Category — Goodies

Well, I finally have my new rugs laid out. While they make the rooms a tad bit cozier the house still feels so empty.  It seemed as though I have bought so much stuff already too!

This is what I have bought so far … That dining room table above which I love (Aaron’s Fine Furniture in Orlando).  Three rugs.  A bedroom set (that is now not scheduled to get here until next month … grrr).  Two of these desks from Ikea.  Two of these bookcases from Ikea (which you can see a peek of above).  4 Bar Stools (3 of which were delivered broken so now I am waiting for replacements!).  A secretary for the kitchen.

That is so much stuff!  And the house is still so bare.  I was not anticipating how much I would need.

This rug is in the “formal living area”.  I insist on calling it my library however because I am going to use it as a reading area.  Once I put a couch here I think it will be cozy.  For now the rug has been folded over, until I get the rest of the furniture here.  I had it out for one day and my cat laid out, stretched and started scratching on it.  It appears that Jack thought I had bought him one huge scratching post!

Here are a couple of stationery items from the blogoshpere that I want, I will be downloading and I will be buying (clockwise from top left) …

• I Want It: Custom Stationery from Rifle Paper Co.
  That adorable little portrait is custom made of you for your stationery set.  For us marrieds you can even opt to have two portraits painted of you and your significant other.  Unfortunately this stationery is beyond my means … hence why I said I want it.
• I Am Downloading It: Save Me Bookmarks
  I found these FREE downloadable bookmarks labeled “Save Me” at Swiss Miss.  They will come in handy since I just joined a book club (I use the word “club” loosely since there is a total of 2 members).  Did I mention they are FREE?
• I am Buying It: Owl Post Mailing Kits
  Here in Orlando we are preparing for the opening of Harry Potter’s Wizarding World at Universal Studios. With Harry fever going around these Owl Kits I found through Paper Crave might be fun.  I know there is some Potter-phile out there that is going to love getting this from me.  I just dont know who yet.
• I am Ordering It: Custom Calligraphy Return Address Stamps
  I just moved so these custom return address stamps from Primele are very appropriate.  This was another great find from Swiss Miss.

Sorry the picture isn’t that great. I took it at night in my bathroom. But this gives you an idea of my problem.

So I am having this weird problem with my towels that I desperately need help with.  For the last few years I have been finding these pink bleach-stained-looking marks on my towels.  But I NEVER use bleach.  I can’t be trusted not to ruin perfectly good clothing when messing with bleach, so I just don’t use the stuff.  That being said, bleach-like stains are showing up on my perfectly nice towels!

First I thought, OK maybe these are cheap towels and the dye is washing out and leaving a mark.  But now I have new expensive towels (wedding gifts) that are popping up with pink marks!

I have tested every face product, toothpaste and soap I own a towel to see if when dried it leaves a stain and none of them left any stains.  I mean, I put most of the stuff on my face so I HOPE they don’t bleach my towels.

I am just so confused.  Anyone have any ideas on what could be causing this?

 (Clockwise from Top Left) 1) Zumi Rug at Crate & Barrel; 2) Granada Rug from Pottery Barn; 3 & 4) Keno Contemporary Rug from Rugs USA; 5) Dalyn Carlisle Rug from Rugs USA; 6) Liora Manne Area Rug from Macy’s; 7) Martha Stewart Full Bloom rug from Home Decorators; 9) Henley Rug from Pottery Barn

So originally Mr. Juicefairy said, “here is a lump sum of money go have fun decorating our new house.”  What he meant was “Here is a lump sum of money.  Don’t spend all of it and don’t buy anything without my approval.”  I am paraphrasing of course.

I thought we were on the same page with decorating but I soon found that most of my choices were “too girly” or “too loud” for his taste.  These responses were beginning to annoy me every time I thought I had found “the perfect [insert decor item here]” for the house .

You have seen the first rug that I bought for the family room.  But I still needed to buy two more — one for the dining room and one for the formal living room (a.k.a my library).  I decided the best way to do this was to tag all of the rugs that I liked in Delicious.  When I was satisfied with the collection I went back and picked my favorites from those.  Then I created a PDF (above) of my picks.  I emailed it to my husband and said “tell me which ones you can’t live with at all”.  This was his time to give his two cents.  I purposely didn’t say “which ones do you like?” because then if I disagreed with his choices neither of us would be happy.

Of the above he vetoed 1, 3, 4, 5 and 8.  Obviously the man does not hold back.

He actually did like some of them though.  So I ended up getting the Martha Stewart Full Bloom rug in Pumpkin Seed for the living room (library).

… and then I got the Grenada Rug from Pottery Barn for the dining Room.  These essentially had to match well because the rooms are one big area.

The rugs have come in and I am very happy with my choices.  They match great and I think they fit my style nicely.  Mr. Juicefairy is very fond of both of them. I hope the Martha Stewart one is big enough though.  I got a 5×7 and it looks small in the room right now.

I will put up pictures soon.

For all you interior design fanatics, I found this pretty cool site today through Decor 8 called Olioboard.  It is a new web app where you can create design boards for the home.  Mix and match images of lighting, accessories, furniture and art to create rooms to inspire you while decorating.  You can also browse boards created by other members if you desire.

I played with it a bit and found myself finding images of really great items in lighting and furniture.  For instance, now I am eying this lamp from Crate & Barrel. I think this will match my rug perfectly …