Pillow Problems and The Rental That Almost Was

So...we were ThisClose to moving into a new whole-house rental last week.  We were literally reviewing the lease terms and getting ready to give the broker the OK to run a hard credit check when we hit a major snag - no pets.  Trust me when I say, we confirmed and re-confirmed several times with the person who showed us the house (and the ad said pets were allowed!) that pets were allowed.  Suddenly when reviewing the template lease with the landlord, we were told this was not the case.  To say we were majorly frustrated would be an understatement.  I'm still mourning our loss - it was a fully detached home about three blocks from our current apartment with things like a driveway! washer/dryer! dishwasher! backyard area with grass and sun! finished basement! and obviously more space.  We really can't complain about our current rental - it is a great size for Brooklyn standards, although all of our closets are jam-packed even after the great Purge of 2013.  And it did come about by accident; I was really only doing a little craisglist searching for driveway rentals in our neighborhood (which is common in our area) and happened upon the ad for the house rental.  We looked at it on a whim and fell in love with the potential we saw.  We crunched the numbers and did our due diligence and thought renting a house would be a good compromise for us - I want a home and space and would prefer to leave the city, while Tom would prefer to stay.  I knew my urge to leave could be satiated in this home for a good 3 - 5 years and we could still continue to save (though not quite at the same pace) for our Someday Home. But alas, it was not meant to be - the saying "too good to be true" comes to mind...

I bring all of this up for a few reasons.  First being, I just need to vent about it while I'm still getting over it, so if you are still reading, thank you, thank you, I really do appreciate it. Let's just say I was being super dramatic last week and created a whole pinterest board for the apartment then deleted it. I'm sure anyone that has felt a home (or anything else they wanted) slip through their fingers can understand.

Second being while we contemplated the idea of leaving the apartment we've been living in for almost six years, I realized how much I really will miss it when we leave. Which also made me re-realize I've never properly documented most of the rooms in the apartment on this here blog so I want to tackle that task soon(ish).

The third is to bring up the fact that I now have a pillow problem. It is all I want to look at on websites suddenly. I always keep my eye out for good accent pillows when I'm shopping at Century 21 or when I make the trek out to Staten Island to visit Homegoods, but I never pull the trigger because I always think I'll find something I like more, or for less money, or I could sew it (if I ever actually sewed) myself for less, etc., etc.  So a few weeks back I ended up picking up a pillow and a pillow case on sale and Crate and Barrel as a bit of retail therapy after learning about another home I was dreaming about someday owning being sold to another person. It opened the purchasing flood gates. Then - oh happy day - H&M debuted their Home line on their website and kicked it off with some great sales. Less than an hour of browsing later, I had eight pillow cases on my way to my house for less than $90 - which is a STEAL considering they are more like $20 - $50 a piece at Homegoods and C&B!  And now my couch looks like this:

1 (not the same but close) & 2

The velvet covers were only $4 a piece! I tried to vary the textures with the knit and linen with gold fabrics as well.

3 & 4

Mmm gold.

5

I feel like this room is so much happier with all of this added color!

I have three more that I don't have a need for yet, but I am patiently waiting for our Someday Home to bust 'em out. Normally I would've put all those pillows into my online basket, and never would've actually purchased them.  But I am so very glad that I did - to the point that I may actually allow myself to replace a few other bigger ticket items in the apartment soon, especially now that I know we are back to our original plan of staying here for another 1 - 3 years.  I've tweaked things here and there over the years, but after going through all of the emotions of nearly getting the house rental with Tom, I think even he is feeling a little more willing to spend some more money on items that we will be able to take with us (like replacing his dresser that has had a broken drawer for over two years).

That fur one is actually a souvenir from our honeymoon in South Africa.  Poor Impala - but you look so nice on our couch!

Have you been stocking up on anything like pillows lately? Have you checked out H&Ms new Home line yet?  Now that I've ripped the seal on purchasing pillows, I don't know if I'll be able to stop!

PS: I just noticed Crate and Barrel is having an online pillow and throw sale now through August 28!  I haven't been paid or perked from either store - just thought I'd pass along the savings!