Style a la Target

A recent stroll through the home section at our local Target revealed some awesome finds. No, didn’t get a thing but it sure was fun to browse. All I could think was that the folks at Target have got my style down to the T! Don’t you agree?

Target home decor

Of course, the prices on some of the items are a little more than I would’ve liked but that’s why you have the clearance aisle. Case in point this tribal tray. Absolutely love the look but the price tag not so much.

Target tribal tray

And then on the clearance aisle I found this guy for $14.98.

tripod lamp base Target

Seriously the place has become a haven for knick knacks. A metal orb (for $14.99)…..

metal orb

Fake sea urchins….

ceramic sea urchin decor

Gold rhinos and lions….. I so…..wanted to get these!

gold animal decor

More animal love…..How gorgeous are these lion bookends? Gonna get them once we get the ladder shelves for the retreat.

lion bookends

Another gem in the clearance section. Think it was $6 or $8.

photo (6)

I just realized that I’ve never really bought anything decor related (except for some floating candles on clearance and the cubbie shelf in my daughter’s room) from Target! Very strange now that I think of it; I love their style! How about you? Is Target one of your favorite stores for home decor?

PS: I’ve been eyeing a Target throw for like ever but that darn thing is never on clearance!

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Paint or Not to Paint?

We have our first ever poll today and I really want your opinion. Ever since I redid the breakfast nook, the dining chairs around the breakfast table have been troubling me. I snagged all 6 of them (we usually use only 4 unless we have guests) for an awesome deal on Craigslist. To top it off they are in excellent condition, made of real wood and very heavy.

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall, diy chalkboard from mirror

The plan was to paint the back rests and legs the same color as the table base (Annie Sloan chalk paint in Old White)  leaving the seat in the original stain. Now with the new rug, the plate wall, and the red bamboo table I’m not so sure.

 

Oh, one more thing…..we finally found out pendant! So that light is eventually gonna be switched out to this!

 

This Urban Outfitters Triple Tiered pendant was one of the very first things that I had ever pinned. Wonder what took me so long to go back to it!  I think the gold/ brass like finish will go with the antique gold finish on the mirror. The tiered shape is also very similar to the capiz pendants hanging above the island.

So what do you say?

 

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Pinspiration 15th – Interesting Planters

These days I haven’t been on Pinterest much. No particular reason why. I think I already have way too many pins. Realized it when I pinned something on one of my boards more than once! So now I pin only things that I absolutely love and like the rest. Still, Pinterest is a great place to find ideas as you just saw from my last post.

Since it is gardening season, why not look at some fun planters? Starting off with my latest crush!

Concrete human bust planters

 

Concrete human (usually Roman or Greek)  busts with holes in their head for plants.Won’t these look awesome on a sofa table with a full head of succulent hair? I’m currently on the look out for an affordable or even a DIY version. If you come across one do let me know. B doesn’t seem very convinced about the whole idea, thinks it is too spooky.

If you like the quirkiness of these busts then you will surely like this recycled BBQ grill! Instead of throwing your old grill away you can just paint and fill it up with your favorite plants. How cool is that?

clever planters, interesting containers for plants

 

Ok, moving on to more tame choices. How about an old suitcase? If you are afraid of messing up the suitcase instead of planting directly in it you could just lined it with pots.

 

I know you’ve seen this umpteen times but I really liked the plant combo (though I don’t know what the trailing plants are).

 

For traditionalists there is even a recycled fountain option. I think nowadays adding succulents to anything instantly updates your garden decor!

 

Speaking of succulents, ever thought about doing a succulent orb? The pin didn’t have instruction on how to make it. Some Googling did reveal this tutorial in case you are interested.

 Source: lifeonthebalcony.com via Whats Ur Home Story on Pinterest

 

Any takers for these wonderful ideas?

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Decorative Plate Wall

This was one of the very first projects that got on my list from Pinterest. As I already mentioned here, there was no dearth of inspiration online but the one that stuck out at me the most was the creeping plate wall that Kelly from View Along the Way did in her breakfast area.  The idea of an abstract arrangement of plates moving along the wall was both unexpected and modern. My take on the whole creeping plates….

Whats Ur Home Story: Decorative plate wall, decorating with plates

The plates were collected over a period of 18 months from various stores. B bought the Chicago plate was from an airport gift store during one of his office trips. The red platter, we already had. The Whats Ur Home Story plate was a DIY experiment as was the vintage newspaper covered one. The rest are from Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Tuesday Morning, World Market, Goodwill, and Salvation Army.

In all the excitement yesterday I forgot to show you a before and after shot of the area. So here it is.

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall tutorial, DIY chalkboard from mirror

Ready to see how I did it?

First up you need to figure out your pattern. Took me a few tries as you can see below.

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall tutorial,

B says I liked #3 coz it was a paisley! It does look like a paisley, doesn’t it? The thought never occurred to me till he mentioned it! Given how much I love paisleys, maybe it was just meant to be. ;)

Once you have you pattern figured out, cut out templates for each plate on a newspaper. Arrange them on the wall till you get your desired pattern. Number your plates(on the back) and templates so you know where each one goes.

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall tutorial,

Since it was a heavy traffic area I decided to go with traditional plate hangers and not the glue-on ones. Used them for all except the two tiny ones. Again got them from a combination of stores; Amazon, Home Depot, and Lowes. They ranged from $2.50- $6 a piece depending on the size. Some came with hanging hardware, others didn’t. We used regular picture hanging nails for the ones that didn’t have hardware.

Plate hangers for the wall

Attach the hanger to the plate and measure the distance from the top of the plate to the hook for each (they are diff so you have to measure each one). Then on your template mark where the nail should go based on this measure and hang.

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall tutorial,

Here’s a close up of the plates;

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall tutorial, decorating with plates

My favorite is the elephant and mahout plate from World Market. Coming from India, especially Kerala where folks worship and even domesticate elephants I have a soft corner for these beasts.

Whats Ur Home Story: Hanging Plates with paper clip

Oh, I used a paper clip to hang the 2 tiny plates. Got to thank Pinterest again for this idea. You just unravel the clip and make a loop and super glue it to the plate. It seems it works great for light plates.

Whats Ur Home Story: DIY Plate Wall, Modern Plate wall, plate wall tutorial

One thing I can assure you, this is not going to be the last time you gonna hear about my plate wall. As and when I collect more plates, I’ll add them to the wall. The plan is to eventually stretch it out at the bottom so it flows through to the next wall.

Whats Ur Home Story: DIY Plate Wall, Modern Plate wall, plate wall tutorial

Anyone inspired to create their own? Or if you already have a plate wall would love to see pics.

Adding it to YHL’s;

yhl

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Breakfast Nook Reveal

Hope y’all had a great Mother’s day. Ours was pretty quiet as we had hosted quite a few folks the day before at our place.

Last week we finally finished up the plate wall and the chalkboard projects. Need to change a few more things (like changing the pendant light & painting the chairs) but this is where we are;

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall, diy chalkboard from mirror

Just a heads up: this is gonna be a pic heavy post, will post the tutorial and such in the coming days.

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall, diy chalkboard from mirror

The chalkboard is actually the same mirror that I had shown here.

Whats Ur Home Story: diy chalkboard from mirror

The red bamboo table is of course from last week’s post.

Whats Ur Home Story: Painting Bamboo Furniture, red bamboo table

And now a view from the other side of the room…

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall, diy chalkboard from mirror

A close up of the plate wall.

Whats Ur Home Story: Plate wall, diy chalkboard from mirror

So what do you think?

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Inspiring Spaces – Backyards

If you ask me the bane of living in a new suburban subdivision is the lack of yard space. Around here the average yard size varies from 0.16 -0.2 acres. Ours is slightly bigger but the way house is set we lose most of our yard to the front, which of course is dotted with the huge green electrical box, a fire hydrant, and the neighbor’s mailbox (yes really, it is inside our property line!).  Out back our yard slops down away from the house into a protected wetland area (mainly small bushes) which in turn faces an elevated neighborhood street. So you get the picture, we have ZERO privacy! Though we are not planning to work on the backyard any time soon I thought it would be fun to take a look at all the possibilities.

Enter the wonder site, Houzz. I was specifically looking for yards comparable to ours in terms of size and where there was at least some green. B’s pet peeve about adding landscaping in the back is that our son won’t have place to hit a ball or practice his catches. I do see his point but a slopping yard is not the best place to practice baseball. Plus their school’s baseball field is within a stone’s throw away from our house. I mean, if the dad and son duo wanted to get some practice can’t they just walk over to the field?

The yard below has a little bit of everything; outdoor entertaining, grass, garden/landscaping, even a fire pit.

This one too is along the same lines.

If you have  a row house with a long rectangular piece of yard then this plan might work for you. If you love to mow you could convert the second seating area into a patch of green.

Here’s one catered to everyone adults, kids, and pets. Everyone gets to enjoy the yard to the fullest.

Another simple clean lined modern yard….

Notice, the pattern in all of these pics? All of them as well as most of the small yard pics you would find on Google have a stone patio and not a deck. In small yards, patios give the illusion of more space and make for an easy transition from the outdoor entertaining area to the natural elements of the yard.

Someone at home just doesn’t get the point! B was all worked up about the transition from the inside living area of the home to the outdoors. To him, stepping down to a stone patio (we have a semi walk out basement, so we might have needed 5 or 6 steps) would take away from the visual feel of the outdoor area when viewed from the inside! So deck it was! In all fairness I do like the deck but now we have a totally dead space (under the deck) that we have to maintain (read mulch) every year! If only I had seen this pic before we built the deck!

Wait, we have a public golf course just 5 mins down the road from us….so……. :-( At least that would have got me my stone patio!

What is your yard like? Where do you stand on the deck/patio issue?

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