Always Add Color!

 

This is one of a pair of lamps in our living room.  Although popular sentiment is that matching is out, we have a set, and our living room table and two end tables are also a set.  A very nice local furniture store had merchandise we'd coveted for ages but could not afford.  It eventually went out of business, and we purchased the tables, lamp, a Modern Scandi chair and ottoman on clearance.  We spent enough to make me choke at first, but it turned out to be a great value.

Ten years later, and I found myself having to make the difficult decision on what color to use in our renovated kitchen.  When we updated the kitchen, we ended up painting the dining and living rooms.  That meant three colors. Being color-blind, I am very unsure of my ability to match hues. Luckily, I have an app on my phone that allows me to identify them.  It has been a huge help!

The lamps in the living room blend three different colors and they are unusual -- but they work.  That gave me the idea of picking three colors from them.  The combination turned out great.  While it's been a challenge to find fabric and accessories to go with the violet dining room walls, I am still not sorry I chose the color because it is fabulous.

I made a trip to Joanne today to check out how the clearance sale is going.  While the mark-downs are not great, merchandise is moving.  One of the things I did buy, was clearance decor fabric.  It was 60% off -- which is what I usually look for when I want material for projects.  Even though the deal today wasn't better than what I usually purchased, the fact that there will no longer be any store to shop, I decided not to wait for a further mark-down because the stock was going to be gone forever.  This ended up being a little more than three yards and it will be used for pillow covers.  The couch upholstery is in great shape because it is always covered.  The pillows have some wear, but mostly I want to cover them because they are a little scratchy, a few of them are pilling, and I want them to better match the new color scheme.  Unfortunately, I was not able to score thread on clearance as it was all gone.  But this material shouldn't look out of place with the bold colors on the wall.

I went to a garage sale a few years ago. It was late on Sunday and there was still a lot of stuff.  The guy told me I could have whatever clothes I could carry out in my arms for ten bucks. The pink/violet sweater cardigan is cashmere, St. John. It had a few small holes that were easy to fix.  The shirt I am wearing was part of the armload too.  In all, I walked away with over a dozen pieces.  A real haul!

The aurora borealis pieces are from an estate sale.  There were many pieces, all marked $20 each.  By the last day, none had sold. I had spied them on Saturday and thought that might be the case.  I ended up getting five pieces for ten bucks.  The pearl pendant was a clearance buy from Target for a few dollars.  One thing I buy on-line when on sale, are sterling silver chains. I believe the original chain for this necklace was broken, but I like the replacement better anyway!  The black spinel ring was a clearance buy on-line. It originally sold for $60, but I believe I paid $18.  And of course, my wedding set is sterling silver and moissanite.  The pearls are on a stretch bracelet and were a birthday present from my bestie.

As for the pants and boots, both are thrifted too.  Because that is mostly all I wear.  The boots were just a couple of bucks, and I wasn't sure I would wear them all that much -- but it turns out I wear them a lot!  If I can recall it correctly, they were only a couple of dollars.

Dinner was salmon topped with a citrus and pecan crust. I love pecans on salmon and made the citrus glaze myself.  The carrots and fish were baked in the air fryer.  The carrots were tossed in citrus, apricot glaze with sesame oil -- plus a few shavings of fennel.  For wine, it was white rioja.  The fish hadn't yet gone up in price from tariffs, so I decided it was best to buy it while it was still not affected.  Salmon at Aldi is eight and a half dollars per pound, which is not cheap. I stock up if they have it marked half off, but that hasn't happened in ages. Salmon is a healthy fish that I would like to eat more, but it is pricey. I do hope that it won't get so expensive that it becomes unreasonable to buy.

But who the F knows???  At least it's Friday, so I hope everyone has something good in store for the weekend!!!