Archive for November, 2010
Back To The Drawing Board
Here’s a little behind the scenes Friday bid-ness. Remember us saying how we recently debated how to best share our house hunting experience while still respecting the privacy of the sellers’ homes we were critiquing? And how we finally opted to share only a doctored image of the exterior, like this one below?
Well, we actually came to that solution only after this sad first attempt to disguise each home occurred:
I love my wife. And I think she’s very talented. Really. Especially with her cute drawings of our home’s floor plan and our lot (both of which came out really well). Which is why it wasn’t easy to look her in the eye and tell her that I didn’t think her crooked colored-pencil “interpretations” were, uh, the way to go.
Luckily for me, Sherry took one more look at them and cracked up. Then we turned to our trusty friend (you may know him as Photoshop) for the job. Oh and we used the Paint Daubs filter to work our blur magic. As for how it all went so terribly wrong, Sherry blames Danielle Staub (she was catching up on some Real Housewives reruns while getting her colored pencil on). That beeyotch ruins everything.
So that’s our little behind the scenes Friday outtake for you. Have any of you had to resort to Plan B after Plan A was an epic fail?
The Season For Thanks
You guys know that we like to take a moment each month to thank our sponsors (you know, the people who help keep our site up and running… and make the other 40+ posts possible). But over the last two months we’ve been channeling Dwight Schrute from The Office (and listing things that we’re loving, like “bears, beets, Battlestar Galactica”). So instead of just doing a sponsor roll call, we’re giving you a snapshot of one thing that we’re digging from each of them (in a quick thumbnail & bullet breakdown). Call it getting a bit more personal if you will. And doing a little virtual window shopping, which you know we’re always up for.
Oh and at the very bottom of this post we’ve also collected all of the discounts they’re offering into one quick spot, so you can scroll down to save some moolah:
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- Wintery wooden collectibles like trees, bears, and caribou (oh my!) from Paige Russell.
- Le Papier Studios‘s stunning collection of personalized silhouette gifts.
- Custom portraits from Limited Sketch as part of her month long “artist’s experiment.”
- Scrapbooking pro Ali Edward‘s annual holiday documenting project: December Daily
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- The colorful work and charming story behind Painting Pony‘s equine-created art.
- The peaceful yet high end look of solid spa glass tiles from Design for Less.
- The array of fonts in WallQuotes‘ custom design tool. One’s called “Whackadoo” – ha!
- 2 words: Wet saw. 3 more words: The Tile Shop. 2 final words: Please Santa (Sherry)
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- Graphic and bold drum shades spotted on Shades of Light‘s homepage. Amazing.
- This ceramic turkey from Z Gallerie that says Thanksgiving in Sherry’s language.
- This print from Vol. 25 that celebrates love, kitchen-style. Yum.
- Spotting items for nearly 50% off on BULX, like these bentwood dining chairs.
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- Personalized whimsical canvasses like these bubble trees from Trendy Peas.
- Finding items to repurpose on Ruby Plaza (like this enamel pitcher = shabby chic vase)
- Letterpress holiday cards from Smock Paper. Eco-friendly, colorful, & full of cheer.
- Freshline‘s assortment of customizable monogrammed prints and pillows.
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- The fact that Heart & Stone Jewelry is just as earth-friendly as it is beautiful.
- This graphic twist on the traditional portrait from Hoot Design Co.
- This necklace from Lisa Leonard Designs (because we call Clara “little lady”).
- The incredible array of options when designing your own Frame The Date.
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- Cardboard Safari‘s new longhorn. Somewhere our Texan friend KK is rejoicing.
- My Design Guide‘s Stylefinder quiz (it’s a fun way to hone in on your design sense).
- Simplifying our next tile project thanks to Durock‘s Tile Membrane “Project In A Box”
- The nice surprise that Red Letter Words does holiday cards in addition to canvas art.
And now for the JUICY DISCOUNTS:
- WallQuotes.com: 15% off with the code YHL15
- The Tile Shop: 10% off when you use the code YHL10
- Paige Russell: 10% off your purchase with the code House Love
- Le Papier Studio: 15% off any purchase with the code YHL15OFF (thru Nov 20)
- Freshline: 10% off any orders with the code YHL10
- Heart & Stone Jewelry: 10% off your purchase with the code YHL10
- BULX: $20 off your first order with the code YHL
What Color Is Your Teddy Bear?
Time waster alert. Elizabeth sent us the link to this entirely non-scientific but still pretty fun color quiz from ChinaPaint.com (couldn’t tell you exactly what ChinaPaint is because the whole site is in Chinese). The “Colour & I” quiz asks you to virtually paint six objects in your favorite (or “most suitable”) color and then it assesses your personality based on your choices.
As usual, the results seem pretty baseless but are entertaining nonetheless. Yep, I just broke out “nonetheless.” Here are Sherry’s results:
Although we shouldn’t be surprised by Sherry choice of black for the shirt, I was caught off guard by how grayscale her selections seemed. And perhaps she should’ve stayed away from color entirely because it’s not ’til she creatively made her teddy bear green that she got insulted. Ouch, quiz. That’s low. And it also seems a bit inconsistent since her blue cell phone choice indicated the exact opposite personality trait. We also got a kick out of the first description sounding like something Bruno from dancing With The Stars would say (“Brandi you moved in for the attack!”) and thought the fact that the black car’s connection to expensive possessions was hysterical (my wife likes to brag about how cheap things are- and in fact gets embarrassed whenever she pays a decent amount for something).
Okay, onto my noticeably more color-filled results:
I’d say my yellow house, blue shirt, and brown teddy bear are pretty spot on for me. And unlike Sherry, I got burned when I went colorless on my car and was told that some people may find my possessions “a little out of fashion.” This quiz can be quite backhanded, eh?
Well if you want to risk some soft insults and see what it has to say about you, here’s that quiz link again. We’d love to know if you find yourself getting built up just to be torn down. There have to be a few more zingers.
Psst- We announced this week’s giveaway winners. Click here to see if you’re one of them!
Psssssstttt- Why stop at just one quiz? Here are lots more.
Window Shopping: My Maiden Voyage
So many people have told me about the miracle that is Garden Ridge, but I’d never been to one. Until yesterday. Yes, one finally came back to Richmond (we heard a lot about the one that used to be out by the airport but it was gone by the time we moved here 4+ years ago). Anyway, here’s what I found on my maiden voyage to the big Costco-ish warehouse full o’ house, garden, and other random stuff.
My first reaction was “man this place is huge” followed by “Teresa Guidice would like it here” (NJ Housewives reference anyone?) since there are oversized urns and stone columns a plenty. Klassy. Let’s just say it’s one of those places that you have to dig through to find the goodies (hidden among many insane and unnecessary things).
But there were definitely a few diamonds in the rough. If by diamonds you mean metal herons that I fell in love with. I know my animal obsession is weird, but these guys actually seemed kind of sophisticated – if they were used for good instead of evil (read: located among a pretty backyard garden instead of among plastic gnomes and flamingos in the front).
And John did his best knight impression while saying that he can’t wait to get one of ‘em for the new house. Just kidding. File this under “who the heck buys this stuff?”
Then I fell in love with this rug and those crazy knights were forgiven. It was natural fiber (jute I think) and incredibly inexpensive (I don’t remember the exact price but it was around $30 for a huge 5 x 7′ version). Uh, yes please. I especially loved how modern many of their rug options were since many other discount rugs are only available with traditional and ornate floral designs.
Oh and I liked this queen sized bedding (priced at just $39) that looked especially high end to me- kind of like something out of the Garnet Hill catalog.
And two yards of this pre-cut fabric (priced at just $5.99) seemed like a great deal, considering it looks a lot like some $35 a yard stuff that we’ve seen around.
$1.99 ceramic bird. No further explanation necessary.
Oh and they had tons of pillows. This is just the brown and blue aisle. Yeah, we’re talking tons.
But every “wow” moment I had was tempered with a “really?” moment which followed soon after. But that’s the fun of shopping at hit or miss places like this. Besides, it’s not every day that you lay eyes on a toilet paper stand like this. And yes, that’s a plunger on his head.
Oh and some of the art had potential, especially if it was hung in the right space. For example, we thought this cheerful cherry print would look sweet in a charming white cottage-esque kitchen with red accessories (like a red teapot and red apples in a bowl).
We even thought this crazy textile-ish painting could look Domino-magazine-chic if it was hung in the right room (maybe as a headboard in a soft aqua kids room with a bold orange comforter).
And check out this $24 mirror. Not bad right? Especially if you painted it a color for added pop (daffodil yellow or smoky gray would be cool).
And here we have a $79 bar stool that would look great in a kitchen with a gorgeous bar-height island. Especially if you reupholstered those seats with something a bit more “custom” looking, which would really elevate the classic x-back design.
And here’s the cutest thing in the store: our offspring! Just kidding. This is a picture of the square tray that John’s holding (Clara’s cute face is just an added bonus). We actually ended up buying that sleek branchy tray for just $12 because I love square trays (we have a green one that I move all over the house, so I love the fact that I now have a second one to put to work around here).
And so ends our window shopping spree at Garden Ridge. Do you guys have them in your neck of the woods? Do you know who’s buying those knights in shining armor? Anyone else have an obsession with the ever-elusive square tray? Or a penchant for metal waterbirds? Let’s talk.
Before We Move: A Semi-Crazy Goal
I want to get rid of (via donations, craigslist, ebay, freecycle, etc) at least 100 things before moving day. On one hand the number sounds kinda high, but on the other hand, I know there are at least 100 things in our house that we never use, need, or should spend time and effort moving. And I actually plan to keep track, writing all 100 items down on a piece of paper in list form. Why? Because I’m weird like that.
To kick things off I went through my shoes (pun intended). Amazingly, I realized that I hadn’t worn a good amount of them since leaving NYC and moving to Richmond 4+ years ago. How embarrassing.
I ended up with ten pairs of shoes in my toss/Goodwill/ebay pile. Not too bad considering I had just 18 in my keep pile (although my definite-keeper Puma sneakers were out in the sunroom for a grand total of 19). That means I’m ready to say “hasta la vista” (in my best Schwarzenegger accent) to over a third of all the shoes that I own.
Sidenote:The blue-gray bedroom wall looks so green in this picture- clearly I still have a lot to learn about the new camera.
So although that’s actually 20 things I’m getting rid of (since there are two shoes per pair) I’m counting the shoe purge as ten items just to be fair. Now to find 90 more things to get gone. Somebody wish me luck. And stay tuned for an update to see if I’m able to reach my weird little goal…
Is anyone else out there cutting the fat at home and pairing things down in a major way? Let’s commiserate.
