My Decorator: A Frugal Choice?

Amy Dacyczyn says it thus: Where we live has a marked effect on our sense of well-being. If we are happy in our home we have less need to leave it and spend money. As tightwads, how we feel about where we live is important.

So true. Unlike Amy, with the sense of neatness and order common to graphic designers, not to mention patience and a handy-streak, I remain a messy klutz,always yearning for beauty. I do live in a very pretty house, with high ceilings, tall windows, and old wood floors. That's 75%, if not more.

But the last bit always eluded me. I can almost, but not quite, get things the way I want. Once, when we visited my mother, I marveled at a pillow. How, I asked, did you find that fabric. It is perfect. Oh, Susan did it for me, was the reply. This scenario was repeated--with other pillows, a valance or two, and some upholstered stools. Susan has a color sense equal to any I have seen featured in glossy magazines.

Since my mother helped Susan leave the furniture store where she used to work, by recommending her to friends who needed home beautification, Susan is immensely grateful to my mother. That is why she is willing to give me three hours of her services for $250.00.

Does that seem like a lot? I don't make that much per hour, that's for sure. What do I get? I get an envelope filled with swatches, from which I can select and either order myself or have her send me yardage. I get some paint chips.

Even thinking about finding fabric and the right paint color makes me start to sweat. What would take me many hours that would most likely end in failure and remorse takes Susan perhaps 30 minutes.

With the rest of the time, she drew pictures of various things on print outs of the living room--showing me where to put things for maximum effect.

When she suggested fabric and paint for my kitchen/great room (how I loath that large ungainly space), the room was transformed. I never would have picked yellow bisque as a wall color--not liking yellow--but it is the perfect color. The fabrics are as beautiful in the space as the ones she picked for my mother.

Now my living room may stay a version of the color it is now--terracotta--or it may end up a blue--another color not on my radar. Here is my estimate of costs:

Susan: $250.00
paint: $40.00 (painting done by Mr. FS)
fabric: $200.00
sewing of several pillows and ottoman slipcover: $200.00
burlap drapes: $250.00
this and that: $200.00

Total: $1140.00.

That sounds like a lot for a frugal girl like me, but this is my treat for the year. I feel so lucky to have someone of her caliber work for so little. I know many people who hire decorators, and I never like what they do. I see lots of things I like in fancy magazines, but somehow I don't think Mario Buatta, the Prince of Chintz, would work for me.

Mario and Amy: As John Donne put it contraries meet in one.

Museum Memberships: Reciprocal Memberships, a Frugal Bonus

Back when I was an art-loving high school student, I joined the Museum of Modern Art. Later. I belonged to the Art Institute of Chicago. One good thing about joining museums--if you live close by--is that you tend to use the membership a lot. At least I did.

I haven't joined anything--except a Children's Museum--for a long time. Then--BINGO!--my one and only Groupon purchase was a membership to the Ogden Museum in New Orleans. The main draw was Ogden After Hours, which features performances on Thursday nights. I am embarrassed to say that we haven't made use of the membership yet. BUT WE WILL.

However, we will be going to San Antonio soon to attend a conference. We love San Antonio! I was exploring the museum situation. We will be there on a Thursday night, which is free night at the wonderful McNay Museum, which is in a beautiful house (now much augmented) in a beautiful setting.

Then--and I don't know how I thought of doing this--I checked the Ogden, to see if there were reciprocal memberships. BINGO once more! The Museum of Texan Cultures.

We've been to San Antonio numerous times and love it. If you are ever there, and are feeling poor, know that it has wonderful fast food, which will set you back about $5.00.

So, check your museum memberships. Often, you can get free admission to other museums. Frugal culture!

Do you belong to any museums?

Frugal Decor: Bedspring Chic

Every now and again, I noodle over to ruralintelligence, a blog or site or something that covers the Berkshires and environs. Thanks to Viktor Polatschek, a clarinet player with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, his niece--my mother--owns a little house on a lake near Tanglewood, home to the BSO in the summer.

While most of their articles deal with events pertaining to the uberartsy and/or uberwealthy--folk far above my ken--it's still fun to read. And they do often make a point of casting their eye upon the common folk.

Anyway, today I was noodling, when I came upon this: an article on folk art dealers. The proprietors of the Splendid Peasant now sell out of their home. I was wondering what the item over the fireplace was: it is a set of rusty bedsprings!

What an eye! What daring! What do you think?

By the way, my mother receives about $20.00/year in royalties from this:

Frugal Decor

I haven't written much about my treat for 2011: making my living room nicer. I have engaged the services of Susan Heller, a designer who owes her start in business to my mother. Because of her gratitude, she's making recommendations by email for a small hourly fee. I feel so lucky! This woman really knows what she's doing.

I will report back when I'm further along. Still, I love reading about thrifty beautification. Recently, the New York Times featured an article about Katrina patina: a couple (with the woman now a designer and shopkeeper) lost their house and rebuilt and refurnished thriftily. Love it!

There are pics of a plastic Dollar Store mirror, with the look of an antique. There are pictures of rooms filled with fabulous thrifty finds.

What often strikes me about the homes of designers is how often people make frugal choices for themselves and pricey choices for their clients. Like financial advisers, designers often charge based on a percentage of purchases: the more you spend, the more they make. I am lucky that Susan is charging me for only three hours of work. Of course, I have to do a lot of the work myself.

Back to designer choices. I noted, in the days when I was doing my kitchen, how often the homes of designers and architects featured Ikea cabinets. For clients, custom is often the order of the day.

Back to Katrina patina. The story links to the designer's wares on 1st Dibs. A rather pricey group of items. One item--now sold--is a painting by Amanda Stone Talley. Paintings by Talley run in the thousands. But a look at slide 5 shows a painting on a drop cloth from Lowe's done by the designer that looks a lot like a Talley painting.

I don't want to discuss the ethics of this painting. But note how thrifty practice is celebrated in the article. I was quite inspired by the story. In fact, it reinforces my belief that there is always a frugal solution for whatever it is you desire.

Any thoughts? Aesthetic or ethical?

Time and Money: Using Resources

I surprised myself the other day. I had to send a picture of some curtains to my adviser on such things. I didn't have curtain rods, so I bought some cheapies at Big Lots, even though I was pretty sure they were too skimpy. They WERE too skimpy. Nevertheless, I had Mr. FS put them up for the photo.

Now I can't return them. I will have to replace them. Big Lots is less than a mile from my house, in the frugal line up (grocery, Goodwill, Walgreens, Dollar Tree). I was there anyway. I didn't feel like driving in one direction to Penney's or the other to Bed Bath and Beyond. Each is within a few miles of my house, but the post-Katrina population boom means that those drives are stressful, plus, when I have a lot of choices, I spend too much time deciding. I estimate that each trip would have cost around 2 hours.

So I weighed two hours against $18.00 and decided that I would sacrifice the Big Lots curtain rods (via donation, of course!) and get better rods when I was doing shopping for other things in those areas.

How do you choose between time and money? Did I make a good choice?

Cleaning Out the Pantry: Mushu with Broccoli Slaw

I have been quite insulated from the rising food prices that are so much in the news, because I am ramping up my clean out the pantry project. Last week, we spent $12.00 on food, and I could have spent even less. In about three months I will start complaining about food prices.

One of the discretionary food items I bought was a pack of broccoli slaw, which I picked up from the REDUCED section. Mr. FS and I used to refer to this as USED FOOD. Most people use the slaw in the now ubiquitous Asian slaw recipe, which includes a pack of ramen noodles. You know the one: even if you've never made it, you've no doubt had it at a pot luck.

I like this recipe for an Asian-esque meal, which--fusion-style--also uses flour tortillas. The recipe is from Desperation Dinners.


Mindless Mu Shu Chicken

Makes 4 servings

Cook's note: You can substitute broccoli slaw for half of the cabbage coleslaw, if desired. If you can't find a 16-ounce bag of the coleslaw mix, use 16 ounces of fresh shredded cabbage.

5 teaspoons vegetable oil or peanut oil

1 bunch green onions (for 1 cup chopped)

1 large package (16 ounces) coleslaw mix (see Cook's note)

1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 to 3/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup sherry or white wine

1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic

2 teaspoons Asian (toasted) sesame oil

8 small (8-inch) flour tortillas

Hoisin sauce or plum sauce, to taste

Heat vegetable oil in an extra-deep 12-inch skillet over medium heat.

Slice the green onions, using all of the whites and enough of the tender green tops to make 1 cup. Immediately add the onions, coleslaw mix and mushrooms to the skillet. Increase the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently.

Meanwhile, cut the chicken through its width (the short way) into 1/4-inch-wide strips, adding to the skillet as you slice. Continue to stir and cook until the chicken is no longer pink, about 5 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch into the sherry in a small jar that has a lid. Shake well to combine.

When the chicken is done, shake the sherry mixture again, and add it to the skillet along with the soy sauce, garlic and sesame oil. Stir well. Cook until the mixture thickens slightly, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat.

Place the tortillas between two paper towels, and microwave, uncovered, until warmed through, about 1 minute.

To serve, spread hoisin or plum sauce on each tortilla. Divide chicken mixture over. Roll up, burrito style, and serve.

PER SERVING: 519 calories; 24 g protein; 63 g carbohydrates; 5 g fiber; 16 g fat (4 g saturated); 33 mg cholesterol; 1,190 mg sodium



I'm going to substitute for or leave out the chicken and various other things. This is a somewhat gimmicky recipe (and the book is filled with even more gimmicky recipes), but I like it a lot: it satisfies my Chinese-food-of-childhood cravings, which used to be satisfied at Kwong Ming in Wantagh. OMG: the restaurant still exists!

Gift Cards with Credit Card Points: Worth It? Too Much Trouble?

I just discovered that Chase Freedom Card occasionally lets you swap points earned for discounted gift cards. Some come with a 10% discount, others with 20%.

As it happens, I have a bunch of points which I planned to swap for good old cash. I feel rather pressured by gift cards. 20% is a lot, though, especially if (and only if) you were going to buy an item anyway. Here is the info.

I have almost enough points to get something I want from Pier1: a rattan stand in which I want to put fruit and veggies. Lands End also has a 20% discount and I JUST spent about $40.00 there for some luggage. You can also use Lands End gift cards at Sears, if you want to get a washer there.

I don't know how often Chase offers things like that. I mostly use a Cash Back AmEx. But I spend a few hundred dollars a year at Lands End, so waiting for those discounted gift cards may be the better deal.

Or is it too much trouble to even think about? What would you do?