THE BEAUTY TIPS: A Few Home Updates From Target

Tar-jay has done it again. Well, technically I have done it again. I should know better than to look through the home section at Target and expect to leave empty-handed. I can always find a little something. It's actually kind of ridiculous how much we have in our home that is from Target. Many of my absolute favorite things are from there.

I definitely didn't expect to find 2 (well technically 3) things that have been on my wish list for a very long time.
Do you guys do that? Make tons of lists? I do. I kind of have a list-making obsession. One list I have for home stuff. Sort of like a more long-term list of things that I want to keep my eyes open for. If you've been reading my recent posts, you may have seen me mention our foyer rug quite a bit. Or I should say rugs. I swear, it's different in every post. I've switched the rugs around in there more times than I can count. Mostly because it's a super high-traffic area (right at the bottom of our stairs) so it takes a very specific type of rug to actually work there. Waylon is the main issue. It either gets bunched and curled up (because he crashes into it and pushes off of it at the bottom of the stairs) non-slip rug pad and all, or matted looking because of the constant vacuuming (he sheds like crazy). So it takes a particular type of rug to work there. Check out my most recent rug post here.

So I needed something large (but not too large), something that wouldn't slide around, something that would hold up well, and something that actually looked nice.
Kind of a tall order. Oh and let's not forget how tough it is to actually find affordable larger rugs in the first place. I wasn't actively searching for one. Mostly because I've had zero luck. So I figured I'd just make do with what I had (which wasn't working very well) for a while until I eventually came across something that would work.

So Brad and I were at Target (I think shopping for pretty boring things like toilet paper and lightbulbs), and we passed through the rug aisle on the way to the home accessories (because I've always got to check it out to make sure I don't miss anything fab), and this baby was there...

It's called the Nate Berkus Arrowhead rug (5'x7') and was $149.99 (although it's on sale now, so I think I'm going to see if I can get a price adjustment in the next few days).

The size is perfect.

It's a wool/jute rug and feels like it will hold up really well in the space. You can even flip it over for a different look (it's the opposite colors on the back). The look is right, the material is right, and best of all, it's Waylon-friendly.

Because of the rougher texture, I think it's going to hold up really well. Because it is wool/jute, it's a little scratchy. So I definitely wouldn't recommend this in a living area or an area where kids would be playing on the floor or where you'd want a softer feel. However, in an entryway, it's pretty perfect.

As I mentioned before, Waylon's shedding forces us to vacuum daily. No joke. Black rugs are usually not conducive to light-colored pet hair, but I love how this one disguises it well.
This pic below is the rug right after being vacuumed. It has a natural, wooly texture with different lighter-colored fibers sort of woven throughout.
So even if there was some stray pet hair (or hundred), you wouldn't notice it.

I just can't get over how great it works here and for the size, I think I got a super great deal.

K, one more shot then we'll get on with the rest of my finds.

This one shows another point I forgot to mention... It ties in really well with the rug in the adjacent living room/my office. That was another difficulty in finding a rug. I didn't want one that was too plain, but I knew that it needed to sort of complement the neighboring rug that was so close by. This one doesn't compete at all. I just can't get over what a lucky find this was. The other rug is from Rugs USA.

So the next few things have been on my long-term list for, well, a long time. A few years ago, I was on the hunt for black lamp shades with gold lining on the inside to go with the lamps in the family room. Well I ended up finding a medium sized one from Target with silver lining, but no luck with the gold. Unless I wanted to pay an arm and a leg and order them from some specialty website.

So I think I audibly squealed or made some sort of embarrassing sound when I saw these right after finding the rug on the same Target trip. Best. day. ever.