchased ones similar to these last year. But they were not from West Elm. And I did not pay $9 a piece (or in total for that matter) for them. I found my little lanterns in the dollar section in Target. And mine were only $1 a piece (go figure). I rounded up 6 in total last season. I went with all clear glass, but there were colors too (I want to say green and blue ones). They make great table accents for late-night, outdoor, summer get togethers. The lanterns could also be a great addition to a casual summer wedding. For those of you looking for your own budget lanterns, I did see more at Target this season. But it was a while ago, so good luck hunting!

Here are both lanterns for your own judgement:

West Elm's version


My Target find

What do you think? A pretty close match...especially when you are saving $8 each!

Have you seen any great pieces while out and about that could easily be DIY'd? How about more budget friendly options of higher price alternatives?

Friday, May 28, 2010

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Along with the traditional festivities of this holiday weekend comes SALES!!! In line with yesterday’s post, Lowe's and Home Depot are having paint sales. Both stores are offering $5 off gallon cans and $20 off five gallon buckets. Deck, fence, and wood stains are also included in the sale.



The sale ends at the end of the month (5/31), so be sure to hurry in!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Choosing our paint color

Choosing the paint color for our home was a process. Since this is my first home, I never really had much liberty or experience in choosing paint colors. Growing up, my parents preferred muted colors. So when I wanted to paint my childhood bedroom, the wildest I was able to go was with a pale yellow. And when I say pale, I mean PALE. It was so light, you could only tell it was yellow when the sunlight hit it just right.



After my parent’s home, came college apartments and of course painting was not an option.


When I first purchased my home, the whole house was painted a light tan similar to this, but with a little less pink in it:


Paint chip courtesy of Glidden



Growing up with white walls, the tan was a BIG change and I was happy with the color. The only painting that needed to be done in my new house was in the garage and in the utility room. To bring some color into the room, I chose “ribbon yellow”. While it is a nice color, in certain light it can be a little electric. Needless to say, my paint color choosing was not on the right path. And this experience made me wary of choosing any more colors.

After being in my our home for 1.5 years, Mr. Moore and I decided it was finally time to paint. We knew we wanted to stay with a neutral color for future resale. With that in mind, we trekked to Home Depot and picked up any and all paint chips that looked like a remote possibility. Since we were going with one color throughout the house, we wanted a color that looked good with the cabinets, countertops, flooring, and of course one that we liked! After much thought, time and consideration, we limited the (hundreds) of chips down to three.

With the final three in hand, we headed back to Home Depot and had the sample size Behr containers (we went with Behr samples because we were going with that paint brand and because the sample sizes could be mixed to match any color) mixed up in all three of the selected colors. Let me tell you, this was the best thing we could have done! In my mind one color was the “winner” and I was certain we would be choosing it to paint our home. But once we got it up on the wall, it was horrible! I would have been very upset if we spent money on gallons of this paint and hated it. Luckily one of the other colors was perfect. It was a clear, no-brainer winner. I highly recommend trying the sample colors before committing to a gallon (or two or three).



Here is the color that we ended up going with:


Paint chip courtesy of Glidden

Now we just have to find the energy and motivation to finish what we started...

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Summer to-do list

Unfortunately for Mr. Moore, I have several projects on our summer to-do list. Fortunately, we already have a start on a few...

1. Finish painting. Last summer I began painting the interior of our home. After purchasing my home in 2007 (I was single), I justified not painting because I knew eventually that Mr. Moore would be moving in with me. I did not want to have to repaint if not necessary so I put it off for a year. In December of 2008 after our wedding, Mr. Moore moved in. I waited about 6 months...taking us to last summer. I managed to get one coat on the kitchen and dining room, 2nd floor "hallway", and 3rd bedroom. So I want to finish that project.

2. Install crown molding. This one will have to wait until after the painting is finished. So it mostly likely will be more of a fall project. The bonus is that don't have to be super percise when painting along the walls and celing!

3. Finish the garden. Last summer we installed a back patio. We need to finish the garden that borders it as well as the garden that runs the edge of our home. We have the gardens dug out and plants, well, planted. At this point we need to decide on edging and mulch it all. Here's hoping we remember to water the new little plants!

Lets tally the progress:
#1 - .5 points (at least we got started!)
#2 - 0 points
#3 - .5 points

One out of three is a pretty darn good start!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

mmmm....Taquitos

Have you heard of Hungry Girl? Lisa (aka Hungry Girl, aka HG) is a genius! She and her team have created MANY amazing recipes that are lower in calories, easy to make, and best of all - delicious!

The first recipe Mr. Moore and I made were the Exploding Chicken Taquitos and we have revisited them several times since. The taquitos are quick and simple to make and would be a great appetizer (or main dish) for any gathering!

Image courtesy of Hungry Girl


Check out HG and her amazing taquitos!
http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.php?isid=1712

First time for everything

I have been thinking about blogging for a while now. So here I am biting the bullet. I will be writing about the goings on in our lives...our home, family, and every day events.

Here goes nothing...