Home & Garden Blog » Decorating

Let’s review this week in Smarter Home & Garden Blog, in case you missed it!

Well first of all its Easter Sunday Week for all you Bunny lovers or religious folks!

Monday started the week off with a bang for everyone who enjoys the green ale! Check out this week’s funny photo of the week that is both frightening and festive. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Great Deals are few and far between, don’t miss this 16 piece discount set from Sango.com...

Let the new spring breeze sweep through your house with discount wood plantation shutters...

Can you believe that these salty egg holders are completely biodegradable, edible and help keep your eggs fresh and non-smelly! I couldn’t either, check out this great design concept…

Last but certainly not least, browse the adorable collection of discount Easter themed napkins, guest towels, tea sets and more at our Easter Deal of the Week!

Easter Sunday is right around the corner, take advantage of this Great Sale on Easter Decor from Wrapables.com! Whether the holiday holds religious sentiment, or you simply enjoy hunting for painted eggs, these Easter Decorations are a steal!

Cottontail Embroidered Cocktail Napkins (Set of 4)

Was: $11.95 on Sale: $8.99

Floating Mini Bunny Candles (Set of 20)

Was: $9.95 on Sale: $7.99

Cottontail Embroidered Guest Towel (set of 2)

Was: $14.95 on Sale: $11.99

Cottontail Salt & Pepper Shakers

Was: $9.95 on Sale: $7.99

Leaves and Grass Tea for One Set

Was: $21.95 on Sale: $16.99

You should HOP to these savings! Happy Easter Everyone!

(to shop or purchase any of these items, simply click on the links)

The weather is warming, enjoy that spring breeze through beautiful wood plantation shutters. The beauty of plantation shutters are they allow the air to circulate through your home, yet offer ample shade in the event of too much sunshine. Not to mention they are beautiful accessories to any home decor setting and are much easier to dust than vertical blinds or horizontal blinds.

However, upon discount shopping for wood plantation shutters I had no idea how expensive they are! Which is why I decided to write a post about these great low priced wood plantation shutters from Blinds.com. Premium Wood Plantation Shutters start with select basswood and other hardwoods. Each shutter is then crafted by hand and given a smooth finish – producing brilliant surfaces that emphasize soft central shades. The compact wood grain provides for long lasting durability and the lighter wood allows for flexibility in panel sizes.

This particular model is one of Blinds.com best sellers! For good reason, a 16×20 Premium shutter costs only: $61.00!

Plus take advantage of the coupon code: 1020050 and take $10 Off any purchases of $150 or more!

To shop or purchase the Premium Wood Plantation Shutters, Click here!

Earlier this week I received a gift from my friend Karla because she knows how much I love candles! I am quite particular about my candle selection, I use them all around the house. I do not like the ones that emit aggressive scents nor do I like the ones that do not burn clean and leave a gooey mess at the bottom of the jar. Fellow candle lovers know this is a sign of poor quality, lord only knows what you have just burned and exposed your body and house too! Once you start using quality candles, you never look back…

Well she discovered this awesome brand called Black & Light Candles and sent me a couple:

Here they are in all their glory, gracing my lovely bed stand. First things first, I’m all about packaging. I don’t care who you are, you take the same quality item, wrap one lovingly in tissue paper and an artful box and take the other and wrap it in butcher paper, well I’m reaching for the pretty one. Call me fickle, packaging is a girls best friend!

Good packaging tells me this merchant cares about quality, customer satisfaction and style! That said, look at the classy packaging that Black & Light candles come in…

The candles arrived in these beautiful boxes, that are completely re-usable! Mine are currently housing my vast collection of costume jewelry. Plus they didn’t bombard it with sticky logos and banners that don’t peel off (I hate that..) and on the inside of the boxes is a quote from the lovely Anne Frank:

Makes you want to seize the day and all that huh?

Here’s why these candles rock:

• Once lit, the candle literally glowed! Hard to describe but awesome. The entire pillar emanated a lovely glow from tip to tail. Normally candles only emit a light from the top, near the flame, I don’t know how they constructed these candles but they GLOW! Super cool.
• Completely Scent FREE! Burns clean, pure and scentless! No headaches, no cheesy pineapples or fruit cornucopia scents drifting through your bathroom and hallways.
• They are beautiful, I can see them highlighting a variety of home decor settings. Plus, they have a wide selection of styles and patterns to choose from, so have at it.

Honestly, I can’t stop gushing about them! Don’t take my word for it, see for yourself…you’ll thank me, I know it!

To shop or browse the Black & Light Candle Company, Click here!

This year Easter Sunday is on March 23rd! Whether you celebrate the day for religious reasons or just to give your kids an opportunity to decorate and hunt for lovely Easter eggs, I have found some awesome Easter decorations that will compliment your festivities.

Check out these discount Easter decorations:

1. Easter Train

This adorable Easter Train will be the exclusive decorative piece to your Easter Buffet table or chugging along on your mantel next to your Easter bunny figurines and assorted Easter decor. Brought to you by the Oriental Trading Company this 3 piece set cost: $17.95!

To purchase the Easter Train, click here.

2. Plastic Easter Eggs

Easter Eggs are a “must have” at any Easter festivity. You can purchase the chocolate eggs, or decorate real eggs, but I think filling plastic Easter Eggs with little toys or small candy is a great idea. However there have been a few years when the real eggs that were decorated were not found during the hunt, fast forward a few months, and let’s just say the result and the smell is not pretty. Plus, with the chocolate variety the kiddos get all hyped up on sugar and the afternoon can drag on forever.

Price: $4.95 per dozen (each egg contains a small toy and sticker)

To purchase Jumbo Plastic Easter Eggs with Toy, click here.

3. Bunny Magnet Kit

Adorable little craft kit to keep the kiddos busy and entertained.

Price: $3.95

(click on image or link to purchase the Bunny Magnet Craft Kit)

4. Easter Berry Tree

This decorative Easter tree is wonderfully versatile, adorn it’s branches with Easter decor and when Easter is over, feel free to fill it’s branches with up coming Holiday decorations. Made of metal with a wire spiral of styro-berries, the Easter tree comes apart for easy storage.

Price $7.99

(To purchase the Easter Tree, click on link or image above)

I will continue to post more great Easter Decor as I find them, stay tuned!

Ever wanted to be a Geisha? Does the thought of being ceremoniously wrapped in layer upon layer of exquisite silk and tightly bounded in a silk kimono sound divine? Well, I do!

It’s one of my better dreams, I love koi fish, cherry blossoms, Samurai, all of it! So the next progressive step to make my fantasy life a reality is to begin purchasing Japanese themed home decor.

I have always wanted to purchase a room divider. There are hundreds of styles, colors and materials available and I feel they are excellent way to utilize space in studio apartment living.

My personal pick is the Morning Crimson Shoji Screen Room Divider! (product image featured above)

A fine black finish, large pane shoji screen, with a lovely Japanese brush art rendering of a cherry tree in bloom, printed on the front of the shades. Crafted from durable, lightweight Scandinavian Spruce, using Asian style mortise & tenon joinery, the shade is strong, fiber reinforced, pressed pulp rice paper; which allows diffused light, yet provides complete privacy. Lacquered brass, two-way hinges mean you can bend the panels in either direction.

Best of all, the room divider is currently on SALE! Was $201.99 Now $154.99!

Also, Modabode offers FREE SHIPPING!

To purchase the Morning Crimson Shoji Screen Room Divider, CLICK HERE.

To shop hundreds of discount room dividers in assorted fabrics, styles and textiles, CLICK HERE.

Me and my friend Denise at Geisha House, We show sliver of wrist to entice! - Ha!

So here I sat, drumming my thumbs waiting for inspiration to strike, or for a particular product to jump out at me to inspire my magical posting skills (that was funny just typing it) and I came across this nifty pair of Frangipani Frog ceramic vases from Novica.

Crafty little frogs sneak a peak from under the frangipani leaves that form these ceramic vases. Designed by Putu Oka Mahendra who was born in the Tabanan regency of Bali. Putu Oka Mahendra whimsical approach to his art results in an endearing and elegant design.

You can purchase this pair of original art worthy Frangipani Frog Ceramic Vases for only $27.95!

To purchase or shop for these discount ceramic vases, click here. Or click on any of the article links or images!

To shop for more deep discounts on all Home Decor, click here.

What can I say, I have a love jones right now. So I was thinking of some good ideas for Valentine’s Day besides or in addition too, getting your loved one: flowers, chocolate or candy.

So I thought it would be sweet if you maybe made breakfast in bed! Extra love points if you made the pancakes, heart-shaped! Women love details (seriously, we do) and its been my experience that it’s all the “little” attempts at chivalry that we remember best. For example, the pancakes might taste like poop, but the heart details and the effort will brand a memory for eternity.

Heart Pancake Molds -Set of 6 : Only costs $7.98 at Lillian Vernon (click on image or this link to purchase)

My second idea was for maybe younger, newer couples. You could cook a homemade dinner and end it with a sloppy but adorable heart-shaped cake in her or his favorite flavor. Plus, feel free to spice up the dinner with flavored heart-shaped Jello shots, maybe by the end of the meal you can wear the chocolate from the heart cake in lieu of eating it! Hey, I’m just saying…

My point is this second plan is not for the faint of heart and these contrived holidays are only as good as you want them to be!

Martellato Uniflex Heart Mold: Only costs $14.98 at Instawares, LLC (click on image or this link to purchase)

Martellato Jelliflex Heart Mold: Costs $48.97 at Instawares, LLC (click on image or this link to purchase)

For deep discounts and tons of free coupons check out: Best Valentine’s Day Discounts & Coupons

Whether you are rooting for the New England Patriots or the New York Giants, the one issue both sides can agree with is throwing one hell of a Super Bowl Party!

I’m going to keep this nice and simple, you can save money and time with this featured Super Bowl Party Pack. It only costs $19.95 and includes the following items:

• 8 super big 103/4″ party plates
• 8 14 oz. cups
• 16 luncheon napkins
• 24 pc. red cutlery set
• 1 turquoise plastic table cover
• 1 ice blue 81 ft. streamer
• 1 red 81 ft. streamer
• 12 red latex balloons
• 12 white latex balloons
• 1 pkg. of white confetti
• 1 pkg. of blue confetti

Great deal right? If you bought all these items individually it would cost much more than 20 bucks.

To purchase the Super Bowl XLII Basic Party Pack, click here.

To shop for more discount Super Bowl Party supplies, click here.

Super Bowl Party Planning Tips and Entertaining Ideas

Now if you do have the time, creativity and the patience, check out these Super Bowl Party ideas and Entertaining Tips.

Super Bowl Snack Table - Create a custom Super Bowl Snack table that is sure to impress your guests. (see picture for results)

How to Plan Your Super Bowl Party - Tips for planning your Super Bowl Party including decorating ideas, food suggestions and activities, from your Entertaining Guide.

Super Bowl Cake - create a custom made Super Bowl Cake from scratch. This article contains step by step instructions, materials needed and photos.

Join one women’s quest (Astrelle) to turn Trash into Treasure at Apartment Therapy, Los Angeles.

Take your tunes to the shower, the kitchen sink, to the beach with tear drop, water resistant speakers that connect to your iPod or MP3 speakers. Read more about it at 2ModernDesign Talk Blog…

Check out the Organic Furniture with a Twist post on Blinkdecor.Features environmentally friendly furnishings and linens, their lighting selection is especially fun and original. It includes a twisted vine floor lamp made from old jungle vines and a chandelier made from reclaimed French Oak wine barrels.

This week in Smarter Home and Garden Blog:

Apple-Shaped Rattan Baskets - Take a bite out of these apples! Use them to store office supplies, napkins, whatever your heart desires.

Let Dine Without Whine help you plan nutritious and delicious meals for your whole family! Learn more by reading the “Dine Without Whine!“post.

If you do not possess the time nor the patience to hand select your sheets, you can shop online and select a “bed in a bag”! Read more about the great deals being offered at JCPenney online shopping store…

Comment on the Photo of the Week! “Hey Buddy the Erasures Won’t Erase the Smell!”

Rain, Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day! Check out the Ceramic Umbrella Stand to house all those wet umbrellas this season…

Bedroom Furniture Deal of the Day! West Elm is has marked down their entire Narrow Leg Storage Collection, save up to $300 dollars on some pieces!