Well, not so much a chicken dinner, but they did win a gift-card to TJ Maxx!

Congrats to Meghan McFarlin who said,

“I would use it to help pay for a rug in JoJo’s nursery!”

You’ll have to let me know what you find!

And speaking of finds, I’ve been looking for an old ladder for the past few months. I want to do something similar to { this } in our guestroom, but every time I found a ladder it was actually pretty expensive (at least $30). Yesterday I snagged one at an estate sale for $10! Cue excitement.

Our guestroom technically doesn’t even have a bed, BUT it does have an awesome old ladder and cute bedding. Baby steps, my friends.

What about you guys–any fun buys this weekend?

Last week I was passing by a Goodwill and at the last minute decided to turn in. And I do mean the you’re-in-the-right-lane-and-in-two-seconds-need-to-be-in-the-left-lane kind of last minute.

Luckily it was worth the pit stop! I found this beauty for $10. Not too shabby, huh?

It’s slowly making it’s way around the house as I search for the perfect place to put it. Now all I need is a fun cushion and I’ve got a great chair for super cheap. Nothing makes me happier than cheap.

I take that back. Free. Free always makes me happier than cheap.

What about you guys, any fun thrift store finds lately?

Since Spring is right around the corner, it seems every store had moved outdoor furniture and gardening supplies front and center. In the past patio furniture was pretty basic, a few metal chairs and a glass table. Maybe a couple plain throw pillows thrown in for good measure.

Not anymore!

I’m loving all the warm woods and bright patterns I’m seeing this year for outdoor furniture. A couple days ago I was in Lowe’s (a slight obsession as of late), and snapped a few pics of my favorite finds.

First up, this table below. I bet if I didn’t tell you, you would have assumed it was a normal dining room table. Isn’t it pretty? This would be an easy way to add class to any outdoor space.

And forget boring pillows. Lowe’s, Target, Home Depot…they all have great colors and patterns to pick from. Here’s a few I found at Lowe’s.

And lastly, I loved these barrels. As in, we’ll probably buy a few in the coming weeks. They’re the perfect pot to plant an herb garden. These barrels will pay for themselves after a few weeks of using fresh herbs instead of having to buy them. That’s one of my number one tip for saving money in the kitchen- grow your own herbs. You’ll have flavorful food without the $2+ price tag each week at the store.

All these finds have me excited about starting to furnish our own deck and patio. Luckily for you guys, you can still enter to win a $25 gift-card to jump start your Spring redesign!

For all the details go { here } or to my Facebook page { here }. If you’ve already entered, remember that when someone “Likes” your comment, they also need to “Like” the page.

The giveaway is open until the end of next week so there’s still lots of time to enter. Happy “Liking”!

It’s Wednesday. That day in the week where you realize one of two things, either your week has flown by and you can’t believe it’s the middle of the week, or the more popular it’s going so slow Friday seems like it’ll never get here.

This week I fall into the “holy cow I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday” camp. I mean where did this week go?

If you’re the opposite and it feels like Friday will never get here, I have a fun little treat to help you get through today…a giveaway!

With Spring just around the corner it’s the perfect time to give your home a fresh, new look. Since TJ Maxx is one of my all-time favorite places to shop, I’m giving away a $25 gift-card to jump start your new design! Here’s how you enter.

(1) Like Something Like That Designs on Facebook { here }

(2) Comment on Facebook under the Giveaway post by telling me what you would use the $25 gift-card to buy. A new throw pillow? A mirror? Decisions, decisions!

(3) Spread the word. Use Facebook/Twitter/Email/etc. to get your friends to “Like” Something Like That Designs on Facebook and then “Like” your comment on Facebook. The comment that has the most “Likes” wins the gift-card!

Even if you enter yourself, you can still vote for other people so give the old “you vote for me, I vote for you” method a try. Or bribe a couple friends to vote for you. Alls fair in love and gift-cards.

The giveaway is open until Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 12:00am EST and is open to anyone in the United States. The winner will be announced the following Monday.

Now get to “Liking”!

P.S. TJ Maxx didn’t perk me in any way to give away a gift-card. I’m just a big fan.

 **This giveaway is now officially closed.***

Today I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

You can turn a “sale” item into a “clearance” item with one simple trick. Just ask.

Say you’re in Lowe’s and you find a rug you like. It’s the last rug like that in the store. Rather than settle for the normal price, or even the sale price, you take the item up to customer service and ask the magic question, “can you do any better on this price?”.

When they reply, “how about 50% off”, you squeal in excitement and slap your debit card on the counter before they can change their mind.

This was, in fact, a true story. It’s how I found a rug to completely cover my closet floor for $20. YEP, $20!

For $20 bucks, I went from stained beige carpet to a gorgeous gray and black statement rug. It really makes this space feel like it has been completely redone. A little carpet tape underneath and that rug is here to stay!

I try my price trick with everything. If a purse has a small scratch that isn’t really noticeable, I ask. Bam, 10% off. If I find an item I want but it’s a floor model, I ask. Easy, 20% off. I’ve found that stores like TJ Maxx will only do 10% off, but places like Home Depot and Lowe’s are a thrifty shopper’s dream. Almost every time I’ve asked at either of those stores they’ve taken 50% off the item in question. I’ve only asked on items that were already on clearance or were the last one in stock, but I bet they would still work with you on any item in the store.

A friend of mine even tried my “trick” at World Market last week and snagged a wall clock for an extra 10% off. I mean really, what’s the worst someone can say? No?

In my experience, it always pays to try. Next time you go shopping, make sure the Customer Service desk is your last stop. Who knows, it could pay for a fantastic lunch.

Yesterday I just had to get out of the house. I needed a break from unpacking and writing check after check to repair people. Luckily, we live close to a Super Target and a TJ Maxx. I wasn’t expecting to find anything, but then again, I always manage to find great stuff when I’m not looking. Never when I actually need it. Isn’t that life for ya?

Introducing my new office chair! I’ve seen variations of this chair before in TJ Maxx and shared it with you guys { here }, but I absolutely adore this version. It’s graphic and yet subtle, elegant and yet fun. It will make the perfect jumping off space for designing our home office!

My favorite part is definitely the nail-head trim. And the zebra pattern. And the dark wooden legs. Who am I kidding? I’m obsessed with it all. And the best part? Oh, that would be the price tag. It was on clearance for $99. I can’t figure out why they marked it down, but I’m guessing it was just to make my day. It worked.

I also snagged this cute little bowl to hold our keys by the entryway. It was also on clearance, for $3. I didn’t even realize it matched the chair until I was in the check-out line. I guess I had a thing for gray zebra print yesterday.

I have to say, as crazy as we’ve been with all these house repairs, we still love it. Every step, even buying a small bowl, takes us closer to making this place really feel like home. Cheers to that!

Tomorrow I’ll share a couple easy projects that can help you better organize your home. The first step to a well designed home, is to have a well organized home!

A couple weeks ago I spent the day hanging out with a friend in Atlanta. After lunch, we ended up at the Habitat Re-Store. If you’ve never heard of it before, it a huge warehouse were people donate old/new building supplies.

I’ve been there a couple times and it’s pretty hit or miss. They have furniture, but I can usually find better prices at a thrift store. If you’re looking for actual building materials, like tiles or door locks, they seemed to have a decent selection. As we walked around, I did find a couple good finds…

I LOVED these rustic lanterns. At $59 each, they would make a great statement flanking a mirror in a bathroom.

Here’s another great fixture. I was surprised to see the original $510 price tag, but I’ve seen lots of versions of this piece for several different price ranges. Again, a nice light to place in a guest bathroom.

I love the details of this glass table. It’s light and bright because of the glass, but the richness of the metal creates a great contrast. Perfect piece for a guest room nightstand.

We also found a great selection of windows (and a VERY awkward drawing of a pumpkin head bikini girl??). There are so many great uses for old windows, a few of which can be found { here }.

The best find of the day was………linoleum tile. Yep, it’s true. My mother-in-law gave me a great tip a couple weeks ago about lining cabinet shelves. I’m planning to line the kitchen cabinets in the new house with contact paper, but under the kitchen sink, my mother-in-law suggested using linoleum tile. It’s thicker, waterproof and much easier to wipe down than contact paper. Such a good idea! The best part, I got 8 tiles for under $1.82 total. I found the exact same time { here } for $2.21 per tile. Sweeeet!

After I bought the tile, I realized it was the FIRST purchase for our new house! How appropriate that our first purchase for the house was under $2.00. Let’s hope I can keep the rest of the purchases around the same price (yeah right). Here I am (below) with the tile, and my second purchase, fabric to make a pillow for our future guest room. It is SO fun to finally be able to have a house to buy for!

What about you? Do you have any special stores you go to for great deals? Have you gotten a great deal lately? If so, I’d love to feature you on here!

Remember this recent post? A few weeks ago you could find lots of great bedding at target for 30% off the normal price. If you thought that was good, you better take a seat.

Target has marked down aisle after aisle of bedding to 75% off! Yep, that’s right. Now’s the perfect time to give your bedroom a mini-makeover. Here’s what I picked up for a couple projects I have in the works…

I’ve wanted this gray and yellow quilt for a year. A YEAR. I first spotted it in a Target last fall but couldn’t get past the $90 price tag. I wanted to use it as a “throw” at the end of our bed, so I couldn’t justify the price. (It would have been a different story if we were going to use it as our actual bedspread.) I waited patiently, and snagged it for under $20!

I also picked up this bedspread to possibly use in a guest room I’m working on. It’s a really pretty light turquoise color but reads more of a dull gray on screen. (And ignore the black bow…it’s just holding it together.) This quilt was also regularly $90 and I got it for under $20.

And remember this bedspread from the other post? I got it as well for $18! I’m not sure what project I’m using it in, but it was too great of a deal to pass up. I love that it’s reversible.

 Do you have any bedroom make-overs in the works? Or did you fall in love with any of the quilts I found? Don’t forget to send me any great deals that you find! They don’t have to be from Target or 75% off…just something you thought was a great price and were excited to find. As always, happy shopping!

A couple months ago my mother-in-law sent me an email about a discount fabric store she had heard about in Covington and thought I might want to check out. My friend Meghan (yes, same one from yesterday) is from Covington so I emailed her to see if she’d heard of Ocho Fabrics before. She had, and last week her and her sweet mom took me to browse fabrics to my heart’s content!

Y’all, I could look at fabrics for hours. (And I did.) Here’s the back of the warehouse that had row after row of seriously discounted fabrics. In fact, some I had just seen at another fabric store for much, much more a couple weeks before.

Look at all the possibilities!

I loved this fabric SO much. If I needed curtains, it would have come home with me that day!

These fun patterns would make great pillows!

During our searching, we found some gold and navy fabric that reminded us of a certain Atlanta school. Meghan didn’t like it. At all.

(Go Dawgs.)

And oh the nursery fabrics! When you go to a fabric store with a pregnant lady, you’re bound to look at nursery fabrics. They had such a cute selection!

I almost bought these two fabrics below to frame them (separately). The first fabric would look fabulous with a large silver frame and black mat. The bird fabric would make a cute smaller picture in a natural wood frame with a burlap mat.

 There you have it…a fabric for every occasion. I’m telling you, this place was worth the drive! Do y’all have any great fabric stores you want to share?

P.S. Fabric hunting is always better when you have fun people to go with. Thanks again Meghan and Mrs. Patton!

Is there anything more exciting than walking into a store and seeing this sign? Deal hunters rejoice! As we transition from Summer to Fall, now is the absolute best time to find great deals. Don’t wait until next Spring to decorate your outdoor spaces…do it now. There are fantastic deals on outdoor cushions, string lights, planters and more. I’ve even seen grills on clearance. Simply stock up on what you need and store it in the garage until Spring!

Now what if you don’t have an outdoor space but are looking to spruce up your bedroom our guestroom? Well, Target has you covered there as well. I saw at least 20 different bedding options all for under $60! Oh Target, how I love you. Here’s some pictures of what I found…

Cushions,

and string lights.

Huge planters that would look great flanking a front door,

and lots and lots of bedding.

 Y’all know I love sharing great deals that I find and keeping that in mind, my friend Meghan had a great idea…you guys can share yours too! If you find a great deal, simply email or tweet me a picture (along with the price and where you got it) and I’ll pick one entry a week to feature on the blog! Happy shopping!