Wardrobe Additions & How to Keep Boots from Losing Their Shape and Falling Over

Work continues on the decks but they are getting close now to being done. The basement door-staining project inside has been a nail biter. I gave my painters a stained piece of trim (left over from when the hardwood flooring was installed in the living room) so they would have something for matching the door stain to the surrounding judges paneling. The first stain they tried on the door wasn’t remotely close–like night and day.

Next, they had the paint store do a custom match. After three coats, it’s starting to get close. If another coat doesn’t work, they may have to add a touch of brown or something to the stain. Who knew matching stain could be so difficult! Be so glad when that part is done. Hoping when they apply the sealer at the end, it doesn’t change the color. I’ll share the progress (thus far) for Met Monday so you can get an idea of how things are turning out, even though they aren’t quite finished yet.

The items I recently ordered from L.L. Bean arrived yesterday and something happened that almost never happens when I order several items at once: I liked every single thing that came and it all fits!

The item I was most concerned about was this cute color-block tunic. I was delighted to find it’s even prettier in person than it is online. I love the length (covers the tush) and look awesome with jeans or jeggings. The color-block design is very flattering to the figure.

I like the neckline, too. I don’t like round-neck sweaters or t-shirts normally, but this one doesn’t hug the neck. The neck is wider so it’s more relaxed and looks really nice worn with or without a shirt underneath.

I especially love the zippers on the sides. They aren’t very long, just a few inches up the side, but they look really cute and give some play to how the sweater lays over the hips. Definitely a keeper! It’s available here: Cotton Fisherman Sweater.

 

I’ve never had any of L.L. Bean’s flannel shirts but decided to give them a try since they’ve been on sale. Love both of these and the green “Princess Mary”color is again, much prettier in person than depicted at the L.L. Bean website. I think the lights the L.L. Bean photographers use when taking photos make the colors a lot brighter in their photos, because the green is really nice in person and not near as loud as it appears online.

The flannel is nice and heavy, feels wonderful! I should have known it would feel great since I have their flannel sheets and love them. You’ll find both of these colors (Princess Mary and Navy Tartan) along with several other colors available here: Flannel Shirts.

 

The item I was most excited about getting was this fair isle sweater and it did not disappoint.

Fair Isle Sweater

 

The navy and green colors are gorgeous and it feels like it would keep you warm at the North Pole! I like it so much, I’m going to start a Fair Isle collection and try to add one Fair Isle sweater to my winter wardrobe each year.

BTW, I find that L.L. Bean sweaters are pretty generously cut. Normally I buy sweaters in size Medium at Talbots so I can wear them over shirts and not have them be at all snug. A medium at L.L. Bean swallows me up, something I learned after I ordered my first sweater there this past spring. So smalls are plenty big, more like everyone else’s medium. There’s still plenty of room for a shirt underneath this fair isle sweater. You’ll find it available here: Fair Isle Sweater.

 

Remember the lined corduroy jacket I ordered?

Cordurory Jacket, Lined

It is beyond cozy, so sumptuous and feels soooo good to the touch! Again, the sizing is very generous, I could easily layer a shirt and a sweater under it. You’ll find this beautiful corduroy jacket in several colors here: Corduroy Jacket.

 

Recently I ordered two pairs of Frye boots, hoping to find a pair that I could wear with jeggings and would work well with the Frye Heidi Fringe bag I purchased a couple of years ago. These are the two pairs that I ordered: “Brown” on the left and “Cognac” on the right. You’ll find these boots available on sale here: Frye Boots.

 

I hate to send the brown ones on the left back because they are so pretty, but the cognac (shown below) is pretty much a dead match for the Frye Heidi bag and for the Frye tote I purchased a few months ago. So if you have the Heidi Fringe bag in “Whiskey” or the tote in “Saddle,” the Frye Melissa Boot in “Cognac” is a good match for either of those.

 

You can see how well they coordinate here with the tote on the left and the bag on the right. I may not be able to make myself return the darker brown ones–love them, too. And the price was excellent. Argggg!

Frye Cognac Boots with Frye Heidi Whiskey Bag and Frye Totate

 

Boot Supports

 

Since my fall/winter boot collection is growing, I decided to look for boot supports online. They stand up really nice on their own right now, but I don’t want them to start losing their shape with the passage of time. Not sure if that if that would ever happen, but prefer to not take that chance.

I really liked these boot supports (available HERE) but they are kinda pricey at around $20 per set.

Boot Shapers

 

Then I came across these nifty things.

They are boot shapers and you just roll them up and stick them inside your boots! Plus, you get enough supports to fill 8  boots (4 pairs) for $20. That’s what the other boot shaper cost and it only supports one pair of boots.

I purchased a set of 8 and they work great! That’s what you see in my boots in this post. You’ll find these boot shapers here: Boot Shaper.

 

Boot Socks

I’m a bit of a sock snob, I admit it. I don’t like socks that are made from mostly acrylic or synthetic/other non-natural fibers. I know you have to have a little something stretchy mixed in to help keep socks up, but I like my socks to be as much cotton or wool as possible. Cotton and wool breaths. Synthetics-not so much.

It can be hard to find tall socks or boot socks that are mostly cotton or wool and are not expensive. I finally found some and they arrived yesterday. Love them! I ordered two pairs for myself and two pairs for my dil since she wears boots a lot during the winter. I remember last year she was on the hunt for tall boot socks and was having trouble finding them.

Since these are meant to be worn with boots, they come up really high. You can wear them stretched all the way up to above the knee or turn them down where they fall just under the knee. That’s how I plan to wear them. They are 91% cotton, so they past my mostly-cotton test. lol You’ll find them on sale here: Boot socks.

 

Cozy Throw on Sale

If you’re looking for a cozy throw this fall/winter, I just picked this one up and love it! It would make a great Christmas gift, too. Sometime in the next few weeks, probably after Halloween, I’m going to put together a post sharing some items that I think would make wonderful gifts. This throw will definitely make that list!

I just noticed it’s on sale now, too. Umm, I’m tempted to go back and ask for a price adjustment since I just purchased mine about a week and half ago. You’ll find it on sale here with free shipping: Cozy Pom Pom Throw. It looks like all the throws on sale right now here: Throw Sale.

 

Looking forward to sharing some deck updates for Met Monday! Have a wonderful weekend!

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Comments

  1. Mary Boger says

    But a tote to match the brown boots and you won’t have to send
    anything back….lol. Enjoy sunday.

  2. Cut off pool noodles to match the height of your boots. Love all your purchases but I don’t need heavy winter clothes here in Mexico.

  3. I love all your recent shopping. Absolutely everything is gorgeous, including socks. I love tartan too and shirts and jumpers, which is not a surprise since I live in Scotland. Your new coat looks very cosy indeed. I’m on the lookout for some new one in less formal style, and you gave me an idea what to look for, thanks!

  4. Well look at all those goodies! Color me a bit jealous! I love LL Bean’s products. I’ve bought their flannel shirts for my husband in just about every plaid pattern they have. Have the corduroy shirt, love it. It’s my go to shirt I keep hanging by my front door when we get the grandkids on the school bus every morning. We’re heading to Maine in a few weeks & always make a trip to Freeport. Your Frye boots/handbag-fabulous!! Re boot trees, I purchased mine at TJ Maxx/Marshall’s for something like $7.99 I like that they have a hanger attached to the top so you can actually hang them on a rod in the off season. I love the cozy looking throw! However with the grandkids, I need to make sure the throws launder well, as I had a real unfortunate experience with one of them burping up basically an 8 oz bottle over me & a favorite throw…… Thank you once again for sharing all your home adventures and shopping tips!

  5. Love the items you purchased. I use newspaper rolls. Ours comes in a plastic bag. They fit perfectly inside and no falling over.

  6. rebecca dexter says

    I love when you shop…I picked my daughter up in Milwaukee and we hit every Target store between there and Egg Harbor to get the wooden chargers and not have to deal with shipping and returning. We had a great time. We also hit a few TJMaxx and I bought a pair of boots but am really torn between the ones I bought and the Frye’s in brown…Also ordered the Fair Isle sweater from LLBean and after reading all of the reviews I ordered a small…big mistake for me. Although it fit I have relatively big shoulders and wearing a turtleneck and shirt under it would not work…also even though I loved the colors the pattern just accentuated my shoulders…I was really disappointed so it is going back. However, I have 2 of the Bean Corduroy shirt jackets (not lined) and I love them…navy for Wisconsin and pale turquoise for Florida. Sorry I didn’t get the lined one instead of the sweater…used up my $10 coupon and 20% off sale. Oh well, hopefully they will go on sale again. Bean’s quality is usually pretty reliable.

  7. So many cozy, cozy things–makes cold weather a bit more appealing. Sorta.

  8. Cyndi Raines says

    Happy that everything fits and no returns! I say ask for the price adjustment on the throw, it’s worth a try and they just might honor it! 😉 “A penny saved is a penny earned” to go buy more! Lol

  9. Rita Spittler says

    Keep them ALL. How fun. I enjoyed the shopping spree. And pool noodles work GREAT for boot supports. They can be custom cut, too. I cut them on a slant to fit inside if the boot has a heel and then straight off at the top. Enjoy!

  10. Keep the dark brown boots! Nice wardrobe for fall (if it ever comes) and winter, Susan. I like the second choice on the boot savers….they’ll allow the boot to breathe better than the ones fully cushioned, otherwise you’d need to let the boots air out before putting the savers in.
    I can appreciate the stain matching. When we recently updated our kitchen, we re-worked a couple cabinets and there was more expense than expected for the very reasons you wrote about, due to custom-matching.

  11. Ann Seigman says

    Susan, I enjoy reading your blog and learning from some of your experiences. You have such great taste in clothing, too. It is so much fun seeing the results from your shopping trips. Thanks for sharing!

  12. I have a question regarding the flannel shirts. Does the plaid on the side seams match?? I hate spending any money on plaid clothing when the seams dont match….It’s the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard to me. Former Home Ec. teacher, so I’m really picky!

  13. I was shopping in Talbots last week and thought of your posts and the pretty things you pick out. My daughter’s Frye Boots are the wine color that doesn’t match your fringe bag and they are absolutely gorgeous. I have the same boots as she but mine are black. Frye Boots are a wonderful investment! I kept the original packing to keep my boots shaped nicely. Also, I clean mine with Lexol leather cleaner and condition them with Lexol leather conditioner every Spring when I put them away for the summer. Lexol is available at Amazon. My daughter and I happened to be in Minnesota at The Mall of America the day the new LL Bean store opened! They have a giant boot right outside their entrance! Lol We actually went to the mall just for that store because LL Bean duckboots were all the rage for kids in high school at the time. Chloe had hers on when we went and no one at the store had ever seen her color combination- she had leather with navy rubber. The company sold out of those boots before Xmas every year for several years because the demand was so high. LL Bean is a great company! Thanks for sharing your beautiful purchases!

    • I know, it was crazy there for several years. I remember they actually started a third shift at their plant and hired more people to meet the demand and try to catch up on the backlog of orders…because the duck boots were so popular! The Mall of America was where I was able to locate my L.L. Bean duck boots when you couldn’t find them anywhere. They hadn’t been open very long when I called them and they were the only location that had them.
      Your daughter’s Frye boots sound beautiful! I love these…love how they look, feel and smell!

  14. All pretty…I personally would not keep two pairs of boots in the very same style and so close in color, to most observers it would look like the same boots…but some people buy every color of same style things and are very happy with this. We wore the Fair Isle sweater style in the 60’s and I love nostalgic clothes. Cute colors. I broke down and bought the turquoise coat with flared sleeves at Talbots, it also looks 60’s to me and is a pretty color. Now all I need is an ivory one of those little 50’s Thunderbird convertibles to drive around 🙂

  15. Hooray for you Susan that you were so pleased and everything fit to a ‘T”. I always love what you choose (on more than one occasion you have cost me money my dear … ) and totally appreciate your input on fit, colour etc. i.e: That L.L. Bean tops fit a tad large, colours appear brighter some times etc. Oh; also thank you for the links that you so willingly provide. Warm hugs -Brenda-
    P.S.: A few posts back I commented on trying to find some dishware for a friend of mine and actually after a year of searching FINALLY found it. Hallelujah!!!!!!

  16. I bought a fisherman’s sweater in the cream color from LL Bean, but it is so big! I bought my usual size medium, but can’t decide if i want to exchange it for a small or just return it. How did you find the fit on yours? Did you buy your normal size or size down?

    Love the Frye boots! I saw a pair in my size at TJ Maxx a couple weeks ago and decided to “think” on it and regretted passing them up because of course they weren’t there went I went back.

    • Megan, that is so funny because you just mentioned the two articles of clothing I wore today! You are psychic! 🙂 I was surprised how big the sweater was, too. That was the first sweater I think I’ve ordered from them and I ordered a medium. That’s what I normally get since I typically wear a heavy shirt underneath. I returned the medium and exchanged it for a small, and the small fits great. The sleeves are designed a bit long, I think that’s so you can turn them up. I turn them up so I could see the cuff of the plaid shirt underneath and it works great. So yeah, I needed a small, where I normally order medium in most Talbots sweaters since I like them a bit loose. I think you’ll like it in a small.

  17. lynn Hummer says

    I am getting ready to order a pair of Frye boots from Amazon.

    I wear a 7 1/2. I was curious did you order your exact size or went up a 1/2 size?

    I am not sure if I should do 7 1/2 or an 8. I do plan on wearing socks and order the pair you had recommended.

    FYI I love your web site and everything you post

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