I Heart Pottery Barn

I have for many years been in love with Pottery Barn. I have wandered the stores. I have gathered the paint chips. I have collected the catalogs, flipping longingly through the pages, wondering how I could somehow recreate the look in my home(s). My home(s) that does/did not have the hardwood floors, the 12 foot ceilings, the interesting nooks, the pedestal sinks; basically having nothing that is essential to the PB "look". Most importantly, the bank account.

PB is too rich for my blood. I love the look, but not the price tag.

Several years ago, I uncharacteristicly got into a last-seconds bidding war on ebay for a PBKids quilt for Pinkerbelle's new big-girl bed. I ended up paying a little more than I wanted to, but I won!

She has used it in four different houses, but recently I passed our down comforter on to her when we replaced it with a larger one, and I wanted a duvet cover for her. I spent a couple months looking. I was going to make it out of sheets if need be, but couldn't even find sheets that were cute enough at a good enough price.

Just before Christmas I was in Goodwill, and took a quick look through the linens. I missed it the first time, but on my second pass, there it was. Something pretty...it was an actual duvet cover...and it was the right size (f/q)...and linens were 25% off that day! Awesome! It ended up being $15. That was a good price, even for Goodwill. A steal! But, when I got it home and looked for the tag with the washing instructions, I discovered...the authentic Pottery Barn tag! Be still my heart! Now I love it even more!

Her room is unfinished, so I'm not going to show the whole bed, but here is the cover, in all its heavy cotton/linen loveliness.


Yesterday I was at the same Goodwill and they had two of these Pottery Barn Kids chairs for $9 each. They were pink. I really thought about it hard, really hard, but in the end, I didn't get them. We have quite a few child-size chairs still, and I just didn't need them. I remember them being in the catalog, but it must have been a while ago, because the one and only mention of them that I could find online was this ad on the Denver craigslist. If you're in the Denver area, and quick, she's selling the whole set of 4 chairs and a table.

Chapter 2: one PB item that I have been coveting for the last 4 or 5 years is the PB Grand Phone. I originally wanted the wall-mounted one in red, to create this phone center that appeared in the March 2005 issue of Southern Living.

I did do the chalkboard paint, and even the red shelf above it, but had to use a plain, modern black phone. That was three houses ago, and this is a photo of a photo. You can't even see the phone, but it's next to the calendar.

They don't carry the red anymore, and I later decided I wanted the metal finish anyway. But I did not want to pay $79 for it. So for months I have been regularly watching ebay for a good deal. They often sell for nearly as much as brand new. Last week, though, I stumbled upon a just-listed buy-it-now EUC (excellent used condition) for $24.99. I snatched it up before someone else could. It's heavy, so shipping was $13, but that's still pretty good.

It arrived the other day, and I love it! The handset feels substantial, it rings like a real phone (not the modern techno screechy sound), and, let's face it, it just looks cool! And, in fact, I think I'm probably a little more cool now myself because of it.

What is not cool is that it just took me over an hour to write this post!

Julia at Hooked on Houses is have a Hooked on Fridays blog party...check it out!