Category Archives: Decorating

When DIY turns into SKB (Should’ve Known Better)

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I’m fascinated by DIY projects. I love the idea of taking something that’s not so great and turning it into something fabulous. I could spend all day watching HGTV (if we had cable) and flipping through the pages of Better Homes and Gardens (if I subscribed). With a little hard work and *finesse, anything seems achievable!

This attitude is what drove me to convince the husband to attempt a four-day DIY project to turn a pile of dirt (remember the photo from last week?) into a beautiful water feature. We attended a seminar a few years ago and the process seemed fairly straight-forward. The husband had also done all the electrical, HVAC and plumbing when we built our house and everything still works perfectly after 12 years, so a simple water feature should be a piece of cake, right?

We began by carving out the pond. With shovels in hand, we began digging away the dirt. With each scoop of soil removed, I could hear the soothing sounds of water splashing on a warm summer evening. Ah, it was going to be so peaceful!

The soil soon became hard clay, and I was having a difficult time scooping anything but air. Out came the husband with the adze to break through the clay. I hate to see him work so hard, but readily admit that seeing his muscles at work gets my heart pumping. For what seemed like hours, he broke the clay then took a break while I shoveled it out.

I kept asking/whining, “Isn’t it deep enough?”

His reply, “No!”

I trust his calculations, because he’s a very analytical guy, but I was so hoping he was wrong. I was hot and tired!

Finally, after six hours, we reached the required depth and set the skimmer. YEA! That was the end of day one.

Day two started with a trip to the local nursery to buy plants to place around the water feature. Oh, I was really envisioning this thing of beauty now. We made our purchases, brought them home and began shaping the two short waterfalls that would feed the pond. We had plenty of rock we’d excavated from our property, so we were ready to go.

We laid the liner and began placing the rocks. This is where it all began to deteriorate. I won’t go into all the details, but there’s apparently an art to the process that we were missing. At 4:30 p.m., I simply said, “We’re done.” My very frustrated husband did not argue. That was the end of day two and I was pretty sure there would not be a day three and four on this project.

We showered and went out to grab something to eat. Over dinner we began speculating on where we’d gone wrong. Maybe if we did this or that. No illumination. It was time to admit that this wasn’t going to be a DIY project, after all. I admitted defeat and called an expert on Monday.

My DIY finesse level:
Novice     Advanced beginner     Competent        Proficient        Expert

What’s your DIY finesse level?

*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)

How I saved nearly $250

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I’ve wanted to purchase new bedding for our master bedroom for several years, but wasn’t quite sure what I wanted. Needing inspiration, I began purchasing accessories I loved and finally hit upon a direction about a year ago (see my pinterest board).

I envisioned a light blue comforter with pintucks. I thought I’d just plug “blue comforter pintucks” into Google and voila, a page would pop up showing exactly what I wanted. Not exactly…

beddingSome items came close, but no winners, until I saw a special advertised on BradsDeals.com. The bedding set at Kohl’s was almost exactly what I’d imagined, and it was on sale. Additionally, I could save 20 percent on top of that with the code offered.

I wanted to save even more, so I went to giftcardgranny.com to see if I could score a discounted Kohl’s gift card. Giftcardgranny shows all discounted gift cards (physical and electronic) available through various gift card resellers. I like using them because there’s a level of credibility if a reseller is listed on their site (I always check the web to see if there’s anything negative with a reseller before I purchase from them for the first time). I can also compare the discounts between multiple resellers.

I found an electronic Kohl’s gift card discounted by 10 percent. Its value was $143.21, which was about $25 shy of purchase price. I choose to get as close to the amount I need without going over so I use the entire amount of the card. I paid $128.88 for the card. It took 24 hours for the electronic gift card to land in my e-mail box, so I had to wait to place my order, but this was certainly faster than waiting for a physical card to be mailed.

Here’s the breakdown of my savings. The 16-piece comforter set, which includes comforter, bedskirt, 2 shams, 2 Euro shams, 2 fitted sheets, 2 flat sheets, 4 pillowcases, oblong decorative pillow & square decorative pillow, was listed at $399.99. It was on sale for $209.99 for a savings of $190. I had a code from Bradsdeals for 20 percent off, for a savings of $42, lowering the price to $167.99. I used the electronic gift card valued at $143.21, purchased at a 10 percent discount of $128.88. The balance between $167.99 and the gift card was $24.78, which went on my VISA card. The sale saved me $190, the 20 percent saved me $42 and the discounted gift card saved me $14.33 for a total savings of $246.33 or slightly more than 60 percent. Yep, that’s *finesse!

I can’t wait for the bedding to arrive and continue remaking our master bedroom into the soothing retreat I’ve always imagined.

Have you saved 60 percent or more? How did you do it?

My shopping *finesse level:  Novice     Advanced beginner     Competent        Proficient        Expert

What’s your shopping finesse level?

*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)

Patience rewarded

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corelle

From a practical point of view, Corelle ware is great – nearly unbreakable. It will outlast the popularity of its pattern by decades! The majority of the Woodland pattern set we purchased 34 years ago served through every meal and holiday dinner, endured two children and a million trips through the dishwasher. It was still in great shape, but over time, I came to hate the sight of the brown leaves that circled every plate, bowl and cup.

It was time (way past time according to my kids) to replace the dishes. I looked at purchasing china and fell in love with the White Palace pattern by Noritake. However, I was blown away by the price and couldn’t justify the expense. China’s not really practical for every day, anyway, right?

corelle_whtInstead I chose to replace the old Corelle with new Corelle (guess I’m not very adventurous). Knowing this stuff will probably survive any natural disaster, I opted for the Enhancements pattern, which is basic white with a little swirl detail. I figured basic white wouldn’t become dated over time.

I found a loving home for the old Corelle and happily began using the new Corelle. I was just fine using the new dishes day in and day out, but when special occasions rolled around, I still secretly wished for the Noritake White Palace china to grace my table.

allthetrimmingsI found contentment in my growing collection of Christmas china I found at thrift stores. I was hoping to find Noritake White Palace china, but in all my exploration, I didn’t find a single piece. Even on eBay the price for the china was more than I was willing to spend. It’s important to note that the husband would have no problem with me purchasing china, even at retail prices. I was the one who was unwilling to pay that amount for something we’d only use a few times a year. So, I sort of gave up on the idea except for the occasional eBay search.

A week after Christmas I was doing a little eBay shopping and decided to do another search for Noritake White Palace china. What the heck, right? To my surprise, a 53-piece set including nine five-piece place settings was available for about one third the price of retail! Some pieces were described as gently used, however some pieces were new with price tags attached.  Oh, happy day!

noritakeI watched the item for a few days. No one bid. I waited until the auction had about 12 hours left then placed my bid at the starting price. I wanted the china, but I already decided that I wouldn’t increase my bid if someone bid higher. I held my breath (figuratively) and when the auction was over, the china was mine!

It arrived within a week and it is beautiful! I’m glad I exercised a little patience and waited for a price that allows me to enjoy using it even more.  And that my friends, is *finesse!

*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)

I need color!

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When we built our home 11 years ago, there were a lot of decisions to make. As we neared the end of the process and were ready to paint, I just couldn’t make one more decision. As a result, almost all of our walls are white. I did manage to paint our family room a greenish-grey, but other than that it’s white, white, and white! We need some color!!

Ok, so go grab a can of paint, slap it on, problem solved, right? Au contraire! I’m terribly afraid of commitment when it comes to color, and I hate to paint, so I’m stuck. I seriously lack *finesse in this department. I need an intervention!

This is what my kitchen looks like at present. I love my maple cabinets and black granite counters and backsplash with a small strip of accent rock (although if I were to do it over again, I’d probably not choose solid black and I’d run the backsplash all the way up to the bottom of the cabinets). The stainless steel appliances are also a winner. I’m no longer loving the grey slate floors, which are impossible to keep clean, but too expensive to replace. I think we can all agree the space is screaming for color.

Here’s my stab at choosing a color using the paint tool on the Sherwin-Williams website. My concern is that it blends too much with the cabinets. Another option I like from Benjamin Moore is Olivetint (#519) and use Wytheblue (#HC-143) as an accent. What do you think?

It’s pretty obvious I’m drawn to neutrals. I’m not a flashy person  and wouldn’t be comfortable with red, but I’m open to suggestions. Let’s hear it, ladies!

My paint finesse level:  Novice     Advanced beginner     Competent        Proficient        Expert       

What’s your paint finesse level?

*finesse (skill, flair, grace elegance, poise, assurance)