Ok, I lied a little.

I didn’t feel like being only a baby blogger. No, no, no. Well, that wasn’t the only reason I considered leaving this blog. Do you know what it’s like to work on a wordpress site all day then come over here and write and edit a blog? So tired of the blue/gray scheme here. And the way the buttons change shape depending on what browser you use. And just about everything else, really.

So Chad’s going through his interviews for two separate companies this week. It’s frightening how quickly the first is giving him an answer… on Monday! If it’s for the location that we would prefer (Atlanta) and the benefits are better than company 2, our choice is made.

Except… well, we had decided that we didn’t want to buy a house. Honestly, we really have no right buying a house. We’re barely out of college, about to have a kid, I have student loans and a job that isn’t considered “mortgage-worthy.” So what does this mean? We’re looking for rental houses.

Have you seen rental houses? They suck! I don’t know if it’s the time of year or what, but it’s been hard finding one that we like. Depending on where we go, we need to put a deposit down by the end of next month… that really puts the time crunch on. And I am getting more, and more, and more frustrated!

the art of craigslist.

Not going to fib to all of you out there in blog land – lately, I’ve been slacking in my love for thrifting. I have amazing places near my house in Athens and in Charleston that sell for super cheap, and craigslist hasn’t totally failed me either. However, for the rest of you, I’m going to help you out with a few decor terms so you can properly label your crap.

1. Vintage: There are very few vintage things that are plastic. For now, let’s settle for stuff made between 1950-1975 that is clean or at least able to be cleaned.
2. Colors: Olive and sage are not interchangeable. Neither are periwinkle and blue, peach and beige, or hot pink and OMG MY EYES pink. Please consult a color wheel.
3. Antique: This is usually code these days for crappy, antique-style Queen Anne reproductions you bought in 1992 when it was cool. Please stop trying to sell that crap, no one wants it.
4. Like New: Person who was trying to sell the 20-year old “well cared for, like new” couches today, take note – like new means that I could conceivably find it in a store right now, and I wouldn’t know which furniture was yours and the store floor model. Floral couches cannot be found in stores right now. I don’t care how nice they are, if you let Fluffy on them, that’s not the best cared for couch. Neither is one that you ate on, one you slept on, or anything else.
5. Or Best Offer: You know you’re not going to get a better offer. Save the bytes it takes to type that.
6. Pictures: Put pics in post. Don’t offer to send them via phone. Clean up your house before you take the pic. Clean up your house before someone shows up for the furniture.
7. Recently Reupholstered: You should have gone for more modern taste when you had that thing reupholstered a year ago. It still looks like it’s from 1993. (Side note: Where the hell did you find that fabric?)
8. Chewed/Scratched: Detail it. Show us pictures. Please let us know what did that (if it was a rodent, don’t sell it).
9. Price: Price it correctly. No rug is going to fetch half of what it sold for, unless it’s never been used. Just because the lamps are useful doesn’t mean they’re stylish. And please, if you know you have an Eames lounger, put it up for auction – not for $3400 to the wrong audience.
10. Stains: If there are stains, explain them. Period.

And there you go. Got anything to add? Let me know – @thesarahmorgan on twitter.

costly.

There are two not-so-secrets about me:

1. I love design blogs, and mostly anything about design.
2. I enjoy reading about consumer behavior, because I like learning about people. (Also, you can thank my market researcher husband for this)

Well, don’t I love it when two things like this come together. This blog from ECAB is a bit old (and so is the book – it’s already been replaced by another pop culture-y style consumer behavior book, I’m sure) but now that I’m in my own place with my own stuff, I can appreciate the thought behind it.

I’ve reupholstered (badly) my own chair, repainted my tables, spray-paint frames and objects and generally use what I’ve got, but I do have cheap “just for now” furniture. Part of my problem is that I’m impatient: I don’t like to wait for what I want and hunt for it by going to Goodwill/ReStore/Salvation Army/antique stores, I want my room to be finished. And therein lies my problem – once it’s finished, I am looking for something else to do – I have a feeling that for the rest of my life, my house WILL be a work in progress. And I don’t have a clue what kind of shelf I want for above the couch or headboard for the bed. Personally, I’m leaning towards not worrying about it, since we won’t be here but for six more months.

I am going to try my hardest to stick by this promise she makes, too – despite the fact that I could live as close as Atlanta or as far as Europe – because I think it’s important to not buy crap. I actually bought one of my IKEA tables from Goodwill… just as I saw the matching one again there, two weeks ago. Crap is not sustainable, it’s boring, it’s not unique and it’s not sturdy – crap is crap. And, I’m joining her in subscribing to the idea that quality still exists, and I only want to support quality, even if it’s something I make myself.