My Latest Antique Faire Finds

The weather is warming up so nicely over here on the west coast and I'm loving it!  It's the perfect weather for antique faire and flea market shopping.  Who doesn't like picking through someone else's old stuff with the distraction of awesome food from various food trucks, kettle corn, and the challenge of finding the best deals?

If you didn't know, I live in California's Central Valley.  We are midway between the Bay Area and Sacramento.  Because of our unique location, I've been able to set up a schedule where we can pretty much go to an antique faire/flea market 3 out of 4 Sundays every.single.month.  It's pretty awesome.

If you haven't gone to an antique faire of flea market yet, I suggest you yelp or google some in the cities and towns close to you.  For us here in the Central Valley, this is the schedule I have come up with:

1st Sunday of Every Month:  Alameda Point Antiques Faire
2nd Sunday:  Sacramento Antique Faire
Last Weekend of Every Month:  Treasure Island Flea

The 3 that I have listed above are my favorite places to find unique pieces for my home.  Also, when I say "flea market", I don't mean the kinds where you can buy 10 packs of tube socks for $3 or a bunch of batteries for $2.  The Treasure Island Flea is the kind where artists make unique handmade goods  and crafters share their work.

Cell phone picture of Treasure Island Flea!

Now, for the good stuff... These are some of the amazing pieces I've found to decorate my home:

$20 pedestal side table

Milk Glass 

Grain Sack (that I'm using as a table runner)

Antique jars

Framed chicken wire

Awesome right?  Also, nothing pictured above cost me more than $25.  The deals at antique faires and flea markets can be awesome if you know what you are looking for and you know how much these items typically cost.  My advice for shopping at places like these is to keep an open mind and go in with a set budget.  I usually don't tell myself that I want to find a specific item when shopping at a faire because I want to be able to appreciate all the cool stuff around me.  I just make sure I tell myself I don't want to spend over a certain $ amount so that once I pass this spending limit, I stop buying.

For those of you who shop at antique faires often, do you have any advice?  What are your favorite places to find treasures?  Let me know in the comments below!

Happy Hunting!

RugsUSA Review

Do you guys ever stalk home decor blogs in search of inspiration and good home decor deals?  Well, if you said yes then I'm right there with you sister/brother/homie!  A while back I read a blog post by Liz Marie from Liz Marie Blog and she mentioned that her beautiful jute rugs were from RugsUSA.  She also mentioned how great their deals were.  At that time I checked out RugsUSA.com and did see 75% off deals on their rugs but I said to myself "Self, you don't need these rugs now.  Save your money and wait."  Well, I waited a couple of days and decided that I wanted the rugs, but guess what?    When I went back a few days later the sale had ended.  I didn't see the same deals anymore.  NOOOOOOOOO!

So this past President's Day when I received an email that they were going to have a 75% off sale again, I jumped on it.  I bought 2 rugs....

this one...

via

and this one...

via

Pretty right?

I was able to score both rugs for less than $200 total.  TOTAL!  For any of you who have looked at rugs, even jute rugs, you would know that they usually cost way more than a couple hundred bucks...for 2.

Overall, I love my rugs and they have stood up to my four dogs very well.  The quality is great and they don't look like they'd be worth less than their original selling price.  If you are in the market for a new rug, I would recommend just stopping by RugsUSA.com every once in awhile to see if there are any good deals.  If you do see a rug you like, I don't think waiting would be a bad idea either because they have these sales so often.  I also recommend reading the reviews before purchasing the rugs because the comments about one of my rugs being very dusty was actually pretty accurate.

Now you might be wondering if I'm getting sponsored or paid or compensated in anyway for this post, but I'm not.  I wish, but I'm not.  I just wanted to tell you about some good deals this company has to offer and I really do like the sale prices of the rugs on this site.

Because this is a review, I also have to tell you guys about my gripes.  For starters, the Chunky Loop Rug collects dust like a crazy.  I don't know if the dust was already trapped in the fibers and it fell out when I unrolled the rug or if the rug just collects dust, but I know I'll probably have to sweep under this rug at least once a week.  Then, there was a little shipping mishap for one of my rugs.  This has very little to do with rugsUSA.com (maybe it does?) and a lot to do with UPS, but my rug was shipped to my neighbors house and my name wasn't on the shipping label so they weren't sure which house it belonged to.  Thank goodness I have awesome neighbors who recognize my style and asked me if the rugs belonged to me before asking the UPS man to take it back.  That would have sucked!

Look at the braided detail!

Overall, I really like rugsUSA.com.  Shipping was relatively quick, the quality of my rugs are great, and the prices can't be beat!  I'm already looking at their site for a dining room rug and I can't wait until I spot another great deal.  Where do you shop for your rugs and what's the average you would expect to spend?  Let me know below!

Budget Buys Part Deux

I was out strolling through Target and Office Depot today and I found a couple of good things!

1.  At Target, I trolled the end caps around the home decor section and came upon another mirror I could incorporate into my gallery wall.

Yes, that's right folks.  This baby was $29.99 and I got it for $8.98!  What?! I know, crazy right?

2.  The next deal I landed is even better.  The sale for this deal ends today (2/22) though, so if you're interested in getting a label maker act fast!  Also, be aware that the sale might only be local or in certain regions where Office Depots are located so check your local ads online before wasting a trip.

It's a Brother P-Touch PT-D200.

$10.00.  This label maker was $29.99 off the original price of $39.99.  Need I say more? (Actually, I was so excited after buying this, I called my best friend and basically gave her a play by play of how this label maker came home with me.  True story.)

3.  Lastly, I'm finally organizing my office/ guest room and decided to also get some velcro straps to help manage all the electrical and technological cords I've accumulated in the last ten years.  I grabbed these and they were all less than $5 each.  

These straps weren't on sale, but they were less expensive than I anticipated so that was a plus!

There you go folks!  Everybody loves a good deal and I like sharing good deals.  Let me know if you find any awesome home decor deals or if you have any tips for finding sweet deals.

Budget Buys

Here are some budget-friendly purchases I've made for my home this week!

1.  I bought a pouf!  You know, one of those cylindrical, soft accent pieces you can use as a makeshift seat, footrest, or just decor?  I specifically got this one from Target.  The original price listed at Target.com is $54.99, but there were 2 that I saw on clearance in stores for $38.48 each.  

Source

2.  I started a gallery wall in my living room and found wall frames on sale at Hobby Lobby and Michaels for 40% off.  I want all my frames on this wall to have a natural wood feel, but still be different from one another.  I want to add another row of pictures onto this wall, but I'm actually having a pretty tough time finding wall frames with the right look, at the right price.  

I don't really own a horse (see 2nd row)...

3.  A set of 3 starburst mirrors from Target's Threshold Line.  I scattered these mirrors through my growing gallery wall.  The original price was $24.99 (which is still the price at Target.com), but the mirrors are actually on clearance at both stores in my town.  I was able to score this set for $17.99!  Woot Woot!

Source

I just love being able to take advantage of great deals, especially when it comes to home decor items or furniture.  My goal is to have my house ballin' on a budget.  Have you found any good deals?  If so, let me know!