Drip Drip Drip

Since we moved into our house a little over two months ago we have replaced three faucets. Although, I think they were all ug, all three of them leaked. I admit, sometimes I forget the definition of want and need, but this was for real a need- I swear, even the fellas at Home Depot said so, a win-win. No more leaking and better looking faucets for everyone!

Faucet #1

The Basement Faucet. This faucet had an awful leak. It would fill a bucket an hour with it's constant dripping. Can you see it? This photo was not intended to capture the faucet. It was so bad it was the first home improvement we made back in December, so quick, I didn't get a photo. We Henry replaced it with a 22.00 fixture, cheap and effective.

Faucet #2

The Powder Room Faucet. This is the faucet I blogged about a few weeks ago. Check it out here. I know I didn't mention the leak earlier but this had more of a spray than a leak. When the faucet was on, a spray of water would occasionally shoot out of the side of the faucet through a tiny pin size hole. This is perhaps something we could have lived with for a while, had the original faucet had any redeeming qualities.

Faucet #3

The Kitchen Faucet. This faucet was no looker and had an awful dripping problem. If we twisted and turned it enough we could get it to stop dripping momentarily. Henry thought it might be an easy fix, but when he brought it in to show the guy at Home Depot his exact words were "it's broken in three places, why don't you just get a new faucet?" Plus, I can imagine his eyebrows were all furrowed up. You know, like why would we be trying to rescue this super dilapidated, cruddy old faucet? The answer, anything to save a penny:)

 oooh, pretty! Hopefully, the day will come when we have a matching sink.

Bedroom Inspiration

I did my best to throw together a master bedroom with some items we already owned and a few new items that I could not live without?! Check it out here and here. The room that I open my eyes to each morning has got me down. I need some inspiration.

We'll take one of these please!

 sigh!

Ikea Conundrum

Remember the whole story about borrowing a truck and picking up furniture? If not, here's a little refresher.

One of the crucial stops on the trip was to Ikea. When I go to Ikea I usually have a plan and this time was no different. I was determined to pick up 2 of these bad boys...



Check out the chaise here. The cover is removable (and washable:), the back is adjustable and I think it is sleek and cozy for our tv nook.

The way you order big pieces of furniture at the store is by having an employee print an order for curb side pick up. So that's what we did. We drove up to the curb, they brought out our furniture, Henry loaded it up and we headed the 2.5 hours home.

 Henry also scored these pallets for our washer and dryer. For real, we take it where we can get it!

We got home at 10:30PM and started tearing into our new purchases. Why wait? It is here the conundrum occurs...Ikea gave us the wrong covers. Crap! They are the right color but they have holes on the sides to attach the couch...the couch we DIDN'T order!! To make matters worse, Ikea will not help us unless we go back to the store. Believe it. I spent hours on the phone with the call center in Maryland telling them how ridiculous that is. Ikea does not publish individual store phone numbers. The worse part is I love Ikea and I feel like they are driving a wedge in our relationship.

So, now that I have come to terms with the ridiculous policy this is what we will live with until we can find time to make the trip back to the big city.

 The wrong covers and a rug I decided not to keep, since we are headed back anyways.

I am dying to get my hands on a Twin Cities store employee. Can anybody help me, or are you afraid of what I might do?

Rug Fever

It seems I have a bit of rug fever lately. My original plan was to order furniture for the living room and then recuperate some funding to replace the big blue rug I sold. In true form, I was too excited, found something I love and ordered it.

See it back there? I ordered this 8x8 foot square rug from o.co (the abbreviation for overstock.com). It arrived last Friday and we wasted little time rolling it out! Instant love.

 The rug brightens up the room and is 100% wool, which I think is the most, soft, durable and quality material for the money. I buy rug pads for underneath instead of the non slip, super thin version. Just make sure to anchor the rug down with some furniture. Check!

On Sunday morning I was standing in the living room admiring our new purchases when I noticed some discoloring in the rug, only visible to the professional eye:) Had I not told you, you may have never noticed. I yelled for Henry to come and check it out. We twisted and turned our necks thinking it might be a shadow. 'Twas indeed a stain. Even though it was slight, I called o.co to tell them what's up. I ordered the last one in stock, so I knew that I would not get another for this deal if I sent it back. Our conversation went something like this...
Nikki: "Hi I ordered a rug and it has some discoloring in it"
o.co: "I am so sorry to hear that would you like us to process a return for you?"
Nikki: "Well, I would be willing to keep it for a discount."
o.co: "Oh great, we would be willing to give you 25% back on your card or a 30% store credit discount."
Nikki: "For real? I'll take the cash."

Isn't that incredible? The rug cost 324.99, see a my rugs cousin rug at o.co here. I got 15.00 off the list price because I 'googled' o.co coupons and found an instant 15.00 off. Plus shipping was 1.00! So, with my 80.00 discoloration discount the rug cost 243.00. Let's not forget my previous rug sale income of 150.00. Which leaves me with the screamin' deal of a $93.00 wool, 8x8 foot rug!

Are you wondering about the sheep skin? I threw it down for a fun element to cover part of the imperfection (that I know is there and will eventually be covered by our big ol' leather chair) and for Stella to snooze on. I neglected to remove it for the photos. It's cute though, huh?

A new addition to our family

We have been living for the past few weeks without a couch, or rather, with an aero-bed as our main seating option, until Saturday. I traded vehicles with a student of mine who has a big truck that is great for hauling furniture. Henry and I set out on Saturday morning to fetch us our new sofa from the Macy's loading dock in the big city. We pulled up around 12:00PM, they loaded us up and we pulled out at 12:03 with a new addition to our family. Blog friends please meet Pear Sofa:

 Adorable family photo...

 Remember super soft, skirted, over stuffed Salsa?

New house, new sleek look. We just love Pear's vintage, clean style.

Here is the skinny on where Pear came from...I ordered Pear from Macy's. When I ordered the couch it was 699.00 with an extra 10% off for a total of 630.00 plus tax. A week after I ordered I was showing a friend the sofa online and it was on sale for 599.00! You can imagine my immediate panic. Fortunately, my more level headed friend told me to call Macy's and ask for the difference, so I did, and they gave it to me. Easy cheesy. Now the sofa was a mere 599.00 plus tax. Let's not forget I sold Salsa for 250.00, bringing Pear's cost down to  349.00 plus tax. Since we live in Duluth, shipping is always a nightmare and it was no different is Pear's case, 250.00 big ones. That's when I made the vehicle swap with a student of mine- 75.00 to fill his tank. Of course, we filled the whole truck to the brim with preplanned purchases, so I don't want to count the 75.00 in the price. Rather, it cost us 75.00 for a day of adventure!

You got all that? 349 SMACKERS for Pear! Booyah!

More on the living room progress to come...

Map Collage

For the past 3 years we have been storing a stack of maps under our bed. They were to precious to get rid of, but not precious enough to utilize?! So, when we moved from the condo to the colonial I brushed off all the hair balls and dust bunnies, rolled them up and stuck them in a tube. For the past 2 months they have been sitting in the corner of our dining room in that very same tube. That is until, I got a bright idea!

I unrolled the maps to take inventory. Note the blue tape. It was the end of our rolls but I will surely stock up. I think it works the best to stick and then not stick and stick and then not stick...

Bye Bye Valentine's Day Mantel, hello fresh spring time mantel. Wait! What does that have to do with the maps?

 Whud Up! Map Wallpaper! Who needs directions?

 Maybe our tan living room isn't so bad after all?!

If there is an area in your home that needs a little face lift just collage it with blue tape! Other paper products you could use: wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, vintage photos (no frames necessary), love letters, old documents or brown bags- DSW Shoe Warehouse packs their shoes in brown bags with black stripes!! You must need a new pair of shoes!

A Beach of a Birthday

Some of my best gal pals visited over the weekend. It was especially special because it was Kat's Birthday and believe me, Kat's Birthday is a big deal! Last year a bunch of a rallied and headed to Mexico for the week to celebrate the beginning of the best year's of Kat's life.

This year, we planned on sticking around the Lovely Residence but I wanted Kat to feel the warmth of the sun through her special Beach Birthday Cupcakes.

 First, dye the cake mix blue, like the ocean...

 Second, dye 1/2 the frosting blue and pile it on. The bigger the waves the better!

 Third, make sure you add the sparkle in the water (sprinkle it on immediately so it sticks.)

 Fourth, there is no such things as a beach vacation without the beach!

Crumble up those graham crackers in a baggie, cut the corner and sprinkle on the sand. (remember, it will stick best if you sprinkle it on right after the frosting)

 Fifth, the beach necessities: beach chair and umbrella toothpicks, gobstoppers and sticks of gum.

 otherwise known as: beach balls and towels

Spring Break anyone?

P.S. I put some Swedish fish in the batter before I baked the cupcakes. After all, the sea is full of surprises!

Linked up!

Whipper Berry

"Let's Vase It..."

"my super savvy style has rubbed off on Henry." hehehe:)

Henry and I have a pretty casual agreement that gifts are unnecessary for most holidays (Birthdays excluded). We often just spend money on a dinner out, buy something for ourselves (I tag a lot of items as necessities) or buy tokens of love for eachother throughout the year.

Flowers on Valentine's Day are certainly not necessary, but "hey everyone look what I got"...

Not only did Henry pick up a bouquet of love he divvied it up and put them in my milk glass vases all by his lonesome! Sure, the flowers are nice, but the idea that I have succeeded as a decorating mentor left a little grin on my face for the rest of the night! Who needs a big fat bouquet in a big fat vase!?

It was an extra special Valentine's Day for the Lovely's this year!