Rugs.
*sigh*
I sure do love looking at them, but oh how Max loves to lunch on them! If it’s got fibers that stand up, you can bet your bottom dollar he’s going to pull out a little patch of them whenever he’s feeling naughty.
For some reason, he doesn’t mess with the little rugs in the kitchen or bathrooms, but in bigger rooms, we’ve learned (the hard way) (more than once) that we need to stick to floor coverings that are very tightly woven.
Enter: our friends at Flor! Their carpet squares are the bomb!! 😀
They hooked us up with Roadside Attraction in Eggnog in Sweet P’s room…
…and now we’ve got a great big rectangle of Suit Yourself in Flax in the living room…
I wanted something that was big enough for all the furniture to sit on…
…and because I love the look/feel of layered rugs, I’d love to add a smaller (8’x10′) striped (Dash & Albert) rug on top of the carpet squares in the future. (Something tightly-woven, of course) 🙂
My favorite thing about the Flor rug is that it looks like sisal, but it’s soft, not scratchy. Another thing I love is that if any part of it gets dirty/ruined, all we have to do is wash/replace the affected squares…we don’t have to throw the whole (10’x14′) thing away.
We’ve gone without a rug in the living room since last year, so it’s been really neat to have something soft underfoot in there again!
And speaking of “going without”- our (Whirlpool) fridge broke a couple of weeks ago and after two service calls with the folks that Lowes sent out, it’s official: it’s dead for good. 🙁 (Something about oil in all the lines?) It’s only a year and half old, but it’s no longer covered by a warranty, and apparently we didn’t pay for an extended one- grrr.
I’ve spent the last several days researching TONS of refrigerators, and I don’t feel like I’m any closer to making a decision about what to buy.
Do you love your fridge? If so, can you share with me where you bought it, what kind it is, and why you love it? I sure would appreciate it. In the meantime, you can probably find me adding more ice to that big blue cooler on the counter. 😉
We have had our Kenmore Elite with french doors and bottom freezer for 8 years. It holds a ton and makes loads of ice. It is also very easy to clean out. It is difficult for little kids to open which could be a plus or minus. We no longer use the filtered water feature because the filters are really expensive.
We bought the big LG…can’t remember the model. French door with the extra door in front…love love love. It fits everything. ..finally. ..go take a look…Happy frigging
We also found the water filters to be quite expensive. Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program is a much more affordable option. The filters are sent to us automatically at the prescribed time we set up. So much easier!
We recently got an LG fridge from Home Depot (model lfx28968st, a consumer reports highly rated model) and are extremely happy with it. We did spring for the 5 year warranty plan, but it us easy to find things, the cubbies inside are the right size for veggies, milk, etc so its like it organizes itselfsince everything is sized right! I love your blog, and the inspiration you find in people and things everyday is uplifting and a pleasure to read!!
I LOVE my refrigerator – but it is probably not want you want. I have a retro look Big Chill in jadeite green. It is so fun! It is the showpiece of my kitchen. Before this beauty, we owned a Sears Kenmore. I have bought appliances from Sears for years and have always been happy – their warranty and service department are great.
Oh, oh! Hope the dishwasher is not the brand I just bought from Lowe’s!
It’s actually our fridge that’s broken, Nancy. So far, so good with our dishwasher! 🙂
We absolutely LOVE our Samsung refrigerators. We actually have two! Bought the side by side for our last house and kept it for our garage when we moved to this home a year and a half ago. We have the french door now and truly just love it. It holds all the large pans of food and has tons of drawers, makes great ice, and looks great. We purchased all of our appliances at Sears. They were great to work with.
Love your new carpet squares!
We’ve had a french door Samsung for two years and I love it. In order to have more room in the fridge portion we opted for the water spout just inside rather than ice and water in the door. Not everyone likes it but it works for us.
Love the carpet squares. Where did you get them? Lowes? Home Depot? Thank you very much.
Thank you! They’re from Flor.com, Patty! 🙂
I have the LG – with the drawer freezer underneath. I love that! Lots of room – French doors on top. Don’t have the model with the water dispenser, but do have the ice maker installed inside. It’s worth looking at.
I am loving the floor tiles you picked out. Where did you get them and about how much do they run for a 10×14 like you have?
Thanks!
The tiles are 19.7″x19.7″ and the tiles are $12 per tile. Feel free to call me for more info at 713-522-0278 🙂 My name is Brie and I would be happy to help.
Beware on the fridge: We’ve had two different GE models that are extremely noisy. Had service men out; nothing can be done. I would not purchase another GE.
My GE refrigerator was a disaster. No matter the temp setting, wherever the air came in the food would freeze. Like an entire shelf. I would Never buy GE anything again. And when I couldn’t find anyone to service it but GEs rep I knew I wasn’t alone.
Just a thought, but if you purchased the refrigerator with a credit card, your credit card may automatically add a year to the manufacturers warranty. Might be width looking into if you haven’t already!
This is a great call, Christina. Your credit card company will protect you, and may even reverse the charge for it. And honestly, since it’s only 18 months old, I would keep at with Whirlpool customer service until it was remedied,
On the other hand, it makes me wonder if Layla is mentioning this because she’s hoping a sponsor will come forward and gift them a new fridge? Maybe that’s why she’s not pursuing these other avenues.
Nope- not posting in hopes for a sponsor, Emily. (Although, in our third week of not having a fridge- I wouldn’t turn one away, LOL!)
We didn’t use a credit card to pay for the fridge, so no luck there.
I did, however, follow the advice of three different commenters about checking with Whirlpool directly about their built-in “SECOND THROUGH FIFTH YEAR FULL WARRANTY ON SEALED REFRIGERATION SYSTEM PARTS” warranty. I didn’t even know that existed, so I’m VERY grateful for the links they provided! 😀 I talked with someone from Whirlpool this morning, and after she tried to tell me they didn’t have a warranty like that, I read the whole thing out loud to her. 😉 She is sending someone out on Thursday. (Strangely enough, it’s the same company that Lowes already sent out twice, so, hmmmm?) Hoping they will decide that it CAN be fixed after all. :-/
Just saw those comments about the 5 year warranty, that’s great!
Don’tcha love when you have to read their own warranty aloud to them? UGG!!! Hoping you have a remedy soon!
I’ve been looking at a Kitchenaid that is counter depth, french door, with no water or ice in the door. It has the ice maker under in the freezer so the ice maker doesn’t take up room in the fridge for food and the water dispenser is on the inside, just on the side with a little nozzle so your door is actually available for storage. Lowes has it on sale periodically, but it’s not the cheapest out there. There just aren’t any other that have that setup to maximize space in a counter depth french door style like that. Also it has a full extend pull out freezer…meaning you don’t lose storage or reachability room because the freezer stops at a certain spot when you open it like many others. If you are interested I can email you the item number or a link for the fridge.
I’d love to take a look-see at the link, Amy! Thank you! 😀
I have bought all my appliances at SEARS and never had any problem with them. Got a refrigerator 5 years ago and it is still going strong…one with freezer on the bottom. I’ll be purchasing a dishwasher and stove soon.
I love my Samsung 263 refrigerator with bottom freezer.
Layla, I’m so sorry about your fridge. We love ours but it’s a fridge only-no freezer, so I’m not sure that’s the thing for you. It’s from Sears and we love the LED lights, that it’s counter depth, stainless steel, and holds a ton of food.
Question about the Flor squares. They look great, btw. How do you install them so they don’t slide around on you? We have some carpet squares in the basement that we just put on top of the concrete in our workout area, and they move when we do burpees or planks.
P.S. They aren’t Flor brand though
Hi Angela! Here’s a link that shows how the Flor squares stay in place!
http://www.flor.com/what-is-flor/
Hope that helps! 😀
I was recently in Lowe’s and they had several of the same model you have, on clearance after being brought back for repair. No good. I absolutely do not replace my appliances until they are dead (did I mention my washer and dryer are 14 yrs old ha). Our fridge is going on 8yrs old. We have a Kenmore. I shop Sears for all major appliances. Good luck!.
I bought the Only one that would fit in the space but I’ve been happy with it: Kitchenaid. I wanted one that was stainless on the sides as they will stick out. But regardless if you don’t have a cabinet depth, get one.
Layla – I really like the carpet squares – will be adding those to the living room soon. About the fridge – if you call the manufacturer, they may replace or help you out with the replacement because it’s so new. Just a thought, good luck and hope you have a wonderful weekend.
We have the GE cafe fridge now and I love it. It is huge and the ice maker in the door doesn’t take up a ton of space in the fridge. It has a hot water dispenser in addition to filtered water and ice… Which is nice if you are a tea drinker like me. We bought it at a local appliance store but the big box stores sell it. We had a Samsung French door in our last house and it was great, too! Good luck!
We have a Frigidaire French-door style frig. I like the freezer because it holds more than a traditional top freezer and it is fairly easy to keep organized. My favorite part is the “smudge-proof” stainless. It is so easy to keep the stainless clean. Most of the time the fingerprints don’t show. I don’t have to use any special cleaners, I just wipe it with a damp cloth or with windex if it gets sticky. I have four boys so it gets used a LOT. We got ours at ApplianceSmart about two years ago. The ice maker works well and we love the filtered water dispenser. We replace the filter every 6 months.
Man – rough on your fridge, hate it when that happens!! We have the GE Cafe Fridge and LOVE it. It has hot water at the touch of a button! 😉 Tell me, how sweet is that 🙂
LOVE the flor carpet – looks amazing. Off to check that out as an option for our Living Room. (love the look of sisal, but would like something softer…)
I forgot to say that I really like your Flor carpet squares! They look really nice!
We love our Maytag with the French doors and freezer drawer. I don’t know if it mattered in your old, d-e-d dead, fridge, but if you ever have anything with a compressor (fridge/freezer/a/c) on it, DO NOT lay it down to transport it because the oil will come out of the compressor and ruin it.
I have always purchased GE appliances, but I must say I don’t think they hold up like they used to. My dishwasher still works, but just doesn’t get my dishes clean. Several of my friends have purchased KitchenAid brand and LOVE them. My one comment, do NOT get a side-by-side. I have one and I do not like it at all. NO ROOM. I kinda wish it would die so I could get a new fridge on top/freezer on bottom model :)! Blessings!
When we were researching appliances, all of the reports for reliability and quality led us to a Samsung fridge. We got the French door on top/middle drawer/freezer drawer combo. We love the middle drawer, but have a hard time configuring the inside because of the ice maker. Quality-wise, though, we’ve never had an issue with samsung appliances.
The carpet squares are beautiful. I can’t see any seams on the photos, but are they noticeable? I have a fireplace in the corner that has a bow shaped hearth – very difficult to work around for many reasons. I also have cherry floors that I don’t want to totally cover with carpet. Could these squares be cut to follow that shape, leaving a space, like an area rug? My other option is broadloom carpet cut and bound which is expensive. Love to see all of your projects!
Karen,
The wonderful thing about FLOR is that it’s adaptable, beautiful and eco-friendly (very low VOC’s) The tiles are 19.7″x19.7″ Trace the pattern on the back and You can cut the tiles with a utility knife and a straight edge. You don’t have to worry about the yarn fraying due to the engineered backing 🙂 Call for more details at 713-522-0278
Sorry about your fridge – no fun. What is fun are these carpet squares……GREAT IDEA for non-standard sized spaces!!! You make it sound like removing – washing – replacing is easy which leads me to ask, how do they attach to one another / the floor?
I have known about Flor for years! It was great when I had little ones! The ability to switch out soiled tiles! I am glad you found something you can all live with, especially Max!
I love the idea of carpet squares, especially since those resemble sisal.
I’m going to be checking back here about the fridge search. We are in the process of buying a 41-year-old fixer-upper, and replacing the ugly fridge is one of many bullets on our renovation list.
We have a Kitchenaid and love it! They also have a 5 year warranty that comes with them!
Layla, love the Flor carpet squares!
I am in the process of buying a new home and researching an American Home Shield Home Protection Plan (www.ahs.com). Check it out!!!
I have never seen a carpet square I like until you shared both of yours. I might be a convert! They are beautiful and I love the colors. So nice!
We are in the same dilema with our Bosch dishwasher. It went dead right at one-year! Luckily, Bosch is working with us, but we’re on week six of no dishwasher.
We have a Samsung refrigerator and love it. At the time we bought it (2009) it had the largest capacity for an in-stock fridge at Lowes. It has performed beautifully and we still love it. I am picky about shelving, and the shelves on the door felt sturdy. And it’s easy to take out the shelves to clean.
May I ask a question? Where did you get the dining room chairs? I love them!
I would love to try those Flor Carpet squares, they sound wonderful. Sorry about your fridge, We have had lots of problems with our Wirlpool too. So I would suggest not sticking with Wirlpool. In the past we have had a GE from Sears that we liked. Hope that helps.
tweet about it. i do love my GE profile fridge but we had some issues even after warranty expired. i was pretty vocal on twitter when sears and GE customer service stopped being helpful. my tweets got the attention of GE quality and they sent someone out to repair the issue once and for all. good luck!
I know I’m in the minority but I don’t like my french door fridge. I have a GE Profile and we have to purposefully close the doors on both the fridge and the freezer section, they don’t close automatically (does that make sense???) With kids in the house this is a huge problem. I’m so tired of coming home to find the fridge door just a smidge open or the food in the freezer dripping wet because someone didn’t remember to close it properly. I much prefer my old side by side.
What about a Subzero ? Ours was a fortune BUT its going on 15 years no issues 🙂
We have this:
http://www.maytag.com/-%5BMFX2570AEM%5D-1106520/MFX2570AEM/
And before you think I’m some sort of money bags let me tell you that I got it from the Sears Outlet website so it was $1300 instead of $3,000. It has a dent and someone in Cary decided they couldn’t live with that. I put a magnet over it and voila…fancy fridge!
It has the freezer on the bottom. It has two deep drawers with two deep baskets that slide over it.
The middle drawer slides out and it’s for produce. It’s been great because we have a lot of produce. Also, I wanted a fridge big enough to hold a pizza box. We don’t eat a lot of pizza but when we do by God it better fit in the fridge.
I HIGHLY recommend the Sears Outlet. They had crazy good prices and even though our stove came from Pennsylvania the shipping was still cheap.
http://greenmountaincottage.blogspot.com
I have the KitchenAid French door style fridge with the freezer on the bottom. I just love it! It makes tons of ice in the door, I have no problem keeping it clean inside. The freezer on the bottom holds a lot. The only thing I wish I’d thought of was the stainless steel finish. It really does show fingerprints, but a swipe with a stainless steel cleaner once a week takes care of making things shiny 🙂
I have a KitchenAid and LOVE it! It’s a stainless steel french door w/freezer on bottom. I love that all the shelves are movable. It’s so much easier to clean than ones we’ve had prior to it. We have the one with the ice/water in the door. If you need more room, you can get one w/o that feature. We have less food spoilage than with our other refrigerators. It also has a lock which would be good with a future little one around in your home!!! We got ours at Lowe’s. (in hind sight- I would have bought all my appliances in white and saved a ton of money especially since I have white cabinets!!! I saw a Southern Living home done with white appliances and cabinets, and it looked like you had built ins!) BTW, I hated refrigerator shopping!!! I hope you find the perfect fridge for you!
We recently purchased a stainless full depth kitchenaid side by side, icemaker in freezer and filtered water inside fridge compartment. It has a pull out full width deli drawer and I love, love, love everything about it. We have the 36″ wide model.
Hi Layla, I am currently in the midst of a refrigerator search as well. First, I would recommend a single door up top. The first reason is because (like mine) your fridge is up against a wall – so I’m assuming yours (like mine) won’t open all the way on the left side. Second, I like to be able to open the fridge with one hand. You always have to use two hands to open side-by-side doors because you never know which side the item you need is going to be on (at least we don’t ever know, but we have 6 kids…). That’s my input! 🙂
Oh, no…that looks just like my Frigidaire refrigerator…..hope mine does not go out. We have had ours one year! What model # is yours?
We are very happy with our Samsung fridge. French door, bottom freezer, water inside (we don’t use it) but no water or ice in the door. It’s going on 7 years next month and we’ve had zero problems. Good luck!
Love the flor rug- what is the name of your specific pattern?
The rug looks great! Sorry to hear about your fridge.
Ahh, that makes me so nervous, we want to buy a new fridge for our townhome, but that’s what scares me about new technology, it just doesn’t seem as reliable as the old stuff. I am looking to get one from Costco http://www.costco.com/Whirlpool-25CuFt-Side-by-Side-Stainless-Steel-Refrigerator.product.100056955.html
I also suggest you contact the manufacturer directly. We had problems with a smooth top range and, of course, the warranty was out. We worked with Lowe’s and Whirlpool and got a full refund. I suspect there was a defect in the design and Whirlpool didn’t want to admit it, but we did get our money back.
I love the refrigerator on top/freezer on bottom. A salesman told us that one company makes them all and they just have different names on the outside so it wouldn’t matter what you order in that variety. I have a hard time making decisions/letting go of the $ so I know what you are feeling. I love the carpet you chose. The texture looks great.
Love the carpet! Do you have to stick the squares to the floor? Seems that would leave a nasty residue on nice wood floors. It looks lovely. How does the price compare to standard carpeting from a roll?
Hi Joyce!
Nope- the adhesive “dots” face up, so nothing sticky gets on the floor! 😀
I don’t really have any suggestions for a specific refrigerator but I do feel I can offer some very important info regarding my own consumer nightmare several years ago when the expensive Samsung front load washer I bought broke down less than 90 days after purchase. The major retailer I bought it from, HHGregg, was of no help whatsoever. Samsung wasn’t much better. I was finally forced to open a defective merchandise dispute with my credit card company in order to get any resolution. Many months later, after providing all kinds of documentation to the credit card company regarding the problems I had with the washer, Samsung and HHGregg, the credit card company finally ruled in my favor and credited me the purchase price. Then, much to their dismay, HHGregg (who had repeatedly blown me off) was forced to come pick up the defective washer and matching dryer. (Ha! Take THAT, HHGregg!)
After some checking around, I heard repeatedly that Lowe’s had great customer service so I bought a new Whirlpool front load washer and dryer from them to replace the Samsung washer/dryer HHGregg took back. At the same time, I also purchased a Kitchen Aid dishwasher, wall oven, and refrigerator, and a GE cook top for a kitchen renovation we were starting. That was a $7,000 sale HHGregg could have had IF they had treated me right over the defective washer but since they didn’t, Lowe’s got my hard-earned money.
Exactly 2 years after purchase, the freezer section of the Kitchen Aid refrigerator from Lowe’s stopped cooling. Fortunately, I had bought the extended warranty! Lowe’s extended warranty people were FABULOUS. They shipped the parts overnight. When those parts didn’t completely fix the problem, they offered to take the refrigerator back and let me pick out a new one. I told them I would prefer to try to repair this refrigerator rather than attempt to pick out a new one so they offered to give me $150 on the spot toward the purchase of a mini refrigerator/freezer to use in the meantime since I had already been without a working refrigerator for several days. When they didn’t have the additional necessary parts I needed in stock, they told me to order from another distributor and they would reimburse me for overnight shipping and the cost of the parts. They kept their promise and promptly issued me a refund check for the parts and overnight shipping–with zero hassles. Although I was sad to be having problems with a refrigerator that was just 2 years old, I could not have been happier with the Lowe’s extended warranty people. The repairman who serviced my refrigerator actually worked for an independent repair company who does work for Lowe’s. He confirmed Lowe’s provides outstanding customer service and oftentimes will just offer to replace a faulty appliance under warranty rather than repair it.
So sorry I have written a book here but based on my experiences, I have a few tips I think are important to consider when buying appliances:
#1. Choose your retailer carefully. If you have problems, you are going to want a retailer who stands behind what they sell and will do their best to provide good customer service. I highly recommend buying large appliances from Lowe’s. I feel like they went above and beyond to truly help me and make things right with my refrigerator. If you have hhgregg in your area and are considering buying from them, you would be wise to read my whole experience with them here http://mycottageofbliss.blogspot.com/2010/04/samsung-front-load-washer-from-hhgregg.html and the follow up here: http://mycottageofbliss.blogspot.com/2010/08/samsung-washerdryer-from-hhgregg-ordeal.html Plus, check their record with your local Better Business Bureau.
#2. Even if you don’t like using credit cards and you have cash to pay for your new appliance, put your large appliance purchase on a credit card (zero interest or 12 month same as cash deal, if possible). It gives you extra consumer protection and invaluable leverage that you will not have if you pay cash at the time of purchase. If you have problems with the appliance within the 1 year manufacturer’s warranty period that you can’t resolve through the manufacturer or retailer, you can open a dispute with the credit card company. If you win the dispute, they will absolve you of the responsibility of paying for the defective appliance. Filing and winning the credit card dispute is the ONLY reason I am not still stuck with the defective Samsung washer.
#3. If your appliance fails DOCUMENT EVERYTHING–dates, names of people you talked to, their job title and direct phone number, what they told you etc. Details, details, details–they are invaluable, especially if you need to file a credit card dispute.
#4. Buy the extended warranty. With all the computer parts in appliances these days, they often fail sooner rather than later, and all those computer components are expensive to replace. The parts alone for my refrigerator repair were over $500–almost 1/3 the cost of the original purchase price of the refrigerator. I don’t know how much the service calls were. However, my out-of-pocket repair expense–ZERO because I had the 5 year extended warranty beyond the 1 year manufacturer’s warranty.
Layla,
I’ve done a ton of investigative work on fridge’s also. We live in our church parsonage and we are very frugal 🙂 from consumer reports and other places. The 3-door system from Samsung seems to have the highest quality etc.. Check it out and we are Lowe’s supporters as well. 🙂
Thanks!
Marci
We bought a similar style frig in 2009 but its a Samsung. I love the function and the style of it. However, we’ve replaced the ice maker twice and had the electronic control replaced twice. There are also a couple of cracks in the plastic drawer fronts and shelves. I have 3 boys and they can be tough on stuff – but I still think this appliance should have held up better. I was thinking I would replace it with a Whirlpool eventually, but your experience makes me wonder…