Counter Stools

Stopped in at Pier One the other day to check out their rug selections and came home with a counter stool. 

Isn't that always the way? When you stop looking for something, you find it!

They had so many wonderful stools and chairs at reasonable prices. I think I drooled all over most of them! 

Remember my inspiration piece for the kitchen I showed recently? This dish towel I've been hoarding for a few years...

Because of the dish towel, I knew I wanted to add more black and white to the kitchen to tone down all the gold-ish brown of the cabinets. 

This black stool with a creamy white top seemed like it would be just perfect for the counter. Most important...It's really comfortable!

We need three stools, but I bought just one to try out since I was debating between these with white tops or ones that were all black. Buying one meant I'd only have to lug one home and back to the store if it wasn't a good fit or the colors were wrong. 

I learned my lesson when I ordered three Restoration Hardware counter stools back in 2013. It would've been a much cheaper lesson if I had only ordered just one to try out instead of the three. 

They looked wonderful, but they were not comfortable. In fact, sitting on them for more than a few minutes was impossible. And let's just say the metal legs weren't good for our wood floors either!

It took me 3 years to finally call it quits with those stools, even though I knew when I unpacked the first one they weren't right for us. In 2016, I wrote about it here.

So back then a young woman on Craigslist got a real bargain on three Restoration Hardware counter stools, and I learned a lesson about buying just one of something to try out. 

Now we'll be going back to confidently buy two more stools real soon. Hope you'll join me at Amaze Me Monday over at Dwellings - The Heart of Your Home.

Thanks for dropping by!

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On Decisions, Dilemmas And Cliches

How do you make decisions? Are you able to do it quickly or do you struggle?

I once read when you are faced with a decision of your life path, you should only ask "yes" or "no" questions. 

Meaning that if you turn to the option of making a "Pro's" and "Con's" list, you can really get yourself side-tracked.

I know this isn't a "life path" decision, but to sell -- or not to sell --these counter stools has been taking up a lot of my mental energy.

In fact, I was shocked to find that I've been struggling with this stool decision for 3 years! 

In July 2013, when Restoration Hardware shipped these stools to us and they were not what I expected, I did a post. In that post here, I had only unpacked one of the stools and was wanting to ship them back. Well...I should have. Instead I pro'd and con'd myself into keeping them.

Lesson learned here is follow your first instincts. The stools are not comfortable and the feet caps are too shiny. The seats are stained black, not stained wood like the picture in the catalog or on-line makes them look. 

Forgive me, but here's yet another cliche I've know for a long time, but have ignored:  You Have To Make The Right Decision Or Make The Decision Right.

Before I read Marie Kondo's book, The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up, I would've just hid them in the garage. But instead I'm finally making the decision right by facing up to the fact these stools will never work for us.

Three stools going on Craigslist today! And then I'm getting over being mad at myself for buying them in the first place. No pro's or con's about it.

Thanks for dropping by!

RH Furniture Knock-Offs And Paint Colors

For several years, I yearned for a Restoration Hardware (RH) bed. So expensive. 

One day I was in a furniture store right next door to RH and they had what looked like the same bed, but at half the price. And guess what...it was made locally. 

The RH bed comes in several different colors. I would've ordered a white one from RH, but at half the price, I settled for the knock-off. Here's the RH bed frame from their website:

Restoration Hardware Bed

Someday I'll probably paint this bed frame white, but for now it stays the color it is. 

Now--did you notice that, quite by accident, the bed frame, wall color, drapes, lamps and lampshades are all the same golden brown color? 

I say by accident because the builder painted the walls that color, the drapes we already had from a previous house, the lamps and lampshades are from two houses ago, and that's the only color the knock-off bed frame came in.

At Christmas time, I bought two red and cream shams at Pottery Barn. They bring a little color to the brown room, but as Winter fades, the deer-themed shams will be put away. I'm looking for another color to perk up all the brown cabinets and walls. 

Not surprising, the rest of the house tends toward a cream and golden brown color too, which is hard on a gal who really likes bright white cabinets and trim. 

I happened upon this Sherwin-Williams' blue paint color recently. It's kind of growing on me.

As you can see below, our kitchen counters are brown too and our front room, kitchen and breakfast room are one big area.

I found a picture of a similar room painted white, using a similar blue color for accents. Wild Bill is resistant to white walls, but I don't see any other solution.

House and Home

As you can see from the first pictures, our room is so dark --even with the window coverings open-- I can hardly take pictures in there. I would be thrilled if the white paint lightened up our room like the room above.

Thanks for dropping by!

Talking Tables

One simple question here girls.

Yeah, I know the men won't like this so

I'm just talking to you women!

Have you seen this table on the

Restoration Hardware website?

Yes...I am in love!!!

I texted these pictures to the middle daughter happily

expressing all the love I was feeling for this table.

I mean, I wouldn't possibly pay that much for it, but

I can dream it might go on a drastic sale someday, right?
 

 Her only response:

"What's Bill think of it?" 

Well, I hadn't run it by him because men are

completely irrational about wood staying wood...

 So, I ventured on the wild side and asked!

You don't want to hear his response,

but I can tell you it started with "OMG..."

(and not in a good way)

I have a table that's kind of the same style, but a little

shorter. I think I'm going to try to make it look like this
while I'm waiting for the big "someday" sale.
After all, Wild Bill did express that any nutcase
could do a... "*&%#@!" ...paint job like that.
And, to hear him talk, I'm well qualified!

Wondering what you ladies think of the look?

 Thanks for dropping by!

Featured At The Dedicated House

You know how you slow down and can't

help but look when you see a car crash?

I guess there are a lot of people who feel

the same way about a wreck of a house...

I was thrilled to get an email from Kathryn

over at The Dedicated House, letting me

know she was featuring my last post in her

Sunday Showcase as "most viewed".

Thank you to everyone who clicked on

my link, even if it was just to see how

badly I had wrecked my house!

My favorite from that blog party was the
drum table done by JunkChick Life. Of course
 she painted it white and aged it down!

Hope you go over and check out the other features.



http://www.thededicatedhouse.com





Thanks for dropping by! 

Recycling Rooms While Dreaming Of New Stuff

Well, since last we talked I have totally

torn up the house to redecorate...

You know how that goes, right?

You decide to focus on one room -- and that

requires you to move almost every piece of

furniture around in the rest of the house --

it's some freaking law of nature!

While stacking stuff on a cabinet, I think I
discovered the right colors for our house!

The aged-yellow frame on the chicken picture
represents the kitchen cabinets...

and some of the other furniture... 

The aged-creamy-white of the chalkboard
represents most of our white furniture and 
the color of the window and door trim.

I love black, brown, dark green, and deep
rose for accent colors right now...
I think I'm over blue!

 Did you noticed the Restoration Hardware
paint chip? 

That's going on some walls if I get brave
enough to go to the dark side!

Most of the Restoration Hardware stores are
painted with that slate color now. I love how
RH mixes the dark gray color with the bare 
and aged wood look...

Here's my favorite two pieces of RH furniture:

 The St James bed frame and the
Willems table in bare wood...

 
or coffee stain...

Have you noticed that Restoration Hardware
never stocks anything in the stores anymore?

I tried to buy a gallon of the slate paint last
week, but when I took the gallon can to the
checkout,  the saleslady said it was for
"...display purposes only..."

I took the chip and decided to have it color
matched at Home Depot. I like their Behr's
Paint-and-Primer brand better anyway, and I can
buy a smaller sized sample in case I chicken out.

Thanks for dropping by!

Find me at:
Mrs. Olson's Share Your Cup...
http://jannolson.blogspot.com/2015/05/share-your-cup-thursday-151.html

Dwellings-the Heart Of Your Home

http://www.dwellings-theheartofyourhome.com/2015/05/amaze-me-monday-112.html
The Dedicated House-Make It Pretty Monday
http://www.thededicatedhouse.com/2015/05/make-it-pretty-monday-week-136.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDedicatedHouse+%28The+Dedicated+House%29

Miss Mustard Seed's

http://missmustardseed.com/2015/05/furniture-feature-friday-favorites-link-party-63/