I finally finished a project!

I have been pretty lame lately in the whole house project department. I have started a few projects over the last couple weeks but haven't finished any of them until now! I made my pillow for my bed this weekend. I am very proud of myself too. I used cording for the first time and I am pleased with how it turned out.

Just don't look too closely. It is definitely not perfect. I LOVE it in my room though!

I feel like my bedroom is finally starting to come together a little. It's fun!

Look What I Found...

Remember on my dream bedroom board I was coveting of this fabric:

(found here)

But the $17/yard price tag plus shipping just wasn't doing it for me. Well, I was wandering around JoAnns this weekend and found this:

It's not exactly like the original but it's good enough for me, and it was 50% off so I was able to get a

 yard for $12. So hopefully I will be making a pillow in the next few days on top of a few other little projects I have started, which include making a new wreath for my front door and a geneology chart.

My Dream Bedroom

Our bedroom has kind of been one of the neglected rooms in our house. I like what I have done with it using what I have, but we haven't really put much money into it. The bed is a $30 metal frame, and I made the tufted headboard for about $60. Our dresser is the same one I have had since I was like 10 years old. Our nightstands are plastic drawers from Wal-Mart, and our Ikea lamps have seen better days. Bedroom furniture is just too expensive and not in our budget right now, BUT that doesn't stop me from dreaming. I put together my dream bedroom on a design board. Here is what I came up with:

The bed is the Hudson Bed from Pottery Barn, and it is, of course, paired with my West Elm Bedding. The Linx Pillow is from Z Gallerie and I have been coveting that fabric for a while now. I want to make a bolster pillow out of it for my bed. The chair is Swoop Upholstered Accent Chair-Gorgeous Pearl from Target. Curtains are also from Target. I have wanted a glass lamp base for years now! Most of them are pretty pricey, for me that is, but Target has a reasonably priced Tear Drop one. I paired it with a fabulous Gold Chevron Lamp Shade, also from Target. (Can you tell I really like Target?) The side table is the Isala Side Table from Ikea. (I also really love the matching Isala Coffee Table.) Then to top off the room I would add a few decorative accents. The Ceramic Books and Faux Coral are from Z Gallerie. So there you have it! That is my dream bedroom. Maybe someday...

West Elm Bedding and a Crazy Good Deal

So, remember the new bedding I ordered from West Elm a little while ago? Well, I haven't showed it to you yet because when I got it I wasn't loving it. It wasn't the actual bedding that I didn't love, it was how it looked on my bed that wasn't working. We have a california king bed. Many times on king beds you see three euro pillows but I have always just had two euro pillows on my bed and I liked it.

Well, when my duvet cover and two euro shams arrived I wasn't digging the two pillows and realized that it was because of the horizontal stripes on the duvet. They were visually making the bed seem wider, therefore making the pillows look smaller. 

So, I went back to the West Elm website to look into getting another sham. When I bought the first two shams they were on sale for $12.99 but now they were $19.99. They were still on sale from the original $24.99 price, but with tax and shipping I was looking at $28 just for the sham, and I was still going to have to purchase a pillow insert. I was not happy about that, so I thought I would just wait it out and hope that someday they would go back to the $12.99 price. I had been checking for a couple weeks when I realized I should try my local Downeast Home. For those of you who don't know what Downeast Home is (it is a Idaho and Utah thing) they are kind of like a home outlet store. They sell either showroom floor items or slightly damaged items from stores like Pottery Barn, West Elm, Restoration Hardware, and such. You can find some pretty great deals there. I bought my Pottery Barn Wingback Seagrass Chair there for $125 where it normally sells for $499!! Anyway, so to finish my story, I went to Downeast Home thinking that finding a West Elm Parachute Euro Sham in Feather Gray would probably be a long shot, but lo and behold there it was!! The price was normally $11.99 but it was on sale for $6!!  BUT when I went to purchase it, I found out that all their clearance was an additional 20% off!! So total with tax it as $5.08!!! That is amazing compared to the $28 I would have spent getting it from West Elm. I then found a pillow insert at a local fabric store for $14.99. I am so thrilled with my find!! So finally, after my long story, this is how it looks,

I still need to get some accent pillows and add a little color or something. Not sure exactly what yet, but I really like it! And just in case anyone is interested, the West Elm - Stripe Duvet in Feather Gray matches the Feather Gray - Parachute Duvet Cover Shams. If you look really closely, the gray is slightly different, but it doesn't bother me. I think the Parachute Shams are less modern looking  than the matching striped shams. I like them better in my space. I'm happy with my purchase!

We had some crazy wind here in Idaho yesterday! It knocked down an entire tree in the park down the street from us, and it obliterated the shutters on the side of our house. They were in pieces all over our driveway and street. I'll have to take some pics.

New Bedding!

My wonderful husband suprised me with a Pottery Barn gift card for Christmas. This was my reaction:

Totally surprised!
Then, I found out the other day that the gift card is not only good at Pottery Barn but can also be used at West Elm! Sweet! So, I was going back and forth over getting this Striped Duvet Cover in Feather Gray,

Love it! And all of their bedding is 20% off right now, but to get matching euro shams, plus shipping it was still going to be over my budget. I also wasn't quite sold on the shams. I felt like they were going to give the bedding too much of a modern feel. But then, on Monday, because of the holiday, West Elm had free shipping!! So I started putting my options together. As I was searching through their clearance bedding I found the Parachute Euro Shams in Feather Gray for only $12.

It seemed like it was meant to be! So I got it! The striped duvet, seen again here:

And the Parachute shams. I am hoping they are the same Feather Gray as in the striped duvet. I think the shams will add more texture to the bedding and give it less of a modern look. That's my exciting news for the week. I have also been busy working on a few projects the past couple weeks. Can't wait to show you the boards!