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stock pile those lightbulbs people

Today is a holiday so the girls are home and I am playing hooky but I did want to throw something out there. I think I missed the memo. I knew that the end was near for normal lightbulbs (I even talked about it here), but I thought I had more time to build up my stock pile. Now I learned that this is the year 40 and 60 watt lightbulbs are being phased out. Why mean government are you trying to deprive us of good lighting?!


So in anticipation of the day when my stockpile will run dry, I need to know - what kind of lightbulbs do you use? Have you found a CFL or whatever they are called, that you like? And one that doesn't make you look like a corpse?

Help a girl out!

fess up friday - chez v

Have I got a yarn to weave for you today. I've got my partner in crime Emily from Chez V over for Fess Up Friday today and we've got a good one for you. Freshen up your drink and enjoy. And Zuck, if you want to use us for a Facebook commercial, we're open to offers. Emily, fess up with Part 1...


Is there anything better than the thrill of the chase?  Well here is a little ditty for you about a desperate chase, the power of social media, and the
kindness of strangers. 
As a linking participant of the One Room Challenge, I was on a frenzied search to locate a pair of affordable sconces for my bedroom plan aka Project Chinoisy Safari Chic.


With little time, I knew my search would be a lot like trying to avoid bread and cheese.  Not gonna happen.  On a Wednesday, mid-challenge, I headed to IKEA in search of some drapes to hack.  Imagine my glee when I stumbled across the Ranarp clamp spotlights.  I was completely smitten upon first sight considering all the other sconces I was contemplating for my ORC room carried hefty price tags and long lead times.
The
Ranarp - $19.99.  Say what?!  Done and done.
But like all too-good-to-be-true dreams, I awoke from my design euphoric nirvana state only to realize that they were sold out.  Of course you are, little gorgy industrial glam thingy, you!  Immediately, I sent out a request on Instagram asking if anyone knew of any in stock anywhere.  Like the shot heard round the world, my fellow design soldiers started rallying to the call, one of which was one of my favorite gals in all of blogland, Elizabeth.  It seems she too was on the hunt for the coveted Ranarps.
  
In the meantime, while my little was busy hopping herself up on a cinnamon roll, I sweet talked a very accommodating IKEA customer service guy into doing a country wide inventory search (which I do not necessarily suggest as it took forever and garnered a lot of evil side eye from the long customer svc queue) only to discover that the lamps were indeed, sold out everywhere with the exception of 17 in Paramus, NJ and 3 in Houston, TX.  I shared this info with Elizabeth and thus began a dual mission to score these lamps through one of our varied networks.
We schemed, we commiserated, we called, emailed, blogged, IG’d and FB’d in an attempt to reach anyone who had peeps near Paramus, NJ or Houston all to no avail.  I even contacted my master finder-of-all-things bestie in Berlin, Germany.
This is the
kinda gal who has a vast network of contacts willing and ready to do her bidding.  She said, yes, she could probably pull it off but to keep checking with other sources as it would take a few to orchestrate.
Meanwhile
, on Friday evening of that same week, at 7pm, my sister’s father-in-law, who lives in NJ, happened to be near the Paramus store, and agreed to go pick some up, but would I mind calling to verify stock first.  Hoo-ray!!!!  No problem!!!! Except when I called IKEA another very nice customer svc lady informed me that no, in fact, Paramus did not have ANY in stock.  Is it possible that all 17 sold out in 2 days?!  No, turns out that when my customer svc dude did the country wide search, the 17 he ‘found’ in the Paramus, NJ store where actually in the Elizabeth, NJ store.  Which was no where near where my sister’s father-in-law happened to be at said moment.  Wha wha wha.

via
Are you still with me?
I know, me neither.
I am exhausted just retelling it. 
Clearly it was time for wine and more commiseration.  Off went another email to Elizabeth detailing how the Holy Grail had slipped through our fingers, yet again.  At which point, I hand off the story baton to her which involves that Friday evening spent feverishly exchanging updates via email over many glasses of wine on my side and probably many G &Ts on hers while my much ignored and frustrated husband could not understand even a little bit about what all the fuss was about. 
Thankfully, Elizabeth’s hubster could!

kisses,  mrs. V






Part 2...

It was not a good night for Emily and me. As y'all may have gathered, I can get myself a wicked case of tunnel vision when I want something. I am like Miley Cyrus when she sees a foam finger - I cannot be stopped.
After days of back and forth, and a Friday night spent emailing at a rapid pace, we were left empty handed. Damn that IKEA customer service rep and his lack of New Jersey geographic knowledge. My New Jersey adjacent sources were tapped as well and worst of all I was running out of gin.

Luckily this happened just as the hubs was finishing his movie. "Are you two still talking about those dumb lights?" he said (in an ultra supportive voice). I updated him on the latest and he said, "let's just put this on Facebook". And like that he sent out an SOS on his feed.


Just an hour and a half later he had a response from a friend from high school (which was in Chicago) who now lives in Dallas. Yes, Dallas is not Houston, but she has a friend who lives in Houston who would probably be up for it. "She loves to shop."

Good lord, we might have a winner. I told Emily right away and we both held our breath as my husband texted Dallas and Dallas texted Houston and back again. Houston was in, we just needed to confirm in the AM that the IKEA store did in fact have the lights in stock and she would be there as soon as they opened.

So a perfect stranger agreed to go to IKEA on the worst IKEA day of the week a Saturday to pick up three lights, the LAST three lights in stock in the lower 48, for two crazy ladies in two different states that she had never met. Emily and I squealed and lit a candle that some early bird Texan wouldn't get our lights before our shopping angel arrived.

I had already committed to go to an auction that morning with a client so I called IKEA on my way and they were as (un)helpful as ever, telling me that it 'looks like there are 3 available' but they couldn't be sure. Awesome.

So we waited, and waited, and just as I lost a bid on some fab ginger jars this popped up on my phone.


Three left and they were all ours. I cheered silently and forwarded the picture to Emily. IKEA, I love you again.

As if this woman couldn't get any better, she sent a few more texts asking if there were any other forms of the RANARP we wanted while she was there (the desk lamp is especially lovely). Can this wonderful person please move to St. Louis so I can hug her?!

She shipped them out first thing Monday and on Wednesday morning I had the best package on my doorstep along with the sweetest note (on fab monogramed stationary I might add). Not only did this woman make this trip for people she doesn't even know to a store that is crazy on a quite day but she did it all while sick. And my favorite part - "I took it upon myself to also buy the lightbulbs that were recommended for the light, just in case." I love her.

So in the end this


and this


would not have been possible without our little slice of heaven in Texas. Thank you Marnie and Ann for your kindness. Emily and I would like to buy you ladies a drink.

Have you ever been desperate to get your hands on something? Ever need something and then when you find out it is hard to get it becomes an obsession? Ever want to kiss a stranger?

one room challenge - family room week 4

Before I jump in on Week 4 progress, I want to thank everyone for your sweet comments on the HGTV Magazine feature. It wasn't totally real until I could share it with y'all and I'm still on cloud nine. Actually I'm kind of hoping that euphoria will carry me through the next few weeks because I feel like this project is growing. The list should be getting smaller at this point right? My design ADD is killing me. (catch up on previous weeks here.)

Now that the painting is done and I'm ready to get going on the meat and potatoes of the room I wanted to take this week to share some details on what will be sitting on those newly painted floors.

If you are new to LBD then I should let you know; I like a good bargain. And I love things that have a story to tell. (my furniture likes to talk almost as much as me) So when I can marry those two things and satisfy my 'thrill of the hunt' fix, then I am a happy girl.

For those that follow me on Instagram, these might look familiar but let's take a tour, shall we?


The couch. I found this beauty at Goodwill and loved it right away. Then the 'do I or don't I' debate started and I decided I would walk away and check back tomorrow. If it was still there it was meant to be. I thought about it all night and couldn't wait for the store to open the next morning. I rushed in and paid the $30. That's right. $30. I picked it up the next day in a surprise (and severe) snow storm with it hanging out of the back of my car for the 2 miles home. Zero visibility on the roads but 100% happy with my find.


The chairs. My friend and I go to an annual high school garage sale every spring and we usually come away with something great. The lines are long, we have to go super early and it is pure madness when we get in. We love it. This past spring we went and came up with a big fat nothing until we headed toward the exits. I saw these chairs and said to her that I had no more room for armchairs in my house (I have 4 extras in my basement), but don't they have great lines? And then she said the best thing a friend could say - "They are $8. Get them!" (thanks Becca). And so I did. They won't look like this the next time you see them, but they are again in excellent condition and I love their shape. And that's $8 for the PAIR by the way.


The lamps. Both were from Goodwill. Separate trips but equally ugly. :) Big plans for these. They were $8 for both.


The table. I knew I wanted something for the girls to draw and create on, but I didn't want to spend a lot since...they wold be drawing and creating on it. I saw this one at, wait for it, Goodwill, and emailed my lovely Linda to see what she thought. She assured me I could find some way to paint over that veneer and I pulled the trigger. $20. The dust was free.


The chairs. The green one was my dad's 'homework chair' growing up and the other chair has sat in my parents basement for 30 years. I come by my furniture hoarding honestly. Best part - FREE.


The coffee table. Snatched it up while at a retirement home sale with a client (they had great stuff). My monkeys girls' broke the glass top during an illegal dance party so it needs to be fixed and spruced up. She is the perfect length though and I love her height. $15.

So now the plan is take this motley crew and make them look cohesive and fresh. Less junky, more funky. Some of them have already been made over, some are still in process and some I still need to start (ugh!). Will I make it?!

Rip up gross carpet (floor and stairs) and replace flooring
Paint and plank walls and bookshelves
- Recover estate sale chairs - at the upholsterers 
- Create some sort of art station for the girls
Paint chairs and table
- Repair and paint coffee table
- Create toy storage that doesn't involve the words 'pink' or 'plastic'
- Get some art on those walls
Find rugs
- New Lighting

Be sure to check out how everyone else is progressing:


kitchen updates thanks to lamps.com

It is only Monday morning and I already feel behind. How is that for the start of the week? Aces. I hope your weekends were delightful though. And thanks so much for all of your comments on Fess Up Friday. I now have quite a shopping list started for myself.

Today I wanted to share a recent experience I had with the good folks at Lamps.com. As I've eluded to in crazy code like ways (I promise I'll divulge more soon) I've been working feverishly to get a laundry list of items done to our little cottage and addressing the light over our kitchen window has been on that list for a while.

Our old light was a bit large for that small window and those that are blessed with long, tall legs (I don't have this problem) would often knock their heads on it. Not the best memory for guests to leave with. So when the team at Lamps.com offered to have me try something out I screamed "sign me up!" Actually, I think I typed it, but you get the point.

The decision was not an easy one and I even started plotting all of the other places I could add pendants just so that I wouldn't have to choose just one. But after a lot of back and forth, I landed on this hot little number - the Feiss Brushed Steel Urban Renewal Mini Pendant.

Lamps.com
As soon as it arrived I ripped open the box to find it looked even better in person (wahoo) and I cleared the hubs schedule so he could put it up for me right away. He's such a good sport.


Everything was laid out and easy to follow and as someone who has ordered a lot of lights in her day, I was thrilled that we didn't have to make a trip to Home Depot for any parts. Everything was included - hallelujah!


And in no time flat, I had a new light. She is so light and pretty. I just love her.


Her shape is so sculptural and I think adds just the right amount of fun to my kitchen window. Now if only my view was of the ocean rather than my neighbors. One thing at a time I guess.


Sometimes the little details make the biggest difference.

Have you made any little changes around the house lately? Do you have a pretty view out of your kitchen window? Have any wish list lighting items?

This post was sponsored by Lamps.com. All opinions are my own.

this little light of mine

So, I got a new chandelier for the dining room.

Would this be the dining room that just got a new chandelier last year? Yep, that's the one.

Now, before you go putting me in the loony bin for buying yet another lighting fixture for the dining room (this makes #3), let me state my case. It is a vintage bamboo chandelier at a wicked good price. I couldn't very well leave it behind once I saw it. What if someone bought it who wouldn't have taken care of it? There was a lady with a bedazzled purse and a scrunchie eyeing it at the same time my mom and I were fawning. I couldn't let this light go home with Mrs. Scrunchie, that's just mean. So really I rescued this light from certain doom. I'm a humanitarian. Me and Angelina.


The only problem I had with it was the color. I am a card-carrying member of the black fan club but I've already got a lot of black in the dining room and the walls are darker so adding this big and wonderful black light was just sucking the remaining light out of the room. And the black was hiding all of the great detail that made me love the light in the first place.

I wavered between something sparkly and something with more pop. But while I wavered, I made myself useful and primed.


Sparkle took over and I went with gold. I think I had spent a few hours play dress up with the girls before hand, so that might have influenced my decision. But the subtle, glam, vintagey gold I was looking for didn't happen.


Bust.

It was a little too Golden Girls for my taste. I suppose I could have taken some rub n' buff to the thing to tone it done a bit, but have you taken a close look at this thing? It has no fewer than 47 sides. It's a mathematical anomaly. It was hard enough to spray it, I wasn't about to hand rub the sucker.

I decided to go with what my gut had told me originally and go with my color pop. Why I ever tried to ignore you gut I don't know. My apologies. After something red, with a bit of orange in it, I went to Michaels to look thru the hard core arty spray paint and landed on Cadmium Red by Liquitex.

The color was perfect and the paint goes on wonderfully. It dries super fast and the odor is almost non-existant.


I will warn you though this stuff chips like a... it chips really bad. I wouldn't use this on anything that would get any sort of day to day use, but since people rarely touch my chandelier, I figure it will be safe.


So up she went, looking beautiful. All of her pretty details showing up so much better now in her bright red. But she was missing one last detail. This was the perfect piece to try out one of my favorite blogger 'I want to try that one day' DIYs.


Yep, I followed Emily's lead and added some polka dot fabric to my plain little candle sleeves. You can go to Recently for the full DIY but I will tell you this was easy as can be. All you need is some fabric, scissors and Mod Podge and you'll be done in 10 minutes.


I love my little lady. She is bringing it. 


So the moral of the story is this - ignore trends and always go with your gut. Your gut will never lie to you. And never pass up a good light because you already have one. There is always room for one more chandelier in your life.

What about you? Have you added something to your house only to replace it with something else a year later? Painted anything with 47 sides? Watched Golden Girls lately?

you had to be there

It's warm, sunny and Monday. Two out of three, not bad. How was your weekend? Did you wake up confused as to what day it might be? I did. Bummer when you think for a split second that it is Sunday.

Anyway, as those of you that are long time readers know, I can't go very long without changing things around these parts. It is chronic and there is no end in sight (sorry hubs). But often the changes are small enough that they aren't meaty enough for their very own post. (see, I now remember the word meat)

So I thought I'd gather them up and every once in a while do a little show and share - thus, the birth of 'you had to be there'.

Let's go into the living room, shall we? Don't look at the Barbie's on the floor but turn your eye up. I decided that keeping blue and white platters in a closet is just as bad as putting Baby in a corner. So I've added them above my favorite Pink Pagoda couple.


Since you are already looking up, you may also notice this.


Yes, I'm changing my dining room chandelier again.

We finally have a rug in our bedroom.


The hubs got it for me for Christmas. Which is in December. And it is now April. I know, I know.


This is happening in the entry hall (if you can call it that).


And finally, my ongoing battle with my mantel continues and I've changed it yet again. I pulled out some old sconces that I got at an estate sale way back when and slapped those suckers up. I had always thought I might spray them but I think I like the patina on the brass. And I love my pink candles.


Why yes, that is one of my lovely Indie Mats on the mantel. Good eye! Let it serve as a reminder - this is the last day you can enter to win these lovelies for your own home! Make sure you enter to win!

What about you? Do you move things around your house often? Made any small updates lately?

how did i do - 2012 goal review

Happy New Year to you! I hope you enjoyed a great holiday with family, friends or the remote. I enjoyed all of the above and truly had a relaxing and enjoyable time off. But the Christmas decorations are put away and the tree is at the curb, so its time to get to work.

Before I share my goals for 2013 I thought I'd see how I did with my 2012 goals.

1. Redo the master bedroom. Woop Woop. Check this sucker off. The big bedroom reveal was back in May but I've kept making updates as recently as last week (more on that later). I'm happy with the room but you know it's gonna keep evolving.



2. Repair and redo deck and stairs. I'm on a roll. This one was wrapped up in June and talk about a pandora's box of crazy. It was dirty, sweaty and a hell of a lot longer than planned, but we are digging it now and use it more than we ever did.


3. Plant a herb garden. Big fat goose egg on this one. I must have been drunk when I thought of this because the idea that my children would give me enough time to dedicate to a herb garden is laughable. We barely are able to get raking and mowing done. Maybe in a few years. Until then I'll just continue to watch Barefoot Contessa and pretend that's my herb garden.

4. Lighting. Well...sort of. I did get a new chandelier for the dining room, (which will be moving again soon - stay tuned) but I never got around to the hallway light and the deck got candle sconces rather than electric ones. So maybe 75% complete? I completed the 'light' but not the 'ing'.


5. Reupholster couch. It wasn't quick, and often not a pretty process, but I'm giving myself a gold star on this one. And on top of it all I discovered a new talent that led me to tackle this and this.


So there you have it. 4 out of 5. I gotta say, this is the best I've ever done sticking to a list. Will I be able to do as well this year? I'll post the list tomorrow and let you be the judge.

How about you? Do you make any goals? Have any new year traditions?

you light up my elephant

That is the one and only time I will ever reference Debby Boone. Promise.

As I discussed the other day, my youngest has quite a love for elephants. She's so in style these days, I know. So of course when I saw this Shirley Fintz lamp I thought of my daughter's infinite happiness.
via West Elm
Oh how she would love that in her room. But I could never seem to pull the trigger on the $250 for someone who isn't yet 2 and has a habit of breaking pretty much everything in her path.

The goddess of restraint rewarded me though when my mom and I found this little dude out on the town.


Clearly not exactly the same. He's more of a lone wolf than the West Elm clique but as my 5-year-old would say, "same difference". And he was $18 so wahoo!

He did come without a shade. This one is just a temporary fix from the basement, so clearly he needs something more...fitting.


He's got the cutest little face.


I also think I want to do something to spruce up his pole thingy... whatever you call that part between the lamp base and the light bulb. It's too long and plain. OK, this is going in the wrong direction.

The point is - cute lamp. Cheap lamp. Blue and White. Good times. Expect to see this little dude spruced up soon.


Score any good finds lately? Doing anything exciting for the weekend? Want me to come over for dinner? I always bring my sparkling wit and usually some good liquor.