Pottery Barn Eat Your Heart Out!

I am so very excited to share with you my latest thrifty find. Its a doozie!

As you know, we are preparing to sell my house in the near future so I have been spending the majority of my free time working on the house doing small maintenance projects and painting/staging the house.

So far I have not made it yet to redoing the front room, but when I hit this part of my to-do list, one of the things I would like to have is a large sea grass rug but I have never wanted to pay full retail for one, and they tend to run high.

 

Well, its no secret the the Restore shops are a fabulous resource for used AND new home items at reasonable prices, so every so often I run by there to see if I can find things like old glass door knobs, tile, mouldings, etc. for my house. This past Saturday I decided to run by there and told myself I could have 15 minutes or less and that was it. Well, I am SO glad I went!!!

 

To my surprise I found an entire BOX of sea grass/sisal rug remnants for ONLY TEN DOLLARS!!!!

 

 

I was thinking to myself that there's got to be a catch. They have got to be damaged, odd shapes, etc. because this can not be true. These rugs retail for hundreds and are hard to find on sale.

They are gorgeous rugs and I have purchased smaller more affordable ones in the past but have alwys had my eye open for sale on a large area rug, but have not found one at the price I am willing to pay...that is until now.  

Here is one from Pottery Barn. Their price is $199 for a 5 X 8 sea grass rug.




This one is from Target and has a raw edge just like my rug, and for a 5 X 7 they want $149 bucks!

This one is from Ballard Designs and it runs $179 for a 6 x 9.

 

So I dug thru some ALL of the rugs as there were all kinds of sizes and textures to chose from and this is what I bought.

This HUGE area rug for only $10 dollars!

(excuse the mess....I am doing all kinds of DIY projects at the moment) :)

 

 

 



 

 

 

The two ends are finished but the sides are raw and need some trimming. Easy-peasy for ten bucks!

 

 

 

Here is an up close and personal view. The rug has what I call a more relaxed weave to it and is comfortable to walk on with bare feet. 

 

And what a great size I found.....without even measuring! I was totally unprepared for such a find this weekend so I did not have my measurements with me but it all turned out great. I am thankful for the contractor that could not use the rest of the rug and decided to donate it because it is a treasure to me!!!

 

 

All I need now is to get a rug pad to protect my  hardwood floor, and that's it. What  a steal....even I am still in shock at my bargain!!!!

 

.....and because the price was right, I was able to get another rug for our house. I bought a long runner for our hall way. It has a tighter weave and is a lighter color and I plan to post pics of it later.

 

So timing was everything for this bargain and I am glad I stopped in. Have you ever shopped at a Habitat Restore? If so did you get a great deal? If you have never been I highly recommend swinging by there and checking it out!

 

I know I am glad I did!

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

Jennifer

 

P.S. I am a little over half way done with the mud room and can't wait to share it with you!


Linking Up To These Great Parties:

 

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Easy Bathroom Update

Hello everyone! I have had my latest project on my to-do list for quite some time but it always got pushed to the back burner because I thought it was a difficult project. Boy was I wrong!

 

 You see, I have been a home owner since 2006 and have always thought that changing out the toilet seat was difficult and everytime I want to the hardware store to THINK about buying a new one there were too many choices and it looked so complicated so I shyed away from it and never did it....until NOW!

 

Before I go any further, lets educate ourselves about this topic first.

 

Toilet seats. Yes, they make them. Yes we need them. But did you know that there are only two different sizes?

 

Round and elongated. That's it!!! Who knew??!!!

 

Now, what is so confusing is that the hardware store has a hundred different styles and shapes displayed but really, its pretty easy. Round or elongated and white or off white. (unless you want something unusual) 

 

The other thing to consider, which some people might overlook, is whether or not you want a plastic lid or a wooden lid.

 

I chose a wooden lid so I can put it down and actually sit on it or stand on it to clean. If you have a plastic lid you will probably not be able to do that without bending the lid.

 

The other great thing about my purchase was that it was made in the USA.

 

 

 

 

And it came with all of the hardware and instructions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The installation was very simple:

 

 

 

Unscrew the bolts from under the backside of the toiled and remove the old seat. You may need pliers if yours has been on there a while.

 

Then simply insert the new screws into the existing holes, like so.

 

Screw on the fasteners until you get them as tight as you can.

(no tools needed-yay!)

 

Then set the seat on top of the toilet bowl and align the caps with the tops of the screws.

 

 

Then, do just as the arrows instruct, slide the fastener into the lock position to secure the seat to the toilet.....and VOILA! You have a nice new, clean and shiny toilet seat!

 

This one small change only cost me about $20 bucks roughly and took about 10 minutes to install and it made a BIG impact on the overall look of the bathroom.

 

Here is my old seat in comparison to the new one. Ugh! It was old and cracked and ready for the dumpster! If I had known it was so easy to change it out I would have done this a long time ago!

 

 

Ah, much better now.

 

 

 

So if you are in the process of updating your bathroom, just remember that its all in the DETAILS! A new toilet seat and some new fixtures are all you need to spruce up your space and make a big impact!!!! ...and DO NOT overlook the toilet like I did! If it needs to be changed out, then do it! You will be glad you did!

 

 

Now, on to the rest of my to-do list! :)

 

 

Jennifer

 

 

 

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