Sometimes I think I have a problem, and sometimes I know I do. Here’s my issue du jour: retroactive shopping. After I buy things, I keep on shopping for the same (better?) things. My mania reaches fever pitch when I make major purchases. Case in point: after we bought a house I trolled the mls for MONTHS worried that a better house might pop up… it didn’t, and I felt all justified and vindicated in our mega sweet buy. But what if the most amazing house in the world had popped up? That’s just setting oneself up for disaster.
Anyway, know what I can’t stop looking at? Curtains. That’s right — I already bought some. But I want more.
Simple yellow with invisible tiebacks.
Pinch pleat with oversized rustic rod.
High contrast burgundy taffeta (burgundy is baaaccckkk).
Greigey violet matched to wall color with uber skinny brass rods… I die.
Nick Olsen shock of cobalt in a neutral room with punchy accents.
More Nick Olsen, this time he does those curtains up righteous. Ball fringe with matching tie backs!
Joe Nye super ballsy pattenered curtains and matching cornice.
Golden showers… with balls.
But no new curtains today. What I do need are some roman shades. I’m thinking of something like this for the nursery:
Anyone have a good but cheap source for custom roman shades? I just need plain fabric with a blackout lining. My sweet MIL can sew the ribbon trim on.
That’s all for today, folks. I have family in town so I’ll be on and off the computer, but I promise to frantically check your comments for golden shopping nuggets of wisdom.
Related posts:
I DO THIS. For good or ill, we put an offer on our house in February and didn’t close ’till September, because it was a short sale. So I had perfectly legitimate reasons to check the listings EVERY DAY (no, I do not exaggerate) in the interim, because the deal might not go through. Not one house came up in that time in the neighborhood I was stalking (nor anything even good in about six counties), so I got to feel like I made two responsible decisions – the offer on our house, and looking for fallbacks just in case. I think, by analogy, since you’re still going to buy double-height curtains someday, you could similarly say you still need to be educating yourself about the market…for expensive purchases, I pre-shop six months to two years. (And I’d like to think my results justify this. I’ve had enough people hear the price tags on my little treasures with naked envy. Not that my goal is for other people to be unhappy.)
But then I bought a dining room table on craigslist recently, after not getting several that I inquired about and was pretty attached to. And so I re-shopped for weeks. Blessedly, I found nothing that was better at a better price, but I was setting myself up for some serious heartbreak, and I should know better. I like my table. It must end there.
(I think I do it because I get horrified at myself for spending so much money – even though I know certain items are always expensive and I get pretty darn good deals – and I need to know I’m as happy with what I’ve got as I could possibly be, and couldn’t have spent a penny less. But sometimes there might be a [slightly] better deal, and that doesn’t mean I made a bad decision. I KNOW this. But I do it anyway.)
So, you’re not alone, is what I’m saying. Also, is there therapy for this?
We are twinsies, here! Despite my previous capitalist manifesto of a post, I am a super penny pincher. To wit, yesterday I spent 30 minutes in toys r us looking for internet coupons and haggling with customer service so I could get a discount on a gift my stepfather bought for Ike…
What it really boils down to is that I hate to spend money, but I like things. Thus the eternal shopping drama.
And yes, we need therapy.
Let’s make that triplets, vs twinsies. It’s a bad case of design OCD, which I also have. Things tend to rotate through my house because I find something better.
Also, you said “Golden showers with balls”. Not something I EVER thought I’d read in a design blog. Nicely done.
I totally do this. 2 years in at my dreamy home, and I still check the mls every couple of months, just cause, well, you never know.
I know you didn’t make a golden shower reference.
I do this with clothes too…especially when you are shopping for an event, like a wedding. But I think it comes from settling or buying place holders (even when you pretend they are a permanent settle). I’d like to think that when I install my insane Zuber/Gracie wall paper I will never look back or troll ebay for discounted rolls.
And no–there is no cheap place for custom romans. Other than craiglist seamstresses, and semi-custom at all the places you already looked for curtains….
Hit up some of the local Austinites and ask them who they use. My local shop does plain romans for pretty darn cheap. Definitely like those for the nursery.
Have fun with the fam!!
I think the shopping is natural, though I’d say its a sign your aren’t quite happy with the current situation. A nasty side effect for us perfectionists.
Erin,
I check MLS everyday. Everyday. It is a sickness, I know. The problem is that I have moved so often to new cities that it is a habit. I cannot wrap my head around the idea that I can grow roots… do I want to grow roots? Probably not. As for the current town I am living in… I have bought and lived in three homes. In your town Austin, I bought and sold two homes.
Let me put my thinking cap on about roman shades in Austin. Might still have something in my rolodex.
All of us DC readers obviously have the same compulsions. I, too, do this with everything. Clothes, Shoes, curtains, rugs…everything. My pile of returns grows a little bit each week.
On the edge of my chair for your big revealz!
windows by melissa on etsy does custom window treatments. They are not cheap but are not too expensive.
I have buyers remorse on just about everything.
Thanks for the shade links!
And I think I just expect perfection… Is that so wrong?
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
Erin, you should win an award for your blog post titles. They are always fantastic.
I am a freak about curtains! To me, they are like jewelry in a room and they have to be perfect. I recently bought some cheap silk curtains from JCP and sewed my own tassel fringe on and I couldn’t be happier with them! Take your time though, they are a big decision and can be $$$!
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