Shopping Deals on ebates.com

A deal hunting friend ran across a convenient way to get cash-back for shopping online, a site called ebates.com. Registration is free. All you need is your e-mail address. Once registered, you can search through hundreds of online store listings, all offering discounts and rebates ranging from 2-25%. Ebates makes their money by earning a commission on the sales they refer. They kick-back a large portion of that commission to you as a rebate. Here are a few of the rebate listings I found this morning:

Neiman Marcus: 3%
Home Depot: 3 %
Uncommon Goods: 6%
BestArt: 12%
Sur La Table: 4%
Target: 4%

Special deals and coupons are also available on the site. Happy shopping!

Water Conversation

North Haven Gardens will be hosting a four-part lecture series on conservation, starting with a presentation on saving water. The series, which begins on August 20, also includes lectures on trees and turf. With many of the Northern suburbs already rationing water, it's time for all us to take a look at how much money and wet stuff we waste keeping our yards green.

If you can't wait until August to find a solution for your wilting grass and yellowing flowers, peep some outdoor water-saving tips at savedallaswater.org.

I'd venture a guess that low-water landscapes will be all the rage next year.

Great New Product - Duo Curtain Rod

Those who've tried to hang a towel to dry in a small bathroom, there is now an alternative to tossing it over a wet shower curtain. In a nod to this dilemma, the Duo curtain rod was created with one rod for the curtain and one to hang your towel on. It's more efficient and more sanitary, and the product is one of the 108 2006 IDEA award winners.

Duo Curtain Rod, $49.99 at Home Focus.

More Art on the Cheap

Here are a few more options for finding affordable art. I picked these up from a post on Apartment Therapy, but I've screened them for actual affordability for real people (i.e. $30 - $300).

Etsy - Check out the art section of this site which specializes in hand-made goods.

Tiny Showcase - Postcard sized prints of original art. There's a new piece each week.

ebay Art - All sorts of art up for sale to the highest bidder.

Art Prostitute - Original art and prints for sale.

Pixel Girl Shop - Another site selling handmade goods, original art, and prints.

Art on the Cheap

Painting a Day blogs have been the subject of more than a few articles recently. Touted as a cheap "in" to purchasing original art, the blogs feature postcard sized paintings done in one sitting (1 - 3 hours in most cases). The subjects range from simple household items to outdoor scenes, most accompanied by the artist's description of their inspiration. Many of the paintings are quite stunning, like this egg by Duane Keiser. Keiser's works are available for sale on e-bay and sell for $100 and up.

Other Painting a Day Artists:

Elin Pendleton

Julian Merrow-Smith

Karen Jurick

Weekend Excursion

I found this on the Shop Better Here Blog:

Christmas in July

The weather outside is frightful, all right -- frightfully hot - but there are only 172 shopping days until you know what. Whether you have holiday gift-buying in mind or not, stop by the Texas Pottery and Sculpture Guild’s 15th annual Christmas in July sale to browse through a variety of one-of-a-kind works from more than 30 clay artists, including functional pottery pieces, sculptures and objets d’art. The sale starts Friday night with a “meet the artists” reception where you can meet the artists and continues on Saturday at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. Don’t forget to register at the door for a chance to win a piece by acclaimed Acoma-style potter Debbie Brown.

Norma Cavazos
* Friday from 5 to 9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, 1300 Gendy (just east of the Kimbell Art Museum), Fort Worth. 817-738-1938 and 817-964-0152.

* Free admission.

Shakers Shake it Up

This is a photo of yellow trim in a Shaker home from one of the aforementioned posts on Apartment Therapy.

Trend Watch: No More White Trim

I'm tired of white trim. When we bought our home last year, I dreamed of repainting the living room doors, built-ins, and trim in a chartreuse. After a brief foray into trim painting in our extra bedroom (we use it as an office, and the teal wall color we chose made the white trim look sad), I have realized this is a job best left to the professionals or the infinitely patient.

Our home was built in the 50s, and though I hate to admit this, the trim paint on our bedroom door has a few chips and cracks. Underneath several coats of white, I can see that the original trim color was a grey-green. Clearly, trim used to be the domain of more than white and cream.

A few weekends ago, we trekked out to Stonebridge Ranch to take a look at new homes. We found a charming neighborhood of craftsman-style homes by Darling, which offered the option of taupe trim. It looked great on the vintage-style mouldings. I've also recently run across several posts about colored trim on Apartment Therapy. Doors and trim are meant to be decorative. Unless it's a part of the room design, there's no reason they have to be white. Let's hope this is the beginning of the end of dull trim.

Sale

Horchow Finale's Plano and Dallas locations are having a sale. If you head to the Plano location, be sure to check out their scratch and dent sale, located next door.

Horchow Finale: 3046 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, TX 75205; (214) 750-0308.
Or visit 3400 Preston Road, Plano, TX 75093; (972) 519-5406.

Sale at Sur La Table

Sur La Table is having a sale on their Web site this week with many seasonal items and some Wusthof knives ($29.99-104.99) amongst the mark-downs. The Shop Better Here blog on the DMN site promises that the official summer sale will begin on Friday, but there is already plenty to choose from, including Christmas, Valentines, and Easter items. This Tagine is marked down to $39.99. I have no idea how to make a Tagine, but they say you can also serve rice in it. That's a good enough excuse for me.

Target Rips-off Someone, and It's Good

I know I've seen something like these before... They are derivative of West Elm, which in turn was copying Jonathan Adler, or another pricey-er designer. The end result is five great vases in a beautiful color palate with an even more appetizing price - $39.99 for the set.

Sure, some of the finer details may have been lost, and these vase's shapes might not be quite so elegant as those of their $110 counterparts. But, they will look 99% as good up on the shelf and you will be able to afford to eat this month.

Puzzle Vases, $39.99 at Target.com and in stores.

Weekend Sale

World Market is having a clearance sale beginning Friday (that's today). I haven't checked it out, but it's a good bet that they will have mark downs on seasonal items and wicker staples.

Long Lost Stripe Painting Photos

I finally found the copies of the taping / painting process for my entry about the stripe.

Death to the Open Kitchen

I just ran across a link to this NY Times article about an end to the open kitchen trend. This has been one of my personal gripes for years. Now days, you can't find a new home with a closed kitchen. I've lived with both kitchen designs, and having my kitchen on display from the living room has absolutely no appeal. I didn't spend months agonizing over my living room decor to clutter the view with dirty dishes and have a greasy residue settle all over my furniture.

- via Apartment Therapy

No Bubble to Burst

According to the D-Home blog, financial types have finally concluded that there is no housing bubble in Dallas. An article on CNN.com has declared that homes here are undervalued by 18.8% and are considered a best buy (interestingly, all of the undervalued home markets are in Texas). Our area's median house price tag is $129,000, which is roughly the cost of walking past a house in areas like Naples, FL, San Francisco, and NYC. I'm not sure if this means we'll see a bump in the value of our homes as people in over-priced markets rush to invest in Big-D, but it's good to hear a little good news once in a while.

Treehouse News

June 14 through December 31, the Dallas Arboretum is hosting Ultimate Treehouses, an exhibit of 13 extreme treehouses. The 13 designs constructed were chosen from among 55 submissions by local architects. Relive your Swiss Family Robinson fantasies minus the zebra/ostrich derby.

Trend: Wallpaper

I never thought I'd see it, but wallpaper is back. Don't worry about a resurgence of ivy borders and hearts and bears, the new wallpaper is heavy on geometrics and arts and crafts revivals. There is also a leaning towards interactive wallpaper. 2 Jane features four wallpaper-by-numbers designs that take the paint by numbers concept to the max. I'm not too keen on the idea of painting in all these little designs myself, but it could be relaxing to some.



Another interesting product is Graham and Brown's Frames wallpaper, created by artists Wood and Taylor. This paper allows you to completely customize your room design with art and photos. If you hate dusting picture frames, but are tired of listening to your family complain that you don't have their pictures up, this may be for you.

Crate and Barrel Summer Sale

Crate and Barrel is having a summer sale beginning this Friday, 6/16.

Tips on Painting Stripes

How many home improvement shows have you watched in which a room is given a modern update with a painted horizontal stripe? How many times has the show actually shown the process of placing and taping that stripe? I can't remember one demonstration.

Just in case a team of flunkies hasn't appeared in your living room to do all the dirty work, here are my tips after actually taking on this project:

1) Get a level. Lord, please get a level. You cannot eyeball this unless you have laser-leveling eyes. You don't need a fancy level, just the run of the mill type from your local hardware store. When considering the placement of the stripe, think about the golden ratio, which may be roughly two-thirds. Whatever the case, two-thirds of the way up the wall is a good height for a stripe.

2) Use string to create a level line to tape against. We decided to use string and thumb tacks. This resulted in a lot of hole-filling, so you might try tape. Give the walls a dusting with a tack cloth to get rid of any crud that will keep the tape from sticking properly. Use a measuring tape from the floor up to set the string. Tape each end and then test the span of string with the level, making adjustments as necessary. Use the blue painter's tape to tape along the outside edge of the string. Repeat around the room for the top, bottom, and edges of the stripe.

3) Don't waste money on glaze. I heard on a decorating show that rolling a coat of clear acrylic glaze over the tape would prevent seep through when you put the paint on. Not true. This technique was just a wasted step. I did see on another tip segment that you can use the back of a plastic spoon to push the edge of the tape against the wall. That will definitely cut down on seepage, and it is easy to go back with a small paint brush and touch-up the original wall color along any leaky edges.

4) Score the tape before you pull it off. Wait until the paint is dry and use a razor to lightly score the tape's edge. This will prevent the stripe paint from being pulled off the wall with the tape. It also helps to use flat latex paint. Any thing with a sheen tends to pull off more easily in my experience.

Here's a photo of what we did. This is a 70s bathroom with cream walls and a turquoise counter. The chocolate stripe gives it an updated cool. It's not all put together yet, but we're getting there.

Dreams of Flying

This collection of photos by Jan Von Holleben reminds me of Peter Pan and all things magical about childhood. The imperfection of the illusion is so beautiful that you want to believe. Via Apartment Therapy.