Anthropologie bedding

I love mixing it up in the bedroom (that sounds a bit personal!). What I mean is, I love to change out my bedding from time to time. And I can't resist a good sale. Anthropologie had this fantastic sale after Christmas where they were discounting sale goods by an extra 40%. That's when I snapped up the tufted Emilie armchair for the music room, and some new bedding and throw pillows for the bedroom. That sale unfortunately ended, but they've just announced another sale with an extra 25% discount using code EXTRAEXTRA.

You can pick up the duvet cover here.  The little throw pillow is here.  And the sheets are here.

And my marble countertop for my kitchen island just arrived.  And it is so beautiful.  Can't wait to show you.

Move over Lunet chair, there's a new favorite in town!

I collect chairs like most women collect shoes!  I guess there's something similar between a pair of shoes and a well crafted chair: they both can be sculptural like a piece of art; they both can be pretty as well as practical; and they both can elevate a room or an outfit into a statement.

I love looking at all styles of chairs, but I don't become obsessed with them until they reach my price range AND I have somewhere in mind for said chair to go.  No point lusting after an Eames recliner if you can't afford a real one and you don't have room for one anyway.

Luckily both of those prerequisites were satisfied shortly after Christmas when I realized that after the tree was taken down, there felt like there was a huge empty space in the corner of the room that was just crying out for something.  Previously the space had been taken up by the drum kit, but since moving that to the basement, that spot had been left bare.  Also, luckily for me, my favorite store, Anthropologie, were having a huge sale with an extra discount of 40%.  I snagged this chair for less than $500!

And it finally arrived today.  It's now taken up residence in the hollow spot, but I like it so much I may have to swap it with my other favorite from Anthropologie, the Lunet chair.

Here it is, not where it's going to go, but doesn't it look pretty against the white fireplace?

Tufted Emilie Chair

And here it is in situ.

Still debating whether it looks better with the cushion or not.  It certainly matches the painting which incidentally I picked up for $95 from a local thrift store.  The thing that drew me to the painting was that it's a picture of Union Square in San Francisco which is where my husband proposed to me 21 years ago!

Here the chairs are together.  You can see that there's definitely similarities between the two so they work together in the same room.

Look at that gorgeous tufting!

It adds a spot of color to this corner.

But I still think I prefer the Lunet chair there; the scale is better suited.

The only regret I have is that I didn't buy two!  I think in my next house, they would look perfect together either in front of a fireplace or around a small side table.

DIY Anthropologie Style Curtains - Ikea Hack

If you've ever shopped for curtains at Anthropologie, you'll know how expensive they can be. Not only that but you're also limited to the standard lengths with a max of 108 inches. I wanted the curtains for the music room to be floor to ceiling length.  My ceilings are 10 feet tall so that pretty much meant that I would need to get custom curtains.  Fortunately I found out that Ikea sell a very inexpensive white curtain called Ritva, that almost looks like linen and is 118 inches long.  They are also only $34.99 for a pair!  Perfect.

Except it wasn't perfect.  Knowing how much cotton shrinks when you wash it, I decided to preshrink my curtains before hanging them so that I knew exactly where to hang the rod.  And boy, did those curtains shrink.  And not only that, but they also shrank to different lengths!  (I bought these curtains over a year ago, and recently bought another pair to use in the hallway.  The newer pair have not shrunk as much and they are also finished on the bottom unlike the older ones).

Another bonus of these curtains is they also have a built in tape at the top which allows you to make the pleats with curtain hooks (which is a much nice look than the simple rod pockets that most curtains come with).

So I hung the curtains and tried to ignore the fact that some puddled on the floor while others were 3 inches above it!  They're also kind of flimsy so they didn't drape that nicely either.  A chance purchase of a huge quilt on sale for only $70 from Sundance Catalog set the wheels in motion for a bit of customization to said curtains.

The first thing I did was decide how much of the patchwork quilt I wanted to attach to the bottom of each curtain.  I chose to use the bottom of the glass pane in the window to be my guide.

I then measured the desired height and used painters tape because I didn't have any chalk or a ruler long enough.  

I though about leaving it as is with just the quilt, but decided that it didn't look finished.

So then came the task of deciding what type of piping or detail to use.

I really liked the green geometric fabric, but it only came in 45 inch width.  I would either have to turn it around so that the pattern was not the diamond shape that I liked (see below), or I'd have to join 2 pieces together which would create a seam.

Once I had decided on the trim I dusted off the old sewing machine and got to work.

Fortunately the quilt, which incidentally is made from saris, is sewn together quite roughly so my bad sewing skills can be disguised.  I simply sewed the patchwork onto curtain making sure that the finished length of the curtain was the desired length (skimming the floor).

I then cut out the trim piece, folded it in half and ironed it.

The final step was to sew all the layers together using a straight stitch.

The trim is only sewn down one side so it is like a flap.

I feel a bit guilty chopping up the quilt because it states on the Sundance Catalog website that each quilt takes 6 months to make!  But I think that the curtains came out beautifully.

Here's a break down of the cost of the curtains (per panel).

Curtain Ikea $17.49
Quilt (divided by 6) $11
Trim $1
Grand Total of $29.49.

And I still have quite a bit of the quilt left that I can either make a small throw blanket or a couple of pillows.

Not another bedroom duvet: you really do get what you pay for!

Yes, another post about my house.  Sorry, I really will try and mix it up more.  And I really must start on all of those DIY projects that I've been neglecting so that I can have something other than "look what I bought today" posts.  I promise I'll try harder.  Having said that, here's another one of those posts!

I don't know about you, but my inbox is bombarded with emails about current sales.  And as many of you will know, I can't resist picking up a bargain.  Last week Urban Outfitters had an extra 30% off sale items.  I've not bought much from there before, but what I have bought has been for my bedroom. A few years ago I bought a patterned quilt and a blue rug from them.

Do I need another duvet?  Absolutely not, but I do like to have options.  Also, I wanted to see the difference in quality between the UO bedding and the more expensive Anthropologie bedding.

Urban Outfitters is owned by the same people as Anthropologie, but caters to a much more youthful crowd (not that I'm not youthful still, but you know what I mean).  As such the goods are generally lower priced and, as you guessed it, not as well made as the pieces from Anthro.  I was really surprised though that I could get a duvet and 2 shams in a style that is very similar to my DwellStudio bedding for less than $50. As a point of reference, the DwellStudio set retails for $350 and used to be carried by Anthropologie.

So how do they compare?  They look similar, very similar.  In fact I think if you mixed the DwellStudio Chinoiserie set with the DwellStudio Peacock set you'd get the Urban Outfitters set!  Quality wise, though, that's where the similarity ends.  Surprisingly the cheaper UO set has ties inside to hold the corners, which the more expensive DwellStudio set doesn't.  But the opening where you stuff the duvet in on the cheaper set only has 3 buttons and so that duvet gaps out a bit at the bottom.  It's also very, very stiff.  The fabric is not at all smooth or silky like higher end bedding.  It's almost like sleeping under a painters cloth.

But I do love the pink bird!

See if you can spot the difference between the photos below.

Yep, I can mix and match the pillows with my old set!

And if you want to see how my bed looks with my different duvets go here, here, and here.

Oh, sofa how I covet thee!

I know it's a crazy addiction, but when I see a piece of furniture that just blows my mind, I think about it constantly.  You know how it goes; wouldn't life just be perfect if you had it?  Wouldn't it solve all of your decorating woes?  Wouldn't you suddenly become more attractive, more fit, more productive etc, etc?

Here's my latest obsession.  It's the tufted ditte sofa from Anthropologie.

Can't you just hear the angels singing?  But wait... what she's $3998!  Seriously, you could buy a cool scooter for that.  But wouldn't it look so much better than my current sofa?

And it matches my curtains perfectly.  So here's to hoping it goes on sale for like 25% of the price.  You know I bought the Anthro Lunet chair for less than that, so I'm keeping my hopes up :)

Symmetry at last

The knock-off saarinen tulip side table arrived from Overstock, and overall I'm pleased to have some symmetry back in the bedroom.

What I don't like, however, is the fact that you can see the lamp and radio cords.  I think if I tape them down the table base it will disguise them somewhat, but you'll still see them at the bottom.

Anyhow, it got me to thinking.  How about if I had sconces attached to the walls.  That would solve the  cord dilemma, and create more room on the nightstands for other stuff.

It would also make the room look less whimsical and more sophisticated.

I remember being fascinated by the sconces in the house on the show "American Horror Story".  Now that's a gorgeously designed house.  Here's a picture below.

Maybe I should do something like that with my bedroom.  The sconces would however have to be beside the headboard and not above due to the fact that I have a sloping ceiling.

These beauties are currently on sale at Anthropologie.

Too spidery or alien looking?  Not sure.  But they would bring a touch of masculinity to the place.

Here's some other options that might work.

You can find all of the links here.

It's probably not going to happen, because the current lamps are perfectly fine, but it's fun to dream.

New Dwell Studio Peacock Bedding

One of the duvet sets that I ordered from Layla Grace has arrived.  And I have to admit it, I love it.  It's really changed the look and feel of the room.  I do feel a bit disloyal, because I loved my old duvet so much and it did help me win a design competition.  But the new duvet is so fresh and clean looking.

I decided to see what it would look like with the old throw pillows that went so well with the old duvet.

Guess what?  They don't work.  Even though there's a teeny bit of orange in the pattern of the duvet, it just wasn't enough to tie them together.  Another thing that the throw pillows had in common with the old duvet was a similar pattern.

Here it is with layered with the quilt on top.  Nope, definitely not working.  Before it created a cozy bohemian vibe, this just looks disjointed and messy.

Let's try some different throw pillows.  These are the same design as the other duvet that I ordered by dwell studio.

Much better!  The pillows share lots of design elements with the duvet without it looking matchy matchy.

Spot the difference in the two pictures above.  The one on the right uses my old sheeting which is a light blue moroccan tile design.  The one on the left is much more graphic and punchy.

Here's a picture taken from the same angle with the old bedding, and old bed (obviously).

See what I mean about the patterns of the old duvet matching both patterns in the throw pillows.  Even the shade shares something in common with the flowers on the pillow.

Yep, that confirms it.  I really do like the new bedding better!  It's definitely a lot more sophisticated.  Like I said earlier, I do feel a little sad.  What I had before was definitely more bohemian, and that's what I truly aspire to, but the after is far more serene and sophisticated.  Am I being true to myself, I wonder?  I even removed the blue zigzag rug.

I did manage to recycle the orange bolster, which looks remarkably good on the love seat.  That zig zag is too much though.  Might have to have another go at reupholstering it.  Stay tuned!

What doesn't work as well with the new bedding are the lamp shades.  Their tone is definitely darker than the colors in the duvet.  The darker birds on the throw pillows help somewhat, but not quite.

I ordered this pillow from Anthropologie.  Maybe it will do the trick of tying the shades to the rest of the scheme.  Sometimes you've just got to try things out to see.

What do you think?  (I know the love seat is a little silly there, but I don't have anywhere else to put it.  Maybe I should sell it.)