I love lamp

Lighting ... One of the most overlooked elements in interior design. I never really thought much about lamps and their ability to totally transform a room until I started reading interior design blogs. Well, those days are over, and I'm on the pretty lamp bandwagon. HomeGoods, the center of all that is easy on the bank account and stylish, has made it easier for beautiful lighting to exist in the townhouse.

They ALWAYS have a modern and stylish selection. These are the types of lamps I see on high-end retailer's Web sites for hundreds of dollars at a fraction of the cost.

I purchased these two for $51 and put them in the living room on top of the made over bookcase.

Any of these dynamic duos would have a place in my casa. 

But I only chose this pair.

You probably guessed from my hints in the previous post. I'm not that great at keeping secrets.

Even though we have been using the hallway and bathroom lights to illuminate our bedroom [there aren't overhead lights in either of the townhouse bedrooms],  I made my way to the lighting section with the intention of only window shopping.

The rose lamps caught my eye immediately. I almost put them in the cart without even looking at the price [$69.99 a piece]. But then I saw the ones with the circle shades and glass base, and  found myself with a difficult decision. 

The rose lamps were pretty. But then I thought they maybe looked too feminine and I had to take my fiance, who I share the room with and who is not feminine, into consideration. My shopping companion and good friend, Correne, also pointed out the potentially time-consuming task of cleaning the intricate divots of the roses. Who wants to vacuum a lamp? Not this girl.

And then I went back to the circle-shaded beauties. I love the look of clear glass. And not to mention my growing obsession with circles. They looked gender-neutral. Another plus. And with a price take of $49.99 each, I literally was sold on them.

What do you think? Did I make the right choice?

Do you feel lighting can make a room or are you apathetic to it as I used to be?

All in the name

HomeGoods definitely delivered the goods and Hobby Lobby should think about calling itself "Lobby of Amazingly Cool Ish." These two stores produced some fabulous finds this past weekend.

We went to Hobby Lobby on Saturday on the recommendation of my cousin who basically lived at the store when she resided in Kansas. And now I can see why. They have everything from fabric to ribbon to model rocket kits [Bruce was smitten] to furniture. Think a combo of Jo-Ann's, Michaels and HomeGoods on craft store steroids.

The objective at the Hob Lob was to get a knob for the revamped coffee table.  Mission accomplished.

 

 I also snagged a few other project goodies:

My search for a reasonably-priced framed bulletin board came to an end Saturday. This beauty was originally $39.99, but marked down to $13.60 because of two small holes in the cork. Hello! I'm going to cover it up with pictures, words and other assorted inspirational items anyway. So I had to snatch it up. I'm thinking of painting the frame and covering the cork board with fabric or pretty paper. Stay tuned.

You can never have too many mason jars in my opinion. They are good for vases, votive holders, trinket catchers or just on their own.

I have an idea for a project in the master bedroom that includes stencils on a huge canvas for over the bed. And there's nothing better than Helvetica.

The final and most-needed purchase was this sectional frame for a print of my favorite painting I bought at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art almost two years ago. The print is an odd size at 24x24, and we had no luck finding a regular frame in stores. I was resigned to the fact it may need to be custom framed, which is a pretty penny. I had my Modest Mouse concert poster done at Michaels, and while they did a great job, it set me back almost $200. With a coupon.

Enter Hob Lob's sectional frames. They sell length and width sizes seperately, so I got four 24-inch pieces for about $12 total. Granted it doesn't come with glass, but I can always have Home Depot cut some later.

And now Richard Diebenkorn's Berkeley #57 has a proper place on the wall. A lot of my color inspiration for the living room came from this amazing piece of art.

And let's not forget the object of my obsession: HomeGoods. Each time I go there, I have to restrain myself from buying the entire store. Most of their stuff is super cute and the prices can't be beat. I like to think of it as the step-sister or long-lost cousin of Pottery Barn, West Elm and Crate & Barrel.

Here's a sneak peak at my latest HG acquisition: