My Front Room Christmas Decor

  I'm not sure what happened...the planets aligned, the space time continuum shifted...but, my husband let me decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving this year!! Well, he let me decorate one room ;) I guess it's about compromise...I'll take one room any day over nothing. I've been listening to Christmas music for the past two weeks and have been itching to get my Christmas stuff up, but he will not have it. I don't know what his problem is :)...good thing I love him lol.

Well, I figure since he let me decorate a room before Thanksgiving, I should share it with you all before Thanksgiving. We picked up this cute little shabby chic Christmas tree from Target the other day. I just loved how cute and sparse it is...plus the burlap base -who could pass up the burlap base? It was on sale for $100 but I had a few coupons and what not and got it for around $75. Probably could have spent a lot less to get a different tree in here, but I knew this would look so perfect.

Oh! And plus, this is the first time y'all get to look at my front room since the big switcheroo that happened this summer! Wow. I can't believe it's been that long and I haven't shown you this room yet. Which is really pathetic because it has been pretty much like this (minus the christmas decor) since the switch, but I just had nothing to put in the corner that the tree is in. So, I decided to make a cute console table. And I got half way done with it and it's been sitting in the garage ever since. That's like 4 months ever since :/ Yeah. Master of procrastination here :) So, really once this tree is gone, the room is back to be 'unfinished' in my eyes. Maybe I'll finish that table before that happens....maybe :)

I really love how cozy this room feels though. It really came together. At first, I was hating the way it looked but that was because I didn't have the right rug. Figures all you need to pull a room together is a rug. I did have just the two sheep skin rugs under the stumps...looked ridiculous. SO ridiculous lol. Then I found this cute Rug  at Target and boom! That's all it took to get this room looking decent.

don't mind the pup that is all of these pictures. He likes the spotlight...or he's just lazy ;)

As for the Christmas decor, I decided to add some texture in here with some pillows made from an old sweater (tutorial here). I super love this! I was going to save this sweater to make a stocking or two, but I'm so glad I made these instead.

The pine cones hanging are something I had made years ago for my stairs. But I thought they would look cute hanging over the pictures in here.

And my chalkboard...I can't bring myself to erase the "welcome". I know I should go ahead and do it, but I'm afraid I'll never get it looking so cute :) I want to put Merry Christmas on it...we'll see if that ever happens lol.

The jute trees are ones I made years ago (tutorial here) and still love them, and they are holding up beautifully.

I love how inviting this room is when you first walk in the door. I'm so glad I decided to decorate with a little red instead of all white like I did last year.

Now we'll see how the real tree in the living room goes. I'm sure the little babe will have a riot with those decorations lol. I can see it now...my tree will probably be only half decorated :) Full on the top...empty on the bottom. Welcome to parenthood :) She's already had her way with the presents under this tree. You can't see it in the pictures, but the back corners are completely chewed off lol.

Well, that's a little glimpse into my home for Christmas this year...hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!!!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Chalkboard Paint Giveaway Plus a 25% off discount!!!

I'm super excited to have one of my sponsors, Urban Oasis Decor, do another giveaway for you guys!  As you may know, Lue (the owner of UOD) is the go to source for chalk paint...but now, she has a new introduction to her line...chalkboard paint! I'm in love with the chalkboard paint craze lately...as I know most of you are also :) So, whats a better thing to giveaway than Custom Color Chalkboard Paint from her collection??

This chalkboard paint can be applied to any clean, painted or primed surface. And who doesn't love chalkboard paint? If you don't, I'm sure your kids will :) You can paint a whole desk, a wall, plates..the possibilities are endless; just look on Pinterest :) ...oh, and while you are there, follow UrbanOasisDecor for more ideas!

Urban Oasis Decor's HomeBrewed ChalkBoard Paints make almost any surface write-able and, the paint is very workable and durable. Lue even admits to skipping the ChalkFinish Paint's on furniture pieces and using ChalkBoard paint instead because of its toughness...but also because it can be sanded and shabby chic'd as with ChalkFinish Paints, but it's a chalkboard! Even apply your wax to cure the paint and let your piece look beautiful as-is or use it as a chalkboard. A damp cloth is all you need to erase :)

I'm in love with this Dolphin Grey color::

 

Or if you want a little pep in your house during the dark days of winter, go for this tangerine: 

Or peaches and cream:

or a slew of any colors you can think of!

And this is why I love my sponsors so much....they care about the non-winners too :)  For any of my readers, Lue is offering a 25% discount off your whole order! Just use the  Coupon Code: ThriftyAndChicFan @ checkout. Shop now for Pint and 1/2 Pint Paint sizes, which snuggle in perfectly as a stocking stuffie :) Go check out UrbanOD's Etsy store to start shopping today :)

And now for the giveaway! 
One of my lucky readers gets to win a quart of their very own Chalkboard paint, a color of your choice :) All you have to do to enter is:

1. Tell me in the comments what you would use your Chalkboard paint on.
2. Like Urban Oasis Decor on Facebook and let me know in the comments that you did!
3. Follow Urban Oasis Decor on Instagram and let me know in the comments that you did!

The giveaway ends November 29, 2013 at Midnight MST (black friday!! ;) )! You are eligible for 3 entries!  I will notify the winner by email  so please be sure to leave a way for me to get a hold of you.

Click here for giveaway rules.
Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored giveaway post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via a cash payment, gift, or something else of value to write it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

5 Places To Shop for Thrifty Decor

I never pay retail for anything...well maybe except for food. But for home decor and clothing...and shoes, I never pay retail. Back in the day before I knew any better, I was a spending addict, mostly on clothing and shoes. I would pay top dollar for stuff because I wanted it then and there. Luckily, I got a great job working retail at Dillards my first years of college. It was then I realized the crazy mark up on everything. Like thousands and thousands of percent markups. I also realized if you just wait you can get amazing deals on things. Instead of paying $400 for a coat, I would wait until it was marked down to 75%, and then wait until they had an extra percent off clearance sale, and then of course, I got my employee discount. I got that coat for like $40. Still more than I would pay for a coat nowadays. But none the less, I learned that you can get a deal, you don't have to spend a ton of money to get the right stuff. You just have to know when to shop, where to shop, and how to shop.

Here's a list of my favorite stores I shop for all things home decor (that is if I can't make it on my own):

Target: I could never tell you truly how much I love Target. Well I could, but then you would think I'm a loon :) Target is my go to place to shop. First off, their sales change every week on Sundays. So if you can wait a week or two, more than likely the piece of home decor you want will be on sale. To save even more, you can print out some coupons from their site. You can usually get a deal like save $5 on a $20 home decor purchase. You can also download Cartwheel, and save even more. Right now they have a deal that is 15% off rugs. You can find a ton more deals on there too. And if you download their mobile app, you can get their mobile coupons. Coupling all these together will save you a ton of money. And the icing on the cake? Get their debit card, and get 5% off your entire purchase and free shipping on online orders. And one more thing :) If you have their pharmacy rewards, with every 5 prescriptions filled, you get a 5% off an entire day discount both in store and online. So, lets put this in other terms. You can have $100 rug, and with all their discounts and in store sales, you can get that rug for $65..maybe even less. So, right now you just saved about $35 on your rug :) (estimated of course) And if you shop there often enough, you maybe lucky to get a print out coupon for $10 off $100 or $5 off $50.

Plus they have really cute rugs, pillows, curtains and accessories. They keep on trend with what you see in the blog world. If you see a common theme on Pinterest, bets are that you will see something similar for sale in Target the next month or two.

Home Goods: Home Goods offers mass discounts off of really cute home decor. You can easily get lost in their mounds and mounds of merchandise. They have cute occasional chairs for decent prices, huge rugs, designer towels and accessories. This is my go to shop for organization stuff. They have super cute canvas storage totes right now for like $8-$14 depending on the size. In case you don't have a Home Goods near by but have a TJ Maxx, TJ Maxx has a small selection of what Home Goods usually carries.

Ikea: This is the only place that I don't get a discount :( But, their deals are so good I like to think that I'm getting a discount. You can get a rug for $20 and long, long curtains for $20 (for both panels!). Their frame selection is awesome and accessory and storage items are decent deals too. This is where I like to get my chairs, rugs and accent tables....oh and frames :) ..and candles...I guess the question is, what don't I get there?? :)

Hobby Lobby: This is my go to source for fabric, knobs, and glass wear. Their holiday decor is really cute too, and usually on sale up to 60% before the given holiday. If you check out their 80% aisles, you can get some really good deals and cute decor, especially if you are okay with spray painting some stuff to get it to look how you want. They also have all their furniture permanently on sale for 30% off. And don't forget, their 40% off coupon available on your smart phone :)

TaiPan: If you have a few hours to waste, this is the perfect place to go. They are wholesale decor to the public. Their prices use to be better than they are now, but they are still priced well. This is a great place for holiday decor...any holiday...and cute accessories and wall decor. If you wait until the spring for their outdoor sale, you'll get some killer deals.

I have a ton more places I like to shop but here's just the beginning and the main stores :) I hope this helps in any decorating adventure you're on!

6 Tips For Decorating Your Bedroom

I'm so glad you all like this new series! I love blogging about my DIY projects and what not, but I really love decorating too. So, this new series fits me perfectly :) And I hope that it helps you all in some way also! This time, I figured I would share my ideas for decorating a bedroom...any bedroom. Enjoy :)

1.Move the bed to the farthest wall from the door. This will make your room appear much larger and your bed won't be so obtrusive when you first walk in.

2.To make your room feel cozy, create a seating area. You can either place this in front of the bed by using a bench or even two comfy chairs, or in a corner with a chair and cute accent table. Plus, it's always nice to have some place to kick off your shoes (and a place to stack high full of cast off clothes for the day ;) )

3.Soften the space up with layers. Yes, I'm one of those women whose husband doesn't understand the excessive pillow quantity on the bed. And that you can only use one certain pillow, all the others are just for decor. Pillows make a huge difference in making your bedroom inviting...even if half of them end up on the floor come bedtime :)  Also layering the foot of your bed with a soft throw does wonders on the 'cozy' level. If you have a seating area, be sure to warm it up with some pillows and blankets too.

4.Softening up the harsh lines of windows with some curtains will go a long way at getting your bedroom to look and feel inviting. Make sure you hang the curtains high and wide: as high as the ceiling if you can, and much wider than the window itself. This will help give the illusion that your room is bigger than it may really be.

5.Placing a rug under foot will help warm up the space even if you already have carpet. Plus, adding a rug under the bed will add dimension and interest and is a great way to bring in a larger scale pattern. (I'm still working on this for my bedroom, just can't find the perfect rug! :) )

6.Layers of lighting go a long way in making a room feel cozy. Bright natural light during the day is wonderful, but at night you want softer glows. Besides your overhead light, be sure to add lamps for task lighting. And perhaps put your overhead light on a dimmer to help with the 'cozy' factor.

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Also, I just wanted to welcome my new sponsor Comfy Heaven Pillows! I'm excited to have them apart of what's going on around here. Stay tuned for an awesome giveaway from their shop coming up in the next few weeks!

Burlap Coffee Bag Pillows

So, I thought to myself the other day, "what type of DIYer...pillow hoarder...burlap loving...coffee fanatic person has awesome burlap coffee bags sitting in her storage for over a year?" This one (pointing this.a.way.)...and I'm not proud of it. I can't believe I forgot all about these and didn't do anything with them the moment I got them. Who does that???

I love burlap coffee bags. I went to a restaurant in San Diego and the whole ceiling was covered in coffee bags. I.was.in.love. I wanted to take a few down for myself :) But I figured getting up on my chair in the middle of a restaurant and pulling down some bags wasn't something that I would do in front of my mom...of course, who knows, she probably would have helped me ;) ...and yes...I would have asked for permission, of course...maybe...maybe not. We'll never know. I guess it would have depended on how dark the corner was that my table was in....

Well, now I have my own burlap bags...and not from a ceiling in San Diego. I got these awesome bags from BurlapFabric.com. You may have heard of them. They are a little sponsor of mine. No big deal :) These coffee bags are huge. I could probably make at least two 18x18 or 20x20 covers out of them if I wanted to do the whole cover in burlap. I can get at least 4 (probably 5 if I strategically tried) covers out of them if I only used the front and scrap fabric for the back. That's a lot of pillow covers ..cute pillow covers...for a bag that cost around 2 bucks.

To get these from decent looking bags to cute little pillows, I cut the first piece out of the fabric at 19x19 inches to make an 18x18 inch pillow cover.

I then used some scrap pieces for the back and followed this same tutorial I used to make my rosette pillow...and well almost every other pillow cover in my house.

These pillows turned out perfect. The only problem was since I was making just the front pieces out of the coffee bag, only two of the pieces had actual writing on them. So, on one of the empty pieces, I just stenciled a 'raw coffee' on the bottom. I probably could have stenciled a lot more to give it the  authentic look of a bag (even though it really was still the bag)....see you can barely see it, maybe I'll have to add some more...

I didn't think burlap would look good in my new living room design, but I love it here. The darkness in the type on the pillows brings in the chair in the corner perfectly. It just pulls everything together.

The only problem is that my dog loves to destroy pillows when he lays down. He does the whole walk around in circles thing for like two minutes, and then digs at the pillows for another two minutes...does another few circles...digs...etc. Then lays down. By the time he is done, half the pillows are on the ground and the other half don't look like pillows anymore. So...I'm pretty sure these burlap pillows won't last too long on this couch. Who knows, maybe burlap will last longer than the other material. We'll see :)

p.s. this post is not sponsored by burlapfabric.com, but I did receive the bags for free, but was not obligated to do this post because of the bags...I just wanted to :) And because burlap coffee bags are pretty darn awesome and thought you should know of a good source to get them instead of stealing them off a random ceiling in San Diego.