When we moved to Providence over two years ago, we moved into a rather dreary (but inexpensive) apartment, complete with dreadful berber carpet and pink tinted counter tops, I stopped buying home stuff. It just didn't seem to make a lot of sense spending money on this place. I think we succeeded in making it feel homey and comfortable enough with the few things we had.
Now that we get to move into a beautiful new home in a few months, I've started home shopping again (I guess it's just as well that I took a hiatus from it, because I feel my style has changed and matured over the past couple of years). I haven't went completely nuts, but I have picked up a few things that I really love:
1. Malm bed from Ikea in black-brown. Who knew you could get a gorgeous bed for under $150? Sure, it might not last forever, but we'll enjoy it in the meantime.
2. Malm beside tables, also from Ikea.
3. Marimekko bedding bought from CB2 on clearance. Score!
4. Birds of a Feather mobile by Helene Ige. This was a special purchase. I saw it, fell in love with it, and stewed over it for a number of weeks before taking the plunge. I couldn't be happier.
5. Salad plates and bowls from West Elm. We're giving most of our furniture and stuff to my brother in law before we move...so of course I need beautiful new dishes. An early Christmas present from my parents.
6. There's this great little store in Providence chock full of gorgeous and unique items from independent designers. I was in there last spring and saw these owl salt and pepper shakers. I decided to wait on them, and of course, they didn't have them anymore when went a couple of weeks ago. So when I saw them for sale at Anthropologie, I had to grab them. They also have great little sake cups that I'd like to add someday.
7. My most recent find on ebay. A 1960's Italian owl bank. We call him Bernard.
8. A great looking 78 piece silverware set from Target for only $50? Of course.