Weekend Shopping Adventures....

I stayed at work late on Friday because of terrible traffic. (It was either sit at my office, or sit in traffic).

I may have had a mini-online shopping spree.

I ordered these stools. 

And only now just realized I ordered the wrong height....so back they will go, *hopefully* it doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to exchange them.

And I also bought this light for the dining room, except with a natural linen shade.

I cannot wait to have something other than builder-grade fixtures in our house.  It will be a happy day for sure.

I also went to HomeGoods this weekend to look for bedside lamps for the guest bedroom.  I didn't come home emptyhanded (wouldn't know what that felt like) but also didn't come home with lamps.  I did find the most amazing and snuggle-y blanket ever.  I cannot describe it as anything else...

It's the Northpoint Sapphire Sherpa blanket.  It's softer than babies.

My friend K bought a cape...or capelet...we cannot decide.  It looks like this:

10 Points if you can name the doll.

Free Dining Room Chairs....

Scene : Me on the couch, snuggled in blankets watching Christmas movies.

The phone rings, it’s my mom. 

Me : ‘Hi, whats up?’

Mom : ‘Are you still in bed?’

Me : ‘No….but I’m not dressed yet.’

Mom : ‘Okay, well remember those molded plastic chairs you saw at an auction two years ago?’

Me : ‘Yes…..the ones that were sitting in the corner of the room where the hot dogs were’ (I’ve since realized it’s very sad that I map things by their proximity to food)

Mom : ‘Well Mr. X just bought 40 of them for $5, do you want me to go see if I can buy a few for you?’

Me : (Sitting up now) ‘Yes!  How many do you think we can get?  What colors do they have?’

Mom : ‘There is a yellow and an orange.  Do you want me to take a picture?  How many do you want? 4?’

Me : ‘Sure, see if you can get 4 orange ones.’

Mom : ‘Okay bye’.

Me : ‘Bye’

Me : ‘WAAIT’

Mom : ‘Yes’.

Me : ‘I want 6, see if you can get 6.’

Well, I got 6 – for $10.  I was a little surprised at first since Mr. X paid $5 total for all 40 that he would charge my mom $10 for 6, but she offered him $10 so she could go through the stack and pick out all the best ones (she’s a thinker).  BUT THEN, my mom decided to buy an office (not the actual building just all the furniture inside it).  [Sidenote: they were at an auction for a furniture manufacturer going out of business that has been based in my hometown for a very very long time].  She bought the whole office because my dad needed more file cabinets? and Mr. X (the same Mr. X who bought the chairs) was eyeing the file cabinets and said that he could use one of those.  She said $10 and you can have one – he said ‘Here’s your $10 back’.  So I *think* the chairs were technically free!

Short Version : We have chairs for the dining room.  Yay!  They look very similar to the molded plastic Eames chairs, but I haven’t seen them in person yet to confirm their origins.  And the picture my mom sent seems to look exactly like a certain classic and will never go out of style Hermes orange.

Poor lighting cell phone pic from my mom

source

Maybe something like this? (above)

And I'm thinking that the hutch I picked up here, would get painted Farrow & Ball Mouse's Back (like the cabinets in the photo below) with a Hermes orange interior to let all the white china that is inside really pop.

I'm excited to have some type of plan, even if it doesn't pan out -

What do you think?

DIY : Geometric Rug

Last weekend when we went home for Thanksgiving we picked up a table for the dining room.  Meaning, maybe its time to start pulling that room together........I had been looking online for an inexpensive rug for the room without much luck.  I wanted something geometric and fairly neutral; but didn't want to spend a fortune on it since my husband is prone to spilling.

I picked up this $40 rug at Ikea, and got to work laying out a link pattern with 1" blue painters tape.

I'm not going to lie, taping everything off was not a quick process.

After everything was taped off I started painting.  I'm not going to say this was a huge success, the paint is pretty uneven in places.  I would recommend doing a less contrasting color (if I were doing it again).  But o'well.  I used Benjamin Moore flat paint, in Weimaraner.

I still need to touch up the edges, so I haven't pulled off the tape there yet.

Is it perfect? Nope.
But for ~$60, its good enough for me, for now :)

Supplies : 
1 Ikea Erslev Cotton Rug  (5'11" x 8'2") ~$40
2 Rolls 1" Painters Tape (used just a little over one roll) ~$4
1 Quart Paint (only used about half) ~$15

A House Tour....

Do you want a little house tour?
I thought you did -
*Please excuse the terrible picture quality, I was too lazy to adjust them :)

Lets start from the outside and work our way in -

If you come in the front door, the kitchen is to your left, the living room (which they used as a dining room) to your right.

I didn't like the feeling of walking directly into the dining room so we are currently using this as the tv room (the tv is against the wall on the left of the image).

It's also got a second connection to the kitchen.  The fridge is right behind that light switch - so convenient for snacks.

The other side of the tv-room/dining room has the access to the mud room and downstairs bathroom.

There is a huge window in the mudroom-

and stone floors :

This leads into the downstairs bath (1/2)

The previous owners took the mirrors/vanity cabinets -

If we come back through the tv-room we move into the kitchen.

And through the kitchen you can see the family room and doors to the backyard:

Lets step outside for a second -
We have a tall fence and shed :) Although you can't see it all, the backyard is a decent size (for our area) and behind the fence there is a swamp pond.  The lawn needs a lot of work - that is a boy job.

Okay, lets go back inside.

And head upstairs -

At the top of the stairs, to the left is the master bedroom, to the right is the upstairs bath and bedroom #2/office and straight ahead is what we are calling bedroom #3/guestroom.
The Master: (to get these three pictures I stood in the door and rotated from left to right)

Our bed will be located between the windows on this wall.

Next up, the bath -

It's SMALL.

Again, they took the vanity - 

And there are random fish tiles in the shower -

Right beside the bathroom is the 2nd bedroom and what I'm going to be using as my office -

The floors need work in here -

On the way to the final bedroom there are built-in storage cabinets on either side of the hall.  Although right now they don't really shut (also need work).

And thats it!
Well, half of the basement is finished - but it's boring down there (and filled with stuff)....we'll save that for another day.

A Cozy Kitchen Nook....

Loving this breakfast nook - it's so cozy feeling.
And the built-in bench? Yes please!

Note to self : Plant Hydrangea Bushes

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A Mini-Eat-In Kitchen with Storage....

Our future kitchen is rather skinny and long (10'x18') with cabinets down one entire side.  We are thinking we want to split up the space to create a small area for an eat-in-kitchen and a more defined kitchen area.  This weekend I found the perfect table for our mini-eat-in.

The Pottery Barn Shayne Table: currently on sale for $499 (table only)

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What I love most is the storage underneath (one can always use more storage), and the fact that the two leaves drop down so we can typically keep it small when its just the two of us, then extend it when we have company.

I want to find the table in a store first before we buy it, I'm a little nervous that there wont be anyplace to put your legs (due to the storage underneath), but then again - we hardly ever eat at the table anyways.

Obviously I did a google search for consumer reviews, and in doing so I found this: $540 for the set

and this: $349 for the set

 

I'm quite sure it's the exact same table.....for way cheaper.  Although the reviews suggest that you get what you pay for and the cheaper tables are made of much cheaper materials.

But I also found THIS:

Knock-off-wood (which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite sites now that we have a home to furnish) has plans for the table!  I can totally build this, and use strong, durable materials that I know will last - which means I'll only have to buy the chairs!  The only part I'm a little nervous about is getting the drop to look right - may have to call in the experts on that one.