April Candle of the Month

I don't know if it is the crisp Spring air, but something has sent me into a bit of a preppy mentality lately. Not in the clothing department so much as in the home decor department. I don't even know if it can be described as preppy just based on color, but a deep indigo has stolen my heart!

And nothing really says preppy like Ralph Lauren, right? I have been LOVING his home products lately (you'll see exactly what I mean in my next post), specifically his fragrances. The diffuser I shared yesterday is super fragrant and was only $7 at Marshalls... and while looking for a gift last week I saw this candle in the clearance section at Winners.

Alpine Coast is a really interesting mix of gingerbread, orange and nutmeg. Sounds like a holiday confection, but interestingly I didn't originally recognize the gingerbread until I went back and read the box and now I totally smell that note as I keep it burning. Yet it isn't too food-smelling, just a little spicy with a fruity base.

On another note (fragrance pun intended!), I HAVE to share my absolute least exciting but best recent purchase! I picked up this LARGE cutting board from William-Sonoma and it has literally changed my life. If you have counters you don't directly cut or prepare food on you will fall in love with this thing. It is 18 inches long by 24 inches wide and I can finally fit all my ingredients on the board while also preparing the food! Plus it looks super hefty and cool on the counter. Seriously check this thing out!

The cutting board was a splurge, but my martini shaker was a super save at only $2.50! It was buried beneath a dirty old pile of bent and broken floral stems at a TJ Maxx, proving you need to get your hands a little dirty to get the deal sometimes.

Good Girl Gone Mad

Not mad as in angry but used more in the insane context. When we were on our month long sojourn I made it my mission to load up on as many items for staging Lexington as humanly possible. We drove down in Sean's massive SUV but even that kind of cargo space causes major limitations for shopaholics like me (and my Mom). Before we left to head home I was required by space limitations to actually return a dining room table and a large piece of canvas art.

Never the less, I did get ALOT home. Enough to fill many many posts. But I'll save some of it for later. Not at all shocking is that most of it has been incorporated into our own house instead of patiently housing it in the basement until the dust has settled at Lexington...

I scooped up 2 of these oddly industrial/modern/textural metal lamps. The square linen shade had me at Hello! They were super scores at TJ Maxx for $29 each. I can't wait to place these in the master suite, but one will grace my living room till then.

The set of 3 reproduction pottery items also came home with me. I found them at local furniture store Mathis Brothers on clearance for $8-$10 each. After combing through so many amazing furniture stores I realized that I tend to focus on smaller items, so I've made a very concerted effort to expand my scale and look for bigger groupings/items.

Also from the clearance aisle in TJ Maxx, these greige ceramic urns rang up at only $4 a pop so I brought 'em both home.

Sean was the mastermind behind the pretty Spring blooms. Well played Mr. Baker, well played!

I can't remember if I shared my cute little tray table before we left? I found it on clearance as well for $25 at Home Sense and it is the perfect touch of texture for the corner in here. I also relocated the shiny chrome lamp from our front door in here so it picks up the nickel sconces.

The rope jars (which I believe may also function as taper holders) came from Home Goods, but I later saw them again at Cost Plus at a nearly identical price. The Ralph Lauren reed set is scented in Desert Sand and I am OBSESSED. I forgot about it a week after I set it out and spent a good half hour tracing the cologne scent I was smelling while watching TV... and to think I'm not a natural blonde.

One of my only purchases since arriving back home, these teal striped pillows which came from my beloved SuperStore on clearance for $3 each. I bought 6 in total for the sectional and our kitchen seating area as well. Makes Wren's cozy TV time that much cozier by the looks of things, and I didn't even realized she color coordinated herself to them until just now. Funny girl.

Succumbing to Succulents

I was in Restoration Hardware just last week when I spied these glorious succulent urns. I loved them, was ready to take one home...

The only problem is that they ranged from $180-$250. Holy plants batman, that's pricey!!

I figured why couldn't I make my own? Specially because succulents are the most realistic fake plants out there.

I tracked down some nearly identical succulents to the RH version and even counted out how many they had in their display to get the same effect. The faux plants ranged from $4-$5 each at Chintz & Co. and I picked up 9 to play around with. I also needed some dry floral foam and 2 different kinds of moss to get more of a natural, uneven look. The planter I had already, but I picked it up about 2 years ago for only $10 at HomeSense so the entire project came in under $50.

I packed in the foam first. Don't worry, if you want to try one as well it doesn't need to cover the entire area.

Next, Wren and I had a messy but fun time gluing in the moss. If you want to just use one variety that would look just as good, but I thought I would go for the more is more technique here.

I wanted it to look slightly like a mound of moss, not entirely flat.

After playing around for a few minutes I settled on a simple, not too full look.

Not bad for a fraction of the cost!!

And the best part is that I had more than enough to a second planter with another container I had laying around!

So 2 arrangements for $50... sure as heck beats the wallet emptying alternative at RH!

(specially because I empty my wallet there plenty enough as it is)