Dead Ringer: Restoration Hardware Furniture Factory Cart & HDC Holbrook Factory Cart

I really, really love these industrial cart coffee tables and I'm definitely not the only one.  There are lots of different versions out there with price tags that vary greatly.

This one is from Restoration Hardware and it's $1095.

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This one is from Home Decorator's Collection and it's $391!  Big difference!  (In the price...not so much the look.)

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Affordable Chevron

I love a chevron rug....like this one from the set of the Nate Berkus show...

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...and this one from Joni's nursery over at lay baby lay. 

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A rug can be one of he most expensive pieces in a room and it could end up costing a pretty penny to get this look, but I came across a couple of chevron rugs that are reasonably priced.

This 5x7 is from Overstock and it's $80.  It comes in black and tan.

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This 5x7 is from Urban Outfitters, its $74, and it comes in black, gray, and a fun aqua color.

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Of course you could always just paint a chevron pattern on a cheap-o rug.

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I think I like the painted rug.  May have to try it sometime!

T.J. Maxx Finds

I made a quick stop by T.J. Maxx on my way to Target yesterday and the home-wares department was bringin' it!  Yes,  I said "bringin' it."  I think I've been spending too much time with middle schoolers.   

Anywho...I was just browsing through and I was kind of shocked at the amount of stylish furniture they had. 

Here are a few of the super affordable pieces I saw:

Black and white lattice ottoman $55.

 Brown, gold, green suzani ottoman $55.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this credenza looked like a Restoration Hardware piece and at $200 it was a lot cheaper than anything you could find there. 

I know the inventory fluctuates from store to store, but if this is any indication of what other T.J. Maxxes might have right now, I'd say it's a good time to look.

Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn Knock-Offs at Carolina Pottery

I realize that this post is not going to be useful to very many people since there are only 4 Carolina Pottery store locations and they don't have an online store.  BUT maybe it'll encourage you to hit up a store like it near you.  Garden Ridges are pretty similar, they may even have some of the same product, and there are a lot more locations.  Also, if there are other chains similar to Carolina Pottery that I'm not familiar with I'd love to hear about them.

Carolina Pottery is a ginormous store with everything from accent furniture to faux flowers to glassware.  As you'll see from some of my pictures the stores are very bare-bones and warehouse-ish.  Everything they sell isn't amazing, but I found some great deals with a lot of style among the 6,500 square feet of items.

Lets start with one of my favorite finds.  This trunk comes in a bunch of different sizes and would be great as a side table or coffee table.  They range from $40-$100 and look very similar to the Mayfair Steamer line at Restoration Hardware which ranges from $800-$2,500.

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This little cloche is $7 and it came home with me.  It doesn't have the wooden pedestal like the Restoration Hardware cloche, but I found one at a thrift store for $2.  So, for $9 I was able to recreate a $69 accessory from Restoration Hardware.

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I am a sucker for paned mirrors.  This one is amazing, but it's still a little too expensive for me at $199.  

I actually like this better than the arched mirror that Pottery Barn had a few seasons ago.

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This glass canister also came home with me.  It was $7.  The canister from Pottery Barn that's the same size is $34.  Sorry for the horrible picture.  I snapped it in my bathroom real quick because I forgot to take a picture in store.

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That's it for the Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn knock-offs.  Here are some other great items I saw.

gilded faux bamboo side tables $60-$75

glass lamp $49

mirror $70

more trunks $40-$100

wooden sunburst mirror $35

(not sure if I love this or hate it) mirror & glass side table $100

These metal sphere thingies look like something Restoration Hardware would sell $10-$20.

Are there other chains like Carolina Pottery in other parts of the country?  I'd love to hear about them, so feel free to fill me in!

Shark Tank

We are proud new owners of a Shark Navigator upright vacuum.  The vacuum claims to never lose suction just like a Dyson, and my mother-in-law, who's used both vacuums confirms that the Shark is just as good.  Look at how much stuff it sucked up on its first test run:

All of that is just from our living room rug, which is fairly new, and my son's bedroom.  Yuck. 

We got ours from Bed Bath & Beyond.  It's $150 at BB&B, which is $30 cheaper than what it costs at Target, plus you can use one of their 20% off coupons on it.  With the coupon it cost us $130, a mere fraction of what a Dyson costs.

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We'll see if the Shark stands the test of time and lives up to its claim.  For now, it is awesome, and I'm actually looking forward to vacuuming the rest of my house.

Best Living Social Deal Ever!: Cat Wilborne Photography

Cat Wilborne Photography

I've seen a lot of great deals lately ($9 for two movie tickets today!) on the many daily deal websites that are out there.  The deal that we got for our family photos was especially great.

We have tons of pictures of our son, but we only had one of all three of us.  When I saw that a local photographer was offering her services on Living Social for only $60, I jumped on it.

We had these made at the North Carolina Museum of art just one day after James had his first birthday.

I am in love with our pictures.

After a year of searching....NEW LAMPS!

Why are lamps so dang expensive!?  I searched and searched my usual spots for inexpensive lamps before I stumbled on these at Wal-Mart (of all places).  When I say I searched and searched, I mean it took me about a year to find lamps at a reasonable price.  Every floor lamp I saw at places like T.J. Maxx and Homegoods was about $80 and up, and I needed two of them so that was not gonna fly.

This is kind of what I was looking for, but with a much smaller price tag

Chelsea Floor Lamp $125

We had been using lamps that were given to us as a wedding present.  I picked them out almost five years ago.  It was a pretty good deal too, three lamps in a box for 100 bucks.  In the last year or two, though I've really started to love plain drum shades.  I could have just changed out the shades on my old lamps, but I didn't think it would look good with the scrolly details below the bulb.

Old lamp

This is what I ended up finding at Wal-Mart.

The lamp comes with a shade that I'm not crazy about, but for a $40 base I figured I could dump the shade it came with and find an cheap drum shade.  Wal-Mart's Canopy line has drum shades for $15 (Target's 14" drum shades are $20).  For a little more than $110, less than the price of my inspiration, I was able to get two floor lamps to light up my living room.

To offset the cost of the new lamps, I sold the two table lamps from my old "lamps in a box" set and a ladder bookcase that had been in the corner where the new lamp is now.  I ended up getting $40 for the pair of lamps and $50 for the bookcase.  So really....it's like I got two floor lamps for $20.

ALSO...check out these cute percale weave sheets from Wal-Mart's Better Homes & Garden's line.