Deal Alert!!!

At Tai Pan Trading (locations in Utah, Idaho, and California) 

all these cement looking planters are 40% off.   They come in various shapes and sizes.

I snagged the last of these ones (regularly $70, sale price $40) for in front of my garage - I wanted black planters so a can of spray paint was all that was required :)  They are Final Sale - no returns.

What I didn't realize, until my sister went to the store a couple days later, is that there was a whole different display of white containers that are an even better deal!

All of these are $20- no matter what size you pick!!!  Some are 4ft. tall and still just $20!!

And we already know they spray paint up great - any color you want.

(When you enter the clearfield store just turn right and you'll see the display of white ones).

 They didn't have any of the Urn shape that I bought in white  

(which is good because I would have been so mad!).

I drove back today and decided to get one of these tall ones for my porch, for $20 I couldn't pass that up.

And it gets better - today when I went in they were running a deal, if you buy a $50 gift card, they'll give you a $10 gift card free.  Just buy the gift card when you first go in the store, then it's good to use 10min. later on your purchase.  So I bought my $20 container with my free $10 gift card (I'm sure the remaining balance on the $50 gift card will get used no problem!).

I'll post the final pictures when I get plants in them!

Improv. Ottomans/Stools

I've been looking for a couple ottoman's or stools to go under my new sofa table and finally 

settled on getting something with texture.

I found this Seagrass Pouf from Wisteria for just $80.  I was pleasantly surprised that Wisteria sold something so reasonably priced - I was just waiting for one of their 20% off sales and then I planned to buy them.

In the meantime though, I found these baskets at Target for $30 (when I bought them they were buy one get one 30% off - so I got two for $50).  They are basically the same size as the pouf (Target has a couple sizes to choose from - I went with the 15x15") and I wondered if I simply turned them upside down if they would give the same look as a poof or stool.

What do you think?

They seem sturdy enough to use as an ottoman to put your legs up on, I think I would even trust my kids using them as a stool.
Honestly I doubt they get used that much - their function is mostly for looks and in rare times use.

The only problem is that the round lanterns on top of the table now look redundant with the round ottoman baskets underneath.  Soooooo - back to the store :)

Pillow Trim

I finally settled on some pillows for my Living Room!

I decided on this pillow from World Market because the grey color matches my couch exactly.
 Sadly it looked a little too plain though.

I found some cute Burlap/Twine looking ribbon at JoAnn's for $2 and pinned it onto the pillow in the design I wanted.  It took two rolls of the ribbon to finish the pillow.

Then I sewed the ribbon in place.  I'm sure you could also just use hot glue- but since my house is teeming with boys, I was worried they would pick at the glue and I didn't want to constantly be fixing the pillow!  Sewing it was really easy and took just minutes.

I also bought this pillow from West Elm (on final sale now for just $25 and free shipping!).  It's actually a 20x20 size but I felt that was too big for the bench so I used a smaller insert and just tucked the rest of the pillow underneath!

SEEEE- I don't alter EVERYTHING I buy :)

Sometimes things need it and sometimes they don't!

Product Review

Have a slippery rug that you are constantly fixing?  I did!  

I recently saw a review of this product here.  I immediately went out and bought some at Shopko.  It has worked like a charm for my mudroom rug.  I was so tired of constantly moving it back "in place."

All the traffic in and out this door hasn't moved it since!