Out With the Old, In With the New!

One day into summer vacation and I've already gone on a mini shopping spree!

In preparing to move in the next few weeks I started going through some of my housewares that were in storage down in my basement.  In going through my own things I decided that it's time for an upgrade in some areas!  I have a lot of stuff that is whatever I could afford as a poor college student and isn't of very high quality.  I feel like for the most part I have nice stuff for my house (nice for what I can afford at least), but I'm working to upgrade some items as I make the transition to my new place.

Yay for new plates!

My kitchen is probably the weakest of my housewares...  I'm not much of a cook (yet), so I guess I haven't really cared much to spend my money on items for the kitchen.  My mom got me some cute "green apple" Kitchen Aid mixing bowls at TJ Maxx last Christmas and I recently went back there and discovered the same green Kitchen Aid accessories...  And the best part?  They're about half the price as the same accessories at Target!  I love TJ Maxx for housewares because you can get nice quality items and good brands at really reasonable prices.  (I'm also in love with HomeGoods, but we don't have one here in town.  Boooooo!)

I then wandered into Dollar Tree and happened upon some cute dishes...  My current dishes aren't awful (they're just plain white), but they're hand-me-downs from my aunt's first apartment back in the mid-90's and I've been looking to upgrade.  I found these babies, which look quite similar to Pottery Barn's Emma dishes.  For $1 each, I decided to get 8 plates and 8 bowls.  They looked even nicer when I got them home.  I had to pick and choose from what was in the store since most were a little imperfect, but I'm really happy with my bargain plates.  They also coordinate nicely with the other random white pieces I've picked up at Pier 1 and Crate & Barrel.  I hope to be able to sell the old ones in my garage sale for about the same price I spent on these!

$2!

Next to Dollar Tree is Goodwill.  I pop into Goodwill every now and then to look for clothes for my brother or other random treasures, but I sometimes struggle to see the potential in items there.  I wandered back to the furniture and found this chair for *drumroll please* $2!  Yes, $2!  It's a nice solid wood chair and I think will be a nice little addition to the corner in my bedroom.  I plan on painting it (either off white or a greige color) and adding a cute little toss pillow to it.

Speaking of my bedroom, I finally settled on my new bedding!  I decided upon Pottery Barn's Vanessa Floral duvet and shams.  It was on special and they were offering free shipping, so added onto my gift cards I saved $88.  What my kitchen lacks in quality, my bedding collection makes up for.  I'm a total PB bedding addict.  It's probably the one area I really like to splurge on for my home.

I'm hoping that my garage sale next week will help me justify a couple more small purchases for my new home.   I'd like a tall framed floor mirror for my bedroom and then might get some new toss pillows for my bedroom or living room.  I may also just save my money for an out of town shopping trip where I can hit up my faves that we don't have around here like Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, HomeGoods, and maybe if I make it to Denver, Ikea!  I'll be sure to post some pics of the chair after it gets its makeover and maybe a few pics after I move and get settled.