Blind love

I learned a few lessons last week after I staged a home on the Hudson River. #1 I will NEVER attempt to assemble an entire house of furniture by myself. This task alone (actually MANY tasks) is the main reason I no longer have a burning desire to have children for fear they'll ask for Christmas gifts that require assembling! Clearly, I have been damaged from the experience of working with tiny tools, attempting to comprehend a 100 page Swedish instruction manual, and, at the end of the day, realizing I'm no spring chicken. One of many great things that came out of last week, however, is realizing furnishing an entire house doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg. As I mentioned on Friday, the entire house, from sofa to platform beds, rugs to barstools, utensils to wine glasses in a three bedroom, three bath home cost under $2,000! Beyond finding a certain look for less, I was able to source quality pieces at great prices with just a little hunting. One of the most expensive pieces to a home design puzzle can be the window coverings. If you've done it, you know. A friend of ours recently spent a bit over $1,000 for ONE window covering (half my entire furniture budget for this project). The home from last weeks project is situated directly on the Hudson River with homes pretty close, so coverings were essential to show perspective buyers how private this unique space is. Because I couldn't wait a month for a special order or spend money I needed for other pieces, I hopped on over to the Home Depot where they have cut-to-fit wood blinds, roller shades and other window coverings for incredibly good prices. These windows called for wood shutters, in my opinion, so I measured each window on the inside and headed over to the Home Depot. Because none of the windows were standard sizes, each shade had to be cut. The free service took only a few minutes, so while they cut I zipped around the store and in less than ten minutes walked out with great blinds at a steal of a deal!
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Thirty minutes to install nine window blinds
COST: $25/each
STRESS LEVEL: Loving a great deal: LOW