Day 1-Recap

Well friends, I'm officially over my head. [smile] But...I'm catching up and making some progress. In fact yesterday, lot's of progress was made. If you are lost as to what's going on this week on my blog, check out the post below this one.

Stephanie asked me to come up with a plan for the room. So I quickly discovered Sample Board Online which BTW, I fell in love with that site too. [I know...it doesn't take much to lure me in, I seem to fall in love easily] Click here to see the sample I came up with for the staples of the room.

Keep in mind that while $500 is a great budget, when you are starting from almost scratch...it's a little tricky. Think about it...furniture, rug, window treatments, paint and accessories. That budget can get zapped in NO time.

But remember...I am up for the challenge. [smile]

I had Stephanie look at the design board and she liked it...except um...what was I thinking with cream chairs with...f-i-v-e kids running around?

So it's a good thing I didn't marry those chairs. Because they needed to go.

I immediately went back to the drawing board in my mind.

This caused a bit of a budget issue on my part because these chairs that I found were super cheap because...they were cream.

Then, I started thinking about the rug I picked for the sample board and thought...no...it's to light too. Argh!

Yesterday, with my three girly's in tow, we set out on a mission:

1. To find a rug to set the design colors around
2. To find chairs

This was my inspiration: A pillow on Stephanie's couch in her family room

I knew she liked the brown's, blue's and green's.

Originally, I budgeted $150 for two chairs. Which for the cream ones? Possible. Finding two chairs for that price in a leather brown or chocolate brown or any other fabulous color? Not so possible.

If we had more time I could stalk sites like Craigslist and go to yard sales to see what I could find but...we have about a week to get this done.

I knew we might have to re-think our design plan. And Stephanie is like the EASIEST person ever to work with. But, I want Stephanie to love her new space, not just like it or think it's ok.

So I made a plan for us to re-group last night but continued to hunt for the rug.

Here's what I found...and I felt like I was stealing it. It was on clearance for $37!



Score.

Last night I went to take the rug to Stephanie's and Cindy, her and I re-grouped our plan. Since the budget for the chairs was not going to work, we decided to take out the bookcase/desk option. While that piece was a great buy for $150, that money could be used towards the chairs.

Which I found:



For $150 a piece.

Yes...a HUGE chunk of our budget: $300+. But...while we were talking Stephanie remembered a giftcard to Lowes she had so she got the paint with that, she also found a few frames that are going to work for artwork and I have big plans for a few other things. [smile] So we all agreed that the chairs were important. When you are working with a budget you have to decide what's most important.

Can we do it? Can we make the rest of this room look amazing for $150ish?

Yikes. Stay tuned. Prayers welcome.

[btw...the rug looks amazing in the space, paint goes on the walls today...can't wait to show you]