Tag Archives: Ikea

5 Fabulous Outdoor Dining Tables for Under $500

21 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by in furniture, Outdoor

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, , , , , , , , , , , ,


Last year when we were packing away the outdoor furniture, our glass top round table kind of fell apart. I’m not particularly crazy about the table as it’s not my favorite style and while it suited our old deck just fine, the deck at our current home really wants a rectangular table as it has built in benches along the side so I’m quite happy to be able to look for a new one. But as always, I’m not so crazy about having to shell out the cash for it. So here are five outdoor dining tables for under $500! The 79″ Teak Table from The Mill Stores is just the style and size I want for $380.

Ikea’s Applaro Drop-Leaf Table is great because it’s perfect with the leaves down for our family of four to eat together or we can expand it for more when we’re entertaining. And at $139 I really love the price!

For a more modern look, I live West Elm’s Barrow Glass-Top Table for its chicness, although I have to admit the glass top on this one makes me a little nervous. Perhaps it’s best suited for those who don’t have kids throwing baseballs across the yard. But at a price of $399, it’s worth the risk.

J’adore Fermob, the French outdoor furniture company! This powder coated steel furniture is rust resistant and comes in dozens of bright colors at an affordable price. This French Bistro Table is regularly $525, but French Bistro Furniture.com is selling it for $340!

The popular Chesapeake Collection by Pottery Barn includes this 60″ dining table that’s perfect for those that don’t entertain large groups or have a smaller outdoor space. We love it paired with the captain’s chairs.

So which one will I choose? My guess is that we’ll end up with one of the top two. The Mill Stores table is exactly what I want, but Ikea might win me over with it’s amazing price. Plus if I can save the money, they I can get a fun new umbrella to complete the set!

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Organize 2012: Sort, Stack, and Store

17 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by in Bedroom, Before & After, Mudroom

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, Land of Nod, New Year's Resolution, organize, Pottery Barn Kids, Skubb boxes, The Container Store

New Year’s resolutions are made and then broken more often than not.  The trend seems to be to make less “I will do . . ” or “I will not do . . .” resolutions and more “I will be . . .” or “I will strive to . . . ” statements.  So not punitive, rather motivational resolutions.  To that end, 2012 will be the year I improve the organization in my house so that I am ready for anything.

There are so many good reasons to get organized:  ”don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today”; maybe you’re searching the world for a new job and need to be ready to move at a moments notice; or you’d like to move to a space more suited to your style.  (I fall into the last category.)  While I suspect professional organizers have a closed door to an unorganized space in their home, they do have an advantage over us amateurs;  they know how to prioritize and put useful daily systems in place.  They also know how to create space where there is none to be found!

It would be terrific if there was a way to get organized in a weekend, but for most, like me, it will be a step here and a step there.  You’ve seen how I reworked my recycling area and my solution for holiday cards, so now I’m onto the very courant issue of my scarves.  Amidst winter in the northeast there are piles of scarves, coats and gloves everywhere, and I need a solution.

There are many great shops that have organizational tools such as Ikea and The Container Store, but also consider children’s shops such as Land of Nod and Pottery Barn Kids because there are numerous, colorful, and inexpensive storage options.  The Skubb boxes above are marketed for shoes, but are also the perfect size for my scarves.  The boxes are small enough to stack in my closet and the transparent front flap allows me to see the contents.  Since my collection is quite extensive I organized it by color.

Hope this inspires you to tackle a pile…or two!

Hidden in Plain Sight

15 Tuesday Nov 2011

Posted by in Accessories, Eco-friendly, Kitchen

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, Knodd bins, , recycling

In our quest to be house-ready for entertaining during the holiday season, it is a perfect time to beautify basic household functions.  One such day-to-day is recycling.  Seriously, recycling?!  Yes.  The Knodd bins from IKEA are hiding paper, plastic and cans.  Did you guess?  Most of my guests have never noticed the recycling bins, and those that do are surprised by their purpose.  In addition to the universal blue and green recycling colors, Knodd bins are also available in white, red and yellow.  (The red bin would be perfect for collecting the ashes from the fireplace.)

We’ve got more IKEA fun coming your way soon. There are so many things they just make so easy!

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Organize 2012:  Sort, Stack, and Store

The Difference Between Men & Women and Design

01 Tuesday Mar 2011

Posted by in D.I.Y.

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Beatrix Potter needlepoint,

I’m probably going to get in trouble for this, but I have to do it. First, let me say that I love my husband dearly, and he is an incredible father and is quite handy around the house. It seems nearly impossible to get anything accomplished in my daughter’s room because she is always in the middle of everything, and the only time to get anything done is when she is asleep…in her room. So when the kids and I went away last week, I figured it was the perfect time to have my husband hang the light fixture I had purchased from Ikea months ago. To make a long story short, parts were missing for the shade and now there is a light-bulb dangling from a cord in the corner of her room. I’m sure I should have no safety concerns about that, but there was not a lot he could do to fix that issue at the time, and he did make an attempt with another shade that just wouldn’t hang straight.

In any event, he also took the time to hang the new smoke detectors he had bought for the kids’ rooms as it was making him nervous that we didn’t have one in each room. As I said, great dad! BUT, what I can’t figure out is why he chose to hang them in the center of the wall which is a drastically different color and near artwork (the adorable Beatrix Potter needlepoint that my mom made and that hung in my room for my entire childhood). Utilitarian objects like this are necessary, but the object is to make them “disappear”. There is a white ceiling where it would have blended right in. If it needed to be on the wall instead of the ceiling, perhaps behind the door to her room where nobody really looks would have worked or on the also painted white door that accesses the attic space. But nope, he chose right smack dab in the middle of the biggest open wall in her room.

It just makes me wonder about how the minds of men and women work so differently. The utilitarian vs. aesthetic way of approaching things. I feel bad telling my hubby (so why not just tell the world in a blog post instead) because I know he always has the best intentions, but I can’t live with it. Not that I want to give up my daughter’s safety, but just keep her safe without the safety devices being so in your face. Would it be wrong to create a book of guidelines that need to be followed when placing things around the house? I think that makes me sound like a crazy you-know-what, but it’s the little things like this that drive me bonkers every time I walk into a room, and I know that we just see things differently so I’d actually be doing him a favor by letting him know up front rather than having him constantly move things, right?

PS Maskros

21 Monday Jun 2010

Posted by in lighting

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Tags

, PS Maskros

I was walking down Bellevue Avenue last week when I noticed the very cool light fixtures in one of the new shops in town. Much to my surprise, I then saw them featured on one of the blogs I follow (although I cannot seem to remember which one) and that they were from Ikea. While the flower shade makes it fun, at 32″ in diameter, it is the size of the fixture that really makes the PS Maskros Pendant Lamp stand out. I would love to see it in a girl’s room against fuschia or turquoise walls hanging centered over the bed or even having one on either side of the bed over night tables. And at only $89.99 it makes a big statement without a big hit to your wallet.

Family Photo Gallery Wall

07 Monday Jun 2010

Posted by in D.I.Y., Inspiration

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Benjamin Moore, , Lee Gallery Frames, Maaike Bernstrom Photography, , Ribba frame,

I was so ridiculously excited yesterday when we FINALLY hung the photos behind our couch. This has been VERY long process in picking out what to put in this 8′ wide by 6′ tall space behind our 9′ long couch. I have a basement full of photos and artwork, but none of them seemed right and so for the past 3 years I have agonized over what I could put here that would achieve the look I wanted and fit my budget. I have contemplated everything from a giant canvas to a decorative iron grate but kept coming back to wanting a series of square frames. Then last November we had a great set of family photos done by Maaike Bernstrom Photography so I decided I definitely wanted to use those and create a gallery wall. I found the Lee Gallery Frames in an oversized 8 x 10 at Pottery Barn which I loved, but at $129 apiece and since I would need 6 of them, that idea was quickly dropped by this unemployed blogger. Then, to my surprise, I found the Ribba frame at Ikea which at about 20″ square was only slightly smaller and way less expensive. I was able to get all 6 frames for less than the cost of one of the Pottery Barn ones. Score!

Oh, but not so fast (I bought them last November). Now I had two new issues, the first being that the opening of the picture mat was 12″ x 12″. This is only a problem because it is nearly impossible to get a photo to fit this size. Your options are 11″ x 14″ or 16″ x 20″ so you will be just a tad too short or quite a bit too large even if you zoom out and trim down. I decided that since I liked the square thing I had going on that I would have 8″ x 10″ photos printed and then trim them down to 8″ x 8″. Great, right?

Problem number two, I now needed to find an additional mat to make up for the gap between the 12″ x 12″ mat and the 8″ x 8″ picture. I didn’t want to use anything white because the mat was already white and I needed something that would match my wall color which is Ocean Air by Benjamin Moore. I looked at everything from different colored papers, fabrics, wallpaper and more, but nothing seemed right. I thought about having pieces of mirror custom cut to fit the frames which I actually think would have been very cool, but the thought of bringing two toddlers into the glass shop with me was daunting, and now I think it probably would have looked a little more formal than the rest of our house is these days. And then it hit me, I had nautical charts sitting in a closet waiting to be wallpapered onto my downstairs bathroom wall, but that project wasn’t ready to be done. The blues in the charts would pick up the wall color perfectly and the charts would add more interest to the frames while still being subtle enough not to compete with the photos. Plus, the charts are of Rhode Island and include a lot of the beaches and bays that are near and dear to our hearts. I am completely thrilled with the result! Now I am on a roll and am doing another gallery wall message center in my kitchen which I hope to share with you by the end of the week.

Etsy Picky of the Week: Heather Rawlinson Organic Screen Printed Fabrics

15 Thursday Apr 2010

Posted by in Eco-friendly, Etsy Pick of the Week, textiles

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ABC print, aqua, Eco-friendly, , fabrics, Heather Rawlinson, , Ribba, Spot

London based designer Heather Rawlinson creates these beautiful pieces of screen printed organic cotton fabrics using solvent free, waterbased inks. Because of the nature of the printing each piece of fabric isn’t particularly large, but is ample enough to easily create pillows or other smaller household objects. Each print is available in a variety of colors and at prices ranging between $10 and $16 for each piece or buy the fabric pack(above) for only $95 (and shipping is very inexpensive so don’t be afraid to order from across the pond).

The quality and attention to detail is clear in this close-up of Spot in aqua.I also love this ABC print for a child’s room. It could easily be made into a pillow, but I think framing it and hanging it would be even better. Since it comes in a variety of colors, a series of 3 of them would be a great statement. They recommend the 20″ Ribba frame from Ikea. Another great Etsy find!

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