I learned a very good lesson this week.
And lucky you. I’m sharing it with you.
So you can either learn from me, or rejoice in the fact that I was able to make the mess work out just fine.
And the lesson is:
Buy the thing you love. Find the bargain where you can. Put them together.
Here’s where this sordid little tale started.
New Kitchen Counter Stools
Our kitchen counter stools were a budget purchase from Wayfair.
I really liked them. They were comfortable, they fit my smaller frame, and I loved that they sort of pulled together our breakfast nook and family room furniture.
Here is a picture of my old bar stools in my kitchen.
But they didn’t hold up terribly well.
And we use them.
Every. Single. Meal.
So the search began.
We narrowed it down to the Layton chair from Pottery Barn—which was expensive, custom, and had a long lead time—and the bistro chairs that Serena & Lily is famous for.
There are approximately one million bistro-chair options and approximately one million dupes.
I got overwhelmed.
Then I found some great budget counter stools on the Costco website with free shipping.
They looked very close to the Layton, and after all that hand-wringing, it seemed like an easy decision.
I ordered them.
They came lickety-split.
And then I put them next to my beloved French-country kitchen table.
Big. Fat. Fail.
I could not stand looking at them together.
The sleek, modern look of the chairs next to my table was just too much. And when I considered how close the kitchen is to our family room furniture, there was officially way too much going on.
Costco has a very generous return policy.
But at the end of the day, I wasn’t boxing those stools back up and hauling them to the store.
Because that’s not how I roll.
And we still needed new stools.
Then I had an idea.
What if the Serena & Lily bistro chairs worked with my existing table?
Hmmmm.
So I filled out an online designer request form.
The next day, a Serena & Lily designer called. We chatted, I sent her pictures, and she sent me a mockup from their design program using my actual room and their chairs.
Cue the romantic music.
It was love.
And as luck would have it, Serena & Lily was having a sale.
Yes, I had to pay shipping.
But it wasn’t terrible. In fact, the chairs came FedEx and arrived the same week I ordered them.
And now?
I have my splurge/save room.
And I am quite happy.
A Little Splurge. A Little Save.
You can see a peek of the kitchen from the dining room, which is also a little splurge/save story.
The dining room has a Pottery Barn chandelier, Target candlesticks, Walmart olive branches and an Anthropologie vase.
Some things cost more.
Some things don’t.
But they’re all things I love.
And when I put them together, they work.
You might call it mishmash.
I call it exactly the things I love right now.
I don’t think a room needs to be filled with expensive pieces to look pulled together. I think it’s more important to spend money on the things you really love and save wherever you can on the pieces that don’t matter quite as much.
For me, that’s the fun of decorating. A Pottery Barn chandelier can live happily with Target candlesticks, Walmart olive branches and an Anthropologie vase. And now my Serena & Lily counter stools can live happily with the rest of my kitchen.
I think that’s a much better way to decorate.
Buy the thing you really love when it matters.
Find the bargain where you can.
Another Splurge/Save Is Coming
Next week, I want to share another purchase and get your thoughts on splurge/save.
Because apparently I’m on a roll.
In the meantime, thank you for sharing my little life-learning journey.
I guess I’m still not too old to learn a lesson.
And all’s well that ends well.
May God richly bless you and yours this week.
