this & that

Ok....so maybe I'm cheating a little bit...this post probably falls under February's goal: be a better wife, (since making a house a home is a very wifey thing to do...right?).  But I'm excited to see our home come together!  And now that my show is up, I'll have more time to devote to really getting our pad in tip-top shape.  The problem is never finding things I like, it's finding things we like that are under our budget.

So far we've collected (and agreed on):
-the couch (our first non-hand-me-down furniture purchase!)
-the clock (brandon gifted this to me and I'm in love!)
-the coffee table with hair-pin legs (I dreamed it, he built it)
-the art (most of it is thrifted, inherited, or made by yours truly.  The only photos we have up are of ancestors we've never met and we intend to keep it that way.  Oh, and I'm still trying to convince Brandon that the embroideries I've collected over the years are way cool, he calls it "granny art" since most are of flowers).

What I wouldn't mind adding:
-a big ol' rug (our current one is white and a shedder....any tips on where to find great rugs under $100?)
-a chair (our current one is a DI find and a total clasher with the couch.  it's gotta go!)
-a plant!  I've been reading up on houseplants lately, and I think I've found the perfect one: a fiddle leaf fig (try saying that ten times fast!)

We pride ourselves in being thrifty and cheap but still managing to pull off the look we want.  I've found it's a balance between wants and needs.  Every once in a full moon we let our wants go hog wild and do something crazy like purchase a couch that no other bums have ever sat on (we felt so adult!) but more often than not it's making what we have work (granny art), being nifty (coffee table), and using excuses like birthdays to bid on that prized piece that will be treasured forever (clock).

How do you navigate the wants vs. the needs?  And do you have any places you suggest looking for affordable home goods? I'm not much of a web-browser so I'd love any tips!

p.s. I'll share photos once more progress is made :)