IKEA update/scraproom progress

     So, on Wednesday we made our fourth trek back to IKEA.  The guys who worked with me were very nice, got me the part I needed replaced, apologized, and made a phone call to see what kind of compensation they could offer.  Truthfully, I was happy that it was recognized as a major inconvenience.  Sometimes, you get those places who think there's no need to even apologize.  The secret person on the other end...maybe he had to call Sweden, lol...they gave me $20 back to my credit card.  To me, I was happy.  Since the grand total for the three items was about 150 or so, it seemed reasonable.  I will definitely go back for more furniture, we are just on a bit of a separation period, lol.  Hubby, who wants the LARGE Expedit for his office told me that, since I'm now an "Expedit expert" I'd be putting his together.....NOT!  lol.
   So now, my scrapbook room is comfortable, not all disheveled!  Yay, I feel better.  Still VERY unorganized....but better.  I'm in the process of purging some items that I just don't use.  I will be giving them to some of my scrappy friends :)  here are some updated photos!

   

Since I've been slacking....UPDATES!!!

     Other than my IKEA insanity, I have totally been slacking on the blog and updates!  Sorry, it's been a hectic month for many reasons!  First things first, you can see our new floors in all of these posts.  We decided to go with a laminate from Home Depot.  Being from the north, we thought hard woods (bamboo being our choice) were the way to go.  Lo and behold, Florida humidity makes laminates more desirable.  So, we went with the laminate, which would be longer lasting.  Empire today, who was having a 60% off sale, was still priced more than double the cost of our floors.  We went with the cheaper option, from Home Depot.  The amazing installation team from Tile Styles (3rd party contractor of Home Depot), finished our job in one day!!!!  Four Bedrooms!  They were very polite, silly, and we were very pleased with their work.
    Other updates include the guest bathroom.  I apologize for the picture quality, I'm working on it, lol.  

 

 

      My newest update, and certainly my favorite so far, is the guest bedroom!   We went with a sofa sleeper from Rooms to Go, in a Slate color.  You wouldn't believe how difficult it was to find a grey or black sofa (non-leather), with a sleeper, in Florida!  The color theme in there will be black, white and grey with pops of purple.  

Rug from IKEA-19.99!!!

Our temporary DVD shelf, and IKEA curtains

We are looking for purple pillow covers!

       Well, those are our latest updates.  Our bedroom furniture was not in stock and won't be in until July, but, oooh, I can't wait, lol!  I'll do a big "reveal" online.  Also, I realize our walls are lacking the love.  We want to make sure things are in their permanent home before hanging things.  We're also looking for great wall art too!  Thanks so much for stopping by! 

 

My IKEA insanity!

   So, let me just put this out there-I LOVE IKEA!  But, I have to say, our friendship is going to be on standby for a bit!  Why?  Well, it all started with a beautiful scraproom plan.  As seen on Pinterest (just search Expedit), the Expedit storage system has become the go-to, cheap, eye-pleasing storage solution!  They even have  an awesome desk addition!  So, as I began planning for my scraproom, I decided that my desk would be made from Expedit.  Here is what the scraproom looks like. 

Sorry, apparently I didn't take a picture before the following story ensued!

I already had some of those cubes from Target/Michael's for storage, so just a functional desk would be perfect.  I figured if I matched it up with the shorter expedit, it could sit in the middle of the room, I could have friends over and all would be glorious.  So, on my first trip, I came home with half...the four shelf expedit, the desk, unfortunately was out of stock.  A few days later, we made the 40 minute trek back up to IKEA. 

Once we had the desk, I went to work....an hour or so later, I began cursing like a sailor.  Without any warnings on the packaging, words from the sales clerks, etc, I had purchased two items that did not fit together!  Exciting! 

Although, it did look really pretty!!!

So, back to IKEA yesterday for the taller shelf (8 holes) that would destroy my idea of a center island, but would fit with my already assembled desk.  So today, as I began to open the box, I discovered that one of the items in the box was warped, and discolored! 

The box wasn't wet, nor were the liner papers in between...ugh!!!!!!!! Another red flag!  I called IKEA...after a half hour on hold, they tell me I need to bring the piece back to the store!  She was very nice and suggested I ask for compensation since this will be my fourth trip up there!  Oy-oy-oy!

Reality Check!

    Well, the high of owning our own home lasted a good while, but alas, the reality of being a homeowner has smacked us in the face (twice)!  To begin with, one of the largest items on our to do list, the flooring in the four bedrooms, seemed to be costing us a bit more than we budgeted for.  Fortunately, after speaking with some people at work (thank you kind, smart people), I realized that we were jumping into a price that was insane.  While we knew it was high, we never had anything to compare it to.  Since that was settled, we felt a lot of relief!
   Dun, Dun Dun....after enjoying a day at Disney, Steve and I went to the new house to do some painting....we walked in...to 86 degree heat.  Now, for Florida, that doesn't seem high, but it was in the 70's outside.

image found here

   Yep, you got it, the AC is not working properly.  Now, we have to wait until Monday to see about a repairman to come out.  A very nice friend came over and, after speaking with her brother, an AC repairmen, told us that it may be the compressor motor.  We are hoping, praying, that the fix is cheap.  Our pockets have not had time to recover from the money put down on our house.
   While we sweat it out, literally and figuratively, how many of you have dealt with similar scenarios?  Any advice? 

Wallpaper Border: 2, Amanda: 0

Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but I HATE wallpaper borders.  Not the looks (though they aren't my style), but man, have you ever tried to remove those suckers?!  At Home Depot, the paint man Tim, responded with, "That's unfortunate," when I asked how to remove them.  He told me to get DIF, a paper scorer, and a paper scraper.
     A little while later we were on our way.  We got to our new home, Friday night to discover that the electricity, and water were turned off.  A night off, we figured, and we'd get it turned on the next day....NOPE...apparently the utility commission doesn't even have a phone service on the weekends, let alone can they start service!  UGH!  So, Steve and I meandered over thinking we'd get a bunch done in the day time.
   Thankfully the back bedroom wallpaper was adhesive backed and very easy to remove.  So we painted that room.  PURRRTTTY!!!!  This room is gonna be my craft room.  The color is Sunken Pool by Martha Stewart (love that broad!)

    Then the trouble started...I decided to try to de-wallpaper the master bathroom.  Why I chose a room with no windows to work in on a seriously hot day with no AC or water to drink, I have no idea.  Anywho...I learned a few things.  When removing wallpaper:

• keep things well ventilated
• pull the top layer off before applying DIF.  This is the colorful layer (with pineapples, or flowers, or continents in our case), See Photo below.



You can see the top layer vs the paper layer pretty well in this photo

• after, spray DIF heavily on the paper.
• use a paper scraper to remove paper
• YOU DON'T need to score the paper, at least in our experience, it only hindered things.

This is only one third of the border!!!

So, I learned these tricks because I spent five hours Saturday night throwing EVERYTHING up out of my stomach, and had only removed about five feet of border.Partially my fault for the dehydration, but I should have gotten way more completed for all my hard work! SOOOO, not worth it.  We discovered the tricks throughout the next day.  

Anyone else have a similar experience (I hope not!!!)

We are Homeowners!!!!

And in case we couldn't tell by all the paperwork we've signed, we spent enough at Home Depot to surely remember we actually own a place, lol!  Here is a photo of our lovely home!  We don't mind the green, but a neighbor has already requested we paint!  (We have a bunch of other things to do first!)

Please excuse the poor photo!

So, that was such a huge hurdle, it still doesn't seem real.  Sorry it's taken me so long to get this posted (there's another one I've started to follow soon after).  We've been trying to get the pictures sent over/paint/de-wallpaper, etc).  Thanks for stopping by!!!

Bamboo vs. Cork

So, as I mentioned before, we are closing on our HOUSE in  2 days!!!!!  Anywho, we are definitely going to have to change the flooring in the Master bedroom.  As of right now we are looking into the Eco-friendly option of bamboo.  We've been searching bamboo vs cork here: www.contempofloorcoverings.com; www.ehow.com. We also watched some informative videos over at lumberliquidators.com

We are thinking a lighter shade right now.  Tell me your thoughts.Of course...price is always something to factor (especially since we have to buy a refrigerator too!)

AGHHH!!!! I just cant wait....the surreal feeling is starting to clear up, now I know we are so close!!!!

<3
Amanda