So, I was sent a Tuc Away Table to review, and I have mixed feelings about it. When I first was approached about the review, I said yes because I thought it’d be like the Pier 1 Imports hayworth C-table that I love so much. And it’s not. I use my Pier 1 table to type on my iPad, put my beer/dinner, or put a bowl of popcorn. If I do those things on the Tuc Away table, I risk knocking them over if I have a sudden arm movement. Also, the low height makes it super easy for Pee Wee (my pooch) to steal my food.

As you can see, compared to the Pier 1 table, the Tuc Away Table is really short. And if you’re not used to having a table there, you may you will get up all of sudden and scratch the beejeezus out of your knee on said table. I should know, I have a nasty scratch that is healing because of the table. I didn’t put it on the side of the sofa because I don’t have room, so I wanted it to be more like a table for guests to put drinks/food on.

I will say that the quality is FAB. It is beautiful, it is high quality, but I do think the height and the overly complicated, yet seemingly simple-ish, set-up instructions take away from it. The table, which is heavy (in a good way), comes with a little ruler contraption that you use to measure the space under the couch where you’ll be putting the table. Using that number, you put the bracket into the holes on the back of the table that match that number. However, if you’re like me, you’ll measure wrong, put the bracket in 2 holes that aren’t the same number, and fiddle with it for about 10 minutes until it’s snug and secure.

Not a huge deal, but a tad inconvenient.

Also, it’s expensive! They run about $70+, which is a little steep. With a few improvements, this could be a great product. The one thing I do love, besides the finish/quality, is that the top folds down and then it almost just kinda blends into the profile of whatever furniture it’s attached to.

To sum it up…

The pros:

• Good quality
• Pretty wood color
• Semi-easy to set-up
• Good for dorms/low profile beds/kids room/accent chairs/recliners (if you have room on the sides)

The cons

• Too short
• Overpriced
• Semi-complicated set-up
• Limited options for the wood finish
• It’d be nice to have a pocket for remotes or something

So, there ya have it. You can view their set-up videos and check out the finishes at http://www.tucawaytables.com/

Do you have similar tables in your home? Do you like accent tables?

This post is going to have a ton of pictures, so I totally apologize in advance if I cause you to go over your data plan for you mobile users.

My dining room has kind of stayed as is, plus or minus seasonal décor, ever since I did this reveal post last year. Well, the hubster and I have been lusting after a new dining table, so we rearranged the space a bit to see what it’d feel like in a different configuration. Ok, and I sort of lied…I’ve been lusting after a new dining table while my husband is 100% OK with the set we have.

It is the bane of my existence. But more about that in a post later this week.

We flip flopped the layout and now it looks like this when you walk in:

Now the dining table is what greets you when you walk in (before it was the sofa), and I’ll admit I despised the layout the first few days…Now I LOVE IT! It flows nicely, the room feels more spacious—which is a challenge since the room is about 10 feet wide and 30 feet long. Yeah, seriously narrow and long.

The chandelier is centered beautifully over the table, and mercury and jewel tone accents add drama to the space.

The candlesticks and mercury glass pumpkin are from one of my top 5 favorite stores: ZGallerie. The blue and magenta pumpkins are from Hobby Lobby, and the flocked damask runner is a wedding leftover from Kohl’s holiday collection back in 2008. Silver chargers are 98-cents each at Walmart.

Past the dining table, is a comfy, luxe seating area perfect for cocktails with the gals. Plus, there’s a doorway that leads straight to the kitchen, so that it’s easy to get refills on drinks or check on the puffed pastry in the oven.

And if you haven’t noticed, I finally splurged on some curtains with COLOR. My other ones were 5 different shades of beige, and these are STUNNING. They are a gorgeous peacock blue color, but when the light hits them, they can morph into having more green or blue. I am in love! The price is oh so right—these gorgeous SIlkana Teal Curtains are only $52 for a pair, and they are worth every penny. They do not totally block out the light, but they do filter it so it just softly embraces a room. Highly recommend!

And now onto more pictures and less of me talking…

 

Pee Wee always comes into my blog photo shoots to give his approval.

Or to lounge.

That mirrored table off to the left developed a HUGE crack out of nowhere. Ugh. So now a nice serving tray from World Market covers that sucker up.

I’m still obsessed with my ghost chair. I’m writing this very sentence right now while sitting in my ghost chair from Overstock. It’s so comfy. I think my circa 2008 Dell PC is an eyesore. Maybe Santa will bring me a new all in one PC this year…or maybe a Mac? Hhmm.

This frame is one of those fugly gold frames you can find at garage sales. While the gold may be old/ugly, a coat of spray paint can work wonders! Plus, look at those gorgeous, ornate elements on the frame.

These flocked damask pillows were a great score at JCP a few years back. I got 4 of them for $6 each.

The mirrors are from Kirkland’s and were about $10 each. They always have sales and coupons (plus you can use coupons from your phone), so I always go to Kirkland’s for affordable home décor such as mirrors, vase filler, and pumpkins for fall.

There you have it! Again, the primary “makeover” aspect of this simply involved moving around furniture, and bringing in accents from other rooms, but in the interest of full disclosure, I did splurge on the following:

• New Silkana Teal Window Panels (4 panels, $100 total)
• New trellis patterned pillow ($15 at Ross)
• New magenta pumpkin ($4 at Hobby Lobby)
• New black lamp shade ($10 at Ross)
• New bright white bulbs ($12 at Walmart)

Total: About $150 for a whole new look!

I have this obsession for pumpkins, so I love being able to scatter them throughout my home. The dining room won’t get to enjoy the fall décor too much since I have been selected for a super awesome opportunity that I’ll tell you about later this week. IT IS EXCITING!! I am so over the moon about it and can’t wait to gush all the details to you lovely people.

There are a few things I want to change about the space, in addition to getting rid of the dining table. I’d love a luxe throw with a fun geometric or damask print, a bar cart, wine fridge, recessed lights, a tufted storage ottoman, more wall décor, mirrored/acrylic serving tray, metallic pillows, and a less “beige” wall color. Oh and a gorgeous arm chair! I’ll be working on those during the next phase of my dining room facelift. :)

What do you think of my “new” dining room? Like? Love? Want to come over and have drinks with me?

If you have any questions about anything in my dining/office/living room area, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll reply to you in the comments as soon as I can.

But here are some questions I am anticipating and will just answer now:

• Where is the sofa from? Macy’s: Chloe Sofa in Granite
• What is the wall color? Sahara Desert Sand by Glidden
• Where are the chandeliers from? Home Depot: Maria Theresa Chandelier
• Where is the “C” table from? Pier 1’s Hayworth Collection

I LOVE FALL.

Even though here in South Texas it’s more like “less summer” than “true fall,” I love grabbing my bins full of pumpkins that I’ve been collecting the past 4 or so years. They’re mostly metallic and sparkly, and I adore each of them like I would a small child.

My lil’ pumpkins.

That sounded kinda dirty, my apologies.

But I also love curating and collecting more fall items every year, so needless to say, I’ve been scouring my fave websites to see what I want to nab this year. And I figured maybe my Monica Wants It readers would also like to get in on the fun, so I bring to you my top 10 frugal fall finds for the home that will give you a lot of bang for your buck for years to come.

I tried to keep them under $20 each with shipping/tax included, or under $10 if you can find them at a store near you.

And you may think it’s kind of early to have such a post, but trust me, if you snooze, you lose. Browse early, buy early, enjoy early.

1.) Fall Scent: Every fall home needs a signature scent. The one in my home used to be creamy pumpkin, but from 2011 until I die, it will now be cinnamon sugared donut by Bath & Body Works.

At $5 for a little jar of their home fragrance oil, this will last you for YEARS. I’ve had some little vials of scents for over 5 years and am still not done with the bottle. About 5 drops will scent your whole darn house, unless you live in a mansion, in which case, stop reading this list and invite me over for a cocktail or 4.

2.) Sparkly Pumpkins: People, the dollar store is your BFF. And like your BFF, you should visit and chat with her on the regular. If you did this, you’d know that Dollar Tree is rolling out their GOOD Halloween stuff already. If you go in October, you’ll end up with the vampire teeth candy that I am pretty sure is made of chalk, not sugar. They have a new addition this year that is actually kinda cute:

Glittery gourds! These would be great to incorporate on mantles or tablescapes. And unlike typical fold out décor (honeycomb baby shower centerpiece, anyone?) these don’t look tacky! $1 each at Dollar Tree.

3.) Shimmering Votive Holders: The great thing about this set is not only the gorgeousness of them, but it’s also the fact that if you want to leave these up into Christmas, New Year’s or Easter (don’t judge) they totally will look fine. Even better? Go halfsies with a friend, and you can get 6 stunning, shimmering votive holders for $10. If you can’t find anyone to go halfsies with, $20 at ZGallerie.

4.) Mercury Glass Pumpkin: I show you how to easily make one, but if DIY is not your thing, the absolute cheapest and most beautiful mercury glass pumpkin is $18 at Kirkland’s. I’ve seen this beauty in person, and she is swoon worthy. Print coupons (or show them the coupon on your smartphone) for even more savings.

5.) Acorn Vase Filler: It may seem silly to buy these, but I unsuccessfully attempted to DIY this last year and ended up with moldy acorns. This set of 54 acorns for $14.50 with free shipping from Pottery Barn is not too shabby. Spray paint them a metallic finish (perhaps half gold/half silver?) for a glitzy finish. Great for vases, candles, or simply scatter them on a table and don’t let squirrels in the house.

6.) Faux Dupioni Chair Wrap: These are so beautiful! Perfect for making your dining set look “new” again, plus if you choose a creamy neutral, it could be great for Thanksgiving/Christmas, too. From Grandin Road, one is $19 or you can get a pair for $29. I am thinking of buying a pair for the 2 head chairs of my dining set.

7.) Pumpkin Serving Dish: This is such a nice way to incorporate some décor when hosting a dinner party. Use it to hold chips, pumpkin fluff or whatever else you desire. At only $8.97 (currently) from Collections, Etc.

8.) Chenille Leaf Placemat: I think the pattern and colors are striking, which means a big impact for only $4 a place setting (on sale) from Kohl’s. I think I need a set of these.

9.) Pumpkin Tea Light Holder: I know, I know…I’m obsessed with mercury glass pumpkins. This one serves double duty, as décor and tea light holder, and is a decent size (6”) and only $10 from Yankee Candle. It’s online only, but luckily they offer flat $5 shipping on all orders under $100.

 

10.) Burlap Table Runner: I used to be an Etsy seller (still on a semi-permanent hiatus), so I really wanted to showcase a seller who makes beautiful products at affordable prices and is not a huge corporate store. This burlap runner is $10 from Handmade by Sam, and would look beautiful, rustic and chic on any table.

There you have it! Ten accessories for your home that won’t break the bank. If you have a find you’d love to share, please leave it in the comments for everyone to see or hop on over to my Facebook page.

What’s your favorite item on the list?

Also, I was thinking of doing something like this every-other-Monday (with a different them and featuring 5-10 curated items…) is that something you all would like or not really?

Finally.

This office & dining room is about as done as it can possibly get. Sure, I could stuff more accessories into it, and I could put more stuff on the walls.

BUT, for now, it’s reached the point where it is done.

Let’s take a look down memory lane and start back at February 2011 when my husband and I first started working on this beast of a room. The dimensions are roughly 15x30, and it’s kind of divided into 2 rooms/areas.

This is what it looked like with the previous owners stuff still in here.

Then we moved in October 2010, and I basically just put my crap in the cabinets and lived with that dark, dark, DARK hot mess until February 2011.

We took down the cabinets, and removed the wood paneling.

Lived in total chaos for a bit.

Drilled holes in all the cabinets for shiny chrome hardware using this template.

Tried this terrible kit, stripped all that paint off and just painted them the old fashioned way.

Then we stripped off the accent wallpaper. WHY??? Why do people use ugly wallpaper?

Painted the walls. As you can see, we planned on installing crown and chair rail, which explains the haphazard paint job.

I went nuts and painted the accent wall urbane bronze. Hated it. Changed it.

Changed the paint color from urbanze bronze to morning fog, and we installed new countertops we bought on clearance.

Installed crown and chair rail.

Plus, we got rid of the fugly floors and installed wide plank, hand scraped, dark cherry laminate flooring.

Got rid of ugly fixtures.

AND WE ARE DONE!!

It took us 16 months, about $3000 in materials (flooring, countertops, chandeliers, moulding, compound miter saw, jigsaw, nail gun, paint, accessories, hardware, sofa, curtains, etc.)

I’ll do a source list at the end of the post, but for now enjoy LOTS of pictures.

Won’t you come into my fabulous office and dining room?

 

I put these vases here because the under cabinet lighting is on top of each vase, so when it’s dark, the vase bounces off all these pretty designs on the walls/counters.

For the story about this chair, check out this post.

Pee Wee has a corner all to himself in here. :)

That map is a $4 thrift store find, and the Paris print is from Walmart and was $9.88.

I framed Restoration Hardware ads in $1 store frames for my “art”. That’s as close as it’s gonna get for me to have that very expensive chandelier in my home.

A LED tealight is used in both sconces. Ya know, to prevent a house fire.

Behind the chandelier print is a AV box thingy, which means eventually there will be a TV there. :-D

My overall goal was to have a neutral, metallic glam, relaxing kind of room. Sort of like if ZGallerie and Pottery Barn were to have a one night stand and have a baby… I did incorporate pops of blue, but should I take those out and do pops of pink or teal, it’d all work. I feel I’ve created a lovely, neutral room that I can change at any whim with colorful accessories and it’d still look wonderful.

Plus it has to function as a dining room and office, and it does both beautifully. I love that the sofa area provides extra seating for dinner parties.

I love it.

Now, I got most, if not all of the accessories on sale/clearance, so some may not be available anymore. If I did find it, it is linked in the source list below.

I know $3000 seems like a lot of money, but the bulk of that was the flooring ($600) and the Chloe sofa ($1000 delivered/with tax), and we had to buy some expensive tools ($250 compound miter saw) to get the job done, so if you take those out of the equation, it’s more like a $1300 makeover.

We did all the work ourselves, except that my BFF’s hubby helped with installing the 2nd chandelier since we didn’t have a light source there previously and he helped a ton with the crown moulding. The chandeliers have blue bulbs in them, and I know it seems odd, but they are actually Reveal bulbs which give off bright white light rather than the harsh yellow light that some chandelier bulbs give.

This is a room I am always proud to show off when folks come over, and I love lounging around watching episodes of Big Love on my tufted couch. And I get to write on these pages to all of you in style.

It is so me.

In. Love.

Other things I am planning on doing include adding more photos/art to the bare walls in the dining area, applying a stencil pattern to my gray accent wall, and adding those moulding rectangles below the chair rail. Oh and adding that TV, for sure.

Source List:
Paint color (main walls): Sahara Desert Sand by Glidden at Walmart

Paint color (accent wall): Morning Fog by Sherwin Williams

Cabinet color: Bright white in SPRED paint by Glidden, primed using Kilz oil based primer

Trim Color: High gloss bright white paint by Glidden at Walmart

Flooring: Krono-Swiss handscraped laminate flooring in dark cherry.

Sofa, Chloe sofa from Macy’s; floor lamp, Marshall’s; Rug, Overstock; Bench, Marshall’s; Ghost Chair, Overstock; Chandelier Art Print above desk, Ross; Curtains, World Market; Plates, JCPenney; Chargers, Walmart, Table linens, Target; Mirrors, Kirkland’s; Sconces, Ross; Blue Pillows, West Elm; Gold Pillow, Cushion Source; Beige Pillow, Target; Peacock Pillow, Marshall’s; Hardware, eBay; Picture Frames, Dollar Tree; Wedding Photo Frame, Target; Mercury Glass Vase, Marshall’s; Quatrefoil tray, Target; Squirrel, Walgreens; Chandeliers, Home Depot; Countertops, McCoy’s, but they also carry them at Lowe’s; Under cabinet lighting, Lowe’s.

Feel free to leave me any questions, etc. in the comments section!