While I typically dread the coming of Labor Day — a.k.a. the end of summer, there is one good thing about it: the sales. Traditionally, Labor Day is the last big sale time for furniture until January, and in some rarer cases the day after Thanksgiving. So if you’re in the market for new furniture, now is the time to score some good deals.
But be careful. It’s easy to be influenced by the price tag and buy something just because it’s on sale. I know I have, and I always regret it. The worst purchases we make are those influenced by discounts.
So take this weekend and the following week to see what’s available. Then compare your options, and if one of your favorites is on sale, score. If not, well, it’s up to you.
Just remember, if you only buy what you love, you’ll always be happy with what you have.
And while you’re looking around, you may want to check out William-Sonoma Home (enter UPHOLSTERY at checkout), West Elm and Horchow, they’ve started their upholstery sales early and their pieces are the ones pictured above.
When browsing through my archive of room photos for inspiration for our new home, I realized many of my favorite rooms have steel framed windows and doors. And I must not be alone in liking them, because they keep popping up everywhere. For good reason.
Steel framed windows and doors add an instant focal point to your room and exude immense character. They can be sophisticated modern with a touch of industrial chic. They can be farmhouse rustic with a French or Italian vibe. Or they can bring a hint of greenhouse charm, slightly reminiscent of a conservatory.
Their only downside is the cost. Few people have the money to shell out on brand new windows when redecorating their home. But that doesn’t mean you can’t steal the look. Scroll to the bottom for a super simple and chic solution.
There’s no denying it. Everything tastes better with salt. But for years doctors have instructed us to put our taste buds — and salt shakers — aside in the pursuit of health. Only problem? Turns out they may have been wrong.
A whole slew of new studies have refuted the age old — well, 1904 old — claim that salt leads to high blood pressure, and consequently, heart attacks. One of the most recent being a study released in the American Journal of Medicine that found those with a low-salt diet were four times more likely to die from heart disease than those with a high-salt diet.
In other words, the more salt you eat, the healthier your heart. That’s a complete 180 from the conventional belief, and as a result there’s tons of controversy over whether that study — or any other that touts salt’s health value — should be trusted.
But the evidence in salt’s favor is growing. Substantially. For starters, there’s a solid theory as to why low-salt diets trigger heart disease. When our body doesn’t get enough salt our sensitivity to insulin decreases triggering a stress response in our bodies that affects the hormones that control blood pressure. As a result, if we don’t get enough salt, our blood pressure goes up.
Both my little brother and sister head back to school next week, which got me thinking about the best part of back-to-school time: the supplies. Every year we’d get brand new binders and pencils, notebooks and glue, looseleaf and markers in preparation of the knowledge to come. And by the end of the year, they’d be battered and bloated — signs of the progress we’d made, as well as, the hard work it took getting there.
But once you enter the work force, that all ends. There’s no fresh start. There’s no new beginning. Every day rolls into the next. And rarely, if ever, do we step back and take stock of all we’ve accomplished.
But that’s crazy. We work too hard not to acknowledge how far we’ve come. So I propose a back-to-work time. A yearly occasion where we step out of the everyday chaos, congratulate ourselves for our achievements and give ourselves a much needed reboot. Time to see the potential, set new goals and get excited about what we do again. And if it takes getting a few new office supplies for it to truly sink it, so be it. Let them be a sign of your new beginning.
1. Sassy notepads from Knock Knock for when you need more laughs in your workday.
2. Fun pens and pencils in a variety of colorful patterns from Iomoi. Why the pens have erasers, I have no idea. They don’t have eraseable ink. I tried. But even with the random erasers, they’re super pretty on my desk.
We’ve finally found a home. Hooray. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to be signing the lease this week. I was starting to fear we’d be living in a cardboard box. But instead, we found a great place with 12′ tall ceilings and large blank walls.
Yes. Lots of large blank walls, and on one or two of them I’ve been toying with the idea of hanging a large scale photograph. And by large, I’m talking 6′ wide by 4′ tall.
Given that it would be a bold, bold statement, I thought it would be wise to find a few inspiration photos before diving in and buying a ginourmous print. So I went through 1,000s and 1,000s of photos in my archive — literally — and was shocked. I could barely find a handful featuring large photographs.
My theory? Many shy away from large art due to sticker shock. They see the price tag and run the other way. But if you have a big wall to fill, you’ll often end up spending the same amount — if not more — on lots of little pieces of art. So there’s no reason not to go big, especially if you’re looking to make a big statement in your room.
Giant photos act like portals, instantly transporting you to another world. And that’s a big bonus if you don’t have great views from your windows. With the photo being so large, you can get lost in it and almost fool yourself into feeling as if you’re where you wish you were.
Which in my case, is a rocky coast. And in my new home in the middle of the sticks, I think I’ll be in need of a little transporting.
