I have found the fabric that is going to revolutionize my living room.

Okay, that statement may be a little BOLD.  Let me rephrase..

The fabric I have found is going to be the Pièce de résistance of my living room.

Okay, that’s not much better is it?

Anyways, if you haven’t figured it out already I am QUITE EXCITED about the fabric I scored for my living room.  Here’s the scoop.

So I have been stalking the fabric- Schumacher’s Chiang Mai Dragon – for awhile now. {and apparently I’m not the only one doing so- look here and here.}  I’m not sure if it is the vibrant color that I am drawn to, or the Asian inspiration, but I knew I needed this fabric to tie my first floor together.

{photo courtesy of Little Green Notebook via Plum Cushion.}

But man is it EXPENSIVE!!! One site showed it at $203 a yard! GULP!  How was I going to pull this off?

First, like any good blogger, I jumped on the internet to see what kinda deal I could score.  20 minutes later I was sad to discover no such deals existed.  One Person wanted upwards of $150 for one pillow made of this stuff!! Say WHAT?

Next try was to bug my buddy Lily of O’brien and Muse.  She is a Interior Designer and I thought I would see if she would be up for buying it for me at her cost and I would pay her back. What are friends for right??  So I shot her an email to see what she would think. Next thing I knew she was emailing me back to say it was my lucky day. She had a remnant of THIS EXACT FABRIC that was leftover from a project she had done for a client!! And better yet- she would give it to me for far cheaper than $200 bucks!!  I don’t even think I had finished reading her email as I jumped into the car and sped over to her office before she could change her mind.

I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do with it! Pillows? Cornice Boxes? Ottoman Fabric??

Such Decisions!! Stay Tuned!

Mr. vB and I have not only been busy working in the nursery, but we have also been doing a bit of rearranging on the 1st floor.

Remember when we got our floors refinished and moved all the furniture to the basement? {go here for the full recap}.  Well the sectional sofa never quite made it back upstairs.  Mr. vB and I had this great idea that we could make our almost finished basement into a cozy little den.  I mean who doesn’t love instantly adding square footage to their house??

So for the past 7 months our living room has been sitting pitifully empty except for 3 area rugs and this thrift store find.

My “plans” were to make the living room into a more formal sitting room, but plans are always meant to change aren’t they?

What I haven’t mentioned to you guys is that Mr. vB recently took a jump in the world of entrepreneurship.  He is doing extremely well and keeping super busy, but our basement den has turned into the Headquarters of V4 Web.  And with baby van on the way, I was thinking it could get a little tight with all of us hanging in the basement while I’m on maternity leave.  So the new plan is to still make the living room into a smaller sitting area, but have it baby and momma friendly too!

I have been searching high and low for an inexpensive love seat to tie the room together, but never really found anything that fit in our $500 or less budget. And the more and more I thought about it, I just didn’t see dropping moolah on a cheap sofa when we had an extremely comfortable one in the basement. So after a bit of discussion, Mr. vB and I decided to split up the sectional and bring half up to the living room and leave the other half down in the basement.  And surprisingly it works out really well!

Sure, most people have both a right AND LEFT arm to their sofa, but they are so over-rated.

I also brought down 2 of the nesting tables from my Ladies Lounge/Office to use as a side table and I think they work perfect!

Here’s the entire room..

The Birdseye view

And the view from the front door

I’m very pleased at how it’s coming together.  Now it’s time to find the perfect fabrics to make pillows, window treatments, and to reupholster the chair and ottoman in.  I have a few in mind.. let’s hope one works!

Seems that Mr. vB has been drinking from the “same water” that I have been.  Meaning that he too put it in high gear this weekend to get some major things accomplished in van’s nursery.

Remember me mentioning that our plan was to incorporate a sliding  “barn” door into our design?  We figured that would be the best way to close off that 6 foot opening between our bedroom and the nursery, but also allow for great flow when the door was open. Plus it wouldn’t take up any extra floor space as it would easily glide and sit against the wall.

But we had to accomplish a few steps before we could put the door up.  First, hang the flat screen tv INTO the wall vs. onto the wall so the door could pass in front of it.  {See that mess project here and here.}  Second, find and buy budget friendly barn door hardware.  {Did that here and here.}  Third, design door layout and figure out how much wood it would take to build.  No sweat right?

So by this weekend, we were ready to roll. TV was safely hanging in the wall and door hardware had arrived. All that was left to do was beg brother-in-law Justin to help Mr. vB put it all together.

Here’s their progress in photos.

The Blank Canvas

The 10′ Rail that had to be bolted into the beam.

Only had to move it 3 times to get it to the right level.  Gotta love old houses- neither the ceiling nor the floor is square.

Time to make the donuts, oh I mean make the door.

I would love to know what Justin is thinking in this photo.  Maybe- “A barn door- really?” or “I shoulda said I was busy.”

I like the way Mr. vB worked the letter V into the design.  Subtle but personalized!

Ready to hang!

TA-DA! Opened…

And Closed… PERFECT!!

And here’s the view from van’s nursery.

It is definitely a bit more massive than I imagined, but it IS a 5′-8″ wide by 8′ tall slab of wood. I’m not sure what I was thinking- it certainly wasn’t going to be dainty. Now it is my job to prime and paint the door and repaint the wall where the TV is.  Justin had a good idea that since the nursery side of the door is plain, we should incorporate some type of mural or design onto the door.  Interesting. The idea got both our wheels turning.  We are throwing around a few ideas. Will keep you updated with the progress!!

Apparently receiving “baby stuff” has put me in full gear to get van’s nursery finished.

I spent last weekend measuring and taping off the final stripes.

And by mid-week I was finished painting!

Pretty cute, if I do say so myself!!

{please excuse the mess in the corner}

And then yesterday, American Express delivered us a great Baby gift.  What? Do you not have that kind of relationship with your credit card company?? ha-ha  Let me explain.

On one of my recent business trips, I was hanging in my hotel room surfing through my favorite blogs, when I came across this post on Nursery Gliders over at Aubrey + Lindsay’s Blog.  Mr. vB and I have been debating on the kind of glider we want for our little guy, so I clicked on the links she provided.  Next thing I knew I was on the Restoration Hardware Baby and Child Site staring at this beauty.

I wasn’t sure if it was that big red SALE sign that attracted me or that it came in aqua with white piping, but I was in love.

But here is where it gets really good.  So I have been saving up my American Express Reward Points for the past 4 years figuring that one day I would have enough to spend on something nice.  Lately I have been thinking I could put the points towards a glider at Pottery Barn Kids, but those gliders seemed very large and out of our budget even with the rewards points.  After I saw this glider at Restoration Hardware, I quickly went to my rewards site to see if they were a participating vendor.  And guess what?  THEY WERE!! The next day I called and I was able to score a $500 gift card to put towards the purchase of this chair.

BUT WAIT- it still gets better.

I was telling my buddy Adrienne about my score purchase and she told me that Restoration was running a promo that if you signed up for their online Baby Registry you could get a $100 voucher towards any purchase over $400.  I quickly headed over to their site and sure enough, once I signed up for a few items, a $100 voucher was headed my way.  I thought it might be too good to be true that I could use it in conjunction with my gift card, but I called Customer Service to ask.  Sure enough they said I could!!  Another Score!!

But we’re still not done saving money…

I then received an email from Restoration Hardware last week saying that my chair had gone on clearance and that I could save an additional 10% off the purchase.  Again I picked up the phone and called my friends at RH to see if I could get a price adjustment to reflect the clearance price.  And guess what they said?? {I’m starting to feel like a broken record here} YES! YES! YES!  Actually that is probably what I said after I hung up the phone.

Here’s the final breakdown in case my super long story has got you super confused.

The Classic Track Arm Swivel Glider…originally $999 but on sale for $599.

So $599, minus $500 Amex Points, minus $100 voucher, minus 10% extra off for clearance...

EQUALS an almost free chair.

It’s like they are paying us to take it from them.  All we have to pay is about $150 for freight and tax.  Plus I think they actually owe me $60 because the total of the chair came to $439 before we used the $500 gift card.  {Have no fear I will be calling my buddies in customer service shortly to inquire! ha-ha}

I’m excited to report that yesterday afternoon about 4:30 Restoration Hardware came knocking on our door.

And here’s the beauty they delivered..

Sorry for the wrinkles.. I was too excited to get the slipcover on to steam it first.

And isn’t the aqua fabric the perfect match to my stripes?!

I’m in LOVE!!!

Thanks American Express!

Mr. vB and I headed down to Myrtle Beach this past weekend for some fun {and much needed relaxation} down by the ocean.  As expected, traffic was horrible, but we powered through the 6 hour road trip with only ONE prego potty stop.  Impressive eh??  But when we arrived, I didn’t have time for hugs or kisses- I was headed straight to the potty. {Looking back on the moment I probably seemed pretty rude- but dang I had to PEE!  Don’t pregnant women get waivers on such cordials when a full bladder is involved?!}  Okay- enough about my bladder- back to our visit.

When I finally emerged from the potty to give proper hugs and kisses, everyone was kinda staring at me.  I looked at Mr. vB and then looked around the room and realized I had just busted thru our surprise baby shower without even noticing!! OOPS!!

Mr. vB’s family were all in on it and the room was filled with amazing things!

Diaper Cakes

Zebra Cookies {I see a theme starting here}

And the Cutest Clothes and Toys you’ve ever seen!

Lots of Love to Peggy, Houston, Justin, Keri, Maddy, Pip, Ashley, Thomas, Pope and Wren for all the amazing things!!

Baby van {and his momma & daddy} think you guys are pretty fantastic too!

Have you guys ever heard of Switch-Flops by Lindsay Philips??  They are flip flops that have interchangeable Velcro straps that allow you to have “unlimited choices with minimal effort.” {that last part was straight from the website}

I recently acquired a pair from my buddy Adrienne and LOVE THEM!

Here’s what the original pair looked like…

And here’s the same shoe after I picked up a new pair of straps…

What a great concept!  One Pair of shoes that can be “switched-up” depending on your mood or outfit!

Go to the website and mix and match your own pair now!