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.

More Patterns

Wow, winter arrived rather unexpectedly this week in Utah when it went from 90 degrees to 45 degrees in a matter of days.  This cold weather is making me think of cozy things like blankets and quilts.  And although it was not my intention to buy any new bedding for my bedroom, I couldn't resist this quilt from my local Urban Outfitters store, when I saw that it was only, wait for it, $30! I knew that the colours would work with the colours I already had on the bed, namely blue and orange, but was a bit worried that with all the patterns going on it may clash.  But I think it actually works and enhances the boho vibe that was already there.  And if the patterned quilt wasn't enough, I also managed to score this rug for only $35.  And it's the same rug that I blogged about here but in blue instead of grey.  Oh, and that rug did arrive, amazingly, and looks great, but the office is such a mess at the moment that I hesistate to show you it.  Oh well maybe just a small piccy.

Here's a couple of piccys of the bedroom before the quilt.

And here it is after.



You may notice that I also have a new headboard.  It's the upholstered nailhead headboard from West Elm, that I came upon for half the price at DownEast (our local outlet store for all things Pottery Barn, West Elm & WS Home).  I'm still waiting on the bedframe which is currently on sale at West Elm, but unfortunately on back-order.  Again, we'll see if it actually materializes.  The current bed will be making it's way to The Cottage which we are getting ready to rent out for the winter.  Come back for a blog post on that transformation.

And here's a small picture of the office with the rug.  It does a good job of hiding the plastic floor protector under the chair.  I'll post better pictures once all of the mess is out of there.

Hubby is still working on the garagemahal and my lastest project is the music room.  Some major changes are going on there, so hope you come back soon.

Urban & Anthro Rugs

The saga of the elusive zigzag rug from Urban Outfitters continues.  Not to bore you with the details, but if I get this rug it will be a miracle.  And because I don't like to hold a grudge, I thought I'd share with you some other pretty rugs from Urban Outfitters and their sister store Anthropologie.

nouveau floral printed rug, Urban Outfitters

scarf border printed rug, Urban Outfitters

batik flowers & bohemian floral rugs, Urban Outfitters

vernal cusp rug, Anthropologie

finnia rugs, gold & blue, Anthropologie

sketched wings rug, Anthropologie

I think my favourite is the sketched wings rug.  And it's currently on sale!  Shame I don't have anywhere to put it.  Do you think Damian would like a new rug in his office? (You know I'm only joking, don't you?)

*Update: Received this email from Urban a few hours after I wrote this blog post*

Hello Suzanne,

 

Unfortunately, the Zigzag printed rug (item #20659470) is no longer available through the stores, website or catalog. I apologize for the inconvenience, but we do not have plans to reorder this item. We are continually evolving our offerings to keep current with the latest styles and trends.

 

If you require additional assistance or have any other questions, please contact us at service@urbanoutfitters.com

 

So that confirms it, chevron is definitely out of style, as confirmed by the people at Urban Outfitters.

 

 

 

 

I've Been Pinned!

No, not by some college freshman, unfortunately.  Waaaayyy too old for that, oh, and taken.  No, someone liked my office chair enough to repin it onto Pinterest.  If you've been stuck in the Dark Ages (which is where I usually reside), then you're probably wondering what Pinterest is.  Well, it's like a virtual scapbook of images.  Once you join, which is really easy, you download a thingy which allows you to pin any image on the web and stick it into a virtual folder.  It links to the original source which makes it easy to go to that image website in the future.  It's very addictive, so be warned.

Anyhow, here is the original pin.  Which was then repinned 25 more times.  Those repins were then repinned and so on.  I think I managed to track down atleast 76 repins and counting!  Wow,  people really like my chair.  This is great, because I don't get any feedback here, unfortunately.  It's a bit of a lonely road, so this little pat on the back has been good.

I even repinned the chair myself to see how this whole pinning thing works.

On a related note, I was chatting with one of the cool mums of a kid in Callum's class, and she mentioned Pinterest.  Before I could tell her about my chair, she said, "You keep seeing all the same old crap on there i.e. chevrons, yellow & grey interiors."  Oops.  I almost wanted to say, "wow you've been on my blog then."  But thought better of it.  

And, as I've been compiling this post, I've had a number of conversations with the Urban Outfitters people regarding the zigzag rug.  I knew it was too good to be true.  Yesterday, a woman from Urban left a message on my phone asking for some clarification for the order.  When I called back the number, no-one could trace the order, or find the rug, or locate the woman who made the call, or anything.  Agghhh!  Boo Urban for getting my hopes up and then dashing them.  What a drama!

More Chevron!

Do you believe in The Secret?  What's that got to do with chevron or design, you're probably thinking.  Well, sometimes I'm not quite quick enough pulling the trigger on something I want (which can be a good and a bad thing).  Many a time I've put something in my virtual shopping cart only to find out at checkout that the item is sold out.  Has that ever happened to you?  It's a real bummer and when it happens, it just makes you want that item even more.  Well it happened to me last week regarding a rug.  My design board for the office originally had a grey and white striped rug on it.  I had planned on buying a white rug from ikea and painting stripes on one side and chevron on the other, so that I could switch it up from time to time.  When I got the rug from ikea and tried it out at home, it didn't quite work because of the type of material (it would bunch up all over the place).  So back it went.  I'd forgotten all about putting a rug in there until I spotted this beauty.

image from here

You're probably thinking, just as my husband does, not more bloody chevron!  But it's so Madeline Weinrib, I can't resist.  Plus it's only $69! So I popped it into my virtual shopping bag, not worried that it said it was on back-order, hey a girl can wait for something she really wants.  Anyhow, I decided to actually checkout a day later, and horror of all horrors, it was SOLD OUT!  Aghh.  So I called customer service, and they said they couldn't find it on their site, then after a few clicks they said that a number of stores had one including Salt Lake.  So I called all the stores and no one had it!  But I'm a persistent kind of girl, and it's paid off in the past.  I emailed customer service and explained my dilemma.  They told me it was still on backorder, but that I could call customer service and they should be able to order me one.  Umm, well I wasn't convinced, but thankfully when I called this morning they could indeed order it for me.  Instead of doing it on the computer, the costumer service rep had to write my information down, which seems a bit archaic and fishy, but she said that the item would arrive sometime in August.  Fingers crossed, I'm still half expecting to receive another email saying that the item can no longer be sent.  My thoughts are that this is so close a copy of the Madeline Weinrib rug pictured below, that they've put a cease on Urban selling it on their website.  Just a thought.  I think the same thing happened to West Elm and Pottery Barn a few years ago with one of their tile rugs.

image from here

So I'll keep you posted, and hope that my persistence pays off.