It’s been a while since I last chatted about Globein, right? After Globein sent me the Celebrate box, I ended up signing up for a subscription out of pocket. GlobeIn is a subscription and shopping platform that connects artisans from around the world in a fair way to consumers like us. I just received my Bathe Artisan box this morning and I wanted to share what I got with you.
[Read more…] about Globein Bathe Artisan Box UnboxingBlog
Wooden Candle Sconce
Hey guys! It’s an awesome Thursday today because we’ve got the whole crew back together for #thriftscorethursday and I’ve taken the day off from work. So it’s big smiles all around.
This week I’ve been working feverishly towards next Tuesday reveal of my hallway refresh. There are lots of family photos going up, but I’m also working in a couple of wall decorations. And I’m happy to share with all you thrift lovers one of the pieces today.
I picked up this wooden candlestick for 49 cents a while back. I like the shape and think it’s pretty cool that it’s wood. I embellished the inset detail with a bit of my favorite paint color and added my favorite candles of all time. I pick up these tapered cacti candles on eBay and keep a stash of them for thrifted candlesticks holders.
And for my favorite part of TST, I perused the feed and here are my favorites. (I’ll be featuring them on my feed! @adesignerathome)
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And now I send you off to my wonderful friends, Cassie from Primitive and Proper, Brynne from The Gathered Home and Trisha from Black and White Obsession. You’ll find their scores and their features on their blogs. Have a great day!
Want To Join In? Here’s The Rules!
- We want you to participate! Hit up your local thrift stores, craigslist, yard sales, estate sales, side of the road, anything! Thrifty doesn’t necessarily mean from a thrift store. We want to see your good deals, wacky finds and treasures.
- Don’t feel like you need to save those finds for Thursdays! Yes, features are shared on our blogs and Instagram on Thursdays, but we’re all checking in on (and using!) the hashtag all week long. So, when you see/find it, feel free to share it!
- Each week, Trisha from Black and White Obsession, Cassie from Primitive and Proper, Brynne from The Gathered Home, and Myself (A Designer At Home) will pick a favorite thrift score or two to feature! So please note that by linking up with #thriftscorethursday, you are giving us permission to share your finds via social media or on our blogs.
- Please remember that we can only share love for photos shared on public accounts. If your profile is private, we can’t see your finds.
Vintage Rug Care for the Long Term
Vintage rugs are pretty much all the rage right now. It’s no denying they’re in the spotlight and few would argue that it’s not rightfully so. The colors are beautiful, the patterns are unlike what we were seeing in previous trends. They let us scale back the other elements of a room to go bold with the floor. And I know I love having a less permanent item to play around with.
But there’s probably something you’re forgetting to do when you pick up one of those vintage rugs. In fact, you’re not alone. So many people are forgetting this. Or maybe rather ignoring it because vintage rugs can already be quite expensive. Either way, vintage rug care is important for it’s longevity (and we want to get our money’s worth, right?)
Don’t fret though. You haven’t ruined your rug just yet. In fact, here are a few basic care tips before we dive into the biggest thing of all:
All rugs are susceptible to daily use damage. Walking on it stretches it out and smashes the fibres. It’s best practice to:
- Clean up any spills immediately
- Vacuum regularly (on the “hard floor setting” or no bristles preferably)
- Deep clean according to the type of rug you have (I recommend going with a professional).
- Rotate for even wear and tear
But what you do inbetween all of that is important.
You need a rug pad to protect your rug from losing it’s life. Many of the vintage rugs we see gracing all the latest designer’s spaces are very old rugs. They need a pad that’s going to aid in the longevity of it’s remaining life.
And a rug pad is a great idea in floor care, too since they’ll prevent scratching from the rug and dye transfer.
As part of the hallway refresh I’m in the middle of, I bought a vintage rug and Rug Pad Corner provided a coordinating rug pad. In my quest to eliminate as many chemicals and irritants from our home, I’ve found these pads to be the perfect marriage between function and standards. They work. I’ll tell you what, this rug was slipping and bunching up all up and down the hallway from my crazy dog and child. It hasn’t budged one bit since putting it atop the super hold natural rug pad.
With the pads from Rug Pad Corner, I like that I don’t get a funky chemical smell in my home for days after opening the package. I like that they’re made in the USA. I like that they do their job. I like that with all the awesome things about these pads, they’re still really easy on the budget.
I do recommend Rug Pad Corner. While my bottom line is get any rug pad for your vintage rugs, I believe the product you’ll get from them are superior and better for you and your home. You can check out their different pads and try out the “rug pad wiz” to see which pad best suits your needs.
Creating An Atmosphere With Artwork In A Hallway
I know a lot of times the hallway ends up being the family photo catch all. It’s great to have a place, and better yet multiple places, to display our love for family and friends but I feel like I see a lot of people use that as a crutch for getting more creative with this space. Hallways can totally be decorated and they should feel like a space more than just the passage to other spaces. Essentially I beleive that everyone should love being in every part of their home, even if it’s not technically a room.
So a big part of what I’m trying to do with my 3 week hallway refresh is to make it feel cozy and like it is it’s own space. In last week’s design reveal I shared a piece of artwork, but it doesn’t end there. I’m pulling in multiple pieces of art for a couple of reasons.
- In a space without windows, it can get even more depressing and dull than it already is. Creating a portal to another place with a piece of photography art of an outdoor space helps tell the story of emotion you want in the space. I want a happy and cozy vibe in my space so when you’re first entering the hallway, there’s a very large print with an outdoor field shot. This is my main “window” for the space.
- It can also be difficult to make a space without windows or natural light feel alive because nothing could live without the sun. So I decided the way I would combat the lack of plant life this space would have by bringing in photos of some of my favorite plants- succulents! I’m using these in a vignette at the end of the hallway to help make the trek down it a bit more pleasing.
- If I were refreshing any other space, I would look to artwork to help bring together the color palette and assist in telling the story of the space. The story for my space has a basis of cozy. But the story goes on to more than that. We are a family who values happiness and other cultures. So there’s happy photos, happy artwork and global inspired frames and decorative pieces.
To help tell this story, I partnered with minted.com for the artwork in this space. I’ve always enjoyed their vast selection of custom frames but they’ve added a metal line that I know a lot of people are going to be thrilled with. Because the decor is heavily metallic and rustic, I used the copper frame and the natural french farmhouse frame.
The prints are limited edition prints Canyon Flowers, Slow Zebra and Fero Cactus.
I’ll be back again tomorrow with a progress update on the hallway refresh the rest of the week with more cozy tips for hallway decorating.
Be sure to stop by, visit and show some love for my friends participating in this challenge. They’ve got even more room refreshing advice for you today!
New Year, New Room Refresh Challenge Participants:
Curbside Mirror With Character
Hey There! How are you guys doing? Find anything cool on the side of the road recently? I did! I’m always too afraid and embarassed to pick up items on the side of the road. I always imagined that my trash treasure wasn’t actually trash and the person would come out yelling at me to go away. I’m ridiculous with the things I think up sometimes.
I finally conquered the fear recently one night when taking my son for a late evening drive. He likes to go by the public works building and look at the trash trucks. He’s obsessed with them. So that’s what we were doing when I noticed that there was something resting against the fence separating the parking lot from the city vehicles. I could make out that it was a large mirror and it looked like wood. I pulled on my big girl pants, jumped out of the car and barely fit it into my little car.
My favorite detail is the top part. The mirror itself is big but not that huge but the extra detail at the top gives it a lot of substance
It’s actually plastic. But still looks cool and was completely free! I’m always eyeing the side of the road now.
I think I’ll end up using it in the hallway (I’m doing a 3 week makeover on it for the New Year New Room Refresh Challenge). Hallways can be such a dark spot. I’m hoping the mirror will help bounce around the light and brighten things up a bit
Since it’s plastic would I be crazy to paint it? I’ve never really painted anything and want to try. The mirror looks cool but I’d hate to ruin even a fake beauty.
Now that I’ve had a chance to share a thrifty find with you, let me share other thrifter’s finds with you by sharing my features from the #ThriftScoreThursday feed. I hope you like awesome vintage/thrifted/found finds!
I have a lot of features today. I’m kicking it alone for TST since the other hosts are dealing with an array of things- keep them in your prayers! So I figured I’d show extra love to the feed today.
Click Here To Check Out #ThriftScoreThursday on Instagram
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And that’s it from me! Visit me on Instagram @ADesignerAtHome since that’s where I’ll be chillin’ today.
How To Save Buying Furniture Online
I’m sure you’ve seen everyone’s secrets by now. But last night I saved so much more on the dream piece for my hallway refresh that I had to whip out the laptop and share with you what I did so maybe you can save some moolah, too!
The piece that I shared in yesterday’s mood board I found on the Wayfair.com site. It’s the Vintage Dongbei Style 2 Door Cabinet by Antique Revival. I’ve been absolutely smitten with it. I spent a lot of my evening moping about it and rechecking Craigslist for something similar. Husband told me to just buy it, but I couldn’t justify the $240.
I found a few other cabinets that I liked. But they didn’t totally jive with the vision I had. I had to have that old wood look. The big knots and the unique hardware. And they were still right around the $200 range. I wanted to be more like $150.
When factoring in artwork and lighting and rugs and all the other decorative things I wanted to fit into the budget, $40 is a lot from $200. And $200 is far off from $150.
When Craigslist kept coming up short and I couldn’t find anything else that I liked from Wayfair, Target, Pier1, LampsPlus, Walmart, West Elm and World Market, I figured I’d Google search the image to see if I couldn’t find anything similar per Google’s standards.
If you’ve never done that before, go to images.google.com and click on the camera in the search bar. It’ll then give you two options, to upload a picture to search for or to search by image. You can either right click the image and “copy image image address” or right click and save the picture to upload.
This all matters because it’ll show you a list of web pages that have that image on it. Start clicking on the links. I visited all of the first 2 pages. That’s when I found the same cabinet on Overstock‘s site. For less!
$40 totally makes a difference! I can put that $40 into something else for the space. But wait, there’s more!
If you read here regularly, you probably know now that I am an Ebates user. I’ve used it for 4 years. So it’s pretty much habit now to check Ebates to see if the place I’m shopping has a cash back option. Overstock had a 2% cash back when I checked. Better yet, Ebates also has coupon offers. Ebates had a 15% off Furniture promo. Sweet!
So the chest I just had to have for my hallway came out to $174.24. Free Shipping. And I’ll get 2% of that back through Ebates. I saved $65 on a piece I wanted to pass up on. And it ended up being cheaper than the less exciting contenders.
To Sum It All- Save Buying Furniture Online:
- Google Image Search The Item
- Go Through The Listings To Find The Cheapest Retailer
- Search The Retailer In Ebates For Coupons & Cashback
I hadn’t actually had anything planned to post today but a $65 savings seemed like it warranted a share with you guys. I hope this helps some of you!