the look for LESS

I absolutely LOVE my catalogues! Crate & Barrel - Pottery Barn - Ballard Designs - Ikea - Williams-Sonoma - sigh. Give me a catalogue and a cup of hot cocoa on a chilly day and I can be content to day dream for hours!

Now that we have almost triple the space to decorate, it's become devastatingly apparent how few "pretty" things I own. I can easily spend a fortune at places like Pier 1, or even at Marshall's, and TJ Maxx. But since we pulled in our budget so tight this past year to save up for the move, I didn't even allow myself to drive into the parking lot of those types of stores. (Well, I did go to the Basket Warehouse twice, and spent a total of $25 there.)

Aaron totally agrees that we desperately need to buy decorative things, and has given his full blessing for me to spend the money on it (bless him!). But since our other house hasn't closed yet (if everything goes well, only 16 more days), we're not spending any more money. We should only have one month of double mortgages, but just in case, we're not spending any more till we know it's a done deal.

But anyway ... last week we bought some things that were needed for the house (up to our budgeted dollar amount), and this involved lots of shopping - Home Depot (I believe 5 trips), Costco, Giant Eagle, Bed Bath & Beyond, Kohls (where my entire purchase was FREE!), and Ikea (twice!)

I absolutely LOVE Pottery Barn - I would be thrilled to decorate my entire house out of their catalogues - but I don't love their price tags. Well, while my mother-in-law and I were at Ikea, I found bedside lamps and lanterns that I immediately fell in love with! I thought they were a great price, so we go them (well, the lanterns will be a Christmas present to me from her). After we got home from the shopping trip, I pulled out the Pottery Barn catalogue to show her some more of the type of style I'm drawn to. And guess what I noticed.......

Pottery Barn - $80 for base, shade sold separately

Pottery Barn - $80 for base, shade sold separately

Ikea - $14.99 for base, $9.99 for shade

Now, that is my kind of price tag! So, I got two (after all, Aaron and I could both use one). Oh, and the plant in the picture also came from Ikea for $1.50 (the pot came from my basement, and the potting soil came from a former neighbor who gave us a bag of it that probably weighs 75 pounds!).

Pottery Barn - $39 for small, and $65 for large

Pottery Barn - $49 for small, and $69 for large

Ikea - $6.99 for small, and $14.99 for large

OH YEAH! The look is definitely close enough for me, and the price tag is perfect! So, we bought (she bought) two large, and one small. Directions say it's for indoor and outdoor use! It's gonna look amazing outside our front door for Christmas! So, yay for bargain shopping and getting the look for less!