So a quick recap of resources for my While You Were Out decorating adventure–
First, the pillows: The original couch had these oversized cushions as a backing, but once i removed them, i realized, there was nothing left for back support, so i needed to replace it with some sort of backing pillow. After going though what felt like every fabric shop in Orange County, i finally found some fabric that matched the off-white/bone color of the couches (who knew there were soo many variations on white/bone/ecru…) and recovered a few of those “body” pillows, since they were long enough and already stuffed. The solid accent pillows, were Ikea, but also i found some great printed ones, as well as most of the vases, at Homegoods– It’s owned by TjMaxx, and was surprisingly really good- I found the wood side table lamp there for $18- and the vases were generally about $16 – $21.00- the small black lamp ($10) on the credenza/buffet was from Walmart- (as well as the tripod one) the round wood side table/stool was from Target’s Global Bazaar, as well as the little gold bird on the coffee table- the candlesticks were from Pottery Barn- and I used an Ikea “lack” shelf as the little mantle/ledge underneath the main painting in between the couches- and was super stoked to have scored the last pink with gold hella jongerius vase from my local Ikea (i took a display model..shhh…). The purple rug was from urban outfitters for $50. When my parents came home, they were pleasantly surprised. (yay) It was a really interesting experience because I had to constantly struggle with putting something I thought was “cool” and something I thought would be appropriate for my parents, and yet still give them something stylish and sophisticated. Also, it was really challenging trying to stay under budget ($1500)- I’ve seen all those design shows do it- but now I seriously think there’s some “fudg-ing” of budgets going on there… Everything I bought in itself was pretty cheap- but it all adds up quick! Interestingly, what really blew my budget was getting all the art supplies- I guess if you already had all the paint and stuff, it wouldn’t have cost as much… unfortunately i had to start from scratch. What also took about half the moola was all the curtains. I bought not only the tan curtains, but also the same amount of white sheers. Anyways- I did manage to not go over. (sorta) All in all, it was fun. Not that i’ll be quitting my day job anytime soon, but I did enjoy it. Now they want me to redo the family room. Which is a bigger pain, but i dunno… we’ll see…
