Holiday Window Shopping: HomeSense

It's that time of year again -- HomeSense is twinkling with beautiful things for the holidays!

After a quick stop into Starbucks for my Peppermint Misto, I took a moment for myself and wandered the aisles of HomeSense. I felt a sense of calm surrounded by the beauty of all that glows during the holiday season. They truly have some wonderful and unique decor for great prices.

Here are a few things I came across...

[add a little bling to your tree with these beautiful ornaments]

[add these sparkling trees to a mantle or group them together on a table as a centrepiece]

[welcome your guests with holiday table decor]

Read more about my HomeSense finds here, here, here, here and here.

Freshening Up A Bedroom

Looking at Bella's bedroom one day, I decided it needed a little help -- a little rearranging and something to add a splash of colour to the room. The double bed, a hand-me-down from my grandmother, had been pushed up against the wall for long enough (she'll learn not to roll off both sides of the bed, right?). It was time for a change.

I noticed in a Bouclair flyer a few weeks ago that a Kids Collection would be coming out soon. I showed Bella her options of what could be her new bedding and daringly let my three year old pick which one she liked best.

Here are the results of a Bouclair bedding make-over. Bella and I had so much fun putting it together!

Thanks Bouclair for bringing some colour to my little girl's room!

I strolled through Bouclair and came home with this:



And ended up with this:



I had this green lamp leftover from Lucas' baby room so when Bella came into our lives, I decided to add a little sparkle, and a little pink:



I've always wanted a chandelier in a bedroom or bathroom. Bella's room was the perfect place to add a little something special to dress up the ceiling. I found this chandelier at Canadian Tire on sale for $49.99:



Who says art has to be expensive? I bought these frames from HomeSense for $10 each. I found some pictures of roses from my garden and made some prints. Voila!:



One summer, Lucas and I decided to have some fun taking silly pictures of ourselves. I framed the pictures and they now hang in the hallway upstairs. Last year, Bella and I had our own silly fun:



This Ikea Smadal bookcase was the perfect addition to house Bella's collection of books and accessories:



I've been thinking for awhile now what to put above Bella's bed, when I came across these - wall stickers. And at $12.99, who could pass up this deal! It was really simple to apply the flowers to the wall, just peel and stick. They are easy to remove too:








One happy girl!

HomeSense and Winners: the rule of thumb

Ok, so you've heard me go on and on about HomeSense, but have I told you about Winners? Well, let me tell you. It's just as wonderful as HomeSense but it also sells brand name clothes, shoes, purses, accessories, toys and a bunch of other stuff!

I stopped by Winners to get Bella some underwear the other day. Oh wait, did I tell you? Yes, the day has come, Bella is transitioning out of diapers and into underwear. Happy happy, joy joy! Let's all do the happy dance because seriously, I've been waiting for six years for this day to come and that day is almost here. Another $35 a month out of the landfills (yes, I know, I could have used cloth diapers) and into my pocket. Wahoo!

Back to my Winners story. I went there the other day and while looking for underwear I came across these candle holders. They were sparkling at me saying buy me, so I did even though I don't really have a place to put them. The rule of thumb when shopping at Winners and HomeSense -- If you see it, buy it because it will likely be gone when you go back. You can always return it later.



So, off I go to pay for them, the cashier oooing and ahhhing over my purchase. I get to my car and realize I left without getting the one thing I went there for, underwear. Doh!

After running back in to get the underwear I thought, HomeSense is in the same plaza so why not just take a little peek. And out I came with this puppy, again sparkling at me saying buy me and since I went with the rule of thumb, out I came with this sunburst circle mirror.



Now to find a spot for it! Oh, and notice where the price tag is? Do you see it? RIGHT ON THE FRONT OF THE MIRROR, grrr! Off to get the Goo Gone.



And did you happen to see the price? Regular $140 for $69.99 -- sweet deal!

A Sticky Situation

It's no secret that one of my favourite stores is HomeSense (but if you haven't heard, you can read about it here, here, here, here and here). They have some great items for a fraction of the price than you would find them somewhere else. Take this lamp for example. I found it at HomeSense for $59.99 CDN (includes the shade) while Pottery Barn sells one very similar for $80 US for the base and $40+ US for the shade.

There's just one thing that irks me about HomeSense -- their price tags. I don't mean the ones that hang from the lamps by those plastic string-like doohickey things that you can easily snip off with a pair of scissors but rather the ones that are stuck on the items like glue. I've never seen anything like them. They always leave a sticky mess which ends up with me busting out the nail polish remover or the Goo Gone to get rid of the stickiness.

The sticker isn't even in one piece -- there is a detailed circle pattern throughout so instead of peeling the sticker off all at once you have to pick at it until your nails have peeled right along with it.

Not only that, most times they manage to pick the worst spot ever to put the sticker like right on the front glass of a picture frame...grrr! What is with that? Ok, I get it. Maybe it will deter people from picking up the frame, having the frame slip out of their hand and crash on the ground, but if someone is thinking of buying something, then in all likelihood, they're going to pick the item up to inspect it anyway.


I know I'm not the only one who is frustrated with these sticky price tags. I often hear others ranting about them as I'm wandering the aisles or standing in line.

HomeSense, you have a good thing going. Please make your sticky price tags a good thing too! My nails will thank you, and so will I.