My desk is a mess
Someone really ought to do something about it; it’s sure not going to clean itself.
I’m blogging in an effort to clear my cobwebs — I really want to get going on Becca’s edits but my head is still fuzzy. I’ve got paid work to do, too, but it’s the weekend so I’m only working for me, dangit. That is if I can wake up.
So. Shaking out cobwebs … what could I write about? Well, we got a new (to us) sofa. Brett and I decided that our holiday presents to each other would come in the form of new (to us) furniture. We set a budget ($400) to get a couch and started looking. This is what we ended up with (remember we’re working with a mid-century mindset for our 1959 ranch because we wish we were living in the house from The Incredibles movie):
Notes on the above pictures: Yes, the pillows really are that ratty. I blame the children. Yes, the family room really is festooned with that many random toys. Again, I blame the children. No, the tabletop doesn’t quite match the orange marmoleum floor. I blame the lighting. Also apparently I need to clean my camera lens. Either that or I have a lot of ghost orbs in this house. I think they all click bigger if you want more of our mess close-up.
Anyway, for a little less (like five dollars less) we got all that furniture thanks to Craig’s List (couch and sofa) and the furniture re-sale shop who really wanted to unload the table and chairs (we got six chairs by the way). We had one of these tables already but it was smaller and less sturdy. Brett was staring at it for a long time and the guy kept dropping the price so finally he went ahead and got it. (We’d been hoping to find an oval one for awhile now.)
The carpet in the family room is flor, which was all coming apart. Fortunately the flor people upgraded their modular system (i.e., the stickers that hold the stuff together) and now it’s holding up. I really love flor because you can take one piece up and wash it when, say, someone small spills frozen blueberries into it and then grinds them in trying to cover up her mistake because she was just told not to take her frozen blueberries out of the kitchen.
Also we’re painting the khaki walls chocolate brown (haven’t found the right brown yet) but will be leaving our beloved red wall because 1) we love it; and 2) it’s rocking feng shui there in the career part of our house. When I’m done painting (and by “I” I mean “Brett” who is busy retiling 1/3 of the bathroom and worrying about the other 2/3) I’ll take some pictures only this time I’ll stick the kids in there to make it more interesting. Not that Peanut, our dog, isn’t charming but she’s just not as photogenic as the kids.
Great furniture! We scored a while back and got an awesome Z Gallery couch for about $400. A great piece of furniture, though now I’m contemplating having it re-upholstered since it had a bit more wear and tear than we realized when we got it and it’s just getting worse as time goes on - not a pet friendly fabric.
That couch is cool! I love retro, my couch is from 1972 and spent the majority of it’s life covered in plastic so it was prestine, i say was bcause olivia and bri have both left all kinds of bodily fluids on it now. and red juice, which never comes out of anything…I am looking to have it recovered when I bill for my goal :0)
Great couch and chair and I LOVE the pillows! Those kitchen chairs are EXACTLY like those my grandma had, only hers were blue, white, yellow, red, etc. one of each color. And they were sparkly too (had gold specks in the vinyl). Thanks too Dooce I could tell that was flor carpet. If we get to stay in this house by any chance, I’ll have this carpet as a runner in the hallway downstairs and family room since we’re planning to install (light colored IKEA) laminate flooring. I can’t wait for more home/ renovation photos. I don’t mind the kids not being there since I like to pay attention to the room/ furniture ;).
Ikea makes laminate flooring?? Hmmm — I’ve never been in an Ikea but I bought the kitchen curtains off ebay and they’re Ikea.
Love the new furniture and the floors look great!
Great stuff. I love the chair and pillow. It all looks very hip.
That’s not that many toys! (says the girl with 4 siblings)
Love every stick of it! Congrats. I am taking copious notes because it’s looking like our next home will be a 50’s ranch…
I love it. I also really like the new drapes in the kitchen. Very cool.
Why thanks! They’re new old curtains. They’ve been in my basement for a year and I finally got them out because we’re trying to make the paneling work and the curtains seem to help. (We really don’t want to paint the paneling.)
I LOVE THAT CHAIR! It is fantastic. We spent two hours last night looking at chairs and printers. Didn’t buy anything because I couldn’t bring myself to spend that kind of money. We haven’t found anything on craigslist yet.