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How To Spot CHEAP HOME DECOR (+ 6 Things To Avoid When Shopping For Your Home)
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Dec 13, 2024
We all want a great deal on home decor, but cheap-looking and poorly constructed decor is another matter. Here's how to spot cheap home decor and the 6 things you should avoid when shopping for your home. Read the full blog post: "How To Spot Cheap Home Decor" - https://diannedecor.com/blog/advice-tips/decorating-on-a-budget/how-to-spot-cheap-home-decor/ ✨| FREE DOWNLOAD |✨ The Big List - 101 Places To Shop Home Decor Online https://diannedecor.com/the-big-list | MY WEBSITE | https://diannedecor.com | SOCIAL MEDIA | https://instagram.com/dianne_decor https://pinterest.com/diannedecor | MUSIC CREDITS | Setsuna Fever *Disclaimer: Some links in this description are affiliate links. I may receive a commission if you make a purchase through my links.
View Video Transcript
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hi it's Lindsay Diane from Diane
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decor.com today let's talk about how to
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spot cheap home decor and The Traps that
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you'll want to avoid to make sure that
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you're getting a really good deal when
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you're shopping for your home when
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you're decorating your home on a budget
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it can be really easy to fall into the
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Trap of buying cheap home decor and
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frankly things that look cheap just
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downgrade your space and end up being a
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waste of money altogether so where you
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may have thought that you got a really
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good deal on an item you might wind up
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wishing you'd never bought it in the
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first place let's talk about what makes
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cheap home decor look so bad there are
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usually two culprits for this paint and
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plastic materials that are used to
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imitate wood or metal are the two
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biggest culprits and cheap home decor
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the combination of paint and Plastics
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are used to create index expensive home
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decor pieces of just about every kind so
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let's go ahead and talk about the seven
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traps that you want to avoid to make
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sure that you're getting a really good
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deal and not just getting a cheap
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looking piece of plastic basically
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number one steer clear of bad imitations
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resin imitations are just about
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everywhere you see them in little
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elephant figurines that you might put on
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your tabletop you see them in pots and
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planters for your outdoor space or for
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your indoor plants
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these are often painted to make them
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look like they are a different material
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for example you may really love a clay
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or terracotta pot or some sort of other
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Stone vessel and you see one at Dollar
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General or big lots and it's really
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cheap it's you know 19.99 or 16.99 odds
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are that is not odds are that is an
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imitation you're not going to find any
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real clay or real pottery
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at that price you're going to find a
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plastic vessel or pot that has been
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painted to make it look like that when
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you have those kind of stone pots
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usually it's a textured spray paint
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that's going over a plastic pot or if
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you're looking for something that is
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like um okay the whiskey barrel Planters
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those have been really popular for like
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the last five maybe even 10 years lots
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of people like using those in their
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garden they're expensive to to get a
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real wooden whiskey barrel planter is at
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least 60 or 70 dollars but you see
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imitations all over the place cheap ones
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in fact I bought three from Aldi myself
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but again just know what you're getting
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right I can buy it from Aldine knowing
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that it's plastic and knowing that it's
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fake for 12.99 but I'm not gonna pay
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79.99 for it now it's easy to spot these
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things when you are shopping in person
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you can pick it up and easily see and
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feel like hey this is not real wood or
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this is not as heavy as this metal thing
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should be it's really easy to spot it
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when you're in person and have it in
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your hands but when you're shopping
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online you have to put in a little bit
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more effort to make sure that you don't
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miss those little details and end up
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with something you know really cheap
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when you thought you were buying the
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real thing one of the things that you
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want to look at is in the product
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description look for what that material
3:50
is and also look at the weight of the
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item those two things are going to be
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indicators of how good of a quality a
4:00
piece is in the product description
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online look for words like res in
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composite epoxy acrylic all of these are
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code for plastic regarding the weight of
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an item okay this is a big tell for
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whether or not a item that you see
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online is the material that you think it
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is for instance if you're looking at
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what you think are some like a nice
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solid
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bookends for your bookcase and they're
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measured in ounces instead of pounds
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that's going to be a plastic imitation
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things that aren't out are like a single
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key or a paper clip or a pencil eraser
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those are things that are an ounce now
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and we all know pounds even the cheap if
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you get like a cheap dumbbell set the
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lightest one is two pounds you know what
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that feels like compared to a paper clip
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so you know that if your item is saying
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let's say those bookends that you think
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are wood they say that they're five
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ounces that's a piece of plastic
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probably Hollow plastic at that versus
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if it were wood solid wood these would
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be at least 1.2 1.4 pounds a piece so
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weight is a really good indicator of the
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material that you're getting and just
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know what you're paying for number two
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is antiqued Decor antique Decor are
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Decor pieces that are given the illusion
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of age through some means usually paint
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you'll most often see this noted in a
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product description as the antiqued look
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this means that it's been made to look
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like it's old antique or vintage and
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remember we see this with metal just as
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often as we see it with wood instead of
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creating faux brush Strokes or to
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imitate wood grain or white washing
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something with chalk paint we also see
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patinaed or faux patinaed plastic to
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make it look like it is an aged metal if
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you ever get an old Penny and it's kind
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of start to turn that greenish color
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that's the patina that is often imitated
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to make a metal appear as though it's
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older or vintage we saw a whole lot of
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this in the heydays of modern Farmhouse
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everything was kind of white washed and
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distressed made to look like it was from
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an old farmhouse when in actuality this
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was just a clever paint job done with
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chalk paint the price alone is a good
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indicator of whether or not an item is
6:57
actually an antique if you're looking at
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a piece of furniture that's less than
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say three hundred dollars it's probably
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not antique or vintage you may be
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getting a deal in a actual antique item
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if you're buying directly from a seller
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like at a yard sale or at an estate sale
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but if you're shopping online for
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something that's less than three hundred
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dollars it's odds are it's not anti seek
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or vintage one place you can find a
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really good deal on furniture that is
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antique or vintage Beyond a yard sale or
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an estate sale is going to be the thrift
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stores so Goodwill Salvation Army
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consignment shops those are places where
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you're going to find some good deals on
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Vintage items it's going to be hard to
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find them but you can find them if you
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know for sure that like you don't want
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to spend weeks and weeks and weeks
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hunting things down go to a consignment
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shop they're the ones that are gonna one
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know what they have but they're also
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going to charge you a little bit more
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right if you're at Goodwill they don't
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know what they're looking at they're
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just taking donations and they're trying
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to make money for that organization
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they're not necessarily worried about
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you know antique roadshow style stuff
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they're not sifting through things like
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that they sift through name brand things
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for their boutiques but as far as
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vintage antique furniture goes
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no one's paying that close of attention
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so if you know what you're looking for
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and you don't mind the hunt go there
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you're going to get a cheaper price
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there by far but if you are really in a
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hurry and you're really trying to put
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your room together and you don't want to
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mess around go to a consignment shop if
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they don't have what you are looking for
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at that moment let them know they'll put
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your name on a list and when something
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comes into that shop they will
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definitely call you so that's the way to
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go about getting a more inexpensive
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piece of furniture that is antique or
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vintage number three is plastic rugs I
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almost fell into this trap When shopping
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on Amazon a couple of years ago I was
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looking for a really cheap outdoor rug
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for my patio I didn't want to spend more
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than a hundred dollars on it and I came
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across this rug that I really loved and
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it had great reviews and it wasn't until
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I actually bothered to read some of the
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reviews and just you know not just look
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at the star rating right I actually
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started reading one of the reviews and
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it said expensive piece of plastic
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and it was it wasn't until then that I
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realized that this is rug is not a
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regular woven rug it was a plastic rug
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and I had completely breezed by it in
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the product description and it was there
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it said it but I just didn't see it I
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was so taken with the photos and the
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fact that it had all of these uh you
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know rave reviews that I totally just
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missed it and that can definitely happen
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and especially with rugs so be careful a
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plastic rug is fine for outdoors but you
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wouldn't want to use one inside your
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home and a lot of the times they'll list
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them as like indoor outdoor rugs so just
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be careful if you see a really really
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great deal for a rug look very carefully
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at the materials used to make that item
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number four is two small Furniture this
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is a trap that you definitely want to
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avoid this is one of those things that's
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used to kind of save money on on the
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item this can happen when the furniture
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is a little bit too low to the ground or
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just not wide enough for a regular adult
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look at the measurements of all of your
10:52
pieces before you purchase them their
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overall dimensions it's usually a page
10:57
in the product and the product images
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you'll see the little Dimensions drawn
11:02
out for you and just compare it to
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something that you already have in your
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house that you know is a good fit and a
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good size because you don't want to
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order something spend two hours putting
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it together only to find that it's teeny
11:17
tiny number five is low quality faux fur
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do not buy faux fur anything from Dollar
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Tree Dollar General any of those like
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really really discounted stores they use
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the cheapest possible materials in the
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end you're going to end up with
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something that is matted and rough to
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the touch and it may happen within a
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week's time now if you see a cheap
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little faux fur rug at Five Below and
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you want to like throw it in your
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Nursery or something like that just to
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have something soft under your feet
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that's one thing but I wouldn't buy full
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throw blankets that you're going to put
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on your bed and try to cuddle with and
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they're just going to get all you know
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gross and Scratchy and I certainly
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wouldn't go for any pillowcases that are
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going to be front and center on my couch
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for everyone to see and touch and feel
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luckily faux fur is easy to find online
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and you can see the reviews from other
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buyers that's the best way that I've
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found to go about buying online you'll
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get better prices you'll see a larger
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selection and people will tell you in
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the comments and in the reviews whether
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or not it's soft and whether or not it
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holds up number six is canvas prints
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versus canvas paintings
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be careful when you're buying big wall
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art and you think you're getting a
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really really good deal on it you're
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probably buying a canvas print and not a
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canvas painting
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now canvas paintings can be quite pricey
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canvas prints are cheap cheap cheap
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cheap
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but The Sweet Spot is to find one of
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those hybrids and this is a print that
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they've gone back and painted some brush
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Strokes or added some sort of
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embellishment or texture on top of the
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print to give it a little bit more
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Dimension you see these a lot at like
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home goods and TJ Maxx and Marshalls
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finding a deal on a canvas painting
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that's what you want to go for or like I
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said go for the hybrid versions that you
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see a lot at at home or Home Goods
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that's it for this video I hope you
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found it helpful please don't forget to
13:40
visit me at Diane decor.com I share lots
13:44
more tips on shopping on a budget and
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where to find inexpensive home decor and
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where to get really great deals
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decorating your home thank you so much
13:53
much for watching and I'll see you next
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time bye
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