"Still Tweaking Christmas!?"

I know I have posted many times about how much I LOVE PB. I could move into the pages of their catalog! It is so me!!!! I love the feel of everything-and that, my friends, is the problem. They have the privilege of using everything at their disposal to create those magnificent rooms and vignettes. Every season, it is out with the old and in with the new. Nothing remains of the past season. Now, there may be some people alive, somewhere, who can do that. But, if there are, they are not traveling in my circle. And so, once again, I am confronted with a new PB catalog and ready to throw everything out and begin again. I guess that is their plan!

I have done a good job of  late of changing up a lot of my furniture-you know, the big ticket items, to more of a PB "look". Just some paint and that was an easy fix. Sure, my stuff may not look exactly like the PB stuff, but, back in the day, I was devoted to Habersham Plantation furniture. It was not inexpensive and it seems to last forever-darn stuff-so no need to throw out the baby with the bath water.

If I squint, I can get the PB vibe in my house-at least enough to satisfy me-on the big stuff. I do find myself craving the authentic accessories and every time I set foot into one of their stores, I get in trouble! Which, I guess, means it is a good thing that there is not a PB here. I have to travel about an hour or so to get to one. But, it isn't a bad trip and I love the rest of the stores in that area, so I do make that trip more often than I should-but, I digress.

And, there is always the ease of shopping online-not my favorite thing to do because I like to touch what I am buying. I am not good at reading dimensions and being able to visualize that object in my home. I have to see it. But, sometimes they leave me no option as they have things that are only available online-hence, my recent purchase of 3 gorgeous Valentine pillows-but that will be for another post soon.

With all of that being said, I am not averse to a good PB knock-off. Those blog titles always draw my attention! And so, it is with some sense of pride, that I announce my own PB knock-off here today-just kidding. This isn't as much a knock-off as a "V-8" moment.

I have posted before about how brilliant I think it is that PB offers their throw pillows in pillow cover form. Buy a form and then simply change the cover for the season, holiday, etc. So much less to store. Fast forward to me schlepping around Kohls one day before Christmas and being drawn to some throw pillows that were very "Pottery Barnesque". I liked them but, since I had just returned from my shopping trip to Tampa and had actually purchased some PB covers, I thought "how ridicuolous to buy pillows ever again". Yet, I was still drawn to the graphics on this pillow.

Life went on and I find myself on January 1 with a handful of Kohl's bucks that would be expiring at midnight of that day! That is free money and I get angry at myself when I let things like that lap-and I have many times. So off I go-the LAST place I want to be on Jan. 1, but I figure, if I only buy some Yankee Candles, I will at least use up my bucks.

The plan was to run in and out but, I couldn't help myself. I just had to check out the sales! And there, as if it was meant to be, were 2 of those pillows I had admired only a few weeks earlier. Regularly $24.99 now marked down to $5.99 and I was holding an additional 20% off coupon as well as a fist full of bucks! Again I weighed the storage option but a good deal trumped storage so I threw them in my cart. And then it hit me. I could sew. Why not buy them, separate the seam and add a zipper just like PB? And then something else struck me. Why not make it even easier? Why not simply add a Vel-Cro closure-and a stick-on one at that? No stitching to show and it would more than do the job. I know they aren't quite the quality of my PB pillows, but these are going in the sunroom where the kids usually watch TV or movies and will probably just end up on the floor any way. What do you think?

Here is my beautiful, lush PB pillow.

Not bad for about $4.80 each and paid for by Kohls bucks at that. In fact, I bought 3 huge bags of stuff that day(actually ALL Christmas decor and HALLOWEEN stuff-including more orange Mercury glass pumpkins) and only had to pay $8.88-and I saved $174! I'm not sure I really believe all that-kind of "mark it up so you can mark it down" but since I know what I like but usually will always wait for it to be on sale, I walked out of there that day with a big ole' smile on my face!

Now, the look on my face after walking out of Macys yesterday after buying a new mattress was far from a big ole' smile-more like sticker shock! But that will be for another post. Stay tuned.