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. 😉
Good luck with your search for a new fridge. I bought all new appliances a couple of years ago for our kitchen. After doing hours and hours of research and asking people who repair refrigerators their opinion on the different brands, we went with a Samsung French Door. The other fridge we seriously considered was a Kitchen Aide. My sister and my parents have had their Kitchen Aides for many years. I love our Samsung and so far, we have not had any issues. My sister is a property adjuster for home owners insurance and she taught me to find various repairmen and ask them their opinions on issues they have seen on the different brands of appliances. So that is what I do when I need to make a big investment like a fridge. Hope this helps you out. I know you and Kev will be happy with whatever brand and style you choose. One last thing… some refrigerators can have inserts put into them (like Kitchen Aide) to match your cabinets. My mom has the oak cabinets and then has the matching “covers” inserted on her fridge. It is a little dated, but still looks nice in their kitchen. Sorry for the really long comment.
Hi!
I can’t really recommend a fridge as we are having issues with the water/ice with ours but DON”T buy a Samsung! We had one and had to have the compressor replaced twice before our warranty ran out and then a few weeks after the warranty ran out, it broke again! Compressor needed replaced! We bought a new fridge!
I was the worry of bad food and also loosing food that we were worried about. But to have to buy a fridge a little over 2 years after spending all the money on one (which is a big deal for us!) is so frustrating!
We were recommended a Whirlpool which is what we bought and have had it for 1 1/2 years it is great but the water/ice issue has been a problem.
Good luck! karen…
We really like our samsung….it’s really big and has a bottom freezer with an additional ice maker. Very handy. The look is really high end also. Ps…dying to know about your dining room table chairs. Where did you get those!?!? Love them! We just bought a table at the pottery barn outlet and need some chairs. ; )
I can’t really tell you about one that I love, but I can tell you that I would never buy one like the kind we have again. I thought I would love it, but it doesn’t have enough usable space. It’s the side by side kind. Where the freezer section is on the left and the fridge is on the right. You can’t fit frozen pizza’s in the freezer. It’s really annoying and we have had to get a seperate deep freeze. Hope that helps! 🙂
they just don’t make appliances like they used to! which is why we always buy the extended warranty…when we moved into a new house 2 years ago & needed to buy a counter depth fridge, the only one that would fit was the kitchen aid. they were the same price at lowes & Home Depot, but the warranty at lowes was half the price! that made my decision easy! so make sure you compare warranty prices as well.
I have had pretty good luck with Sears Kenmore appliances over the years and keep buying them on sale. I currently have a Kenmore with french doors and bottom freezer that I love. Won’t go back to the side by side model again as I always found the small shelves frustrating and easy to have food disappear in the back. Runs quietly, temp stays good, love the bottom freezer. I got it on sale for about $1100 and its a 25 cu ft model. Most of these size models run $2K or above.
Aww man, I would be peeved on the fridge but this is why we absolutely spring for extended warranties for our big appliances. We used it too, for ALL of them especially in the few months before they ran out. We got all GE Profile appliances and I don’t know that I’d get them again but we do like the fridge. It’s the French door model with the deli drawer and the only issue we have is the ice maker and apparently it’s made for like a 4+ person family so you have to fill up a glass or two of ice a day to pitch to keep the ice fresh and not have it back up and eventually break. Ever since we did that, it hasn’t been an issue.
We also have a Kenmore Elite, counter depth, side by side. I love that it fits perfectly with the counters – next best to a custom fridge fit. We have had it for 10 years without a problem (knock on proverbial wood). Best of luck! Love those carpet squares!
Wait…can we talk about your super cute COFFEE TABLE?!? Love that!
OK… carpet squares…how much extra did ya get to be the “back up?” for replacement later.
Fridge…I like to just go to our scratch and dent place and let my fridge call out to me…but only if his scratch or dent is on my wall side. 🙂
Love the living room!
We have a kitchen aid with bottom freezer and an additional drawer on top of that something like this: http://www.appliancesconnection.com/kitchenaid-kfxs25ryms-i185937.html?ref=pricegrabbermain
We can keep all of our fruit and veggies in it and there is a clear shelf between that and the fridge so you always know what is in there even if the drawer isn’t open. Love it and wouldn’t ever go back to another kind of fridge!
I have two LG refridgerators….both with the slide out freezer on the bottom. Love them. Got them at Home Depot. Ones at our cabin and the other at the main house. Like the freezer on the bottom cuz that way I don’t have to worry about stuff falling out! Don’t get a side by side….freezer not big enough to put anything in.
My husband was a certified appliance repairman. He swore that LG appliances were far superior and easy to repair. We have an LG bottom freezer fridge and I love it. Hope that helps.
love that rug choice! we have a similar issue with committing to rugs, or cats looooove to scratch. I finally caved and got an indoor/outdoor one with virtually no pile and put cardboard scratchers out around it to distract them- so far so good!
and on a completely strange note– my husband used to work at Best Buy and one of the things they did to sell fridges was tell people how many basketballs could fit in them. Like, “and here’s this energy saver Fridgidaire, which can fit 27 basketballs inside!!” …lol. what a strange tactic.
I must be the only person in America who doesn’t like a French door fridge. I LOVE our GE Profile side by side. We’ve had it 7 years and haven’t had any issues with it. The family I used to nanny for had a French door fridge with the freezer on the bottom and the kids weren’t able to reach anything themselves in the fridge because they couldn’t reach up and back that far. With a side by side, kids can access the bottom drawers for their drinks, snacks, etc. plus I’ve never had an issue having space for everything in my freezer and it all stays nicely organized on the shelves. Good luck with the fridge search!
Hi! The floor tiles are great! I have searched the website many times – it is a treasure trove!
About the fridge – so sorry you are having problems! We replaced our old, used fridge (actually, it is out in the garage serving as the extra drink fridge) about a year ago. You know Steve and his analytical mind. He researched for quite a while on this one. We chose Whirlpool because it had the lowest repair score we could find. It is a French door model with the separate drawer for items used more often and a freezer at the bottom. I love it! I can find things in the freezer finally (since I am 5′ tall). It has water and ice on the door – one of Steve’s requirements. Yes, the water filters are a bit pricey but you can find these online if you search (and have one on hand when it is time to change one). We talked with several retailers but ended up at Home Depot for the best price and wonderful customer service. So for the year we have had this, we love it! You might want to check out which appliance company owns other companies – it is surprising!
Love your blog…..love your style! As for refrigerators, I just recently replaced all of my appliances as part of a kitchen update. My former appliances were white Whirlpool and they were still working fine after 22 years, so I sold them online. What I learned in the shopping process for new ones, is that not all stainless colors are the same, so I would go with the same brand as your other appliances. The handle style and overall style of the appliance also varies, so that’s another reason to stick with one brand. My new appliances are Kitchen Aid, and so far I like them very much, especially their style!
We have an LG fridge, with french doors on the top and freezer on the bottom. We have only had it a year and a half but haven’t had any problems so far (knock on wood) and we LOVE it! It holds so much food and its great having the extra space in the fridge since its up top. I would never go back to a side by side or a top freezer. It has been great. We got it at Lowes. they seemed to have the best prices when we were buying. We did buy the extended warranty on it, because you just never know! We have loved all our LG products.
Also, where did you find your wood roman shades and the white drapes? I have been trying to find the similar style and color to your wood shades and I am not sure where to go? I would love some ideas. Also, are they pretty straight forward to install?
Thanks! Love the rug, it looks great, as always!
I notice you have a side by side and one of the sides is against the wall…I have that too, and I hate that I can’t open the door and get in there all the way. Next time I’m getting French doors or I will make sure to have counter space on both sides.
Samsung rocks!
We have had a Frigidaire Counter Depth for the last 7 years and love it. It’s a little smaller than some but we have a freezer in our garage and with the two of them we feel like we have it made. No problems at all.
We just purchased another Frigidaire Counter Depth for our new place we’ll be moving to because we liked the first one so much.
No fridge recommendations, but I wanted to say I love your dining table and chairs! 🙂 Also, I’m thinking about how much you have “cottage-ified” your house, and I’m trying to remember if it was very cottage-y before. I’m thinking it was pretty traditional, right? At least one the inside? We’re currently house-hunting, and it’s just so disappointing. All the houses look the same. Blah, blah, brick, blah, blah, granite, blah, blah, carpet… So, I’m feeling inspired about the way you’ve taken your traditional (for the most part, I think) house and turned it into cottage loveliness. 🙂
Your living room looks great with the rug, so cozy!
Our last living room rug was a PB jute rug that our Boomer (who passed away last year) loved to lick…all.the.time! It got gross fast!
We’re puppy searching now and these Flor squares will be perfect in case our new addition has an accident. And you know I love that they are made in the USA!
Sorry, I have no advice in the fridge, ours is just ok. Let me know what you go with and how you like it, a kitchen remodel is in the plans for this winter!
I have a lot of appliances I have replaced in the last year or so. I am pretty much unhappy with all of them EXCEPT my refrigerator. It is a Samsung, split door on top with roll out freezer drawer below. The freezer drawer rolls out much more easily than any of the other models because it flexes when you pull the handle. The lighting inside fridge is awesome. There are many adjustable features for the shelves. Freezer holds a lot. Door space holds multiple half gallons of milk and oj. I recommended to two friends and they both bought same one and love it. Model is RFG298 series. Brushed stainless.
Oh this Samsung sounds like a winner. I will keep this in mine when we need to replace ours.
How about a Smeg? Would fit beautifully into your space, I think!
http://www.smeg50style.com/oc/large-domestic-appliances/
I love that carpet. I wonder if it is available in good ole WI ? Great idea if you have pets. I have a Maytag French door refrigerator that is about two and a half years old and was leaking water all over the floor. We took the whole thing apart ( what a job ) and cleaned the drain. Took care of the problem, but how does the drain inside get plugged ? We do not have water running to the refrigerator. Now the ice maker is hanging with all this craggy frost. Oh man, what next. Don’t buy a Maytag unless you buy extended service. Things are not made as well as they used to be. In my experience I don’t think you can beat Whirlpool.
I love your kitchen chairs! I’ve been looking for some just like these. Where did you find them?
On the fridge, I’ve had my plain Jane Kenmore for nigh on 21 years. Nothing fancy about it. I don’t fiddle with ice and icemakers. It does what they do well though: keep food cold or frozen. 😉
Okay, so I NEVER comment, but I hate the fridge we bought 6 months ago. I would feel bad if someone else bought it 🙂 We have a counter depth Kenmore Elite side by side. Seriously, I’ve never HATED an appliance with so much passion. It was the ONLY one that we could fit in a strange kitchen layout. The shelves are placed so strangely, supposedly to maximize storage. What it really means is that I can’t move the shelves around, and it makes finding anything in the fridge a huge pain. Also the ice maker was broken on the model we bought (which was apparently a very common problem) and it took them 4 MONTHS and 8 visits from the SEARS repair man to come put a piece of black tape over something so that the ice machine works. Good luck in your search!
Your rug options are great! We used to have a dog who liked to “lick the rug clean” if you know what I mean
! I’m sorry about your new fridge going out…that beats my LG going out after only 4 years. We’d sprung for the more expensive french doors, too. It was a real bummer and we don’t ever plan to spend that much on a refrigerator again because of it. The repairman said that the newer models are not made to las a long time any more!
I actually have a Whirlpool refrigerator, but it is 20 years old. The ice maker never worked properly. We had it fixed once, it leaked again and we bagged it. The ice maker came with the fridge, we didn’t really want one. I want a French door bottom freezer (2 drawer) fridge, but that is a few more years off from now. (Putting dd through Harvard starting now, so four years of tuition/fees/room&board.)
I love the carpet squares. They might be the perfect idea for my living room. We have real oak in the living room and dining room, but we also have three cats. Hair balls destroy almost anything they touch, it doesn’t matter how fast you get to them.
I love any frig that is NOT a side by side. No room on either side for anything and you have to be a miner to get to stuff in the back.
We just purchased a small version of the french door fridge/freezer. Our space is only 31″ wide so that narrowed our choice greatly. I would say that if you have a narrow space don’t buy the french door type. I am not really satisfied with the inside spaces and wouldn’t buy another one like this.
Oh so sorry about your fridge. That is just terrible that it is not very old and dead! Ours is older and is a side by side Kenmore. It has worked well, but would NOT want a side by side next time. The freezer is just not wide enough! I want a freezer on the bottom next time. Good luck with your search and let us know what you decide on. I love your rug choices.
Hi Layla,
I’m in Australia, so maybe I’m missing something or don’t understand properly. (Not meaning Australians are unintelligent!! Ha ha. Just meaning your terminology and ways of doing things are different!! Let’s just clarify that! Ha ha).
With your new ‘rug’ – it’s made up of carpet tiles/squares which are smaller and positioned together, isn’t it? Looks that way and sounds like that. Fabulous idea, but how do you get them to stay in situ, and not move apart when walked on? Do you use adhesive/tape underneath them? Great idea! We do have carpet tiles (obviously), but I’ve never seen anyone use them like this, they’re all wall-to-wall when installed.
It looks great by the way! Love the texture and colour!
Thanks L.
We have the largest capacity LG French door frig/freezer. Love it! However, in hind sight I could have done with one door on top just as easily. Love the freezer on bottom. We bought the one we have because it has two extra little compartments that we can put snacks in for our grandkids and they can get themselves! They live being independent and we love it too!
You should check out your consumer guarantee. By law in New Zealand, even if the guarantee/warrantee is expired, you are still covered for a period of time for which the item is reasonably expected to function. You would reasonably expect a fridge to function for at least five years. Check it out, won’t cost you anything and may save you some money. Such a pain when these things happen!
Be sure to take care of your FLOR rug. The adhesive on the stickers will eventually ruin the floor underneath. . . .so you may want to change those out often. FLOR did tell me that they had a “batch of bad dots” ? I eventually got tired of the maintaining such a big rug that I pulled it out. Once you start seeing gaps, you will know it is time to redo and readjust. I do hope you have better luck than we did. . . .it was one of my biggest and most costly decorating mistakes. I think rug squares work better in smaller rooms with less traffic.
Hmmm, that’s strange Mary. The adhesive dots face up, so there’s nothing sticky on the floor. We’ve been using Flor’s carpet squares for the last several years in our high traffic spaces and have absolutely loved how they’ve held up. I’m so sorry you didn’t have a good experience with yours! 🙁
Back in the early days, FLOR did ‘t use those dots to hold the tiles together, and stuff did stick to the floor. Also, even with the upfacing sticky dots some styles of tile have a fuzzy backing (e.g. House Pet) and the dots don’t stick to the tiles very well.
We loved our Electrolux from Lowe’s that we had at our last house. Side-by-side, tons of room inside, and super awesome ice maker!
I like the Flor carpet squares. I’ve been looking for something durable for our living room, and I think this is the answer.
My husband buys a lot of appliances for properties he manages. I mentioned the problem you were having with your fridge to him. Your sealed system has a 5 year warranty this includes compressor, evaporator, condenser, dryer and connecting tubing. The sealed system is the only thing that has oil in it. It sounds like the compressor failed and contaminated the lines. See following for Whirlpool refrigerator warranty.
http://www.whirlpool.com/digitalassets/ET0MSRXTL/Warranty_EN.pdf
I love love love my samsung four door in white!! I’ll never go back to a side by side. This beauty came with a six year warranty and is so roomy, quiet, and well lit. I’ve seen it on sale quite often at big box retailers. White is the new trendy “color” since every single fridge on the planet is now stainless.
Hope this helps!
Last Sept. we purchased this fridge: https://www.plessers.com/Electrolux/ei23bc80ks.htm
from Plessers.com. I wanted a counter depth fridge without water on the outside. This was the largest counter depth.
We’ve been pleased with the fridge. The freezer holds tons and the door shelves are very sturdy.
The fridge was $600 less than Lowes and Plesser’s service was excellent. I recommend them to everyone.
I am definitely thinking about using Flor carpet tiles in my bedroom when we move. They have so many different options, and like you, I love the fact that when one tile gets stained you don’t have to replace/clean the entire thing – you can just clean that one square. Your dog, Max, is very cute and I had to admit that I chuckled a bit when I read about him and his chewing. I used to have a set of cats that used to do the exact same thing – only they’d claw at the rug until they could chew on it. 🙁 I’m sorry to hear about your refrigerator, and I’ve never bought a brand-new one so I don’t have any advice or suggestions. Sorry. 🙁
We purchased a whirlpool freezer on the bottom with ice on the door two years ago. We decided to spend the 150.00 for a five year extended warranty on it. We’ve had six issues with our fridge and mostly because of the freezer/ice maker.
I won’t recommend a whirlpool fridge but I highly recommend the extended warranty for any fridge you buy. They’re we expensive and they’ll break in the first few years.
Also, for our other appliance purchases we used consumer reports for their reviews. Read a ton of reviews from buyers also.
Good luck,
Betsy
I’ve got an Amana fridge that came with the house. It’s great and I haven’t had any issues with it since I moved here in 07. Definitely going to look into Kenmore or LG when it goes, I’ll pick something with a better energy rating, since my current one is so old I have no idea how it does on that scale.
Can’t recommend a fridge, but stay away from any cheapie from Costco. On a different note, I am a big fan of FLOR, but if you are thinking you might need to replace any tiles sometime in the future, order them now. Patterns and colors can be discontinued. Then you are out of luck. Even the dye lot can change from one batch to the next, and the new square will not match.
My wife was showing me your blog and she commented about your refrigerator problem. I took a look at Whirlpool’s warranty and even though it says full 1 year warranty, the next category is a 5 year warranty on sealed refrigeration system parts. The only parts that have oil are inside the sealed refrigeration system. My guess is that the compressor has failed and I believe it should be a covered item, I would think that if the refrigerator is not repairable then they should provide a replacement. I found the policy online at whirlpool.com, Good Luck.
Hey Layla,
Our family can get 12 (per year) high end appliances for a fraction of the cost. If you are interested, shoot me an email and I will get you the details. No need to pay full price for those high dollar items 🙂
We have a Samsung french door refrigerator. It has a freezer drawer on the bottom, which is where the icemaker is. I don’t like ice or water in the door, so ours comes our water comes out a little spout to the side when you open the left side door. The shelves are adjustable, so you can space them closer for short jars, yogurt, etc. or farther apart for tea pitchers, milk jugs, etc. It has separate drawers for produce, fruit, meat, and cheese. I love the french door concept because it helps in a small kitchen when the doors don’t swing out so wide. The only flaw is that the area on the door where an egg carton usually goes, isn’t wide enough to actually hold an egg carton. I use that spot for butter and put the egg carton on a shelf on the inside. The finish on the outside looks like stainless but doesn’t show finger prints. It was much less expensive than comparable sized refrigerators. We’ve had it for 3 years now and I am very pleased with the purchase.
A year and a half old and no guarantee? Shame on you, Lowe’s. That’s not OK.
Love the rugs!
I’ve had two Kenmore bottom drawer refrigerators and they’ve both been great. (I sold the first with the house and bought the second as fast as I could at the new house.) I don’t do the in door water/ice because it just seems one more thing to break.
Did you (hopefully) pay for your frig with a Visa credit card? If so Visa may replace it! Please go to Lynne’s blog and read her post on how Visa just replaced hers: 3 Great “Secret” Deals Uncovered is the name of the post where she tells about it. If that’s not a live link her blog is Winnie Views, just Google it. Hope this helps!