My husband and I just bought our first place in July, a Jr. 4 co-op in New York. So far, our biggest splurge has been hiring California Closets to come and install all 4 custom closets. Living in New York, where space is at a premium, these are a non-negotiable, and make me smile everytime i open the door to any of the closets. Our next splurge will be in the bathroom, which we are planning to renovate this spring. I think the splurge will be either a really nice toilet (my husband’s preference) or a soaker tub, or some awesome glass subway tile. Stay tuned!

Good lampshades are a splurge of mine. Cheap, ill-fitting lampshades are so obvious. You can go budget on a lamp and then put a well-made lampshade on top to make the whole thing look high-end. For example, I have Target lamps in my bedroom that I probably paid $25 each for but really nice linen lampshades on top that were probably twice the cost of the lamps, and it makes the lamps look like they could be $200 each!

Our biggest “splurge” so far has been replacing all of the windows in our 80-year-old house. It came with those super old pulley-style single paned windows that, while pretty cool-looking, offered NO insulation from the heat or cold (in the winter, you could literally feel the wind blowing when you sat on the couch in the living room). It was a $5,000 project, which is the most I’ve ever spent on ANYTHING other then the down payment for our house, but it’s saving us about $150 a month in heating bills, so it’ll pay for itself over time.

I have a somewhat related question. We recently moved from a 1100 square foot house to a 3600 square foot house. Obviously, we don’t have enough furniture or stuff to fill it up (it has an eat-in kitchen plus a dining room, a family room and a formal living room, four bedrooms, etc). What do you suggest we do in the interim as we save up for bigger purchases? My plan is to do one room at a time and take things slowly, redecorating and adding furniture and accessories as I can afford them (I hate purchasing anything on credit). But in the meantime, our house looks so bare! We don’t even have any furniture in the family room or dining area right now. And with the wood floors and no rugs, the space just looks huge and echoey and empty.

What did y’all do when you moved in your house, before you saved up enough to finish each room? Did you just use hand-me-downs and freebies? Or cheap things from thrift stores and IKEA? It almost seems counter-intuitive to spend money on things that I’ll eventually replace, but at the same time, I hate that it doesn’t really look like anyone lives here right now!

We often say that our biggest “splurge” was our 3 girls, all of whom we adopted (one at a time, over 2 years) from Russia. We are so in debt from them that it’s not even funny, but they did so much to brighten up our otherwise boring house and lives that I’m really not sure what we did before them. :)

Biggest recent splurge was having custom hanging steel/glass doors fabricated to close off a bedroom: http://www.bitly.com/MyBsmt

We’re still at the beginning stages of our house reno, but so far our biggest splurge has been a waterfall faucet for our main bathroom:
http://designedbyrj.blogspot.com/2010/01/from-country-to-contemporary-bathroom.html

Even though we spent twice as much as we could have on a basic model, but it’s been so worth it! The style of the faucet fite perfectly with the new vanity {which was a steal} and I literally smile every time I have to wash my hands! *lol*

We just bought an 8×10 wool rug for our living room, and after hunting everywhere (I literally looked at 3000+ rugs on Overstock) we finally gave in and bought the “perfect” one from Anthropologie. A HUGE splurge, but since it was our first step in baby proofing and it allowed us to maintain the current decor, it was worth it for us. Plus, it is extremely high quality! You can read about it here:
http://barkingbaby.blogspot.com/2010/01/bb-proofing.html

Our Dining Room Table. It was love at first sight! We blew our entire dining room $$ on the table and had to wait to buy chairs and finish the room. But it’s an amazing mediterranian style table made in 1885.

It can be 4X4 or open up to over 15 feet long. Lots and lots of leaves. Our dining room isn’t big enought to open it up all the way — but occaisonally we move it to another room and open it up for a biggggg dinner party! I love the flexibility. I love the solidness. I love the design.

Just talking about it reminds me that it was money well spent!

The biggest splurge we have made in/on our house was to have a paver patio installed. It’s crazy to think that we could’ve bought a car instead!

See my all-about-it post here: http://thedesignslice.blogspot.com/2009/09/badabing-badaboom-patio.html

PS: Yes, it makes me smile everytime I see it, eat s’mores courtesy of the built in firepit, and drink margaritas with my girlfriends at the patio table as our husbands battle it out on the bean-bag boards.

We did have quite few splurges (anything above $500) so far. Modern italian dining table, which we bought 7 years ago, and we still love it. Nice sofas for the living room, they are timeless and holding up well . Land of Nod bedroom furniture for my twin boys and our baby girl. Hardwood floors (installed by my husband). We really looking forward to redoing our kitchen this spring, even with a tight budget it will end up being a big splurge. But my favorite splurges are professional fotos (and good frames) of our kids. To us, it’s the most beautiful art we could possibly have and I know we will treasure it always.

We been buying in stages small things that are nice here and there. Our biggest splurge so far since buying a home: Sofa nice flat screen and light fixtures. Everything else we diy or I’ve shopped sales and clearance and thrift stores and Craigslist. My last splurge was $ 20 bucks for one yard of fabric! That I love

I recently splurged on new carpeting for my living room. It’s the only house in the room without hardwood floors, and the previous owners had done a number on the brown carpet. It made me shudder every time I looked at it. So it was definitely worth it to save for beautiful, cream-colored carpet that makes the whole room lighter and more comforting. Unfortunately, my dog Piper decided to break it in by peeing on it less than a week later. :)

10 years ago I splurged on a ink blue slip-covered sofa from Pottery Barn. I have to say, when the day finally comes to replace it, I would go back to PB all over again. The thing is 10 years old and still looks great. It has moved with me more times than I can count, has been placed in our main space every home we have had, and only needs the back cushions replaced (which can be done through any PB store or catalog at a very respectable price point). So yes, that sofa was pricey, but it was a GREAT buy.

Our biggest splurge was refinishing original hardwood floors that were hidden under carpet in our 60-year-old home. 3 large bedrooms and 2 hallways totaled almost $2000 (we had it sanded/stained/sealed, professionally done), but it is SOOO worth it to have beautiful dark wood floors! And it was still less than installing new floors (and these are not engineered, but the real deal, made from old trees, so I justified it!) Our next big budget is going to be flooring and countertops in the kitchen.

We just finished adding on a new dining/living room area and finally had the space for my lifetime splurge – a grand piano. A lot of people thought I was crazy for buying a new piano after all the money we spent on our addition and especially with two little kids (and a third due in a few months), but I’ve been saving my whole life for this purchase. With the extra room, I didn’t want to waste any more time without being able to play. Now we just have memories of me and the kids playing starting long before anyone had planned. I couldn’t be happier about it.

We splurged on a dining room table in 2003. We could barely afford to buy it at the time, but I still have it and love it. In this house, the previous owners took their mismatched appliances, except the dishwasher. I sold that and bought all SS. I splurged on a Pottery Barn rug years ago too, and it was worth every penny (on sale).

My huge low wide coffee table from Bali. I had been looking for one for years, but none could measure up to the one I pictured in my head…and then I saw it and it was the only one they had and it was like someone had gone into my brain, saw the table, and recreated it. So I had to have it. It was more than I ever thought I would pay for a coffee table. But, I will have it forever. 3 years later and I still get happy when I see it.

Our biggest splurge so far has been on wood floors which are currently sitting in boxes in our dining room while they acclimate. Totally looking forward to loving them!

Furniture-wise, our biggest splurge so far has been an almost $800 couch that I thought I loved, but really only liked. That’s never a good idea! We ended up giving it away 2 years later, but for those 2 years, I kicked myself every time I looked at it! Oh well, live and learn, right? I’ve now decided that like Sherry and John, I’d much rather wait and get what I LOVE than to settle for something that’s just OK. Which is why our latest splurge is going to be a brand new wood front door! I can’t wait to see it up as I know it is totally going to “make” our house. We’ve had our house for about 6 years now and it’s something that I’ve always wanted!

So far, our biggest splurge for our 80 yr old home that I absolutely LOVE and will never regret are gleaming new, solid wood floors!!

ahhh…no more mismatched floors. It was sort of like getting a beautiful new pair of fancy shoes after having to wear flip flops for 8 years.

I just splurged on a gas stove. Between the stove itself, running the gas line, and converting the outlet behind the stove, I spent just a little less than the youngsters did on their bathroom remodel. But we cook a lot and I think it increases the value of the house, totally worth it.

A custom-made bed coverlet in a beautiful (and very expensive) fabric. It’s dark brown with a beautiful pistachio green leaf outlined in a light yellow. I love it. I don’t ever want to talk about how much it, the matching plain brown bed skirt, and box pleated shams cost. My husband helped pick it out, but we made a pact to never tell anyone what we paid.

Definitely my Savvy Rest bed! I love my latex bed so very much, and I got lucky that Gaiam had organic cotton jersey sheets in a pattern I adore with a coordinating solid. I also have a wool comforter and wool pillows from Shepherd’s Dream. My bed is a sanctuary and it makes sleep such a rejuvenating and satisfying experience.

It’s also great for balancing the respective benefits of my boyfriend’s house and mine so we spend equal time at both…at his we can let the dogs into the yard without walking them there on leashes (my side door opens outside my fenced area), and at mine we have the world’s swankiest bed.

We have been in our home for almost 2 years now. Our biggest splurge was installing a wood privacy fence. Quite pricey – about $5,700 – but soooo worth it! Our lot is in a cul-de-sac and on a hill. The lots behind us are empty – so anytime we wanted to hang out in the back we felt like we were “on display”. Plus, our dog has really enjoyed the “freedom” she has to roam the backyard at her will. It also made our house feel “larger” – since we now leave our blinds/curtains open much more!

Our biggest splurge was when we remodeled our kitchen. The price quoted was for level A granite,(meaning the 1st level). I fell in love with a higher level of course. So it ending up adding another $2000 to the granite cost. It was so worth it! It is really the centerpiece of the kitchen! I love it so much I think the hubby is a little jealous :)

We are big DIYers, which explains why having someone come in to install our new interior doors was a huge splurge for us. It was super awesome to have it all done in one day, but it took a lot of convincing and thinking before we went with it. Plus, hubby is good at a lot of things, but doors are not his forte (he admits this too!) :)

My main splurge is (and will probably always be) fabric. I make custom window treatments and often have clients tell us that they drop a lot of money on furniture that nobody notices but everyone comments on their window treatments when they walk in the house. I’m curious to see if John and Sherry will get a little bit of the bug after buying fabric for their nursery rather than ready made curtains.

My favorite splurge was a white goose down comforter. I really wanted the kind that’s all white, but the fabric is woven in such a way that it looks like it has stripes. Anyone know what that is called? I waited ’til I found one on sale… and I absolutely love it! Not only does it keep me really warm at night, but it feels so luxurious!

Our biggest splurge was to furnish our bedroom with the beautiful Lane bedroom set the previous owners of our condo had. I really lusted after it, and about a year after we moved in I found the same set on Craigslist for $1200 for queen four poster, dresser, mirror, and two nightstands. We absolutely could not have purchased it new at even the deeply discounted prices on line, so I will be forever grateful to the person who couldn’t fit it into his new apartment!

Our biggest splurge was purchased during our kitchen remodel. Silestone countertops. We made the splurge work by doing as much of the work ourselves as we possibly could. Almost three years later and we’re still extremely happy with our countertops. Quartz is definitely the way to go!

We splurged on rugs from Pottery Barn. We got the Flat Braided Jute rug for the living room and the Chenille Jute rug for the master bedroom. The kids each got a Flokati rug for their bedrooms. We spent quite a bit on our rugs, but I LOVE them. Now we have to figure out how to keep the cats from destroying them! The kitties might have to go outside. :)