Halloween Console Table Decor

Happy October! And that means, that time of year is upon us. Yes, the season of pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin patches, costumes, candy, trick or treat, corn mazes and the best part - Hocus Pocus on the 13 nights of Halloween! Amuck! Amuck! Amuck! I’m so freaking excited. 

Anyway, I love love love Halloween and pretty much everything about it, including decorating my house. However, I’m also one of those clutter-phobic individuals who can only decorate using “clean decorations,” meaning no crazy cob webs, or super tacky stuff. I’m weird. I know. I’ve accepted it. So, this year, I am excited to be able to decorate my entryway table. You’ve probably seen this table a million times on Pinterest, with the two baskets underneath. Yeah. I know its Pottery Barn and was pricy, but I had to have it, and it just works so well in that long narrow hallway. 

This year, I just used some glass jars I already had and filled them with green moss. I then added a miniature pumpkin in one, a tiny skeleton in another and a skull in the middle. I added two battery-operated candlesticks behind the jars as well. 

Hanging from the mirror is a cute Tricks & Treats sign. All of the jar filler items, including the moss, the candlesticks and the hanging sign were purchased at Dollar Tree.  Who says you can’t make dollar store stuff look classy? 

I also purchased the spooky black mesh material under the decorations at the Dollar Tree. 

I HAVE to have flowers in virtually every corner of my house, so I used a miniature pitcher that I bought at Kroger months ago and filled it with some festive orange flowers from Michaels. 

The tombstones on either side of the table are actually five or six years old. They’re the heavy duty kind that usually go in the front yard, but I thought they helped balance out the table. I can’t remember where we purchased them, but if I had to guess, I’d say either Walmart or Target. 

The ceramic pumpkin on the right side of the table is actually a vase that came with some Halloween flowers that my hubby had delivered to my work years ago. Ya know, when we were still young, and both had jobs, and no mortgage, and no children and lots of disposable income. Those were some good years. 

Dollar Tree Items:

Skeleton garland
Green moss
Miniature pumpkins
Skull head
Black mesh sheets
Tricks & Treats bat sign

Console Table:

Tivoli Long Console Table from Pottery Barn in black in sale now from $699 to $594. If you sign up for email notifications, they send you a coupon for 15% off your first purchase. Make sure you do that! It will drop the price down to $505 for you! 

Baskets:

Smith and Hawken Square Decorative Basket with Chalkboard from Target. $39.99 each

Happy Halloween Decorating!

xoxo

Jessie

Our Great Room

Let’s talk about the living room, which is really more of the great room because it includes the kitchen, kitchenette and living room. It’s huge. I love it. I love everything about it.

So when we moved into our first house back in Kentucky, hubby and I bought a big faux leather section because it looked so “adult-like” and well, we became adults and needed to have nice things. Yeah … um … no. I hated that thing. I wanted to burn that thing to the ground. It became the most uncomfortable sofa I’ve ever been on. And when it was freezing, the material would be super cold. If it was hot, my butt cheeks would stick to it and then rip off when I stood up. I thought I was being smart because I could just wipe all the dog hair off. No, that didn’t matter either, because dog hair was still everywhere all the time. Like it still is. Anyway, enough with my rant on that. 

I search the internet high and low looking for the best family sofas and I kept getting turned to Pottery Barn. We ended up buying the Pearce Upholstered Right 4PieceCornerWedge Sectional, in Performance everydaysuede™ Metal Gray. It was on sale from $4,799 to $3,839. Pretty cool, huh? It gets better. When we first moved into the house, Pottery Barn sent me this wonderful coupon for 15% off one item and that included furniture. Oh yes. So on top of the sale price, I got an extra $575.85 discount. Awesome. Shipping and processing adds $163, along with a delivery surcharge of $125 and tax at $293. Out the door, our total was $3,844. A Pottery Barn sectional sofa with a chase that’s super cozy in an awesome color delivered to my house for under $4,000? Yes. And seriously, this sofa is amazing. It’s huge. Hubby actually likes the right corner spot the most; as you can see from the deflated cushions. I called dibs on the chaise and little dude just kind of runs around the whole thing like it’s a jungle gym because he’s two.

I’m sure you can search the web for better reviews, so I’ll just give you the key notes:

Pros:
Super Comfortable (nap-time approved)
Beautiful Color (everydaysuede Metal Gray) – we actually went into the Pottery Barn store to get a sample of the material first. I recommend doing this or ordering a sample online.
Easy to Clean – can be wiped down and vacuumed (gently)
Seats Six comfortably, but can fit more

Cons:
Cushions need constant fluffing
Feathers poke out sometimes – I haven’t looked into why it does this yet.

Rug: The Rug is the Safavieh Cozy Solid Dark Grey Shag Rug from Overstock.com. I was really hesitant about purchasing a rug online because I couldn’t actually see it. But this thing is wonderful. It’s super comfortable and I can vacuum right over it. I’ve had it for over three months now, and have had no issues. I did purchase a rug pad for under it. I bought a larger sized pad and cut it to size. 

Ottoman: The ottoman is from Overstock - Round Cream Bonded Leather5-piece Ottoman Set. At $318.99, I wasn’t super excited about the price, mostly because I knew it was going to take a beating, but it’s very functional. I found some coupon code online that knocked off $31, so out the door it was $287 (shipping included). 

The roundness of the ottoman makes it much easier to get in and out of the couch. This particular ottoman also has storage inside so I’m using it as a toy box for my little dude. It came with four little mini seats as well, but we don’t actually use them. I think they’re sitting in a guest closet or something. It’s very stylish and functional, although it already suffered a pen mark. I also noticed that the material is starting to shift at the bottom. I’m not sure if that’s because I didn’t attach the feat or not. They were rolling feet and we weren’t planning on moving it, so I never put them on.

Pillows & Blanket:

White Pillows:  I bought the ivory throw pillows in store at Walmart about four years ago. That’s why they’re flat and a little ghetto.

Large Black Pillow: Brentwood 3438 Crown Chenille Floor Cushion, 24-Inch, Black from Amazon.com, $20

Gray Pillows: CableKnit Wool Throw Pillow from Wayfair, $37

Throw: Threshold™Quilted Cable Plush Throw in Shell from Target, $35 (and yes, it’s super cozy)

End Table: Okay, so normally, I don’t really have much to say about end tables, but this one is super cute. It fits the corner of the couch really well and I just love it. I added a mini pitcher with pink flowers, a white table lamp that I found on clearance at Target, a photo and a basket. I think it just came together really nicely. It’s the Alaterre Cottage 2-Shelf Side Table in Black from Target, $115 

Tree: NearlyNatural 5346 Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree, 6-Feet, Green at Amazon. When I bought it, it was listed for $130. It has been knocked down to $102. I’m a little pissed about that. But it’s very beautiful.

Basket that holds the tree: EKO Tall Water Hyacinth Wicker Basket with Handles from Amazon, $43

Curtains: All of the curtains in the kitchen and living room are from the same set. We bought the Bombay™ Garrison Rod Pocket/Back Tab Window Curtain Panels in Charcoal from Bed Bath and Beyond. They were not cheap ($45-$70 depending on length), but worth every penny. If you’re looking to stay in the neutral category with your home, but get away from the whites and beige, this is the way to go.

Behind the Sofa Console Tables: Threshold™ Avington Console Table – Black, Target $120/each. I’m very happy with our decision to purchase two matching console tables for behind the couch. We had this long narrow open space that I couldn’t figure out what to do with for the longest time. We love the ottoman, but it’s not very useful for holding drinks. At some point, I could probably get a much larger circular tray, but it wouldn’t matter right now because our two-year-old knocks everything over. Anyway, the console tables are useful for holding drinks for people on the couch and they also serve as a bar area and extra setting for guests. We purchased a set of bar stools that fit perfectly under the table and we can pull them out when needed.

Barstools: 5302Series 18" Bar Stool by Woodbridge Home Designs from Wayfair, $100 for a set of two.

Until next time!

xoxo
Jessie

New Kitchenette with Benchwright Dining Table

So I’ve been MIA for some time now, but life got crazy after the move. We’ve finally settled into our new life and even better, got the house furnished so I actually have something to write about. Yay! Here’s a peek inside our kitchenette!

  

Table: The table is the Benchwright Dining Table (74x30”) in Rustic Mahogany Stain from Pottery Barn. It is regularly priced at $1,400, but I stocked Pottery Barn’s website for about three months and low-in-behold, it went on sale for $1,299. Shipping and processing will add $117, plus a delivery surcharge of $100, plus tax of $114 equaled $1,630 for the total. However, I in addition to the table being on sale, I also had a 10% off coupon for my online order with took off $130, bringing the total down to $1,500. That was still a big chunk of change, but the same table not on sale, without the discount out the door would have been over $1,730, so I still saved about $230 making me one happy shopper.

The table itself is beautiful and very durable. The grooves and saw marks on the wood’s surface gives it that rustic look and honestly, I’m not terrified of my son giving it even more dents because it just adds to the look of the table. It’s easy to wipe down and overall, just a great table. The only tiny issue I’ve had with it is cleaning out the tiny pieces crumbs that fall in-between the board on the very end of the table, but it’s nothing a little wet rag and needle can’t get out.

Chairs: I bought two sets of Castleton Home’s Parsons Dining Chairs in cream at Wayfair.com. They were on sale at the time as well ($276 for all four). Unfortunately, they’re no longer available, but Parson does have some other products on Wayfair that look just as nice. I ended up going with a faux leather because it’s so easy to wipe down. At some point in the future, I’m sure I’ll have to get covers for them because my child will probably take a permanent marker to the backs of them.

Lighting: So I’m super excited about the new chandelier. When we bought the house, there was this really large dumb type lamp shade that took up the entire space of the kitchenette and I was having none of it. 

We bought the Quoizel Gentry Cage Chandelier from Walmart. We have an open floor plan that connects the kitchen, breakfast nook and living room so the pendant is viewable from the entire area. It goes well with my other lights that hang over the breakfast bar. Make sure you measure it out because the picture makes it look a little small, but I think it looks great over the benchwright table. Instillation was a pain and took both my hubby and I to get it up there, but it was worth it. We also installed a dimmer switch which I totally recommend with this piece. The different levels of brightness are wonderful to set for different occasions.

Curtains: All of the curtains in the kitchen and living room are from the same set. We bought the Bombay™ Garrison Rod Pocket/Back Tab Window Curtain Panels in Charcoal from Bed Bath and Beyond. They were not cheap ($45-$70 depending on length), but worth every penny. There were two open spots behind the table on the wall, so I bought two shorter curtains along with a 12-20inch mini rod set which we also purchased from BBB. If you’re looking to stay in the neutral category with your home, but get away from the whites and beige, this is the way to go.

Centerpiece: I found the galvanized tray for $10 at my local HEB. I was so excited about it, I actually bought two. If you don’t have an HEB, or can’t find these, I recommend searching on Wayfair. I’ve seen a lot of really cute ones there too. I also bought the large glass jar at Walmart and the white pitcher at Kroger. The jar holds our large napkins and I filled the pitcher with some pretty flowers from Michaels.

Turn your Victoria Secret shopping bags into storage "boxes"

Okay ladies … so normally, I would write this out, but I think this one can be explained in pictures. I did it today while going through my craft supplies. For some reason, I always hold onto those beautiful pink bags, and I finally found a use for them. And for all of you OCD-types (like me), the fifth picture shows the label. Which reminds me ... I need more ink for my label maker. 

Till next time ... 

xoxo
Jessie

Bakers Rack Drop Zone

Happy New Year, friends! In keeping promise to my New Year’s Resolution of ensuring function in the process of decorating our new home, I’m writing this post about creating a bakers rack drop zone.

In 2011 when we moved into our first home in Kentucky, I purchased this Metal & Wood Bakers Rack from Amazon.com. Back then, it sold for $129. I guess it was popular (ya know … that and inflation) because now it goes for $167.  Anyway, totally worth every penny. I absolutely love the thing.

Back in Kentucky, I had it decorate to hold my wine bottles and wine glasses and wine bottle opener and all sorts of super fun stuff. You can kind of see in this photo, although this photo was when I had it “staged” for selling. I had purchased the matching table and chair set as well, and together, I loved them in my dinette.

Moving on … so our new house is totally amazing in almost every way except there is no room to keep my bakers rack next to or even near the table. In fact, the only good place I could find for it was against the staircase toward the front of the house.

It’s okay though because this is a perfect opportunity to turn that previous cutesy decorated bakers rack into something a little more functional. “Well, why don’t you just put back all your wine glasses and wine bottles?” You might be asking. Excellent point. The answer is: I have a two-year old now and he likes to break stuff. So wine bottles and glasses are now hidden in a locked kitchen cabinet.

I searched Pinterest for Bakers Rack ideas, but couldn’t really find much inspiration. People are using them for coffee bars (and they work really great for that), but I already have a coffee station set up by my refrigerator … where the coffee cream is. You see where this idea came crashing down …

I found one pin where someone turned their bakers rack into a deck/work area, and that was pretty cute. So working from that idea, I came to the Drop Zone Bakers Rack idea. Yay! It would be PERFECT for that! It’s right by the garage and front door, with lots of space for cute baskets and even better, a place for my giant baby bag. (Yeah … I still carry a baby bag. He’s two. Shopping requires lots of snacks.) My giant bag was previously taking up one of my bar stools and that just wasn’t working for me.

The photo below has everything labeled for its use. I don’t have it shown here, but you could also add hooks to the side bar and hang jackets from it. Everything on the rack was stuff I already had too, so it didn’t really cost me anything extra. Yay me!

I had a small collection of Longaberger baskets that I purchased throughout the years – the white/pink Hope basket, small circular basket holding pink flowers and small black basket with handles.  The other baskets were purchased at craft stores a few years ago. My mother-in-law gave me the “family” plate/stand and the black containers were hand-me-downs from my mom.  I included the speaker because I like rocking out when I’m cleaning house and it was taking up valuable space on the kitchen countertop. Plus, this way, I can hear the speaker from virtually every room in the house. 

I also had two old chairs that I will someday revamp but for now, they make a good place to sit down to take shoes off. My little guy even has some custom artwork on one …

So there you have it. A functional, but still attractive bakers rack.

Till next time!
xoxo
Jessie

Cleaning Out Your Crap

First day of fall. Moving. Quitting your job. Starting a new job. A Tuesday. These are all excellent reasons to clear out your crap. Because let’s be honest, you probably have too much. I bet I could go through your house and take at least 50 items that you wouldn’t know were missing for at least a year, if not ever. Hey, there’s no judging here. I’m the same way. Now that Pumpkin Spice Latte season is here (and that’s super awesome), I figured it was a good time to clear out my crap. I have too much crap as well.  

So, how do I start? One room at a time. 

Beginning with the Kitchen.

Now my dear and wonderful husband bought me a beautiful Kitchenaid mixer (in Raspberry Ice) for my birthday a few years ago. It’s pretty much the most amazing tool in my kitchen. For real. Go buy one. Just do it. Charge that shit and pay it off if you have to. Totally worth every penny.

Anyway, I kept my old mixer that I got in college because “What if I needed two mixers for all my Christmas baking?” Really, past Jessie? No. I haven’t used it once since I got the real deal. It’s been sitting there taking up space in my cabinet. Same thing with my old blender. Hubby got me the matching Kitchenaid bender too. (Yeah, he’s pretty amazing.) I even called my mother to verbalize my reasoning for getting rid of the old blender. I asked her if she could possibly think of a situation in which I would need to keep two blenders.

Her: “Well, if you have a party and want to make Margaritas, it would be nice to have another blender.”

Me: “My friends drink wine and hard alcohol.”
Her: “Oh.”
Me: “Yeah, I should get rid of this.”

When in doubt, call your mother or another friend/relative and talk it out. You’ll most likely hear how ridiculous you sound. Or maybe the other person will. It will help in your decision making.

I tried to use the “If I haven’t used it in the past 12 months, it goes” Rule. Worked pretty well. I mean, what the hell am I doing with a fondue set? I hate fondue. I don’t even make fondue. F this set. I mean, I should really donate this nice piece of equipment for someone else to use. Or whatever. I also got rid of my husband’s crockpot from college. That thing was gross.

I went through the guest bedrooms and all the closets next. For some reason, I collected Victoria Secret bags because they are pink and pretty. But I never found a use for them. Recycle. My craft drawers had like twenty mostly-empty bottles of paint. Trash. There was a collection of old Dollar Tree picture frames from my wedding six years ago. Donate. Those sweaters that make me look like I’m 90? Donate. That dress that makes me look like I’m 12? Donate. That stained and ripped t-shirt? Trash. It's a good time to be honest with yourself. If it doesn't look good, doesn't fit, or you simply don't like it then get rid of it. Its more useful to someone else who would use it than it is cluttering your home. 

Really, once I got going, it was hard to stop.

Probably the most challenging thing was organizing all the baby stuff. MamaRoo, breast pump, stuffed animals, Bumbo and tray, bouncer, pregnancy books, toys, more stuffed animals, Bobby pillow, outgrown baby clothes … it just didn’t end. 

As I stand in this immediate moment, I’m really thinking Mason might be an only child. But nothing is set in stone and I just can’t get rid of all that expensive baby stuff, so I boxed what I could. Either way, we’re not having another one any time soon, so I took all infant stuff, boxed it, labeled it and put it in the garage. I kept another box inside the house for toddler toys (ones that he doesn’t necessarily need at the moment, but can use in the near(ish) future).

I’m not going to lie … organizing the house makes a mess of the house. 

Shit. 

Was. 

Everywhere. 

I used the dining room as my donation headquarters, dividing everything into four piles: Goodwill, the local Women’s Shelter, the local Library and a box to ship to out-of-town family members. Hubby had a few really nice work shirts that I bought that he hated, so those go to my brother. My old CD’s from 1999 go to mom. She’s old school.  

But now that the house is cleaned out, it’s onto the garage. Wish me luck!

Till next time …

xoxo

Jessie

Cleaning the Cleaning Closet

Before

After

Today I took little guy to the Dollar Tree. We were on a mission — A mission to clean the cleaning closet. It was getting out of hand as you can see …

Most of the plastic bins that I remembered seeing when summer began had been raided through already, but I found a bunch in different areas of the store. I was determined not to spend over $20 and get a butt load of plastic bins. 

Naturally, I left with a $37 receipt. 

Because … ya know … it’s the Dollar Tree.

It sucks you in like that.

I got a bunch of different style and sized bins because I wasn’t really sure how I was planning on organizing everything. I’m glad I did because even the bins that didn’t get used in the cleaning closet found homes in other closets.

Anyway, when we get home the mission is on! I pulled everything out of the closet one thing at a time. Okay, maybe I threw some shit away, but it had to be done.

Believe it or not, there was some thought behind the madness of this organization project. My dear 6’6” hubby is super tall. Because he is super tall, he doesn’t enjoy having to bend down to get certain items out of the cleaning closet. He actually doesn’t like getting certain items out of the cleaning closest at all. About six months after moving into the house, I wasn’t really sure he even knew we had one. No, that’s a lie, but you get the point. So, I decided on putting items that he uses up on the higher shelves; light bulbs, extension cords, tools, hardware, etc. I also put items I don’t use as much on the top (where I can’t really reach anyway), and the sides of the shelves, which are more difficult to get to.

The main things I use are the Clorox wipes, plastic gloves, dusting supplies, magic erasers and my cleaning bucket (which has a bunch of cleaning items that I can take with me from room to room).

A side note … I have this weird need to label things.

Like everything.

It’s a problem.

Obviously, the bins in the organized cleaning closet had to be labeled as well. I had some leftover Avery Ink Jet white Business Card stock which I use for labels. I love these things – I use them for business cards, mommy cards, luggage tags, household labels, thank you notes … so many uses! Just download the free online template, type up your labels and print. Highly recommended.

I hole-punched the top, put some reinforcement label stickers over them and added some leftover blue string to tie them off. They’re cute, functional and (hopefully) durable. 

I had already cleaned, organized and labeled the medicine cabinet a few months ago.

And the pantry.

I may have OCD. 

Anyway ... if you're cleaning out the house (maybe getting things ready for back-to-school?) I recommend going through your cleaning closet as well. It makes life so much easier when you know where the damn Lemon Pledge is. 

xoxo

Jessie