Decorating Steals & Styles

In a prioritization exercise that I did at the Healthy Living Summit, I discovered that having a home that looks nice is important to me. Even just having a made bed makes me feel good when I walk in the room.

After living in our house for a year, we finally got down to attacking our home to-do list. In the past few months we have gotten new furniture & a rug for the living room, moved the office to the basement, replaced the ceiling fan in the living room, added a chandelier to the dining room, gotten a new dishwasher, and gotten a new TV!

Making these improvements to our home recently inspired me to try to decorate a little more. I'm kind of a function fanatic, so there are very few "merely pretty" things around the house. After reading Young House Love, I was convinced that you can have decorative pieces in your home without it feeling cluttered. (I absolutely love their built-ins!)

So I spent a weekend scouring the shelves of Goodwill, TJMaxx, Marshalls, Garden Ridge, Big Lots, and Pier One to find pieces that appealed to me, but also had reasonable prices. I am more than happy with what I found!

• white ceramic pig: TJMaxx $6.99
• orange pitcher: TJMaxx $4.99
• white wooden bird: Marshalls $3.99

• green frame: Marshalls $4.99
• pink glass candle holders: Big Lots $1.50 each
• green vase: Garden Ridge $2.50

• white ceramic fish: Marshalls $7.99 (I think this one is my favorite)
• green ceramic urn: Marshalls $5.99
• clear glass lantern: Marshalls $2.00 (bargain of the day!)

And I got such good deals on this stuff. Seriously, I feel like I pillaged an anthropologie.

Through this experience, I got a feel for what my tastes are. It was kind of shocking to see how I gravitated to such similar objects - be it their color, material, or style.

I'm still working on where to put everything, but for now I have some pieces in the living room and some on a shelf in the bedroom.

• green bird candle holder: Pier One $5.95
• pink vase: Pier One $7.00

So I got all of these pieces (12 of them) for under $60, including tax!

Do you like to decorate? Do you pick up things that you like as you find them, or do you go on a hunt for the "perfect piece"?