Rug Buddy – cool things I want!
We went over to some friend’s house last week for a movie night. Â After being encouraged to take of our shoes, we stepped onto a rug and it felt like heaven! Â They had recently purchased a Rug Buddy.
This is basically a heated rug pad. It was seriously amazing. They are pricey at nearly $300 but for a family room with 2 little ones, it was definitely a good purchase for them. It got me thinking, why couldn’t you use a heated mattress pad for something similar? I think the concern would be that you could scald your floor but if you sandwiched the heated blanket between the rug and the pad you shouldn’t have that problem. It is possible that you would be able to feel the heating element though. Hmm.
I think our best bet is to wait for these to catch on in a big way for the price to come down. It was awesome enough for me to write this post so I’m guessing they’re going to be the next big thing. You heard it here first.
Sarah
New England Demolition & Salvage and other New Bedford highlights
This past week I started a new job. Â It’s been going great and it’s super exciting to get to meet new people and learn new things. Â As I mentioned, I took a week off between jobs to relax, catch up on house stuff, and have some fun. Â On Thursday of that week, we went somewhere awesome: New Bedford. It is a sea-coast town about an hour and a half south of us.
New England Demolition and Salvage had all manner of cool things. They are definitely one of the best companies for demolition. Like 100s of bathtubs
Or toilets of every variety.
Including a PURPLE one!
And this awesome pink kitchen sink.
Unfortunately we were on the hunt for a pair of pedestal sinks but no luck in that department. They looked pretty cleaned out and it’s actually cheaper to buy new.
We also hit 1 of 5 or so big antique malls in the area. I’ll definitely be going back to scope out the rest of the malls!
New England Antiques Co.
127 Rodney French Boulevard
New Bedford, MA 02744
(508) 993-7600
This was just the “furniture” neighborhood. It was this big…times about 5. HUGE.
We came across this Eastlake Furniture set that we really liked. We decided we didn’t have the time to take on the project but we will keep our eyes peeled for a similar set in better condition. I don’t mind re-upholstery but the house is not in a state where I can take on that project right now. Stefan loved the style though and the diminutive size will be perfect in the piano room. This particular style was popular from the 1870s to 1890s and was named for it’s creator, Charles Eastlake. Though victorian by timeframe, the style is a deviation from the gaudy baroque revival of the time. After looking at the pieces in the furniture store, we were able see the Eastlake influence in some of the architectural details of the house. It is clearly a turning point from the romantic curves and classic influences of the late 19th century to the angular art-deco designs of the post-war 1920s. I’d love to find a good book on the history of furniture design. It’s fascinating to see the progression of design as circumstances change over time. Let me know if you have any recommendations!
After Thursday in New Bedford, we left Friday for a weekend in Saratoga Springs. It was a great trip and lots of fun family time. I had fun with my nieces and nephews swimming and coloring birdhouses. To top it off, I came home with the great cloche. Just the right size:
Stay tuned for the saga of the kitchen cabinets!
Sarah
Assembling Ikea Furniture
I’ve been negligent in posting. I’ve got an update post in the works. In the meantime, I thought I’d share something handy.  Stefan and I have been on the search for bits to assemble classic design of custom wood furniture from Dumonds or Ikea furniture.  After using those cheap hex keys to put in the 100th screw on some piece of furniture, you start to think, I wish I could just use the drill for this!  Ikea sells bits but they are in a big tool kit and we thought we could just pick up a set at Home Depot.  FYI, you can’t find metric allen bits anywhere!  Well, you can, but they are expensive.  The other thing to note is that Ikea doesn’t use standard Philips screw heads either, they use posi-drive screws.  There is a good explaination here on ikeafans.com.
We then found this great set:
Click on the image for a link to amazon to purchase. It’s under $10 and as a special bonus, it is pink! Ikea has a similar set they sell for $7 but if you are like me, it’s worth $3 to not have to make a trip back to the terror that is the Ikea store!
I’m hoping we’ll have a chance to use the set this week when we start to get furniture set up in the house! There is tons of storage in the house, just not many places to set things at the moment. The ikea furniture should help!
Sarah
