House of Hydrangeas

I took a long overdue trip up here to Birmingham last Friday.  The timing worked out perfectly since Debby was about to rear her ugly head in the gulf, and what was supposed to be a long weekend trip, has turned into a week-long stay.   And I must say, it's been a quite productive trip so far.  I'm excited to share with you guys what I've been up to since I've been here but until then, I thought I'd show you one of my scores on a recent shopping excursion. I've been looking for a milk bottle carrier for a long time now.  I've been searching on Etsy, Ebay, decor sites, etc. to no avail.  I could never find what I was looking for...until Saturday!  Me and my friend Bekah stopped into a consignment/antique store to check out some furniture and while purusing the booths, I stumbled upon this guy. His $26.00 price tag had me at "hello"--Pottery Barn is currently selling a galvanized bottle carrier for $29.50 and that doesn't even include bot...

I bought an Hemnes dresser from Ikea 5 years ago when I moved across the country and got my own first place, and I've had it ever since.  It has survived three moves, lived in four different houses and still looks great! I was flipping through the PB catalog a few weeks ago when I saw one that looked a lot like mine.  And as you may have guessed, its pricetag was a lot heftier though.  Here are the comparisons: Pottery Barn Farmhouse Extra-Wide Dresser-$1,499.00 Ikea Hemnes 8-Drawer Dresser-$299.00 Differences: $1200 in price 6-drawer vs. 8-drawer color (espresso vs. black-brown ) Similaries: Shape Dimensions Style Not a bad steal, huh?

Overstock.com is often my go-to source when it comes to home decor items.  They offer many items that are near identical to those of high-end retailers but at a fraction of the cost.  And lucky for us, this week many of their chandeliers are even more on sale!  While browsing through the selection I saw that quite a few of their chandeliers resembled some I'd seen at Pottery Barn.  If you have a Pottery Barn love but an Overstock budget, these items are for you!  Here are just a few comparisons of the PB versions vs. Overstock versions.  Now you too can have the look... for less!  Pottery Barn Clarissa-$399.99 vs. Overstock Cone Chandelier-$161.99  Pottery Barn Camilla-$199.99 vs. Overstock Iron and Crystal Chandelier-$123.29 Pottery Barn Bellora-$299.99 vs. Overstock Iron and Crystal 5-Light Chandelier-$157.49

Today is the first of two moving days for us. The movers are here packing up our stuff and will return tomorrow to load it all up and put it in storage. Since we'll be living out a suitcase for an unknown amount of months, my shopping for home decor is sadly non-existent right now. Well I'm sure Jon's not so sad about that, but I am :) It's fine really. There's no need to shop for things when I have no idea what kind of a space they'll be going in down the road.  So for now I'll just share my "If I wasn't living out of a suitcase, I'd buy this for my house" List with you guys. I just got the latest PB catalog and these are the pretties that would add to said list: Pearl Embroidered Hand Towel-$18 Bamboo Clock-$49 Vintage Sconce-$129 Ticking Stripe Guest Towels-2/$19 Ikat Tote-$49 Elly Cosmetic Bags-Set of 2/$39 You can find them all online here .   Happy Shopping!

Aside from adoring their amazing products, I also peruse catalogs such as Ballard Designs and Pottery Barn for innovative ideas outside of what they sell.  The latest bit of genius I noticed was in my most recent PB catalog. via Pottery Barn While the Tibetan drum table is lovely, it was the glass cylinder next to it that caught my attention.  Hello new use for a glass cylinder!  Wine coolers can often be pretty expensive, but an oversized glass cylinder  from Ross or HomeGoods isn't.  Throw in a little ice, a few bottles of your favorite bubbly and you have yourself a new wine cooler.  Brilliant!

Pottery Barn is selling these beautiful garden trellises (without lights) for $129.  I think they look best when they show them all lit up like this.   There's just something about a soft garden glow that makes you want to start dining alfresco.   via Telegraph But I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on trellises to get the PB look.  So I began thinking about how I could make some of these myself.  Then my mind wandered to tomato cages.   These look-a-like trellises are only a few bucks and have the perfect shape and height.  You can get them at your local hardware/garden store or order some online here .  Tie the loose ends, that normally get stuck into the ground, together with some wire and spray paint the whole thing black or bronze depending on your desired look.  You can also add a decorative finial on top if you want, but I don't think it will matter much at nighttime.   Next, purchase a few strings of cafe lights li...