The Look For Less

Shells are all the rage these days. At stores like ZGallerie, decorative shells are going for anywhere from $60 - $120 depending on the size. I saw one similar to this months ago at ZGallerie.

Large Atlantis Clam Shell - ZGallerie, $60

I love the shell look to decorate around the house like these inspiring shots from Young House Love and Emily A. Clark:

I had been searching Home Goods and similar stores for months keeping my eye open for something similar.
And I found it! In Canada of all places. I found it while I was perusing an antique/thrift store while working in Clinton, BC in July. Here it is in its original form.

It's actually a man made shell. It looks like it was made from pottery and then glazed and put in a kiln for extra shine.

I got it for $15, but it was super shiny and definitely not the white ceramic look that I wanted.

So off to Lowes I went to find a solution to my problem. I came home with this.

Valspar interior primer in white and white gloss paint. My total was $8.19.

The paint guy at Lowes recommend I start with the primer since the shell was already really glossy. He said that would allow me to be able to spray the white spray paint and have no problems with it sticking. I laid down some cardboard scraps in my garage, making sure to stay as far away from my car as possible. If it hadn't been 105 degrees outside, I would have done this outside, but I immediately started sweating once I stepped foot into my driveway, so I set up shop in my garage instead. Here's what my shell looked like after the first coat of primer.

Pretty good!

After 2 more coats, it looked like this. I waited about 30 minutes between each coat. I will say I had to get kind of aggressive with it. Since the inside had been so shiny, I had to really get in there, and make sure the primer was going on really good in all the crevices.

I still see shiny....

I flipped 'er over and sprayed a couple more coats. I didn't want to risk any of the glossiness shining through, so I probably ended up with about 4 coats on the whole thing. I kept the project setup in my garage, and over the course of a few days, just sprayed a coat every time I walked in or out of the garage and had some extra time. Whew... finally it was ready for the real paint.

Primed and ready!

After a couple many coats of the white gloss paint, the final product looked like this:

I realize it's difficult to see the glossy-ness of the paint with the garage lighting

Here's the final product inside. I decided to put in on my kitchen table for now... I've realized that basically all I do to decorate my house, is bring in white ceramic items and move them around from room to room periodically.



I like the freshness of the white ceramic look on the dark table.

For now, I've put some wine corks in it. Eventually I'll figure out what to put in there... I hope.

The total for this project was just over $23 plus some of my time spent spraying in my garage.
So while I think about what purpose this project serves... Did I make a fruit bowl? A wine cork holder? Maybe a candy dish (Halloween is just around the corner)? Does anyone out there have any suggestions for how to use my bowl... or where I should put it?

Shiny Ceramic Love,
Engineeringirl

$HAMELESS $AVINGS - And why you should NEVER pay for custom framing

Has anyone out there ever (foolishly) gone into a framing store and gotten a quote for custom framing only to find out that it costs like 5 times more than you had ever imagined it could? I did that about 5 years ago and was literally dumbfounded by how expensive it was, even after calculating the savings from a 50% off coupon! After scraping my jaw off the floor, I found a way around this predicament. In true Lauren fashion, I was 1) not about to pay a gazillion dollars for something that should cost $30, 2) not about to give up and 3) going to get what I wanted. I decided right then and there that custom framing is for suckers. Why? Because you can do it yourself for so much less!

So back to the frames. There are lots of pre-made frames for sale in the framing store. Here in Houston, we have a store called Aaron Brothers Framing. I've found that store has the best selections in the styles I like, but you can apply this method in any store that sells pre-made frames. The general rule of thumb is I try to allow for a 2-3" mat all around the artwork, and I buy a frame in the style I like that fits that criteria. So, for instance, if you have an 8x10" photo you'd like framed, pick out a nice frame sized about 12x14". Now if you're going for a super glam kinda modern look, you can allow for a wider mat. In my living room, I have 8x10" Barbie drawings framed in 16x20" frames with super wide mats. 
One note on frame savings: Many stores (including Aaron Brothers and Michael's Crafts) have coupons all time time. So don't forget to google around for a coupon, which are usually found on the store websites, and print it out to bring with you. Most of the time I will save at least 40% off at Aaron Brothers using a coupon. But if I have a big project in mind, I wait and save 50% during their buy one get one for a penny sale, which happens in July and January. 

But how to solve the issue of the mats? Art doesn't always come in the standard sizes of the pre-made frames. Plus those pre-made mats are pretty darn expensive too! Which brings me to my next point.
You need to know about Americanframe.com. It's kind of awesome.
There is literally every kind of mat quality and color you can imagine. They sell everything from your standard grade mat board to the best archival quality mats. You can enter in your own sizes, down to 1/16 of an inch, and they will make it for you. You end up with a custom made mat, which is EXACTLY what the frame store is doing for you except for they are charging you an arm and a leg for it. And... AND... it's way cheaper than buying those pre-made mats in the stores. For instance, a pre-made basic white mat for an 8x10" picture will run you about $12 at Aaron Brothers, but to order the same mat online, it will cost you around $6. Now, you can always use a coupon in the store to reduce the price, however, the coupons are usually only good on 1 item only. So if you're buying more than one mat or you need specific cuts, online is definitely the way to go. The only time I would recommend purchasing a mat in a store (with a coupon of course) is if for some reason it is an extremely unique mat that you cannot find online. For example, the extra wide mats for my Barbie prints have a silver lining that shows through around the print. I used 4 separate 40% off coupons in 4 separate trips to the framing store so I could snag those puppies at $12 each instead of $20 each.
If you decide to go the online route, here's a tutorial for how to enter in your sizes.
I recommend drawing out a picture of what you want to accomplish. Like here on a project I'm working on, I have a 24x36" frame with plans to frame a 9x12" picture. You want your mat to overlap 1/8" on all sides, so deduct 1/4" from your picture size. Here, I'm really working with a 8 3/4" x 11 3/4" picture. Make sense?

Since the width is 24", I'm left with 7 5/8" on each side. The height is 36", so I'm left with 12 1/8" on the top and bottom.  This is exactly the information I need for my order.

 24 bucks??!!

I've placed my order, and now I'm just waiting for the mats to come in the mail, which should happen this week.  Soon I'll be able to share the project I'm working on!

So now you know how to get the best deals on frames and mats. What to do next? Get your frame home, and open it up very carefully (I'm sure there's a tool for peeling back those metal clasp things on the back of the frames, but I just use an old pair of scissors).  Once you get it open and are ready to slide your artwork in, ensure there are no stray fuzzies etc on the glass. You don't want to get your frame put back together only to find a piece of fuzz or a paint chip floating around inside. Then put in your mat in first, followed by your item being framed, then the back of the frame. Push the metal tabs back in all around the back, and attach the hanging hardware onto the back of the frame. Voila! You now have a professional piece of framed art! And you aren't broke!

Happy framing everyone,
Engineeringirl

The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one.

I like jewelry. No, I luv jewelry. Like mega amounts.

Here is some of it.



It's just the rings, some of the earrings and some of the necklaces. There's more...

  Here's the rest.

Just the rest of the earrings. There are more necklaces. Oh and the bracelets... those are in another drawer.

All together now.


Well mostly all together. I have 2 of those lamps and there are necklaces draped all over both of them.

 So how do we cure this problem? Buy less jewelry.... "Oh heavens no", she says. We find a helper....

Like this one.

She hails from a magical land, Pottery Barn

So here was this morning's thought process:
Me: "Dang, I have alot of jewelry (mostly earrings)"... yes, I think with parenthesis.
Me: "It must have been those totally rad coral earrings I picked up at Target last night that put me over the edge"
Me: "What on earth am I going to do about this situation?"
Lola: "Didn't you see a cute earring tree in the PB catalog that you liked? Surely you can find something there. Oh and tell Dexter to stop humping me.
Me: "Oh yippe! I also have a $25 PB coupon that's been burning a hole in my pocket. Dexter, stop humping Lola. She doesn't appreciate it."

Hopefully that helped to set the scene for the celebration that ensued after I discovered a 10% off coupon in my most recent PB catalog later this afternoon. Happy Happy Smiles. Plus and also, free shipping was being offered on this item. 

So, you can imagine my disappointment when I added the item to my cart and I saw this:



THIS ITEM WILL BE AVAILABLE TO SHIP AFTER JUNE 3!!??

 So I called the PB hot line and talked to Debbie, a very nice lady at PB, who told me that yes indeed it was on back order till June 3, and the item was pretty much sold out in the entire universe. However she did give me the numbers of 4 stores that MIGHT have the item since their inventory was showing there was 1 in stock at each of the stores. Oh yeah and this lil tid bit. IT WAS ONLY $23 VS. THE $39 IT WAS SHOWING ONLINE.
After calling 3 out of the 4 stores, I finally got in touch with Jane at the Sacramento, CA store and.... SHE FOUND ME ONE!!
So after getting the item super on sale, a $6 shipping charge, taxes,  a 10% off coupon and a $25 gift card, I paid $3 for this item. And THAT is what I call beating my addiction.


I would like to add a side note regarding my complaints with West Elm, a Williams Sonoma company. Read about my issue in January here. Fact: Pottery Barn is under the same company umbrella of Williams Sonoma as West Elm. As it turns out, the catalog portion of the company does communicate with the store entity, as I found out today. Thank you Debbie from Pottery Barn! That's certainly strange, as I received an opposite response from the company directly when I complained about their lack of communication between catalog and store. And I quote "Please be advised that our Catalog/Internet Division is a separate entity from our Pottery Barn Retail Stores and do not have access to all their inventory." Really, West Elm?

DRAMA - West Elm, I'm considering breaking up with you.

Earlier in the week, I was perusing one of my favorite blogs younghouselove.com. The adorable couple that runs this blog posted about scoring the CUTEST duvet for their new bedroom. Basically, I had blog envy and ordered it for myself. I mean, I had planned on re-doing my bedroom sometime this year, plus I'm obsessed with turquoise, and it had hints of green in it, which totally matched my already painted green walls (which I'm NOT going to repaint because I had them professionally done, and let's face it, divas don't like painting). Now, one little catch here was, it was backorderd till Jan 8. Okay not a big deal, I can wait 5 days for it right?

Love it!

WRONG!!
After waiting 3 days, I got the following email from West Elm last night.
______________________________________________________________
We sincerely regret that we are unable to fulfill your order. Our supply of the following has completely sold out and will not be available again within the foreseeable future.

SHIP TO NAME AND ADDRESS ME
ITEM DESCRIPTION		QTY		STATUS
Pressed Leaf Duvet Kg Bl Sprc Item # 29-2348605		1		No longer available

Because we could not provide you with the above, we have not charged your credit card account. If you paid by check, you will receive a refund by mail within 7 to 10 business days.
We value your business as a west elm customer, and apologize for any disappointment or inconvenience this may have caused. If you would like further assistance or wish to order another item as a substitute, please call 1.888.922.4119.
Sincerely,
west elm Customer Service
1.888.922.4119
7 days a week, 4:00 am - 9:00 pm (PST)
_____________________________________________________________

WHAAATTTT!!! I'm pretty sure West Elm just pulled a fast one on me.
So, not to be discouraged, I called my store directly (promptly at 10am when they opened), asked them if they had the item in stock, and they did, and ordered the item to be shipped to my house (not before sharing my ordeal with the order dude the answered the phone). Therefore, the shipping charge was waived. Yay!

Let me get this straight:
I order a product on your website and give you my credit card number.
I agree to wait an extra 5 days before the item can be shipped because you say its on backorder.
Then, 3 DAYS LATER you send me an email telling me that the item is sold out and I will not be receiving it.... It's sold out??? Would that be before or after you sent me a confirmation email saying the item I ordered would be send out to me on 1/8?
Then, in desperation, I call my local store and Ta Da!!!! The item is indeed in stock!

My conclusion: The West Elm Store dude told me that West Elm catalog does not communicate with West Elm stores, and they are treated separately, which explains why the email I received said the item is "no longer available".  Clarification - the item is no longer available online. So it sounds to me as West Elm the company (because I'm pretty sure the catalog and the stores earnings are pooled together at the end of they year under the company called Williams Sonoma Inc) would rather terminate an order from a customer rather than pick up the phone and communicate with a store that might have that product available for the customer.
Below is my complaint to customer service.
_____________________________________________________________

On 1/3, I placed an order for a duvet online. The item was backordered until 1/8. However on 1/5, I received an email saying the item was no longer available so I would not be receiving the item. In an effort to purchase the item, I called my local store and luckily the duvet was in stock. It is now being shipped to me from my local store. My concern lies with the lack of communication between West Elm catalog and West Elm stores. It seems as West Elm would rather lose a customer by failing to fulfill a promised order than communicate with it's retailers in order to get fill the order. Indeed the email I received from West Elm saying my order would not be filled said the item is no longer available, which is not a true statement. It is no longer available from the catalog, but still is for sale in stores. I would like to have seen West Elm coordinate with the stores in an effort to get this item to me rather than terminating my order.

_____________________________________________________________

Now we wait. I will return with the results.

Fabulocity - My New Living Room

Since the summertime, I've been working on re-doing my living room. Here's what I had to start with. Not overall bad pieces... It just didn't scream FABULOCITY or represent ME in any way.


Yawn

In my defense, I had just moved into my very first apartment when these furnishings were selected. I was in love with them for a time, however over the years, my style just became more, shall we say - GLAMOROUS.

With that, I set out on a mission to redecorate the living room. I had a few objectives:

1) Decorate within my means. While I didn't really have a budget, per se (Fabulocity isn't really budget friendly), I did want to feel like I was getting high quality, unique items at an affordable price. So rather than giving myself a budget, I just chose to look at each item separately, only purchasing the items I loved, that had a place in the room, and for the best price possible.

2) The room will have a feminine touch... okay, so I got a little carried away on that one. It is majorly girly. But hey! I'm a girly girl, so it fits.

3) The color scheme is Tiffany blue/turquoise and terracotta orange. For those cave men out there (or women, although I highly doubt it), Tiffany blue shall be defined as the amazingly beautiful robbin's egg blue of the ever coveted Tiffany and Co. boxes.

My inspiration started here from House Beautiful:


Love Love Love

 So here is a list of the "features" I decided to copy in this room:

• Hints of terracotta orange and Tiffany blue/turquoise
• Velvet tufted back couch
• Zebra print and flower print fabrics
• Nail head detail
• Accents of crisp white ceramic and sparkly mirror
• Small scale furniture

In a perfect world, I would just use some of the same pieces in my room, but alas, the example I was working from was the NYC apartment of an interior designer.... I had to get creative. After lots of stalking shopping around, here were a few of my ideal selections.

Amy Butler Chandra rug in colors of rust and blue, you are so beautiful... However, even at a discount, you still are $350 for a (5x7) - which is still too small for my space



Oh Brocade Home Lace Cut Media Storage, how I love thee... Unfortunately you cost $700 with $170 shipping charge. Not even a 15% off coupon will entice me to buy you.

 

Crate and Barrel Dubois Mirrors... How fantastic you would look in a set of 4 over my fireplace... But not even with the highly anticipated 15% off friends and family coupon would I buy you for $320.


So after a little reminiscing and snapping to it in the real world, we move to my actual selections.

Throughout this process I learned a few tips on how to be fabulously stylish without spending a fortune, which I will share:

1) BE PATIENT. In other words - stalk the sh*t out of anything you want to buy for months, then when the price looks like it can't get any lower, pounce on it like the lioness you are.
2) DON'T SETTLE. If you don't love it, like CAN-NOT-LIVE without it, then don't buy it. nuf said.
3) HAVE A VISION. I like to search through my favorite design sites, magazines, or catalogs to find the room I want to steal ideas from, copy, borrow from.
4) BE SHOPPERTUNISTIC. Always keep your eyes open for something that fits your needs. Resist the urge to purchase items that you aren't in love with, just because you have a need to fill. Instead, buy that amazingly awesome totally glam thing-y that you can't live without (that is majorly on sale). You can find the neatest stuff in the most surprising places. Don't set out to find everything you need in one day. Take your time. Design is a process.

Coming up to a blog post near you... the big unveil of the living room. I'm trying to convince my friend Jaime to come over and take fab pictures with her awesome expensive camera. Can't wait for those...

Spooktastic Decorations

I - LOVE - HALLOWEEN
I think it's because it's the official start of fall. Plus it's the holiday that kicks off the season of holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas, New Years, followed by Valentine's Day).

I love decorating. I love costumes. I love handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. I love baking spooky treats. I love Halloween parties. Halloween is the best.

So I have decided that if I was going to put all time time and energy into putting up decorations, it made the most sense to put them up early, in order to enjoy them as long as possible. Makes sense right? So I started this weekend. Take a look inside my spooktacular home.
It started with these mercury glass candle sticks from the new 'Elle home decor' collection at Kohl's. They were 30% off, and just by sweetly asking, the guy at the register gave me an additional 15% off coupon toward them. SWEET!

 I found black glitter spiders at Walmart (8 for $2)!!
And see the cutest pumpkin candle I picked up a few weeks ago at Bath and Body Works

Obsessed...

Next we have pics of the dining room. I snatched a bag of mini pumpkins at Walmart for $2.50! Actually they rang up for $2.98, but you know I had the cashier correct it... What! I'm not about to lose out on 48 cents! I just swapped out the candles from my regular table decor with the pumpkins.

I just used decorator moss for under the pumpkins to fill it in a bit

Enjoy your Halloween everyone!

My Home is Decorated for the Holidays - Take a Peek Inside

Tom picked up our real Christmas tree this week, and I have been busy decorating the house over the last few days. Last year, the day after Christmas, I shopped at Pottery Barn for all the ornaments, which had been discounted. This year, I was ready to decorate!

The tree was placed in the dining room. The theme is metallics: Bronze, Gold, and Silver. Most of the ornaments are of Mercury glass and are very heavy. These ornaments had to be hung on the most sturdy branches for support. The other ornaments are nature inspired: silver and gold leaves and flowered spheres.

Lola and Dexter posed under the tree. How adorable are they in their scarves they received from the groomer?

One Giant Light Fixture

When the painters were done today, I asked them if they would install a new entry way light fixture using their very tall ladder. I had picked a new one out at Lowes over the weekend. Isn't it great?





This is the view from the entry way floor.

View from the staircase.

This is the view from the upstairs.