World market

Traditional Meets Elegant Meets Rustic

July 30, 2014 by Michelle Filed Under: Decorating/Remodeling Leave a Comment

I enjoy the eclectic…the mis-matching of textures, rustic and classic along with glamour and elegance. That’s what I think I’ve accomplished in my little dressing area with some jewelry holders. I, by no means, have a ton of jewelry. I leave that up to my friend, Dana (hehe). She is the accessory queen!

I have, however, started to collect my own assortment of pieces and wanted to have a fun and pretty way to display them because I am one of those “out of sight, out of mind” types of people and if I don’t see what I have, I never wear it.

The first thing I got was my mom’s jewelry box, which is a lovely traditional wooden box with her initials engraved in a brass plate on the top.

I’ve always loved this and at Christmas I asked her for it (brave, right?!). Thankfully, she’d already started using something else for the millions of pieces she has (this one was literally exploding with jewelry) so she was happy to pass it along to me.

Then, earlier this year, I purchased this whitewashed T-bar jewelry stand from (of course) World Market. {You can barely see it but it’s there!} I felt like the t-bar needed something under it because it just looked, well, lonely with my necklaces puddling around on my (dated) counter. I found this beautifully elegant tray at Just The Thing Boutique here in Columbia. The colors are bright and cheerful…and it added the perfect punch of “girly” that I needed.

The last thing I wanted was a spot for all the bangles and bracelets. Before, they were just all over the tray…and honestly, they made me a little crazy because bangles just don’t stack (and stay put). So, then began my attempt to find something (different and unique) in which I could put all of said bracelets. A week or so ago I saw an idea – using a beautiful apothecary jar. That was my first idea and one that I liked very much. Then I started looking at them and decided they were too big for my space.

Yesterday while I was at my local World Market I wandered around for something that I could use, anything really. I was trying to keep a wide-open mind. Per my post last night, I did leave empty-handed from the store, but not without an idea in mind. I went to a different World Market today at lunch in search of something else and saw this woven wire hurricane holder (a candle holder) and thought, it’s completely perfect!

The hole at the top was big enough for me to pull bracelets in and out, and the fact that it was wire, I could hook some of them to the wire. I left him sitting in a sweet little glass dish that belonged to my Nama for an extra bit of pretty.

I like my little jewelry nook now with its ease of seeing all things. And everything having it’s own place.

Hopefully I can keep things as tidy as you see them here 🙂

Practically Speaking

July 29, 2014 by Michelle Filed Under: Decorating/Remodeling, Life Leave a Comment

Sometimes I’m just too practical.

Honestly. Because of this practicality, I lose out on some joy that can be experienced by purchasing the whimsical or just plain fun. Here’s an example. Today, I get this email from One Kings Lane (if you’re not a member, JOIN). And I’m looking thru it like some fancy person in my fancy home with all my fancy do-dads and baubles. {I am not fancy, but sometimes I like to pretend…}.

And I think to myself, my home needs decor, these do-dads and baubles. Again, I’m too practical to ~~waste~~ spend money on things that aren’t “useful”.

Anyway, I decide I’m going to look at the “Decorative Accents” because I need some of those. Seriously. I need. My bookcases are full of, well, BOOKS {because there should be something else on those shelves?!} and pictures. I see items like these:

The “Lacey Vase”

“Pierced Ceramic Vase”

To which I say, these are really pretty {I actually REALLY like the lacey vase} but seriously, it’s a VASE. You put water in this baby, and woosh! It’s all coming out! You can’t use this as a vase…literally, cannot. Well, the silver one you could, if you put something else inside it that could hold the water….blah, blah, blah.

Others would view these pieces as lovely pieces of “art”…plain ‘ol art, that you would set out on a bookcase, or the top of a high-back piano, or a coffee table and admire. Why can’t I be more like that?

I tried again this afternoon at my favorite store, World Market. And again my practicality won out. {I guess you could say that the budget won out too, but that’s just no fun.} I left the WM empty handed, with dreams of apothecary jars and pretty little trays adorning my bathrooms and shelves…

Not to mention the pillows!

Here’s to you, the one who isn’t so practical, that you can pick up a Lacey Vase, or the pretty little tray and admire it, dream of it’s million uses (or just it’s loveliness on your shelf…) and add it to your cart. I admire you and yearn to be a bit more like you.

A Dresser For Eliza Jane

July 9, 2014 by Michelle Filed Under: Being a Mom, Decorating/Remodeling Leave a Comment

I am ~~slowly~~ quickly checking things off my #10weeksandcounting to-do list for Eliza Jane…there are only 8 weeks left!

One of the items I’ve checked off is her dresser/chest of drawers {or if you’re southern like me, it’s “Chester drawers”}. I found it a couple of weekends ago at Target. I’d not intended on buying anything new. In fact, that Saturday morning, Reynolds and I set out for a local shop that sells unfinished wood, but when they didn’t open until 10 (we were out early…), I moved on to the next stop. We went to a fun consignment shop that my friend, Dana frequents (maybe more than she’d like to admit…). It was my first time going and I was really excited. More so, when I drove into the parking lot and there were people waiting to get in. It wasn’t quite like the crazy rush the morning after Thanksgiving, but sort of close. I got R out of the car because he’s a bit of a squirmy thing and while he practiced going up and down (up and down, up and down…) on the sidewalk, more and more people were lining up. I was intrigued. This place must be THE.PLACE.

Once inside we strolled around looking for anything that could be used as a dresser or chest of drawers. In my mind, I was thinking whatever we found, I would paint it white…or maybe pink. Or maybe white with some pretty knobs that had some pink in them. I was open to whatever I might find.

This was the one I liked the most…and at $175 I didn’t think it was terribly priced. It was cute, had a little detail…and painted white with some pretty knobs, I thought it would be quite lovely for sister’s room. I snapped a picture of it and shot it off to Andrew (who was out looking for appliances for a rental house). He texted back, “isn’t that a bit high?” Which meant, “I don’t like it enough for the price, move along”. I grabbed the kid, who by this time was about to lose his mind because he wanted to play with every.thing he saw and I was getting quite the workout.

Next we went to Home Goods…it was a strikeout. They only had small end tables and other pieces that were definitely over-priced. A few stores later and I was feeling tired and defeated. I called Andrew and said, “We’re done. I’m coming home…Chick Fil A for lunch?” At which point, the bullseye caught my eye. You know, Target. They’ll have something…and probably reasonably priced. I tried not to cut off the person in the left lane {I waved…that counts for something, right?} and into the parking lot I turned. I reminded myself of my previous Target post and went into tunnel vision. Dresser ONLY. I turned the corner and there she was:

There was only 1 left. I took the picture, sent it to Andrew and hovered over it like a buzzard in the country. Andrew called, “Looks good. Where are you?” Under my breath and almost ashamedly, I said “Target.” He laughed and told me to get it. I flagged down a sweet girl in a red shirt and after a minute or two she appeared again with a flat-bed cart. She loaded the box up and off we went to the register. Me and my 1 item.

This weekend, after returning from our family reunion trip, Andrew went to work on putting together Eliza Jane’s dresser. {He stated pretty early on that he threw away the ridiculous instructions because they were of no help!}

After a couple of hours (seriously), it was put together. I’d already decided I wasn’t going to use the (blah) standard knobs that came with it. I’d searched a few places online for something pretty…painted knobs with some pink, glass knobs, etc. A few places where I found some really lovely ones were of course Anthropologie and World Market. For whatever reason, none of the painted knobs really “spoke” to me like I’d hoped so I ended up going with the Clear Floral Glass Knobs at World Market. Dana picked them up for me one day while she was out running errands so the other night after Andrew had put the beast together, and we’d hauled it up the stairs (I almost went into labor the thing was so heavy!) I added the pretty knobs….