Dream big, spend little…

Haute House Purple Medallion Chair from Neiman Marcus

The morning after I made the “If I won the lottery…” post, I had a person unsubscribe from my feedburner list. Mostly I don’t pay attention to who subscribes and unsubscribes. Don’t misunderstand me; like any other writer/blogger, I WANT people to read (and hopefully enjoy) my posts. I just don’t spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about the number of people who read them anymore because I found it sucks a little of the joy out of the whole process for me. Plus, since I’ve been a marketing professional my whole adult life, it’s nice to do something where I’m NOT tracking and analyzing the numbers.

That said, sometimes I wonder why people choose to unsubscribe. And on that particular morning, seeing the unsubscribe notice poked at a little fear I had hounding me as I fell asleep the night before. I was worried, you see, that my lottery post would somehow suggest that I was no longer concerned about creating a beautiful home on a budget.

Just to clarify things… I HAVE not won the lottery! Not by a long shot. Right now, my family of 5 is living on my single income because my husband, like so many others, is struggling to find a new job. I’m still VERY budget conscious from necessity. More importantly, I’ve discovered that I possess a sense of stewardship. Even if I won the lottery, I’d still be trolling craigslist.com for the best deals on whatever I needed. I have a strong belief that I should be mindful of whatever resources I have available and make the best of them. A little money or a lot of money, I’ll always be the one shopping for the best deal.

And no, that doesn’t imply that I’m cheap either. Value isn’t always about spending the least amount on something… it’s about really being thoughtful about how you spend. For instance, this winter, I splurged on a great pair of Tahari oxford shoes:

Tahari Leather and Patent Oxford

This one from DSW is very similar to mine, except mine has suede rather than flat leather. I bought mine on sale for a little over $50, so they were a deal compared to what they normally retail, but even $50 was pushing it for me. Regardless, I LOVED them on sight and they have been my go-to shoe all winter long. In fact, my happy little feet are wearing them right now and they totally provide the icing for what would be a very simple casual Friday outfit of trouser jeans and black square neck t-shirt.

My point is, I knew the value of the shoes, and even though it was a splurge budget wise, they were worth the splurge. And the reason I knew the value was because just like I spend time virtual window shopping about expensive furniture, I spend time virtual window shopping for clothing. Both habits allow me to understand current trends as well as pinpoint my own “ideal” style. Later, when I’m really shopping, I’m able to use that knowledge in a few ways:

• Judging the true value of an item. (Just because it’s on sale doesn’t mean it’s really valuable to me for my life.)
• Choosing items that really represent ME. (On sale also doesn’t make it a good deal if I’ll spend most of my time feeling like I settled for something that I don’t REALLY like.)
• Selecting the right budget friendly items to recreate a look I admire. (By understanding the elements of design that speak to me, I can focus on finding pieces that possess those same elements.)

Dreaming big, in reality, is exactly what allows me to make the most effective use of my time and money in decorating my home. It allows me to lust after this $5700 leather sofa:

Tufted Leather sofa from Neiman Marcus

and spot the similarities in this $1200 Rooms To Go Cindy Crawford Home collection piece:

Cindy Crawford Home Chestnut Leather

and it’s exactly what lets me know that there is true value in this $2000 4 piece set for sale right now on craigslist.com:

Cindy Crawford Home on Craigslist

(A 4 piece set, by the way, that’s NEGOTIABLE!!!! Oh craigslist, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… )

So there… a little peek into my mindset, for those of you who might have thought I was straying from my budget decorating roots…

’til next time,

xoxo – Shauntelle

Oh, I almost forgot! If you want to learn some awesome but simple tricks for creating really pretty home accessories check out these posts on Joy’s Joys of Home blog:

Joy's monogrammed silver platter

• How to monogram a silver platter.

• How to create antique-style burlap wall art

Joy’s the newest addition to my RSS subscription list and I bet ya’ll will enjoy her blog just as much as I do!

If I won the lottery…

I’ve been hard at work on a craigslist challenge post to recreate the look of a $3000 sunroom for less. It’s turning out to be a little more difficult than I thought! To stave off frustration, I took a little break and wandered over to my favorite daydreaming site, Neiman Marcus . I have friends who swear that you can find the BEST deals if you stalk the sales at Neiman Marcus, but for me, everything I fall in love with there whether clothes, shoes, or home decor, ends up costing upwards of $500. And that’s why Neiman is my “If I won the lottery” daydreaming spot…

Anyway, I thought it’d be fun to share my “money’s no object” living room with ya’ll, starting with this FABULOUS $4800 Monroe sofa:

Haute House Sofa from Neiman Marcus

Next I’d add this luscious $1700 chair, also by Haute House (yes, I said luscious! lol):

Haute House Purple Medallion Chair from Neiman Marcus

Unfortunately, the chair put me at a stand still… I’m a nut for symmetry, so I lean toward a pair of armchairs to flank a sofa but I feel like the Medallion chair is like a piece of art… one is WONDERFUL but two? Overload! So I decided that two of this chair would be better:

Annie Selkie O'Hara Chair from Neiman Marcus

 If you’re keeping track, that’s another $3400 ($1699 each). And, in case you’re wondering, since this is my lottery dream, I’m still keeping the Haute House chair! Money is no object after all, and I’m I’d make good use of it in my sitting room or SOMEWHERE. It’s art I tell you!

Anyway, now we need some gorgeous tables to complete our sitting area. I think this would be the perfect coffee table:

 

Neiman Marcus Leather Trunk

At first I thought I’d add a mirrored coffee table, but the more I thought about it, I decided I liked the idea of adding an eclectic twist to the otherwise very sophisticated room.  This $1800 distressed leather chest has a texture that I find very appealing.

I’d also add this handpainted cabinet ($1299):

 

Handpainted Cabinet from Neiman Marcus

It looks like something I might have brought home from my exotic travels and even if I’ve hit the jackpot and can buy everything all at once, I still want my fancy living room to look like it came together organically over time.

And for end tables, I’d a pair of these hairhide nesting tables ($1099) :

 

Hairhide nesting side tables

Now let’s add some icing to this cake… accessories and lighting!

Definitely this chandelier for overhead lighting ($3100):

 

Shaded Chandelier from Neiman Marcus

And a couple of these for table lamps ($485 each):

 

Orbit Shade Lamp

and this mirror ($1900):

 

Concentric Circle Mirror

Whew!  That’s around $25,000 dollars of imaginary money gone in the blink of an eye!  I can’t bear to spend anymore… even if it IS imaginary lottery money. 

This has been pretty fun but exhausting at the same time.  I thought shopping with little money was hard!  Shopping with no constraints is SERIOUS work!  I’m all ready to get back to my original goal of creating a craigslist version of the $3000 sunroom…

Until next time!

xoxo –  Shauntelle

Mailbag: Where can I find…

Ammie Kim sitting area

I am ALWAYS tickled pink (who came up with that term?!??!) to get comments and emails from my readers. So you can imagine how this email had me bouncing up and down in my chair from excitement:

” love your blog…I saw the Ammie Kim sitting area and loved the chairs…any idea where to get them??

Debbie in Stow, OH”

Ya’ll know there is NOTHING I like better than a virtual furniture hunt! So today’s post is all about finding these chairs for Debbie.

I start my hunt by honing in on design details for tell-tale clues of the possible retailer. (Yeah, maybe it would be easier to contact Ammie Kim’s design firm and ask, but where’s the fun in that?) The modern fan shape of the chairs send me running over to Room & Board’s website but the closest chairs I find are:

Room and Board Guffman chair $799

Room and Board Astoria $749

No, I’m not blind… I can see that those chairs aren’t exactly like the one’s in Ammie’s sitting area! But they do have a similar feel, just a little more modern.

My next stop is Ethan Allen. Why Ethan Allen, I can hear you asking (come on, play along!)? It’s all about the details… turned legs and the channels on the back, evoke a more traditional take on a contemporary chair. And that, my friends, is all Ethan Allen.

Unfortunately, Ethan Allen isn’t the exact answer either! They offer a similar chair, the Colby, starting at $1000, but the Colby is missing the sleek profile and has a thicker seating cushion. So the hunt continues.

I popped in to Crate and Barrel because… well, because they seem to have new buyers and now you never know exactly what you might find as they try to differentiate themselves their younger sibling CB2 and their competitor, Pottery Barn. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they did have their own take on the tub chair, the cherry blossom covered Azure chair:

Crate and Barrel's Azure $1299

Still not quite what we’re looking for though.

Overstock offers the Rosemary for $299:

Overstock's Rosemary Chair

Yeah, I know that’s a reach… but this IS a budget decorating blog and for $299 I’d be okay with this chair as a replacement option! And since we’re talking budget friendly options, I’d also be consider this pewter club chair for $159:

Overstock's Pewter Club Chair

At this point, I decided that I had to admit defeat. So sorry Debbie! However, I did send an email to Ammie Kim’s design firm and will update with an answer as soon as I receive a response!

xoxo – Shauntelle

What Inspires You?

Badgley Mischka Spring 2009 RTW

My friend Tim recently asked me to help him decorate his fairly empty two bedroom townhouse. Now ya’ll know I am ALWAYS down for a new decorating project, so I jumped at the chance… I mean, seriously, how could I possibly pass up a REAL excuse to spend hours scouring craiglist, TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, and every furniture store in a 15 mile radius for furniture and accessories?

Generally, I think of budget as the “be all and end all” challenge to getting a home decorated. If you’re like me, you see 15 pieces you love (like this and this and oh, definitely THIS) and they are extremely out of your price range, so you have to start thinking out of the box to get the look you want. Working with Tim, however, has shown me a whole different challenge.

Tim doesn’t know his own style.

Oh, he knows which things he likes. And he likes a wide range of things. But there’s nothing he can point to that really makes his heart go pitter-patter.

Yeah, I know you’re thinking “well… he’s a guy.” True. But he’s a web developer guy– he definitely has an EYE for design. He just doesn’t know his own style. He hasn’t developed an eye for what really speaks to him.

Which makes our decorating conversations interesting because I think he thinks I’m gonna just pick out pieces for him and put it all together. I’m sooooo NOT going to do that. Cause I firmly believe a person’s home should be a reflection of them and my eclectic urban modern bohemian taste is probably not a good reflection of Tim.

So this little situation started me thinking… how does a person develop their personal style?

You know I have a theory, right?

My theory is that you find your personal style by learning how to pay attention to what inspires you. Which is both a simple and a complicated answer. It’s simple because inspiration can come from ANYWHERE. Like for me, inspiration is found in that lovely Badgley Mischka dress at the top of this post. (I know you were wondering why that picture was there!) It represents my style in many ways… a simple, sophisticated shape, with bright color and interesting pattern. Sure, it’s a dress, but you can also see those elements reflected in this vignette of a sitting area created by designer Ammie Kim:

Ammie Kim sitting area

and this Pottery Barn Mirror:

Pottery Barn Raindrop Mirror

and this beautiful photograph by etsy artist Barbara Carter:

Angel Wings by Barbara Carter

(All of which are items I would pull together to make a lovely sitting area in my dream office. )

For me… since all I can really tell you is what has worked for me… the first step in decorating a room is developing a good sense of what truly inspires you. Because I’m visual, I collect pictures of everything that inspires me and through reviewing those things, I have finally developed a good sense of the colors and shapes that really scream ME. Before that I wasted way too much money buying things that were attractive (and ALWAYS a good bargain!) but weren’t a real reflection of my style. In the end those items weren’t really a bargain because I never felt at home with them… and most found their way to goodwill or craigslist before long.

So– learn from my mistakes! Before you spend a dime on decorating, take some time to explore what truly inspires you (and yeah… that means you too Tim! lol).

xoxo – Shauntelle

P.S. Hey, if you feel the urge, I’d love to see what inspires ya’ll these days! If you create a post that you want to share, add it here with Mr. Linky:

Getting Back to My Roots…

Photo credit: A. Warden, BHG.com

No, I’m not talking hair dye! (Although, with all this grey hair peaking through , I should be! LOL)

I’m talking about the roots of A Beautiful Abode. This month marks A Beautiful Abode’s one year blogoversary! It’s been an amazing year and I have learned sooooo much about design during that time. I’ve also met the MOST amazing people with the BEST taste!

Every few days for the past week, Go Daddy has been sending me reminders that it’s time to renew my domain name. Just like many of you, my family is struggling to keeps ends together due to job loss and the economy. Even a $7 purchase undergoes scrutiny at this point. The big question has been, do I have the passion and sustained interest to continue the blog?

To be honest, even though my life is still in rollercoaster mode, over the last couple of months my posts have been hit and miss because I’d lost my inspiration. I love the “In the Trenches” and “Craigslist Monday” posts but the routine of them has made them stale for me. I’m not a really a routine kinda person… and part of the reason I started A Beautiful Abode was to explore the ways I could create a beautiful home on a budget… to keep track of and share the inspiration and resources I ran across in my journey to create a beautiful home on my limited budget.

As I tried to cater more to what my readers seemed to enjoy, I lost the personal side of A Beautiful Abode. And I miss that. I miss the feeling of writing to a few friends about the cool stuff I just found or learned or saw… I miss sharing my projects and chatting about your projects.

So, to summarize what I’ve wasted the last 400+ words trying to get at… A Beautiful Abode is gonna be around another year… but I’m going back to my roots. Posts are gonna be more spontaneous again, without the rigid schedules I keep setting for myself and then missing (which always made me feel like a grade A failure because I’m kinda anal about trying to keep my word!). No worries, it’s not the end of “Craigslist Monday” or the “In the Trenches” interviews… it’s just, those things will pop up more organically… I mean, really, are you gonna hate me if I share a good craigslist deal with you on Thursday instead of Monday?

The great thing about blogs to me, is the feeling of being in conversation with cool, interesting people who share your obsessions. One of my obsessions happens to be budget decorating and I really LOVE sharing that with ya’ll. I hope you’ll forgive me if the way I share it becomes less “professional” and more just “Shauntelle.”   Most importantly, I hope you’ll keep coming back and join in, cause THAT is truly the best and biggest reason for me to keep blogging! 

xoxo- Shauntelle