Urban Home Love

For work not too long ago, I found myself once again at the Sherman Oaks Galleria Mall for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Fate was on my side, because the restaurant didn’t open for another hour. And right across from my favorite place to eat is now my favorite place to shop for home things.

So I helped myself to the store. Here’s a little tour of their current selections.

Why oh why isn’t there an Urban Home in Phoenix?! Beautiful, affordable looks for the home with which I am in love!

I loved these little fishies for bowls of candy or whatever. But probably candy at my house.

The store is easy for people to peruse because things are grouped according to color. If you love green in your home like me, then this section is rather appealing indeed.

And let me just say this. I purposely didn’t sit in this because I know they would have had to close the store to get me to leave it. And it was too big to fit on the airplane flight home, so I knew that it couldn’t come home with me.

Despite my greatest wishes that it could…

I am so excited for the awful summer months to come to a close. We have big plans this fall to use our outdoor patio furniture, and this store only helps get me even more tickled about that! Look at the lanterns hanging underneath the umbrella!

I love the texture of the wicker on these end chairs. Who says that chairs have to match to look good?

Maybe I love this store so much because they make it seem so effortless to create a beautiful room. I love this furniture because it looks like it’s straight out of the fifties…and I love me some mid-century modern goodness!

The combinations of old and new was so pretty. Here, a modern couch paired with a seemingly-ancient coffee table. Brilliant! And I love the colorful vases on top.

Sectionals can be massive, but I really love the compact size of this guy. Just because you own a sectional doesn’t mean that it has to take over your house. I also like this hammered-top round table, too.

I’m trying to think of things in this store that I don’t like…and failing!

I loved the old-fashioned vases or candleholders or whatever they are. You could use them for anything! They are probably candy holders. I love the color, but I also love that they look like antiques.

This may have been what gave me the idea to overhaul our bathroom this past month. A really tall mirror over a vanity just makes sense. I’m not a huge fan on this Asian-inspired table, but don’t tell the store that I said that.

Once again, a neat mirror over a vanity. I like the mirror, but I really like the pretty blue vases on the shelf to the right. Surprise!

The entire store is packed with goodies, and I love the prices. It’s like they combined all of my favorite things and then put good stickers on them.

Please come to Phoenix, Urban Home. Please? Pretty please?

Speaking of cool accessories, look at these nifty little typewriters? What a fun idea…and they would make staging a bookcase or console table a cinch. Again with an old antique-y feel that I love!

If you need to decorate your kitchen, this is also the place. Look at all of those bright, beautiful colors to put on a table! The selection of placemats and table linens in this store is overwhelming. I also love the giant vases displayed on top.

It’s almost like Urban Home was made for OCD-inspired people like myself. You can color-code all of your kitchen tools? Sweet! (I don’t, just so you know).

I really loved this mirror. I bet if I wait long enough, Homegoods will have something similar in no time.

This is further proof that my desire to have green chairs instead of the brown leather ones that we bought two years ago would still be in style. Despite what everyone else thought. See, everyone else?

Though it is somewhat impractical, I really love the idea of a big, comfy bench (with a back, of course!) as two of the chairs to a dining set. The only concern that I have is how difficult it would be to get in and out. Maybe that would be a good option for kids so I could trap them in for their meals?!

More fun accessories, including some nocturnal ones.

And if I didn’t already have oodles of nightstands and end tables in my house, these definitely would have come home with me today. I love the rustic yet modern look. What a beautiful idea!

Somewhere, somehow, Hubby breathes a sigh of relief.

The escalator to the second floor (two floors of this goodness!) gave a great view of lots that Urban Home has to offer. Seriously, when can I move in?

This is the mirror and rug section, apparently. Round, exotic mirrors are really the thing right now. It just so happens that I have three weird ones hanging on my wall. I’m glad that these guys could finally join my mirror party.

These subtle and modern accessories were pretty. Really, you could decorate in any style from this place. These were sleek and elegant, and I like them. But not enough to bring them home.

I’m neither sleek or elegant. And I’m OK with that.

But I really loved these bookends and probably should have brought them home!

Again with a compact sectional sofa. I love how cozy all of the staged rooms are in this place. And the round ottoman doubling as a coffee table is a great way to use a piece twice.

Again, an eclectic collection of furniture that just works so well together! None of us ever needs to fear about things “matching” properly again, because they apparently don’t even have to be close to look awesome!

They even have affordable pleather headboards that would really help make a guest room complete. I’ve been wanting to make another headboard lately…

But it would probably look more like this. Fun curves and a bright pop of color! Isn’t this pretty? I could totally make something like this.

I think that this room was made just for me with the mid-century loving going on. I love the shape and style of the sofa, chair, and coffee table. Right up my alley, wouldn’t you say?

Can you imagine the neat light coming from these at night with a candle lit up inside? I almost bought a few, just to try that neatness theory at home. They could also house candy, probably. And that always lights me up!

I actually did buy something today! We love the green ottoman so much from my last visit, that I came in hoping to find another one. For $19, you really can’t beat it. So I brought this little guy home, and now I don’t have to share with Hubby when we both need to put our feet up!

That’s what we refer to around here as a win-win. Especially because I got the last one in the store.

Not everything is affordable in this store…they have clearance sections where things are exceedingly affordable! I loved these lamps that were looking for a new home. At about $30 a piece and coming with a shade, these were a great steal! And so pretty!

This is a wide shot of part of the upstairs section of this store, just to give you an idea of how much fun can be had in here. I love colored glass vases (and just scored some in New Jersey this past weekend for work), so these round ones right in front are certainly pretty.

But not bright enough for me, since I have a thing for pops of color, yo.

Last but certainly not least, I fell in love with these beautiful tea light candle holders. You could group these guys together for a centerpiece like they did here, or spread the love and have them in different areas throughout the house to unite a space. I thought they were so pretty for fall, too, which I’m told has arrived.

I don’t believe it, since we will still be triple digits this week.

So there you have it! Another visit to one of the best stores in the west. But I am truly hoping that they come a little further east for me…

What did you like? Do you like these home store tours, or do they lack enough airplanes to wet your whistle?

Store Crashing–Target Edition

I like Target. Some people prefer to doll things up by calling it Tar-Jay. Target is one of my favorite stores in the world to wander regardless of the pronunciation preference.

I say wander because I, amazingly enough, rarely buy anything here. Sure, they have candy that doesn’t seem to exist in any other stores, and that is what usually ends up being on my shopping list if I’m anywhere near a Target.

But I love going here for inspiration or fun finds. What? You do, too?! Well, then. Let me show you what was found yesterday when I crashed their home department!

Even though these aren’t the colors that normally draw me in, I love these fun summer melamine dishes. Oddly enough, I am digging the coral a little more than the orange, but I love them both together. I also really like the tall hammered orange tumblers for some texture on a table.

They are just bright, happy, and scream, “Summer Party!” And I’m down with that.

If I went with this color scheme, which I never would because of the severe lack of blue and green, then I would definitely go with this plate. If there was green in this guy, look out!

Glad I dodged that bullet, though. At $3.99 a plate, it wouldn’t be cheap to outfit an entire table with these melamine beauties!

I hope Hubby reads this so he knows that I actually do possess self-control when it comes to my purchases. I have admired these outdoor eating sets for months and haven’t done a thing about it. If you see him, tell him that I don’t spend money quite as recklessly as I could. Or wish I could.

So I would put water in the tall tumblers, then a special fun dinner drink in these. My preferred poison is homemade strawberry lemonade. Is there anything better than strawberry seeds obstructing the path while you’re trying to get a big old chug of lemonade?

I didn’t think so.

You know that I love blue, but did you also know that I adore little things? And these little blue dipping bowls fit both bills! I also love the wood serving tray underneath to add some texture.

Now we’re talking, Colors. And this is where I could easily get into lots of trouble, since these are my greens and blues, yo! I love all of these fun, festive dishes for outdoor eating.

Now, if it would simply drop below 113 degrees, we could actually use our outdoor space!

Hey, Fall is only fourteen months away. Can’t wait!

At first I didn’t know what these were. I thought someone had put a lamp over a sculpture in the store, just for kicks and giggles. But, upon closer inspection, I discovered that they really were lamps! I’m not much of a fan and would certainly never get one for my house. But for some reason, they cracked me up. So I thought you would enjoy seeing them, too.

Target had a weird display in the works, and these were part of it. Honestly, I think they are gearing up for college starting in a few months. Because, you know, June is the perfect time to start putting out school year items!

Lately, Target has been color-coding their home decorating department. I love it. You can directly visit the section of color found in your home and go to town. Once again, I didn’t go to town on any of these sections. If you see Hubby, let him know how fiscally responsible I’m being in Target today!

I love those tall plum glass vases, but luckily they wouldn’t match in my house. This is a rare instance where spray paint would not make things better.

So simple. So pretty. I liked this lamp and immediately imagined Christmas-themed stuff inside. Christmas is less than six months away, just in case you didn’t know. Wahooooo!

Because the lamp is so simple, you could really add some flare with a neat and colorful lamp shade.

This was in a impractical-for-my-house red frame, but I love the picture inside. Since amusement parks make me so happy, the appeal is obvious. I like even more that it looks like such an old park, like straight out of the 1940s! (It’s a graaaaaand night, for siiiiiingiiiiing). If I could get rid of the glare on the glass, I would love to frame this on a gallery wall in my home.

More things from the red section. I feel badly for the color-blind customers!

This pillow was so pretty, and I loved the dimension. If it was green or blue, we may have had some trouble on our hands. I am on a search for some new couch pillows of my own, but red simply wouldn’t work in my house.

But don’t you love the up-close detail of the pillow? Sometimes, for rare fleeting moments of my life, I wish that I could sew and owned all of the equipment to do such.

Luckily for me and everyone else, the moment passes before I can act on it. So I will simply admire pretty sewn stuff and move along the line.

I don’t think that I’m patient enough to enjoy sewing. And I hate when machines are smarter than me!

I loved these decorative shape thing-a-ma-bobs, though I have no way to justify the price for each one. Really? $8 for that little guy? This is great proof of why I rarely make purchases in this, one of my favorite stores. If I fall in love with something here, it eventually appears at TJ Maxx. And for about a third of the price of these shelves.

These would probably end up spray-painted if I was the proud owner. But probably knew that already, huh?

Now we’re talking! I still have a few bare walls in my house (shocking, I know), and these would be perfect to create a fun gallery wall. I could see twenty or thirty of them randomly placed with cool family pictures inside.

I love that they come in three shades of my favorite color. And, at $5.99 for a three-pack, they are less than two bucks a piece. Not too shabby. I almost pulled the trigger on these but didn’t.

 

Target always has a wonderful selection of fake plants. If you knew my track record with real plants, you would completely understand why their version of fakes make me so happy. I tend to kill plants just by looking at them any more. I think fake will be the way I am for the rest of my life!

In plants, you guys! In plants! Fake plants!

Unlike lots of other stores, these flowers look like they were just clipped out of your unsuspecting neighbor’s flower garden. I love their authenticity and variety.

And if I allowed myself to spend $9 a stem, these puppies would have come home with me. Even though my house isn’t exactly pink, these are soft and pretty and looked so real!

We would probably develop an indoor bee problem if these were ours.

So I’ve never been afraid of color, and I am somewhat of a fan of organizing things. Here combines those two passions with colorful storage bins for any room! Even the orange is so cool. I was debating between orange and yellow for my accent color in the house way back when.

Yellow won out, obviously, because I have a giant yellow dresser in my living room. But orange was a very close second. I love orange.

Parker, I instantly thought of you when I saw this writer kit. How cool would it be to have this in your writing tools?

And if these hadn’t been $10, I would have snatched them up in a heartbeat. I don’t know if I’m cool enough to get away with serving people iced dentures in their drinks, but I would love the chance to find out.

Target had a bunch of little eclectic things like this. Again, I think they are gearing up for the college kids who will be returning in August.

Does that mean I am not acting my age if I love these?!

In my most difficult move of the day, I passed by this clearance rack without purchasing a single thing. What’s wrong with me?! These giant lanterns were on sale for just over $4, and I have been wanting lots of lanterns to hang among the outdoor patio lighting that we presently have. Down from $12, I really wish I could justify owning about a dozen of these guys.

Yes, I would spray paint them. Did you really need to ask?

You know, because June is the best time to start getting rid of your outdoor furniture section in the store. I wouldn’t mind if Christmas trees appeared here next, but some people would probably complain about that.

This was my favorite find of the day for Hubby! I took this picture to show him last night. I wanted approval to get it for him, since he has lots of Scout camping planned over the next few months. But he didn’t get the joke! I had to explain the shirt to him! Which cracked me up even more. Wouldn’t this be an awesome t-shirt to own?

So that concludes this episode of Target Crashing. What have you seen oot and aboot lately that you love? Why is Target one of your favorite places to “shop?”