House Calls

Someone was in need, so Dr. Design came to the rescue (ok, that sounds cheesy, but it's been a pretty long, exhausting week)! The photos above are not meant for the covers of House Beautiful or Elle Decor, they were meant to please a client desperate to furnish a three bedroom home on the Hudson River in less than a week. While I didn't post photos until today, this project was actually completed, by MYSELF, in three days. The task of sourcing furniture and accessories in the Hudson Valley of New York is hard enough to do in three days, then add an incredibly tight budget and you've got a great challenge! That budget, you may ask?? Well, I was given $2,500 to furnish the entire place (minus mattresses and televisions) and came in at $1,765.98 for everything including sheets, pillows, rugs, lamps and lightbulbs, glasses, plates and utencils. All it took was a little creative online shopping, digging through discount furniture chains and some patience. If you have questions about any particular piece, please feel free to email me at paul@paulhechtdesigns.com. My sources were Target, Home Goods, Home Depot and The Christmas Tree Shoppe. My best finds, by far, were sheet sets at Target (the inexpensive sets at Ikea, in my opinion, are total junk) for $19.99, a 36 piece dinnerware set from Marshalls for $19.99 and twenty piece cutlery set from Ikea for $9.99. These items are all well made and can often take a huge chunk of any budget, so I was thrilled to find great deals that anyone could find with a little searching. My point, and the point of this blog, is that ANYONE can make a comfortable space on any budget. Okay, my hands are killing me from the tiny tools I had to use in building many of these pieces, so I'm off for now. Back next week with more Hechtips!! (scroll down to Monday of this week to see the clean slate before I loaded her up!)
TIME TO COMPLETE TASK: Three days
COST: Of EVERYTHING was $1,765.98.
STRESS LEVEL: Filling a house with cool things in three days: LOW