Table Day!

A while back, I set up some alerts so that I would be notified on specific new posts on Craigslist. I used the IFTTT website, which I use for multiple other things, like posting to Twitter, and emailing my Blog Posts. There are so many different capabilities that you should check out and see if they would work for you! If you're looking for specifics, feel free to contact me, too, and I can let you know exactly how I'm using it.

Anyways, one of the alerts that I set up was for the IKEA Stornas Table, and every now and then, I would get an email when one was posted on Craigslist. In the last seven or eight months, a few have shown up, but they always get snatched up quickly. The extendable table, which is the one that I was looking for, is very popular since it's a solid wood table with two leaves and extends to 115"! But, finally, I was able to get my hands on one. A woman in Cambridge, MA was selling one that she had no use for anymore, so I talked with her about picking it up and on a Tuesday after work, my mom and I braved rush-hour traffic from Providence to Cambridge in my sister's SUV - a day I declared as "Table Day," since I had been looking forward to getting this piece for about a week before we finally picked it up.

With only needing to remove the legs and the leaves, the table top fit in the vehicle with one end resting on the top of the driver and passenger seats and the other end resting on the floor of the cargo space. I had to slink down in my seat just a bit so that my head didn't hit the table, but it was worth it. My mom was a trooper though. She's so tiny, standing at just 5' tall, so her head was no where near the table top resting on the headrest of her seat, but she did help me carry the table into the house. When assembled, the table weighs about 170 pounds, according to the IKEA website, so even though the legs were off and the leaves were out, it still weighed a lot! I was so lucky to have her help, since I definitely wouldn't have been able to pick it up by myself.

I washed it down when I got it home and then attached the legs and added in both leaves. There are a few dings and scratches in it here and there, but that was both expected and fine with me since I was able to purchase the table for a significant discount. Plus, I picked up some of the stain that IKEA sells so that I can do some touch-ups on some of the more visible spots. The most important thing, though, is that the table fits really well in the room, although Dylan actually wishes it was longer! We still only have two chairs, and they are a different finish, because I purchased them back when I had plans to build our dining table and stain it a nice rich brown, so we will probably re-evaluate now and try to figure out what we want the chair style to be. Maybe we'll end up sticking with the IKEA Borje chairs but just go with the black-brown finish instead of the brown.

I can't wait to to style this table and the room, but as you can see in the background, I still need to add the chair rail molding and get the room painted, so that's next on the list for this space. What kind of styling do you think I should do for this table? Keep in mind that we have two cats, so tall or breakable items aren't really conducive to every-day decor. Also, with a table of 115", do I make a gigantic runner to put down the middle? Help please!

Windows Keep us Warm

I just realized that I never told you guys that we had some windows replaced! This happened way back in December, so let's rewind a bit, shall we?

With a renovation having been completed in our house in what we believe was 1999, or in other words, way before we were even adults (I was in Middle School!), half of the house had new windows installed.  The other half of the house still had its original windows, you know, the ones from 1955!  We bought the house knowing that at some point we would need to replace the windows, and while it wasn't necessary that they be replaced now, we came across a great deal and decided to bite the bullet and replace half of the windows that we had on our list now and do the other half sometime in 2015. Funny enough, half of those windows are in one room alone, so it worked out really well!  

We decided that right now, the front Living/Dining Room combination area was going to be used more by other people than the back bedrooms, so that was our priority in replacing that room.  It's the room with the fireplace in it too, so having a non-drafty and pretty looking room was important in having people congregate to enjoy the fireplace and the dining area we will be adding in.

As a reminder, here are the windows in the Living/Dining Room before we had them replaced.

From far away, they don't look too bad. But, once you get up close to them, you can tell they are old, made completely of wood, drafty, and coated (even the glass has paint on it!) in at least one chipping and cracking layer of lead paint - which we knew about when purchasing the house.  In fact, in the second picture, you can see how the window doesn't even fit in the frame anymore and you can see the spring mechanism that moves the window up and down. That alone should be enough to show you how drafty the windows are. For the last few months, we've had a kitchen towel shoved into the space to keep some of the cold air from coming in the house.  

Needless to say, the windows needed replacing.  I don't know the entire process for removing the old windows and installing the new ones, but I do know that these guys were quick! They started the work around 10am and finished right around 5pm, and as far as what they did do, I know that they carefully removed the existing window trim to reuse it after the install was complete, they removed the old windows without breaking any glass, installed the new ones, again, with no broken glass, thankfully, cut and installed some new trim where the old trim wasn't the right size, caulked the trim and the outside of the window framing, sanded down the caulk and trim, cleaned their work areas with actual cleaner, and lastly, performed a lead test to make sure that all debris was removed according to State law.  That's a lot of work for two people to do in just one work day!  I was very impressed, since on top of all of that, it was also gross December weather with constant rain and temperatures in the high 40s!

I wasn't able to get too many pictures of the process, as the installation team had the room sheeted off to keep all of the heat in the rest of the house and the debris contained to that one room. I was able to snag two photos really quickly, both of which show some new windows installed and one missing.  I asked them about the large picture window and they estimated that it weighed close to 300 pounds! It's crazy to think how heavy glass actually is!

I wish I could have seen more of the process, but it was actually kind of nice to just have seen the before and then see the after.  Different than most projects around here since I am the one seeing them through. It kind of made me feel like one of those renovation home shows, where they ask you what you want then send you away (all the way to the Kitchen!) and don't bring you back in until the space is finished! I like it better when I can see the progress though.  I'm just curious like that, I guess.

Anyways, after everything was installed and cleaned up, I was finally able to get back into the space to see the newly installed windows, and they looked great! 

Ah! So much better and so much more efficient!! We decided to go with a grille on each of the panes because we wanted the front of the house to match the windows in the Family Room/Kitchen addition and the Master Bedroom, all of which have those grilles as well.  And in terms of screens, we went with a full window screen, much to my dismay, although the compromise on Dylan's behalf was allowing me to choose the HD screens, which allow in more than 30% more light to the room.

I can't wait to get this room painted and to start adding furniture! It's going to be so exciting to be able to use this space now that it will be nice and warm and bright!

Have you had your windows replaced recently?  What was the process like for you?

Dining Room Chairs and Swatches

Rugs have been pushed aside, ladies and gentlemen - and been replaced by Craigslist.  I hinted towards this last week, however, it has gotten much, much worse in the last few days.  It has come to a point where I now have over 45 alerts set for different search terms, and in addition to that, I have nine different Craigslist search tabs open on my Chrome browser.  I have been stalking that site at least once per hour, and have been finding some amazing things.

This weekend, Dylan and I went to visit my grandparents, and on our way down, stopped to take a look at some chairs, which we ended up buying.  These two chairs, the IKEA Borje chairs, are on my shopping list for our dining room, so I was so excited to see that these were the color that I wanted.

The seller said that they had only been used two or three times, and they are in excellent condition, so I totally believe her.  We bought them for $40 combined, tucked them away in the backseat of my car, and left her home with a smile on our faces! I mean, how can you not smile after getting such perfect chairs at a great price?! Each chair new from IKEA is $49, so getting two for less than the price of one was incredible!!

So, getting these chairs brings me to the next part of the plan - recovering the seats. I mentioned last week when I talked about the Klobo Loveseat that I wanted to recover both in a patterned fabric so that it ties the living and dining areas in together.  However, I was kind of worried that some of the patterns of fabric would clash and be too busy with the pattern on the rug - and boy was I right.  I didn't realize how busy some of those swatches ended up being, so I am very glad that I ordered them.

I laid all of the swatches out on the Klobo Loveseat, which is already in the living/dining room so using the natural light from the large picture window in that space, I was immediately able to eliminate some of the fabrics because they weren't the right color I was looking for.  You can kind of see the difference in the color of the fabrics compared to the paint swatch, which is the one that I have bordered in black, but trust me when I say that some of the colors that look like they match in this picture were totally off, like the one right above the paint swatch. Wow, was that an awful clash!

On the Arms: Premier Prints Small Dandelion Turquoise/White and Premier Prints Circles True Turquoise (Discontinued) 

On the Seat Back - Top Row: Premier Prints Solid Turquoise, Premier Prints Cameron Slub Aquarius, Richloom Sensu Mallard Teal

On the Seat Back - Bottom Row: Premier Prints Indoor/Outdoor Sticks Pacific

On the Seat - Top Row: Premier Prints Linked Jade, Premier Prints Indoor/Outdoor Towers Pacific, Premier Prints Jiri Stripe Jade, Premier Prints Linked Macon Apache Blue

On the Seat - Bottom Row: Premier Prints Lulu Stripe True Turquoise, Covington Majestic Velour Peacock, Premier Prints Dandelion White/True Turquoise, Premier Prints Nicole Slub Aquarius, Premier Prints Canopy Stripe Slub Aquarius

I wasn't able to test these out with the rug that I bought, because I actually exchanged the 8'x10' for the 9'x12', and haven't removed the new one from the packaging.  As you can see, there is just too much stuff in the room right now to be able to open it up, so I used my iPad to show the rug pattern with the fabric.  Turns out that the rug is a lot busier than I thought it would be, so we have actually decided to do two different fabrics.  And surprisingly, even though we chose a pattern and a solid, we will be using the pattern on the seats of the chairs!  

I love the chevron pattern above, and even though Dylan is not a big fan, he said he could deal with it in small quantities. Plus, this Premier Prints fabric isn't in-your-face chevron, like some of the other ones are, so I think that worked in my favor with getting him to agree to it!  The second fabric swatch is to die for. Seriously.  It's a turquoise velour, made by Covington, and it is the softest fabric I have ever felt. It's even softer than the Minky fabric that is so popular for baby blankets.  As soon as I touched this fabric, I wanted to lay on it, and knew that I had to have it.  Luckily for me, the color in the velour and the chevron is almost exactly the same, so Dylan suggested that we do the print on the chairs, since the angle in the chevron pattern matches slightly with the rug, and then we use the velour on the Klobo Loveseat.

Sold!

So, that's the plan. I have purchased the fabric and I am waiting for it to arrive.  I can't wait to get to work in recovering the chairs and the loveseat - and don't worry, I'll be posting a DIY so that you too can recover your IKEA furniture!

Have you ever recovered a piece of IKEA furniture? What problems did you come across in your process?  

The Epic IKEA Shopping List

I told you earlier this week that I was going to be taking an epic trip to IKEA to purchase some furniture and accessories for our house.  I have been making a spreadsheet of all the purchases we will be needing to make in the next few months, and for each room, there is at least one thing from IKEA.  I figured that I would give you a tour of all of the things that I have on my IKEA shopping list, and how they will be used in our home.  

Our first stop is the Family Room, which I know I have already explained most of it to you, but just for the sake of keeping everything together in one place, I will include here again.

So, as far as the IKEA items go, from this room, you'll see the most obvious piece, the Expedit, which will be our TV stand.  I will be getting it in the High-Gloss White color, and I will be hacking it to add four or five Capita Legs so that it sits just a little higher up off the floor.

The next piece you see in the design plan above is the coffee table, which is part of the Vittsjo Nesting Tables Set. I haven't decided what I will use the taller table for yet, but that can always go in a different room if it turns out there isn't enough space in this room.  Also part of the same collection is the Vittsjo Tall Shelving Unit, which actually isn't pictured above in the design plan, but it will go next to the television and the Expedit.  

And what you may not have noticed in the background of the design plan are the white Merete curtains for the windows.  I love that they are grommet curtains that I can use with the DIY curtain rods I have made out of electrical conduit.  

The Family Room design plan shows two lamps, one table and one floor, but those have since been removed from the actual plan - I just didn't update the visual I made in Photoshop.  

The next room is the small bedroom, which will be my Craft Room. I haven't previously shared my design plan for this room, so this will be the first chance you get to seeing how I am hoping it will turn out. I will make a full design plan though, because there are some other really cool items that I will be adding to the space, including my new library card catalog!

The first thing for the space is the Morum rug. It's a flat-weave rug that I am thinking will vacuum really well, which is important since there will be fabric scraps and thread clippings likely falling onto the floor.  

The next thing that I will be getting for this room will be opposite of the rug - the Fuga ceiling light. Currently, the space has one of those old globe lights that has probably been in place since the house was built, so I am really looking forward to switching this light out. I think it's the perfect mix of modern with functional, since the spotlights can be pointed wherever they are needed. 

Dylan and I used to have one of these Linnmon/Adils tables in the last apartment we had together, and it held up really well considering we were using it for food prep. So I put two of these tables on my shopping list, hoping that I am able to put them together in the center of the room to give me enough space to spread out large pieces of fabric.  

A while back, I shared the design plan for the Guest Bedroom, but like the Family Room, I wanted to include the IKEA items in this post.  There aren't too many for this room, because I have since removed the two nightstands and all the lamps in the room, and I already have the bureau, and the IKEA chair has been replaced by one that belonged to my grandmother before she passed away earlier this year.  

So, that only leaves us with two items from IKEA for this space: the Hampen Rug and the Werna Curtains.  I really love the green rug and hope that despite its small size, it will really help to bring some comfort into the space without overloading the room on the green color.  The curtains though, are dark, so I'm hoping that they will help to block the light when we have guests staying over, while at the same time, bringing some dimension to the room with that pop of dark color along the wall.  

The Living/Dining Room doesn't have a full design plan at this point.  I've been really struggling with it, since we have two functions planned - a Dining Room and a Living Room.  I have been debating building our table, but I'm not sure if that cost will be worth it in the end. I have to price out some wood from a lumber yard, because the types offered from the hardware stores are too soft to build a sturdy table.  If I don't end up building the table as planned, I will likely be purchasing the Stornas table from IKEA, which is made of solid wood.  To go along with the table, regardless of if it's built or bought, I will be purchasing ten of the Borje chairs in the Brown finish and the Gobo White seats.

I also thought that some white Lack shelves would look good along one of the walls to show off some of the little chotchkies that we have.  And then on the other side of the table, I was thinking of some sort of sideboard, and I have fallen in love with The IKEA Bjursta Sideboard.  However, I am having a really hard time justifying the price tag, especially since this isn't one of IKEA's solid wood pieces.

There is only one piece for the Master Bedroom that we will be purchasing, and that is this Expedit Workstation so that we can setup our office in our bedroom. With it being as big as it is, we will have more than enough space to set up an office area, especially since the futon currently in our bedroom will be moving to the craft room for additional guest sleeping when necessary.  

Aside from these bigger items, we will be purchasing some decor items, like picture frames for my favorite digital art prints, vases, and fake flowers, and some succulents and actual plants and the cute little tabletop Socker greenhouse you see below.  The venue that we got married at, the Roger Williams Botanical Center, has a few of these plants in the greenhouses, so I thought that this would be the perfect way to remind us of the absolutely beautiful wedding day that we had.  

So, that concludes the bulk of my IKEA shopping list. To make sure that I don't bore you, I didn't include too many of the little things that we will be getting, like some additional accessories for my craft room and some sets of sheets for the guest bedroom and the futon.

But, that's my list! What do you think? What are your favorite pieces above? What about the pieces you have in your home - which are your favorites? Any suggestions on must-have items from IKEA?

All images except the Family Room and Guest Bedroom Design Plans courtesy of IKEA.  

Craigslist Is My Best Frenemy

I introduced you to my new love last week - my library card catalog.  I found that piece on Craigslist, after almost a year of searching for the perfect piece in my price range.

Since then, I have been obsessed with Craigslist, checking almost hourly (and I'm not really kidding) for things on my IKEA shopping list that I can get at a steal and save not only money, but space in my vehicle when I take my epic shopping trip (more on that shopping trip later).  I have started wanting more and more items that I find, which is why Craigslist is currently both my best friend and my enemy.  It's essentially screaming at me to spend money on awesome pieces for the house, but I really need to be careful and make sure that the items are actually great deals and items that we need rather than want.

Rhode Island is situated between two IKEA stores, one in New Haven, CT and the other in Stoughton, MA.  With as many colleges and universities as there are in New England, IKEA furniture is perfect for students as well as young professionals starting out in their first place.  There are easily hundreds of new Craigslist postings per day of just IKEA pieces.  I have been searching through all of these listings for items that may be on my shopping list and for items that I want but wouldn't necessarily need or pay full price for.  I've even gone so far as to set up alerts that notify me whenever a new item matching my search criteria is posted.

Anyways, last week, after coming back with my card catalog, I started looking for some seating for in front of the fireplace in the Living/Dining Room.  We plan on having a large dining table that can seat ten on top of the 9x12 rug that I purchased, and then in front of the fireplace, we want some additional seating that will allow us to relax and enjoy a fire, if we ever get the chimney inspected and cleaned.  I was originally looking for two matching chairs that we could put a small table in between, but everything I was finding was going to cost over $300 after refinishing and recovering.  I was looking for something much less expensive, and I ended up finding the perfect thing.

Enter the Klobo. The Klobo is a discontinued IKEA Loveseat similar to the Klippan series that is currently available.  It's a really low profile couch that will allow the heat from the fireplace to spread throughout the room and for us to be able to see the fire from sitting at the dining table.  It is only a loveseat, so it will fit only two people, or maybe three really small people, but it's still better than nothing. Plus, the price.

I only paid $75 for this.  Really.  And it's original list price was somewhere around $150.  It's in near perfect condition, despite it having a natural/off-white canvas fabric.  There are only a few dirt marks on the front side of the loveseat, and those could probably be washed out with some spot remover, but I'm not sure if that's going to bother me right now, because I am almost 100% sure that I'm going to recover it.

And speaking of recovering it, I put a couple of throw pillows that I found in the prefect colors for the room on it, and then took a few pieces of fabric out of my stash that I could potentially recover the Klobo with.

Premier Prints Circles True Turquoise (Discontinued) and Premier Prints Small Dandelion Turquoise/White 

I also just ordered a bunch more swatches from Fabric.com to see if I can find one that I like and that won't be too overwhelming in pattern. I'd like the pattern to be able to be used on the seat cushions for the dining table chairs too, since I don't want the space to have too many different patterns.  Plus, I need to make sure that the pattern I choose doesn't clash too much with the rug that will be going under the dining room table.

Fabric Swatches in Snake Pattern: Premier Prints Canopy Stripe Slub Aquarius, Premier Prints Solid Turquoise, Premier Prints Indoor/Outdoor Towers Pacific, Premier Prints Cameron Slub Aquarius, Premier Prints Dandelion White/True Turquoise, Richloom Sensu Mallard Teal, Premier Prints Nicole Slub Aquarius, Covington Majestic Velour Peacock, Premier Prints Linked Macon Apache Blue, Premier Prints Indoor/Outdoor Sticks Pacific, Premier Prints Linked Jade, Premier Prints Jiri Stripe Jade, Premier Prints Lulu Stripe True Turquoise

I can't wait for them to come in so I can see which will look best with the rug and the other furniture I have planned for the space.  Anyone else have a love/hate relationship with Craigslist?  What kinds of finds have you drooling and pulling out your wallet? Which swatch do you love the most right now?

Living/Dining Room Design Plan

When we finally get around to buying furniture and decor for the first floor of the house, one of the rooms I am most excited about is the large living room in the front of the house.  Since the room is so large and we don't really need a formal living space, this room will have two purposes - a smaller living area and a dining area.

The house has no formal dining space, although the family room could be used for that purpose, but for D and I, it works better as a living space since it is right off the kitchen and the space is so open.  Having the dining space will be nice for when we host holidays, but won't be necessary on a daily or even weekly basis, therefore having a smaller living area in the space as well will help us spend more time in there, especially when we will be using the fireplace in the Fall and Winter.

Coming up with the decor and design for this room has been a lot of fun, but frustrating at the same time.  The first thing that was decided was the colors.  When going through the paint planning for the first floor, this is the room that I struggled with and saved for last.  I fell in love with a color palette from Design Seeds, but after putting the colors on the floor plan, the coral really stood out as not matching with the purple and the orange tones that I had selected for some of the other rooms.

Image via Design Seeds

So instead of trying to come up with a completely different color palette, I decided to make this room a combination of some of the other colors I will be using in the house. For the walls, I will take the Reflecting Pool from the bathroom, and pair it with the Commodore blue color from the Guest Bedroom, and then lighten up the yellow from the family room for just a pop of color.  White will be included in there as well, because you can never go wrong with adding that color into a space.

Reflecting Pool, Commodore, Daffodil - Colors via Sherwin Williams

With the potential of hosting both of our families for holidays, we will need a large table that can seat at least seven, but more like ten or twelve people.  Tables of that size run very expensive, especially the one that I found and love from Crate & Barrel.   I have hopes of actually making our dining room table (!) following a set of plans by Ana White based on the Crate & Barrel table.  Hopefully this will be successful, which will help us save some money and also be a great accomplishment.

One of the most time consuming parts of coming up with the decor for this room is the area rug. I know that I want a rug underneath the table, but finding one that will be large enough, not too modern or traditional, and not extremely expensive has proved to be very difficult.  I have decided on a dark blue rug, but want a really neat pattern that will stand out in the room.  I have fallen in love with many different rugs, and have had a really hard time choosing which one I want, but my top three are below.  All three are not available in the size that I need right now, so this is actually helping me in making my decision - and don't worry, I'm keeping an eye out for these on RugsUSA and Overstock!

NuLoom Chelsea Inspire Rug, Loloi Charlotte Rug, American Home Rugs Company Kinetic Rug

In terms of other decor in the room, I know that there will be pops of yellow and white, a seating area in front of the fireplace, and probably some nice digital art prints on the mantle, but I haven't yet planned that part of the room out yet.  So, I'm looking for suggestions.  I will have about 8-10 feet to spare for the area in front of the fireplace, so it will be tight, but I'm hoping for cozy. Would you do a small couch or a couple of chairs? Would you anchor that part of the room with a smaller area rug?