It's a Lack Hack

Awhile back I was inspired to try a new project. I wish I could say I was creative enough to always think of projects on my own, but unfortunately I use the creativity of others. I am very thankful for all of those creative people out there. You have actually seen pictures of this project in previous posts, but I wanted to detail how simple and budget friendly this was.

Meet our new side table...

A similar looking Parsons side table at West Elm is available for $199. Here is a photo of what that one looks like.

There are certainly differences in the two tables, but they both share the same idea. Parsons. Parsons=yummy. Parsons has clean lines and I love clean lines. Now, there may be differences, but there is one difference that made me so happy that my hair curled (I have straight hair...well unless I use curling mousse, but that's a story for another time).

So as I said the West Elm version was $199, but my version was a mere $15.98+a few supplies from around the house. That's a difference of $183.02!!! So what did it take to make this masterpiece?

2 Ikea Lack Tables @ $7.99 each (you need two)
Liquid Nails
Screws and drill (optional)

Honestly you can do this project all by yourself, no help needed. This was a project that giant pregnant ladies like because it took very little effort at all.

1. Put together one Lack table fully (it's Ikea, you always have to put something together).
2. Turn it upside down (legs in the air), place a small amount of liquid nails spread evenly over the legs
3. Take the top of the other table (white side is the one that you want to place onto the legs) and center with the legs. Press down carefully, but firmly. If any of the liquid nails squeezes out, be sure to clean up with a paper towel.

Now the next step is not necessary and you can skip it. Josh and I chose to screw the two pieces together to ensure that the table would be very sturdy. The liquid nails will work just fine, but we wanted this to outlast our little baby. To screw the two pieces together, flip the table back over and screw into the already made holes (you may want to pre-drill into the holes).

Ta-Da! You are done and now have a cheap version of a beautiful side table.

Again, I am so thankful for all those creative type. In fact, I must give credit where credit is due. Here is the blog where I originally saw this fabulous idea.

We LOVE our budget friendly side table and it was well worth the $15.98 we spent to have it. I am also thinking that there are MANY other things you can do with these simple tables. Maybe we will attempt another project in the near future...

Welcome to My Addiction

Embarrassing as it may be, we honestly have not stepped foot into Target for what feels like a lifetime. In actual reality? Maybe a couple of weeks. We are Tarjay addicts. The truth is after all the Christmas spending was over we realized in order to afford groceries we should probably keep ourselves away from that intoxicating place. I will say that if I ever became homeless I would make my home in Target. I'd be like Natalie Portman only not living in "The WalMart", and hopefully not giving birth in the store either. That just got me thinking, if I had to give birth in Target I would choose the home section because I would hope that the setting would help prepare my baby for a life of interior design. Wow, this idea is not sounding so bad after all.

Alright, that tangent is over. No I am not writing this post to give you my life story. Really, I thought you all might be interested in the fun things I found while searching Target online. What? Shopping online is TOTALLY different than shopping in the store.

Without further adieu I introduce you to a few of my favorite things...

Banana Leaf Trunk $39.00

This storage cube of sorts is so rich and so worldly. I can imagine it in a living room, a bedroom, a playroom, even a bathroom! And the storage? Oh, the storage! Anything that can hide away the junk that clutters homes is something that makes my little heart go pitter patter. This is a must buy.

 Dupioni Fret Work Pillow $19.99

There are so many great graphic prints out there right now, but I am loving this particular pillow! It has a sense of luxury and visual appeal that makes my mouth water. I think of this as the daddy pillow, but Target even offers a mama pillow as well that is just as great.
 

Glass Lamp Base (large) $29.99

I pretty much need this lamp. Unfortunately it just wouldn't work in my bedroom like I want it to. Someone please give this beautiful lamp a great home. All it needs is a nice lamp shade, like this one here. I also think this pairs quite beautifully with the Dupioni pillow I featured above.

DwellStudio Perch Bedding Collection $79.99-99.99

Last, but never least...DwellStudio bedding. My love for all things DwellStudio is one I cannot hide. This bedding is absolutely gorgeous. I could never justify getting rid of our current bedding, but if I needed to then this beautiful set would certainly be coming home with me.

Well, there you have it. A few of my favorite finds at my favorite place. Tarjay is always a great way to buy beautiful things for your home for only a small investment. Adding just one thing that you love in your house can quickly transform a room and your mood. Even if you do not have a ton of money to spend, you can start small and eventually you will have added enough items in your room to truly make it yours. Just make sure that the things you buy for your home are truly something that you love. Have fun shopping!

Cheap Christmas Cheer

One thing about our "temporary" living situation is that we agreed to make it temporary. I know that seems obvious, but let me explain. We moved into our current apartment knowing our main goal was to own a home. Unfortunately, with Josh earning a commission only paycheck we have to wait a full two years to partake in home buying. Well, we just recently hit one year so we have only one year to go. When we were moving we made it a promise to ourselves that we would keep most of our belongings in storage and only unpack those items that we would need for the next year or so. It was a hard thing to do because of our love for interior design, but to us it was the right decision. While I wouldn't recommend this for most, it really has stretched our creative minds. You find ways to make your temporary house a home with the few items you have. This leads me to....

Christmas.

That's right, all of our Christmas boxes are in storage. Of course we could pull it out of storage, but that would require a lot more work than we were ready for. So we made the decision to forgo the festive decor and yes, even a tree. The space we live in is so tight (we can't even use our heaters because our couch has to cover our heat source!) that it would be impractical for us. Yes we thought of some great options for small space living, but in the end we chose to save the money we would spend and use it towards Christmas presents. This sounds a bit Scroogey doesn't it? I assure you that we are very much into the Christmas spirit as always and I still have dreams about what it would be like to have some festive items up in our house. The good news? I still got to decorate a tree. Here is proof...

I had the opportunity to decorate the Governor's tree located in the reception area of his office. It was fun and challenging especially since I was left to scrounge through multiple boxes of mismatched decor. I like how it turned out. It is not perfect, but I settled with less than perfection and I am happy.

We also had a bit of a surprise decor come into our house. Let me just show you...

Yes, that is a tabletop tree! Josh and I were having fun at one of our favorite thrift stores (St. Vincent de Paul's) and we found this baby for $5. However, we certainly didn't pay that much. Turns out they were having a 50% off sale (75% off orange tags!) so we got our tree for $2.50.

 As you can see our tree is not naked either. No, we did not pull out our storage bins after all in order to adorn it with ornaments. Quite the contrary. After spending some time on blog land I had learned a lot about vintage ornaments, specifically ones called "Shiny Brites." Me and my "thrifting eyes" were on a mission and after moving a few boxes of "regular" ornaments my thrifting eyes grew rather large. I found these beautiful blue Shiny Brites in their original box! They definitely show their age, and the box has seen better days, but I knew I had hit the jackpot. How much did I pay for these vintage ornaments? Not the $2 they were asking...I paid $1! All I did was tie them on with some twine (it was actually loosely tied around the base of the tree) and it was finished.

After that I added a butterfly for a tree topper, a candle from Bath and Body Works (the scent is Spice, its our favorite) and a snowman that Josh's grandma gave me for my birthday and we had a bit of Christmas in our house after all.

Here is the cost breakdown for our little Christmas vignette:
Tree: $2.50
Ornaments: $1
Twine: Free (came with tree)
Butterfly tree topper: Free (was on gift packaging I received)
Snowman: Free (birthday gift)
Candle: Free (already had from last year)

Grand Total: $3.50

Not bad eh? This of course would have been cheaper if I had used ornaments we already had, but unfortunately that was not an option for us. Now we encourage you to look around your house for items that you can pull together to make a Christmas vignette that is sure to make you smile every time.

Its a Bird...Its a Plane...its an iPhone?!

As promised, I have returned to share our exciting presents to each other! Let me just tell you, I never knew I could love "fruit" so much...let me explain. No, in fact, let me know just show you what fruit I am talking about.

Yes my friends, that is an APPLE..as in an Apple iPhone

See, my love for all things Apple started 5 years ago when I received my very first iPod. While iPods had been around for awhile, I actually got one of the first VIDEO iPods. That thing has seen so much love over the years. Josh and I take it everywhere. It has taken a trip to Paris, Norway, and even to Aruba for our honeymoon. The poor thing is ready for retirement. Speaking of retirement, my old Samsung phone that I got before J and I were even married (meaning well over 2 years ago) was so beyond retirement. That thing held on quite well for that amount of time, but in the days of having no landlines, it was quite necessary for me to have a reliable phone at my disposal. So between my serious need for a reliable phone, and Josh's need for a phone that could handle his real estate career, it was time to make a trip to the Apple store in Bridgeport.

Yes, we realize there are other Apple stores...but this one happens to be my favorite. Why, you ask? Simple. Whenever we go I always end up getting to take side trips into my favorite stores...ZGallerie, Anthropologie, Crate and Barrel, Container Store, and of course Lexie Dog (for those ever important Bella gifts). That list could go on forever, that place is by far the best place on Earth.

Some purchases that inspired some future posts

Josh telling me to "wait a minute" while he talks on his iPhone (totally staged in case you couldn't tell)

After our absolutely fabulous purchases we made a side trip to Woodburn Outlets. We went with the intention of getting some work clothes (which we did...somewhat), but unfortunately after lunch I got sick and we had to rush home. That didn't stop us from having some fun with pumpkins. I actually purchased three tiny pumpkins for a craft project that I just completed (pictures to come later).

Ginormous punkin'

Ok, well the hubby and I are itching to get back to our beloved iPhones. We actually already had a discussion about needing to schedule "us" time so we don't spend all our time with our new phones. What is this world coming to?! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!