Shopping Around: Comp Shopping Good Better Best

Funny how after all the years I worked in retail, I won't pay full price for anything. Between shopping off season, sales, discounts and knowing which sources to go to, I find ways to save money and still create a stylish look for a home (or now an office) on a small budget. It's not about settling for less, but being flexible and creative when creating a space. Even when I planned floor moves at JCP, I'd present three options - Think Good - Better - Best. I see myself doing the same process when shopping around for a project - wanting to get the most bang for your buck. Originally, I had included a beautiful piece I spotted online at ZGallerie - Blossom Melody - good, but priced at $300. When I took my client shopping, and showed her, she really liked it, but I sensed she was taken back by the tag. Keeping that in mind, along with adding up the other items needed for the makeover, I kept an eye out for a lower priced replacement.

ZGalllerie - Blossom Melody - $300

 

 

 

REVISION TO POST: Found exact match for a $200 SAVINGS

 

Blossoms Wall Art at Bed Bath and Beyond only $99

 

World Market - Garden Party

I thought I had found the right replacement at World Market - Garden Party by Jodi Maas - a canvas, slightly smaller than the ZGallerie canvas, but better priced at $99 and on sale for $79. The colors are perfect (the shades of green/blue) and the organic lines will be a great contrast to the Bradstreet Slipper chairs I found at Wayfair. But Saturday, the deal got even better...

 Lowes - Ode To Spring

While out Saturday, I popped in Lowes. No joke -- Out of the corner of my eye , while on my way to the restroom, I noticed that blue-green color in a box I had just passed by. I walked back to it and pulled up a great looking blossom canvas, even better than the one at World Market (because it had more blossoms, less branch and no orange) -- but the BEST part was the price: only $39.98 for Lowes - Ode To Spring Would you believe, I put it back... walked away... and said, "No, I'll regret it." So I went back and got it. When I put it in my holding space with the other items I've collected for the makeover, I couldn't be happier! This gives $200+ back into the budget to put towards something else (like a console table).

 

The colors keep changing in the light...

 

The Bradstreet Slipper Chair has blue + Green + Grey in it - LOVE it!

The picture on the floor is of 2 olioboards I printed to one cardstock for my notebook.

Patience pays and again, not all great deals are online. NOT that I'm knocking e-commerce at all: great to "know-before-you-go" shopping, what stores are  charging for the item you're looking for. Than you'll know if/when you're getting a good deal at a brick & mortar store. Some other finds I spotted at Lowes...

 AWESOME Greek Key pillow covers at Lowes...

 

Yes - Only 6.98!

 

Window panels with fretwork banding...

 

Since the blossoms canvas will be in the reception area, these two smaller canvas pieces can work on the bookcase in the office to give it a little color...

"IF" there is extra money at the end of the project, or the client decides she REALLY wants the ZGallerie one (and won't mind going over budget), I'll gladly go do an exchange run. And there is a pretty cool connection to the ZGallerie Blossom Melody wall art: the artist, Lynlie Carson, is from Arizona. In the meantime, its become an inspiration piece along with her existing Tao wall art to remain...

 

Client pieces (above) inspired the original concept (below)...

 

UPDATE: Space has been installed since post - and client (plus her clients) are THRILLED with the end result! Post + tour coming up shortly!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

 

Shopping Around: Local Love & Fab Finds at Potato Barn

Over the weekend, I headed out for two days of sourcing finds at thrift shops, discount home stores and local shops for the office makeover. I already had done some online searching for prices, but even some places who had a lower price, would have a $55 shipping charge which to me is just throwing money away. That $55 could be used to buy a lamp. The main item I was looking for was a pair of dining room chairs - preferably with oval backs. Traditional in their style, you'd think that might be easy to find at a thrift store, and also a popular trend you'd think stores like Homegoods or even Ross would carry -- but no. I did spot a pair in TJMaxx, but they weren't the right finish (white-washed) or fabric (zebra print). I even contacted the owner at Sweet Salvage to see if any of their vendors had oval back chairs, but at this time they didn't. Come Saturday evening, I felt a little discouraged but tried one last local shop called Potato Barn.

Ding-Ding! Jackpot!

The Potato Barn is a family owned and operated home furnishings store in Arizona, established in 2002. Their showrooms (located in Gilbert and Scottsdale) are filled with unique home furnishings, featuring many one of a kind pieces imported from all over the world. The Potato Barn has everything to furnish your entire home, with a large selection of sofas, sectionals, chairs, entertainment centers, dining room tables, buffets, cabinets, dressers, headboards, accent tables and accessories such as lamps, pillows and candle holders. They carry an assortment of a wide variety of styles from olde world and rustic to shabby chic and even a few modern pieces.  Within their eclectic mix, they specialize in heavily distressed finishes and reclaimed woods.

 The least expense oval back dining chairs online are at Home Decorators (also linked to Home Depot + Amazon). They sell at $169 each PLUS $55 to ship and do not come in grey. A last resort is Target where they have a pair for $199 and free ship, but again, not available in grey. These local finds have more character. And the added bonus of a Parisian feel, which I discovered is my clients favorite place.

Since moving here, I had only gone into the store one other time, and thought they might be too rustic for what I was looking for -- but I actually spotted the mother load of oval back chairs, in a variety of finishes AND on sale! I may need to "tweak" the styling of my project just a little bit, but that's where being flexible in designing a space comes into play. When you find the style & price you're searching for, you think "how can I make this work in the space?"  

 

Chairs by Steven Shell.

Originally, I was thinking the chair frame would be black and the fabric in print. The chairs I found are more solid - with only a slight herringbone print and the wood finish comes natural, distressed black or a milky white with grey finish - which I am actually leaning more towards. Considering the chairs I found online were priced at $449 each (high), $600 for a pair (medium) and $169 each (low) PLUS shipping & tax - these local finds are only $95 to $125 each and no shipping expense. The two options to look into to 'tweak' their look is either to have them re-upholstered (which since their new I'd rather not do) OR just have nail trim added to them (which I think that's where I'm headed).

 

So comfortable and the crushed velvet texture 

can work well to layer the greys in the space.

The store also had a really good selection of that one special chair for the doctor to use during a counseling session. At first, we were going to keep her existing chair - just update the finish and re-upholster it, but then I found a new chair at Pier 1 in a cool print (center pic below). I snapped a picture of it to share (she liked it) and suggested she go give it a comfort test since it was nearby. I gave it a comfort test on Saturday, but to me it felt too firm. While at the Potato Barn, I found some other options - much more comfortable, styles that would work with the space, and one chair in particular that was lower priced (AND more comfortable) than the Pier 1 chair.

ABOVE: Chairs at Pier One

BELOW: Chairs at Potato Barn

Love the more traditional & tailored looks!

The Potato Barn showrooms are only open Wednesday thru Saturday from 10-6. Considering I popped in there at 5:30 Saturday, that's a good thing. It means the chairs will still be in the store Wednesday for me to meet my client there: she can give the chairs a comfort test and we can make the final selections for her office makeover.

P O T A T O  B A R N - G I L B E R T

4900 S. Power Road

(on the NW corner of Power & Ray - just off the 202)

480-279-5500

P O T A T O  B A R N - S C O T T S D A L E
9190 E. Indian Bend Rd, Scottsdale 85250

(off the 101 freeway & Indian Bend Rd. in The Pavilions)

480-745-3240

 Tip when shopping here: Bring your tape-measure, snap pictures and bring other room samples with you because unlike specialty chain stores, you can't do returns.

Other finds spotted while at Potato Barn - Gilbert, AZ...

 

 

 

 

 

(I literally laughed out loud in the store when I saw this!)

While out and about I saw so many wonderful finds - from new items at Ikea to Spring assortments at Homegoods,, a new store that opened here called DownEast Home, thrift finds at Goodwill and another (new to me) thrift shop I found nearby... plus a few other local stores I pulled into to check out. I want to share them all, but doing one post would be too long.  So this week (may need to be this month!) I want to do a series of posts focused on "Shopping Around". It's easy to have an unlimited expense account or larger budget to work with, but trying to pull together a comfortable + stylish space on a budget ($5000 or under) can be challenging -- but it CAN be done, if you know where to shop, what to look for or just hire me to do it FOR you!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

SNEAK PEEK: CHANDLER OFFICE REDESIGN

Seeing an email of four little words brought a smile to my face: "your order has shipped" means I can continue the course as planned! The plan isn't for me, but for a doctor's office makeover & update project I'm working on - my first here in Arizona! Happy and grateful for it. The project had first started out as helping to pick out a replacement sofa... and then some chairs... then the office space... and grew to include updating the adjoining reception area. For the reception area, I picked out a pair of stripe slipper chairs from the Angelo Surmelis Bradstreet collection I spotted on Wayfair.com. Before purchasing them, I wanted to see a swatch of the actual colors - but at the site, none were available. Not a problem though: I occasionally tweet with Angelo, so I sent him a DM (Direct Message) to ask if a swatch was available, and he gave me the email of a contact. About two weeks later, I received a postcard image of the chair (as a settee - looks great!) with a swatch. When I went to my second meeting for the office makeover, I was able to share the image and swatch with my client - and she loved it. After firming up a few other selections for the makeover, I placed the order and it's shipping! Now I need to brave the cold temps outside to re-organize the garage to make space for this Wayfair order... plus a few other items I picked up locally and the pieces I'm having shipped here for the makeover. Here's a peek at the process...

Sample from Angelo...

 

Love the look for the space - Just may need to stain the legs a little darker: more black - less red. 

 

Using Olioboard, I was able to create these info pages, making it easier to make selections during my second meeting with the client. Keeping all project info (samples, Olioboards, sources) together in a binder makes it SO easy to show during meet-ups and when shopping locally.

 

Bradstreet Slipper Chair pair - by Angelo Surmelis - at Wayfair

I actually got these for a really good price. When I first saw them online in December, they were on sale then back to regular price, then on sale again PLUS an extra 10% off!

Having extra samples of paint swatches makes it much easier to carry into store to match VS the entire color deck. I also picked up the two wall color paint samples at my local Benjamin Moore (Desert Green for main office area and Jack In The Beanstalk for the reception area). Since the green changes color with lighting and other items in the space, I also picked up a color I found online called "Unusual Grey" (and oh is it!) from Sherwin Williams. I'm painting these onto foamcore panels as samples rather than mess up her walls (she still needs to see clients).

 

 Blossom Melody Canvas at Z Gallerie 

Above is wall art for the reception area I spotted online at ZGallerie. When we went on a shopping trip two weeks ago, I showed it to my client and she REALLY liked it - but it's $300. We're not totally removing it from the plan - it depends on other expenses. I spotted an option for less the other day when I popped into World Market, and it's on sale...

 

 

Garden Party at World Market

 Going vertical in the small space may actually work better...

And it will still have the same feel from mixing the graphic stripe chair with the organic abstract wall art...

 

(existing reception area space)

After spending a day together shopping, I observed more about my client to make me revise my plan. Above is my original concept for the reception area + counseling area. The counseling area is a little too contrasting with the B&W pattern. To sooth & calm the space, but still have pattern, I opted for more grey & white pattern with touches of black. To give more light to the space (gets very dark in the late evening when she is still seeing clients) I'm going for white drum shades...

 

Original counseling area concept (above)

Revised counseling area concept (below) 

I really wanted to have used these window panels (below) in the counseling area, but the actual pair in the store (JCP) has a more warm-taupe background VS the more icy-cool image shown online. Since there is a taupe stripe in the  slipper chairs, I'll use them in the reception area.

Steeple Grey Studio Hudson panels at JCP.

Although these panels are on back-order online, they are available at the store.

 

Chloe Sofa in slate at Macy's.

The sofa was ordered too, but that will take a little longer to ship out because the grey fabric selected wasn't a stock fabric - The sofa is scheduled to arrive in LA by early March, and be delivered the following week, which is when the space will be painted, and new light fixtures will be installed. Although I was hesitant on the fabric selection (only available in velvet) the classic style & tufting are great for the space - but more importantly the SIZE is perfect. This was the first sofa choice I had shown my client, and any other option just didn't measure-up. Seriously: many sofas are 80+ inches and love seats are too small. This is an apartment size sofa at 76" which will fit perfectly to replace the existing sofa.

 Ordering the screen today - The organic print will give balance to the graphic prints in the space plus relate to the existing (and sentimental) wall art: a trio of signed Tao prints.

I'm still hunting for a pair of (reasonably priced) oval back chairs - preferably in an ebony finish with a grey & white pattern. I'm not opposed to thrifting & refinishing them myself, but haven't found them here yet. Maybe today will be my lucky day :) 

Wish me luck

Thanks for stopping by!