Home Decor - Pocketful of Joules

Rug Switcheroo

You know how you can totally live with something for years and then suddenly one day you’ve had enough and you can’t stand it anymore? Well, that was me and my kitchen rug.

When we first moved into our house almost 4 years ago, I searched and searched for the perfect kitchen rug. I fell in love with one from West Elm and even though it was kind of pricy, I bought it and loved it every day. You can see it in a post about our kitchen update from early 2014.

Unfortunately, after 3 ½ years of a messy kid, dog and husband, the rug was looking a little dingy. Well, actually a lot dingy. I totally would have bought the exact same rug from West Elm again, but it was long gone.

Then, when trotting through Target the other day I saw some rugs were on sale. And I grabbed one I liked and brought it home.

Yup, that’s about as much thought as I put into it this time.

A photo posted by pocketfulofjoules (@pocketfulofjoules) on Aug 30, 2015 at 8:38am PDT

I ended up buying a 5×7 Threshold Indoor/Outdoor Flatweave Diamond rug in blue, which was normally $99.99 but on sale for $79.00. It was little thicker than our previous rug and also had a non-slip latex backing, which keeps it from flipping up. The pattern is super busy, but with a table and chairs breaking it up it works.

Oh, and Jack picked out the new place mats… so I don’t care that the patterns are kind of a lot together.

A photo posted by pocketfulofjoules (@pocketfulofjoules) on Aug 30, 2015 at 8:48am PDT

I have to say, I am missing my ‘pop’ of orange a little, but I’m planning to pick up a pretty orange bowl for the middle of the table. Or, if I come across any place mats in a fun orange design, I’ll probably pick them up for when our new ones inevitably get gross.

Here’s a better picture of the ‘eating’ side of our kitchen taken with my real camera, instead of my iPhone. If you want to see it larger, just click on the picture.

I’m actually pretty surprised at myself that I didn’t spend hours and hours researching different rugs and then comparison shopping them at different stores. This way is kind of nice and my brain feels a little less full.

Are you more of an impulse shopper when it comes to home décor or do you spend a long time making your decisions? Do you think the blue was a good choice?

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Brit + Co: Homemakers DIY Fun

I’ve mentioned before how much I love Brit + Co, as well as Brit herself. So, it was only natural that I was super excited to have a Brit Homemakers DIY get together with some of my favorite ladies over the weekend.

As part of the awesomeness surrounding Brit’s new book, Homemakers, they sent members of the Brit Co-op the ultimate DIY Starter Kit (featuring products from Scotch).

They weren’t messing around when they called it the ULTIMATE kit… each kit contained: magic tape, double sided tape, precision scissors, precision utility knife, super glue, quick drying tacky glue, a glue stick, three rolls of washi tape, patterned duct tape, needle nose pliers, wire cutters, gold metallic paint pen, black permanent marker, a sewing kit, cloth tape measure, single hole punch and red baker’s twine. I also received a stack of blue cardstock in my hostess kit.

As much as I love my girlfriends, due to my crazy work schedule, family stuff and life in general it is super hard to get together as much as I’d like to. So, I’m always happy when I have the opportunity to have them over for a fun project. Saturday worked out great for a brunch since the boys were at soccer and we had orange juice moscato fizz drinks, doughnut holes, some yummy croissants and tropical fruit salad. And yes, Travis and Jack inhaled the remaining doughnut holes as soon as they got home.

Using the kits, our project was to make banners with the contents and we all had a great time making something personalized for each of our homes:

I made a “spring” banner to go on our fireplace… Spring IS coming soon, right?!

As a totally unexpected surprise, my friend Annie gifted me with the hot-off-the-presses Homemakers book!

If you want one too, you can find them on the Brit + Co website (for some extra fun gifts that come with them) or on Amazon.com for a paperback edition or one for your kindle

So a big thank you to Kendall, Jessie, Annie and Bryna for making my Saturday awesome! And additional thank you’s to Brit, Brit + Co and Scotch Products for providing everything we needed for a great time. And now I can’t wait to curl up with my new Homemakers book and make more stuff with my cool DIY box o’ fun.

Disclosure: Brit + Co provided me with the Brit Kits for free. I was not required to review the kits or even write a blog post about the party. Pocketful of Joules is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Bringing out the Holiday Décor

I love checking out everyone’s holiday décor posts, so I figured I’d take a bunch of pictures of our house to share with you all.

In truth, I actually have a LOT more holiday stuff that I didn’t actually put out this year. However, I like to switch it up from year to year, so some stuff will only come out occasionally. Also, I wasn’t really sure how Jack would be this year with the decorations, so I didn’t put out my full set of Wizard of Oz ornaments.

This may be my favorite room in the whole house… our den:

I actually hardly put any ornaments on the tree this year because I wasn’t sure if they would survive Jack.

And here is a close up of the mantel. I found the “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” sign at Joann’s on Black Friday for 50% off. The banner came from Target last year the day after Christmas when they slashed all their prices.

The knit stockings and holders are also from Target a few years ago — one for Travis, me, Jack, and a mini one for Ollie. The branches are a gift from my baby shower and one of my most treasured things. Each bird has a handwritten message on it with our friends’ good wishes for our family.

I picked this little guy up last week from a thrift store for just $5! He had an ugly bow around his neck, but I cut that off within about 3 seconds. Goldie may be a reindeer, but Jack insists that they are Snow Deer… because snow makes more sense than rain. Obviously.

I just did a little switch up to our front entrance area and changed out a chair for this cute little table (check it out here). I love that the table not only gives me storage for hats and gloves, but I now have a fun little area to decorate! The “jingle” came from Home Interiors years and years ago, the candle holder was a gift from a friend, and the purple tree was another thrift store score for just $4!

Here’s the last bit o’ Christmas in our house, until Santa comes:

Christmas Decor - LR

I change up that little tray throughout the year — last month it had a couple mini pumpkins thrown in and for Christmas it has green sparkle balls and a pretty white tree.

Now it’s your chance to share! I’d love to see your holiday decorations posts so feel free to link up here:

An InLinkz Link-up