Bob and Courtney have nothin’ on me.

Slowly but surely, Bravo has become my new favorite channel. I’ll fully admit that I watch all (yes, all) of the Real Housewives. I’m actually looking forward to the new one: Real Housewives of D.C. And then there’s Bethenny’s Getting Married? and Flippping Out. Goodness, I know I’m crazy, but I so love those shows! I can sit and watch Jeff Lewis for hours and I have no idea why.

Then this spring there was the new show Nine by Design. It follows designers/flippers Bob and Courtney Novogratz and their seven (holy crap, seven!) children. I love design shows, I love design blogs, I love design magazines and books. So it’s really no surprise that I would like this show too.

:: amazon.com ::

But Bob and Courtney have nothin’ on me. I mean, sure, they design and remodel multi-million dollars homes in NYC and have their own beautiful design book and fantastic show on Bravo, but still. They really aren’t doing anything different than I am.

Why are you laughing?

It’s like this. In one episode Courtney talked about how they loved to pair things that cost $100 with things that cost $100,000.

Courtney, dear, I’ve been doing that for years.

Ok, maybe for me it’s more like pairing something that cost $10 with something that cost $100, but the principle is still the same. Here are a few example for you:

• Blue table: Cheap. Garage sale find, can’t remember how much it was, but it was at a garage sale and used to be brick red until I spray painted it this fun blue.
• Rug: Cheap. From Wall’s Bargain Center in Oklahoma City. Cheap for a nice, heavy rug.
• White modern hutch: Cheap-ish. IKEA (so you know it wasn’t super expensive).
• Dining table: Cheap-ish. A farm table that the Golfer bought at an antique store that was going out of business.
• Chairs: Expensive. Pottery Barn (so those are one of the more expensive items in the room).
• Light fixture: Expensive. I bought this from Stray Dog Designs after seeing it in one of the magazines that I like (I think it was Domino.) Let’s just say it wasn’t cheap.
• Mirror: Cheap. Hobby Lobby for under $100 and then spray painted it a glossy chocolate brown.
• Art: Expensive. Was from my grandparents’ home and it originally came from an artist here in CA.

• Bed: Cheap. My mom bought this for me at a local antique store after I graduated from college. It used to be a creamy white until I spray painted it this glossy black. Yes, I like to spray paint things.
• Beside Table: Cheap-ish. I found this at Pottery Barn. It was a floor sample so it was sold at a discounted price.
• Lamp: Cheap. Target. Gotta love that place.
• Black frame: Cheap. IKEA. For the inside I used an old Life magazine that I had that was all about Princess Diana. I might regret cutting it up one day, but I don’t think so because I love the “art” that I created.
• Tweet pillow: Cheap from Etsy.
• Bedding and Curtains (that you can’t see): Expensive. All came from Pottery Barn. Not crazy expensive, but still.

Mostly because it makes for such a great story.