Our new place is completely different from our old apartment in Menlo Park. Our old apartment had SIX south facing windows with flat-white painted walls. Everything about our last apartment was bright white. Our new house has dark brown hardwood floors, tan travertine tile, tan walls with a little bit of white trim. It doesn’t scream bright white; so my black, white and rainbow wall decorations I used at the Menlo place wouldn’t have really worked.

Coloring aside, we sold most of our furniture before we left California so I pretty much had to start from scratch anyway. While it’s taken a good six months to collect all of the furnishings for this room, I’ve managed to do it all under $390! The only reason why it’s that high, was because 70% of that was spent on the couch.

Here’s the breakdown:

• couch – $300
• coffee table – $35
• tufted bench – $15
• 2 red chairs – $10
• lamp – $15
• side table – $8
• rug – FREE thanks to my parents
• 2 large frames $6

Not bad, right? I have to tell you about the couch. I was planning on splurging big time and buying a {new!} couch from Urban Outfitters, but I kept wimping out at checkout. I really didn’t feel comfortable spending $600 on a couch that I’ve never seen in person {I’m really that cheap}. Would you? Well, I waited too long. Before I knew it, OU sold out of the MCM Couch I had been eying. I admitted defeat and decided that I really didn’t want to spend that kind of money on a couch, anyway. I spent a few days scouring KSL {SLC equivalent to Craigslist} where I found THE OU couch I had been eyeing, for half off ! WHA?!? I quickly called the girl and bought it that night. I swear it was nothing short of destiny.

The coffee table and tufted bench were also a thrill to find. I went thrifting at a pretty child-unfriendly thrift store (multiple levels are just so annoying when you’re hauling a baby and a cart full of goodies) and I went to the as-is section and found my gorgeous coffee table. I quickly pounced and awkwardly stuffed the coffee table in the cart, because some equally savvy shopper was eying it, too. Phew! About 5 minutes later, the same thing happened with the tufted bench. I love my bench.

The red chairs are so dear to me. I love furniture that remind me of my friends and family. We were up in Idaho visiting our dear friends Chad & Alexis and Alexis showed me 6 of the raddest chairs she bought for $5 a piece at an estate sale up there. She totally saw how jealous I was and sold two of them to me. Alexis is a really nice friend, one day I hope to have the same shopping and style savvy as her and her mom. One day I think I’ll recover these chairs, but the upholstery is good enough to hold off for now. Maybe I can be cool like my other friend Susan and take an upholstery class.

I’m really happy to have one room in our house decorated and complete. When the rest of the house is a mess, I just sit on my new favorite couch and revel in the complete-ness of the entire room. Ahhh. The next big projects are finishing Penelope’s room and working on our master bedroom (aka the hopeless cause). So, have you found any sweet furniture finds recently? Please share, I’m listening!! Cool stories behind cool furniture are such a favorite of mine.

I’ve been working on some fun projects that I can’t wait to share with you, but since the computer is caput, they’ll have to wait for later. To give you a preview, here’s what you can expect to see next week:

iPhone Case 2.0

I had a brilliant brainwave the other day where I figured out a totally new and totally awesome iphone case design. I’m excited. I hope you are, too.

Nearly Completed Living Room

I’m not sure I’ll ever be done decorating this room, but it’s so close. Close enough that I really want to share it with you. I finally have artwork on the walls and furniture on the floors. It’s almost a complete style 180 from our last apartment, which is always fun.

I hope you have a fabulous, and exciting weekend void of any computer failures or errors.

Upon careful consideration, Susan and I agreed that the cutting board Faith made knocked our socks off. See?

Congratulations, Faith! You win the handbound book + stickers.

Do you see how gorgeous this end-grain wood cutting board is? It’s stunning. Faith gives you a sneak peek at the process on her blog here. I want to take that woodworking class!

Coming in close second is the book that Madeline made from a vintage drawer. I thought it was a brilliant use of materials. I think the lock and handle add such a unique element to the book!

Bummed you didn’t win, or didn’t submit your photos in on-time? Never fear! I’m organizing all of the details for IS•LY’s handmade challenge for March! It’s going to be awesome! Keep posted.

me: So, I found this awesome ugly lamp on KSL. Wanna see it?

Chris: Sure.

me: See? Aren’t the cherubs hilarious?

Chris: Woah! $15? Rad! So, when are you going to pick it up?

me: (shocked) Well, I haven’t even called the guy. I thought you’d hate it.

Chris: What?!? No way, this is totally rad. You should get it.

Those may not have been his exact words, but I remember how shocked I was at his enthusiasm over the lamp. I didn’t realize the lamp was over 4 feet tall until I went over to look at the thing. SCORE! It barely fit in the back of our Element. We also had to get a side table for the lamp, $8 and one thrift store later, I had it. Perfect. My living room is now 99% complete.

Also pictured:

My mom gave me the Mme. Alexander doll when my parents moved to NC. Turns out my mother-in-law has the same little Indian Mme Alexander doll. I think she’s super cute.

The 4 books below the doll are a treasure of mine. I found these for 25¢ each at a we’re-bulldozing-this-school-so-everything-must-go sale. I thought their covers were really cool. When I took them home and flipped through them, I thought their out-dated styles were also really cool. When the series was blogged about on a really cool design blog, and I knew I had found a sweet hidden treasure on that crazy sale day.

So, have you found anything on the cheap that you thought was just funky then it turned out to be even cooler than you thought? Do you like my gaudy lamp? I’ll be posting pictures of the entire room soon, so you can see how well it goes with the room.

The last few weeks I’ve been focusing a lot on hand-lettering. I named the collection Thesaurus, because each kit has eight different ways to say one thing. Here are a few of my favorites.

{oh, hello! kit: $1.99}

{so pretty! kit: $1.99}

{play with me! kit: $1.99}

{oh, baby! kit: $1.99}

{gee, thanks! kit: $1.99}

{oh, sweet! kit: $1.99}

Can you tell that I’m obsessed with cursive & calligraphy? Today is “release day” for this kit, so you can buy the entire collection here at 30% off ($6.99) for the next 24 hours.

I don’t design with an eye so much toward scrapbooking as toward general print applications.  This word art and the rest of my Digital Design House work is meant to be versatile enough to use on web pages, personal cards, silkscreens, iron-ons or anything decorative. I get a lot of inspiration from seeing my artwork in action, so let me know what you do with these kits! I’m a sucker for uploads to the flickr group and/or comments.

Here’s the deal. . . I really want you to post your handmade projects (whatever they may be) in the flickr pool. Seriously, I just get so excited to see what other people are making, and how creative you guys are! Please show me! So if you show me something you’ve made, and I’m just in love with it, I’ll send you this hand-bound book and some hand-drawn/designed stickers. Sounds like fun, right? So this month, only one winner will be chosen, and I will announce that winner next Wednesday, March 3rd.

Here are the contest details:

• Items must be made and photographed by you (unless you’re the one modeling the handmade item – but please, don’t hire a professional).
• Photos must be uploaded and added to the flickr group by Sunday February 28, 2010 at 11:59pm MST.
• Judging is subjective and as non-biased as possible. Entries will be judges by yours truly & Susan Petersen.
  
• (1) Winner will be announced March 3, 2010.
  
• International entries are allowed.
• Multiple entries are encouraged.
• Comments on this post are NOT entries.
• To enter, join IS•LY’s flickr group (click here) and add your photos to the pool.

Bonnes Chance, everybody.

Next month’s prize is going to be even awesomer, by the way.

This last weekend my friend, Susan, was so kind to let me tag along with her and Caitlin (super cute interior decorator with tons of great ideas) on an awesome thrifting/antiquing adventure. We headed up to the antique show up in Ogden and just ooh-ed and ahh-ed over nearly every single piece on display. There were some stunning pieces of furniture that would’ve looked so charming in my multi-million dollar dream home. You know, the one? The one that’s in the Presidio in SF.

I think my favorite part of the whole excursion was discovering vaseline glass. It’s made out of uranium and glows neon green under black lights. SO rad. I feel a little lame I didn’t take my cool camera with me, but I did manage to snap a few pics of some things I thought were awesome. If you’d like to see it, check out my whrrl story about it.

Although the prices weren’t bargain basement awesome, Susan and I still walked away victorious. See, I’ve been just dying for a felt cloche. I’ve wanted one since I discovered the handmade cloche hats of Behida Dolic. OH. MY. GOODNESS. They’re stunning. If I were a million times richer, I would buy every single hat in her shop. I’m sure you’ll agree with me. Since I can’t justify the $300+ price tag, I’ve been searching high and low for one that’s just right. I snatched up my little hat for $17. Not bad, right? I’m not usually one to spend over $6 on any item of clothing, but I was surely willing to make an exception for this beauty.

After antiquing we did some more thrifting. This was where we found the bulk of our goodies. Luck was surely in our favor. Or mine. Susan found the most awesome moccasins, but they were my size, not hers. I’m sure she was re-evaluating our friendship at that point, but lucky for me she’s a forgiving soul. I’m just gushing about my new moccasins. Who $6 could be this hip?

I went a little crazy with the melamine plates. There are many things that make my heart all gushy, and one of them is good old melamine. There’s something about the bright colors and smooth finish that I just LOVE. I think I’m going to plan Penelope’s second birthday around these colors. The lady at the checkout stand was really, really nice to me and gave them to me for 33¢ a piece rather than the usual 50¢. Sweet.

Did you find any good deals over the weekend? Please share in the comments, or email me! I’d love to hear!