one room challenge - where are they now

Today is a fun 'this is your life' kind of day. My friend Linda, <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/" target="_blank">Calling it Home</a> fame and creator of the One Room Challenge, is having a <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/2014/02/one-room-challenge-now.html" target="_blank">party today</a>. Everyone and anyone who has participated in the One Room Challenge over the years will be giving updates on their rooms.<br /><br />Projects that were unfinished, changes that were made, or just the general state of the room today will all be shared.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_nq2XrwVUxQWIDOSzxv9Q_LtuLS0p9F83mM48koCVxtUSS33gXwQCA9SX0N2DkWb95RrGPfbDf-1tX1-j5vDNfc3YQZjIzwONh13oM_sRQnIkdofuWY0LCQ1A201jym5OXIuprwFP1ZG/s1600/GirlsRoomWideShot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="624" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_nq2XrwVUxQWIDOSzxv9Q_LtuLS0p9F83mM48koCVxtUSS33gXwQCA9SX0N2DkWb95RrGPfbDf-1tX1-j5vDNfc3YQZjIzwONh13oM_sRQnIkdofuWY0LCQ1A201jym5OXIuprwFP1ZG/s1600/GirlsRoomWideShot.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />As for me, not much has changed in the <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/03/one-room-challenge-reveal.html" target="_blank">girls' room</a> by way of additions or changes.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfCrdgmfCszam_WxATGuKQvOf08HTpbSrEVrmV9HFYGaJjVRRnS-gVRAnmjI6Und3Ce92q5N1AXNUbm1IC9h6a443T_la5Y_LCpE2A4k9abVQcJ2s_fEqhToaRSQBs9oMjPfLiQVTtAw3/s1600/MessyGirlsRoom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSfCrdgmfCszam_WxATGuKQvOf08HTpbSrEVrmV9HFYGaJjVRRnS-gVRAnmjI6Und3Ce92q5N1AXNUbm1IC9h6a443T_la5Y_LCpE2A4k9abVQcJ2s_fEqhToaRSQBs9oMjPfLiQVTtAw3/s1600/MessyGirlsRoom.jpg" width="428" /></a></div><br />Full disclosure it looks like this most of the time. True life. (my mom is horrified right now).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQLIi_EMGIxNs6mVHXicKhR_jsHSy6uzQe9prIN2cxvpy53xusgoQNiITP6pcl67FHh6mdq2a590tAMQk222JqqqKjMmT5lNiz6ASKj5C_Hrh9uCVxcIK8oOJ-r52QsK9nV80BQ7g0edzm/s1600/DeerHeadFlowers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQLIi_EMGIxNs6mVHXicKhR_jsHSy6uzQe9prIN2cxvpy53xusgoQNiITP6pcl67FHh6mdq2a590tAMQk222JqqqKjMmT5lNiz6ASKj5C_Hrh9uCVxcIK8oOJ-r52QsK9nV80BQ7g0edzm/s1600/DeerHeadFlowers.jpg" width="490" /></a></div><br />Herbie did get some new bright orange poppies which he is very happy about.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGIlYc1BIeDU1DZ4uH0HRBOPAGFa2MtByJzQPL-e-LsIQHvexBCE4KjiG_30AqpjWC9okRznfOp7ObFUsnMV6xb7QEqSqOQ-uBZvkxBL4wW0CB788LgoyRBOzmU7ZFQHZUgp-LFoSzg0t/s1600/Pompomtieback.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCGIlYc1BIeDU1DZ4uH0HRBOPAGFa2MtByJzQPL-e-LsIQHvexBCE4KjiG_30AqpjWC9okRznfOp7ObFUsnMV6xb7QEqSqOQ-uBZvkxBL4wW0CB788LgoyRBOzmU7ZFQHZUgp-LFoSzg0t/s1600/Pompomtieback.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br />And I did get a pom pom garland on clearance after Christmas that I'll use as a tie back for the corner window. Current version styled by my three-year-old assistant.<br /><br />So the girls still love the room, I still love the room. The room is well loved.<br /><br />The <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/11/one-room-challenge-week-6-aka-reveal.html" target="_blank">family room</a> is pretty much the same story.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3nszBkjL71gTi36VqKpxC4b1eRVeoBYKKgqiI3HvBAAnRKpalPfm2YZ91A7va5kIxNoZyxe0ViE4TrtI0dDJBuC17ekKpbNmkPg7fhms0yk5eMuwOwdXGFZNTtQm5l4vYgpmL3iMMIXMy/s1600/familyroomfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="588" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3nszBkjL71gTi36VqKpxC4b1eRVeoBYKKgqiI3HvBAAnRKpalPfm2YZ91A7va5kIxNoZyxe0ViE4TrtI0dDJBuC17ekKpbNmkPg7fhms0yk5eMuwOwdXGFZNTtQm5l4vYgpmL3iMMIXMy/s1600/familyroomfinal.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />All the major players are still in place, it just has a more...lived in patina now. I won't blind you with the general state of toy tornado that that room seems to be in. Even I have my sharing limits. :)<br /><br />So that's my ORC update. All is pretty quite on the western front. Be sure to go over to Linda's to see what <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/2014/02/one-room-challenge-now.html" target="_blank">everyone else's rooms are up to now</a>. I can't wait to check them out!<br /><br />And don't forget to sign up for my <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2014/02/wash-away-winter-giveaway.html" target="_blank">Wash Away Winter giveaway</a>! You could be smelling sweet in no time.<br /><br />

one room challenge - where are they now

Today is a fun 'this is your life' kind of day. My friend Linda, Calling it Home fame and creator of the One Room Challenge, is hav...

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blue and white bash

What better way to come off of a party weekend, then with another party?  My friend Jennifer, over at <a href="http://blog.thepinkpagoda.us/2014/02/the-february-blue-and-white-bash.html" target="_blank">The Pink Pagoda</a> is hosting a link party about all things blue and white today so I thought I would join in the fun and share some blue and white in my house.<br /><br />I've spread my blue and white collection over two spaces in my house.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOrH83GGYgvgVPIlruxoZfojIflH-ClEjgLRwwO3-Jcze0wviA_re1Ho9bBnhyRUR_YrxlZ4I3u9j8YKGc2HWRxhjPp9LmPLRPbPqXKyZAcVHPcikT0ncCIs0sQWUSX-YA3l7SwoXxK_UH/s1600/blueandwhitebookshelf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOrH83GGYgvgVPIlruxoZfojIflH-ClEjgLRwwO3-Jcze0wviA_re1Ho9bBnhyRUR_YrxlZ4I3u9j8YKGc2HWRxhjPp9LmPLRPbPqXKyZAcVHPcikT0ncCIs0sQWUSX-YA3l7SwoXxK_UH/s1600/blueandwhitebookshelf.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The bookshelves in our <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/11/one-room-challenge-week-6-aka-reveal.html" target="_blank">family room</a> hold a lot of my blue and white. This way I have something to look at while My Little Pony is on for the millionth time.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguXEP5jZ3V7jayX1yO4ft1A5U098AW5Aadtz0zf6bRfpJuQ1ZpeIvmLbNaJzwAw_Giz38AmrSPfooaz3FIuKeQDLe067iuN25CwLyz4DfT28LRKT_LVHTct7e8JG8FGgbQ0vdZvEJ_0Mah/s1600/blueandwhitesidebyside.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguXEP5jZ3V7jayX1yO4ft1A5U098AW5Aadtz0zf6bRfpJuQ1ZpeIvmLbNaJzwAw_Giz38AmrSPfooaz3FIuKeQDLe067iuN25CwLyz4DfT28LRKT_LVHTct7e8JG8FGgbQ0vdZvEJ_0Mah/s1600/blueandwhitesidebyside.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi19ltzpBvtr6gKN4jS3iBOjmEglo1S5hW3Blih1akenoiDdrdoyFFWkT8OSVNJvwF8M89Psq9ACKboleQe8eVXqL3FJjK-jUEa1NWDd2vtASXnQFWGFWFJbnezaEwmXZ9jHnTt4ohcAuxi/s1600/BlueandWhiteKitchen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi19ltzpBvtr6gKN4jS3iBOjmEglo1S5hW3Blih1akenoiDdrdoyFFWkT8OSVNJvwF8M89Psq9ACKboleQe8eVXqL3FJjK-jUEa1NWDd2vtASXnQFWGFWFJbnezaEwmXZ9jHnTt4ohcAuxi/s1600/BlueandWhiteKitchen.jpg" width="520" /></a></div><br />And the rest of my blue and white to the <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2012/11/winterizing-kitchen.html" target="_blank">kitchen</a>. The little bit of pretty encourages me while I put dishes away. And I need all the encouragement I can get with that.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZPafs2JwlynXee220O5oK9BpwNXQuvm2NMAZ4u4RxpRiGZsxuwTXEiUomt695eSQrCiC6d5I126mYQs3z0bffpVQswUS1KlAtIqawBv8YTzQEGVk2pTaoYr-E9Rv_DHF5xlfNw6N9K0xA/s1600/BlueandWhiteKitchenclose.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZPafs2JwlynXee220O5oK9BpwNXQuvm2NMAZ4u4RxpRiGZsxuwTXEiUomt695eSQrCiC6d5I126mYQs3z0bffpVQswUS1KlAtIqawBv8YTzQEGVk2pTaoYr-E9Rv_DHF5xlfNw6N9K0xA/s1600/BlueandWhiteKitchenclose.jpg" width="634" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjdoVz1_QshfvHRCgyqwxqFhKLrNQz75iiOO3w2TDsEhBcNGd0y60dpZIgwAqopxHw_zZajcqNOd-xSMgx-wMYZAxUDNij1zD1d_nRRoHdE7Segh0JDRd_hrFq4hxfSyju5j8_YxsRzAk/s1600/PaintARugComplete.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTjdoVz1_QshfvHRCgyqwxqFhKLrNQz75iiOO3w2TDsEhBcNGd0y60dpZIgwAqopxHw_zZajcqNOd-xSMgx-wMYZAxUDNij1zD1d_nRRoHdE7Segh0JDRd_hrFq4hxfSyju5j8_YxsRzAk/s1600/PaintARugComplete.jpg" width="432" /></a></div><br />Hey, now I've realized that I've put my collection in the two spots where I spend the most time. Subconscious at the time, but rather smart as they always do put a smile on my face.<br /><br />What about you? Do you have a collection, blue and white or otherwise, that you display in your house? Do you move it around all the time like <strike>I do</strike> I hear some people do?<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTS_-OcvgtEQ01ovn9fBgRunj7P46fhW6V62-csRrYY5AenTy8M0ljnI493hdUAXuu80aN6X-z1cbOjfKxWVIv5T4LKpBHD7j8Ti75bfZIdVWNCSbNH3JpxAVv3Ms0g77so4SuHKx_4e9/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-02+at+11.12.17+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfTS_-OcvgtEQ01ovn9fBgRunj7P46fhW6V62-csRrYY5AenTy8M0ljnI493hdUAXuu80aN6X-z1cbOjfKxWVIv5T4LKpBHD7j8Ti75bfZIdVWNCSbNH3JpxAVv3Ms0g77so4SuHKx_4e9/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-02-02+at+11.12.17+PM.png" width="192" /></a></div><br />Be sure to check out <a href="http://blog.thepinkpagoda.us/2014/02/the-february-blue-and-white-bash.html" target="_blank">The Blue and White Bash</a> over at <a href="http://blog.thepinkpagoda.us/2014/02/the-february-blue-and-white-bash.html" target="_blank">The Pink Pagoda</a> for more blue and white eye candy.<br /><br />Happy Monday!

blue and white bash

What better way to come off of a party weekend, then with another party?  My friend Jennifer, over at The Pink Pagoda  is hosting a link par...

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plank walls - what i learned

When I did the reveal of our <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/11/one-room-challenge-week-6-aka-reveal.html" target="_blank">family room</a> on the latest <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/p/one-room-challenge.html" target="_blank">One Room Challenge</a>, I got a lot of comments and emails about the plank wall and several requests for a tutorial. Ask and you shall receive.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegjbgIyOFdJPTdr8p5W2ClUgx-VigN0bWxYdNSG5JuYRt0Xq9D3rlcz7Vu5oLvcGT7STOYFfMPiN7v48D-PNC40zB908UEtMMNHCA0pULeuls6pzj9VlpkrwZXyDWFeYjYPgIWQ3tzLxu/s1600/brightfamilyroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="590" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegjbgIyOFdJPTdr8p5W2ClUgx-VigN0bWxYdNSG5JuYRt0Xq9D3rlcz7Vu5oLvcGT7STOYFfMPiN7v48D-PNC40zB908UEtMMNHCA0pULeuls6pzj9VlpkrwZXyDWFeYjYPgIWQ3tzLxu/s640/brightfamilyroom.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />Well, sort of.<br /><br />There are dozens of tutorials for planks walls out there, all of them giving you fine directions on the logistics. So I'd rather focus on the issues that made this project unique and a few 'learn from my mistakes' nuggets. So with that, let's dive in, shall we.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkkBOFe9wc1IHWWKQomhQbflZzbi9ANWpTs5PAMwp4dRz03oZ4lzixAu7rsYEPNN2-TyMzj2Z2lTmHKWkgyfoFoDcFzSXfWsvXBg_UNgAmalNiow_ZgPnzZJ0TS9TRzZjs5x4LEKFcxDXn/s1600/basementbefore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkkBOFe9wc1IHWWKQomhQbflZzbi9ANWpTs5PAMwp4dRz03oZ4lzixAu7rsYEPNN2-TyMzj2Z2lTmHKWkgyfoFoDcFzSXfWsvXBg_UNgAmalNiow_ZgPnzZJ0TS9TRzZjs5x4LEKFcxDXn/s640/basementbefore.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />There was one huge head scratcher in our family room, which is in the basement, and that was the 15 foot long foundation wall that runs along one whole side of the space. Since it is the foundation it always made me a little uneasy to think about drilling holes in it. But it was so vast and boring and it just looked cold. It would basically give me the middle finger every night as I watched TV. "I may be ugly, but there is nothing you can do about it sucka."<br /><br />I loved the idea of a plank wall to give that beast some texture and warmth, but every. single. tutorial talked about nailing the planks into the wall. And that wasn't happening.<br /><br />Enter creative thinking.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIuqMDxso27KI4qK5YaZm95CsfLrJ8Fcn-WL_kNg3CwsIdZHwmygb9neP1EUXICokIfHMDGdAA2ptngUoCni8XwHa3rhQWJC74Qf8_NfBiOvDfNjRAzaQzTlvoMy_w8ydu8gpQhmGwvw27/s1600/411-LONG_CFIP_rev_D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIuqMDxso27KI4qK5YaZm95CsfLrJ8Fcn-WL_kNg3CwsIdZHwmygb9neP1EUXICokIfHMDGdAA2ptngUoCni8XwHa3rhQWJC74Qf8_NfBiOvDfNjRAzaQzTlvoMy_w8ydu8gpQhmGwvw27/s400/411-LONG_CFIP_rev_D.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Thanks to a night of G&G&T (Google, gin and tonic) I found an alternative that was worth a shot. <a href="http://mounting.scotchbrand.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/ScotchMountingAndFastening/Home/ProductCatalog/~/Scotch-Outdoor-Mounting-Tape-1-in-x-450-in?N=7583086+3294268039+3294529207&rt=rud" target="_blank">Scotch Outdoor Mounting Tape</a>. (we got ours at <a href="http://www.homedepot.com/p/Scotch-1-in-x-1-66-yd-Exterior-Mounting-Tape-411-DC/100575385#.UtXUkWRDvpY" target="_blank">Home Depot</a>). The reviews were excellent and it said it would hold up to 10 lbs. I also liked the fact that it was outdoor, meaning it would hold up to any possibly dampness that can sometimes come with a basement. With a solution in hand, I went to put this plank wall into action.<br /><br />On the advice of many a plank wall tutorial, we went to Lowe's to get our plywood and have it cut on site. We went with a mid-grade option that was light but sturdy. For our 15 foot wall we got eight boards which totaled around $180.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltm73nczWTxAtJD9nRQemtBY4bytvXSmyH2dnBhjiCm9SXtTHE2AhhY9QkLJycP_Zm9S13Y4dGqXZab3ktsw2RtatV7U_Hcuw1F1yYK00JVFSSxhsrATo44GJ1KO1vZpS9EDHHGZHIkKT/s1600/pinewoodpricetag.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhltm73nczWTxAtJD9nRQemtBY4bytvXSmyH2dnBhjiCm9SXtTHE2AhhY9QkLJycP_Zm9S13Y4dGqXZab3ktsw2RtatV7U_Hcuw1F1yYK00JVFSSxhsrATo44GJ1KO1vZpS9EDHHGZHIkKT/s320/pinewoodpricetag.JPG" width="238" /></a></div><br />Our first attempt to get our planks cut was on a Friday night (I am Mrs. Weekend Excitement) and the old dude was obviously annoyed to be at work and tried to tell me that they didn't cut wood for customers. As he was standing in front of the big huge wood cutting machine. I asked him what that machine was for then and he just said, "Lady, we just can't do it." Uh huh.<br /><br />So I went back the next day and got the young spry Lowe's dude who was more than happy to use the big machine for me. So hold strong and be firm - Lowe's does cut boards. Home Depot however does not, and they state that fact in their lumber area. Go figure.<br /><br />One other important note - make sure to stand right next to the young Lowe's dude as he cuts your boards. We sadly, did not do this. And then when we got home after loading all of these boards into the car and then unloading them into the garage and then bringing them downstairs, we noticed that he was not a straight cutter. The first three planks cut from each board were straight as an arrow but as he got closer to the bottom of the board, young Lowe's dude didn't hold the board with both hands and the ends of the last two planks would start out straight and then get narrower as the weight of the board would tilt at the end of the cut. Bummer.<br /><br />Of course, this discovery wasn't made until we were already several boards into the project and it caused me to exceed my cussing quota for the day. So cutter beware.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-WA1d5mui4Ad8wsurZabHJsGRMByzI1pD-KCwYVY73OcZ11Em1-aWIiF71piActhaVwbipbfvm406D3JQqW6TVydDEibHjCmOnztLUfsRRCdcPIVEP3b6hEzr6nONe9dQa9lWqMK4q3q/s1600/plankwallwithtape.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-WA1d5mui4Ad8wsurZabHJsGRMByzI1pD-KCwYVY73OcZ11Em1-aWIiF71piActhaVwbipbfvm406D3JQqW6TVydDEibHjCmOnztLUfsRRCdcPIVEP3b6hEzr6nONe9dQa9lWqMK4q3q/s320/plankwallwithtape.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />With the wall primed and the boards home we got busy installing. We cut our tape into long strips spacing them out on the plank and up it went.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXjilkL8ZTJ0WCCv6od0hfB5TYL6HE7oGsrFaCE5mJzrk0sOy_xR8p5szzMVafCeFTgwaRQyAnQYQy3D0F2WFgXlT1xOqs_U2a6qMB-_UsxiW2F_GOF0tjusmW97mQdXe55dmq4w5WVo0m/s1600/plankwallstart.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXjilkL8ZTJ0WCCv6od0hfB5TYL6HE7oGsrFaCE5mJzrk0sOy_xR8p5szzMVafCeFTgwaRQyAnQYQy3D0F2WFgXlT1xOqs_U2a6qMB-_UsxiW2F_GOF0tjusmW97mQdXe55dmq4w5WVo0m/s400/plankwallstart.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Since the walls nor the floor in the basement are perfectly level we started at the top knowing we could address the unevenness at the bottom with finishing trim.<br /><br />Once the plank was up, one of us would keep our hands on it while the other would run the length of the plank making sure all of the tape was adhering. And it worked like a charm. This stuff sticks like no ones business so it is hard to remove after you put it up, which was the hope. We did have to remove a few pieces as our friends cutting skills came to light but with a bit of muscle the plank came off with only a small chip to the paint on the wall. The key is to remove it right away if you decide you need to. Once that tape is on for a few minutes, it is on there for good.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwO-oJSJYTe5pEAzTueMpGWd9lpo2PEbpLa50B4CYWiBXqrsAvie2avSt0pi7tpbhi8x-GBWg-W5fH5GO7SOlvGYAN0KeIEm0qQ8HtPBB0x6dbjbLQuZqgrgkTZ2A6EOc22WId7QE834nN/s1600/plankwallprogress.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwO-oJSJYTe5pEAzTueMpGWd9lpo2PEbpLa50B4CYWiBXqrsAvie2avSt0pi7tpbhi8x-GBWg-W5fH5GO7SOlvGYAN0KeIEm0qQ8HtPBB0x6dbjbLQuZqgrgkTZ2A6EOc22WId7QE834nN/s400/plankwallprogress.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />From there the process went quickly. It would have gone at lightening pace if we didn't have to fit the planks like a jigsaw puzzle to account for the poorly cut boards. But without the need for a nail gun the whole thing moved right along. Just make sure to stager your seems as best you can.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipF9RaNGQfYNHeUBcbF1CJaG_dbPDGRwNnYfzM2tCuYqitooZd5o8EnOnjNZ1p9eYSxx68Jir8LY9pRtx2TqReqLOqGm5jx-TDf95nxf1_UWiNpXnddXeNUjxAIA64d71dtAOMSLjRxizz/s1600/P9024255.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipF9RaNGQfYNHeUBcbF1CJaG_dbPDGRwNnYfzM2tCuYqitooZd5o8EnOnjNZ1p9eYSxx68Jir8LY9pRtx2TqReqLOqGm5jx-TDf95nxf1_UWiNpXnddXeNUjxAIA64d71dtAOMSLjRxizz/s320/P9024255.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />Some people suggest using a nickel as your spacer in between planks but I wanted more space between my planks so the wall looked more authentic and less engineered. So we used a short castoff plank as our spacer.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxqaG_xwZiNsqMP73MrrTO1VwfuH78W7Chq9gNWJgGCyDj7_HkWNlbS4dodb44l0Mwve10zar7wyNks4j50axtdRK_EmbSqcs6lpAGawPCRXK_XU2WRlEnHCDsg-ZVHg6s5q65rYMfKWm/s1600/plankprime.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGxqaG_xwZiNsqMP73MrrTO1VwfuH78W7Chq9gNWJgGCyDj7_HkWNlbS4dodb44l0Mwve10zar7wyNks4j50axtdRK_EmbSqcs6lpAGawPCRXK_XU2WRlEnHCDsg-ZVHg6s5q65rYMfKWm/s400/plankprime.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Once the wall was up it was time to prime. I was worried that this wood would just drink up paint and I would need many many coats. But <a href="http://www.kilz.com/primer/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ef4c693378683210VgnVCM1000006b0910acRCRD" target="_blank">Kilz</a> killed it again and one coat of primer was all that was needed.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmND4RUSSH46DXM8Z1EaAE9vxOBcSqzvNFaPZ6R_efgpLu1AZjA9srlLVzuLN1W3Nz4yCF7m4pXEbMtqhBDBAltAtM3VcIRJf4v154h_UwJAFbEnCEJXyYrs48JWH2Jb_Do6g3lyH1Cqic/s1600/PA054580.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmND4RUSSH46DXM8Z1EaAE9vxOBcSqzvNFaPZ6R_efgpLu1AZjA9srlLVzuLN1W3Nz4yCF7m4pXEbMtqhBDBAltAtM3VcIRJf4v154h_UwJAFbEnCEJXyYrs48JWH2Jb_Do6g3lyH1Cqic/s400/PA054580.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />Once the primer was up, I went over the wall and caulked some of the bigger seams as well as the space between the wall and the crown. And then finished it off with two coats of the white paint I used on all the other walls of the room. I didn't paint in the seams because I liked the depth it gave the planks but you certainly could use a paint brush to get dip into those cracks. Just a matter of preference.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuo7obSvKof1af9Hb3m2qxovZ_F8jDj8tTQ-3w1sbeh-IPK8rMLRRhdEI9ERT5LHIakEIuQZhHjci6lrUNHozBpIZGjlyP-EVSlN79ERoBMdYnnJMfQQV2IojnBNcmvZtgH6BSo0NBAG0o/s1600/familyroomleft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="590" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuo7obSvKof1af9Hb3m2qxovZ_F8jDj8tTQ-3w1sbeh-IPK8rMLRRhdEI9ERT5LHIakEIuQZhHjci6lrUNHozBpIZGjlyP-EVSlN79ERoBMdYnnJMfQQV2IojnBNcmvZtgH6BSo0NBAG0o/s640/familyroomleft.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNRt5r8xBWX9fCQ_vQP3_wnVXwsNb7KhxdDz7QGesv8ZDgqrdoyAWO-mtnqZSXcSnoTsVMBvooa9S6QWxfOeXV6D48jm9bSHmWgh3d78HG0oq1kXYHYcD_hCmg8fKHvwX_jFv7kNpXx6a/s1600/slipcoveredchair2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNRt5r8xBWX9fCQ_vQP3_wnVXwsNb7KhxdDz7QGesv8ZDgqrdoyAWO-mtnqZSXcSnoTsVMBvooa9S6QWxfOeXV6D48jm9bSHmWgh3d78HG0oq1kXYHYcD_hCmg8fKHvwX_jFv7kNpXx6a/s640/slipcoveredchair2.jpg" width="494" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfVqkhbG5GMRyQH3YMtyDCKUElZVkg76b03Nlc4kDGM604_eKaHREHfm3Ndglxus4dBwzvyGlpuSxuqe1QbEnCT472SCj6BgF8Zd-r8c51T4zI7ynw8lryuqoFfjxq_sdyM37zh-KN8pK/s1600/blueandwhitebookshelf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLfVqkhbG5GMRyQH3YMtyDCKUElZVkg76b03Nlc4kDGM604_eKaHREHfm3Ndglxus4dBwzvyGlpuSxuqe1QbEnCT472SCj6BgF8Zd-r8c51T4zI7ynw8lryuqoFfjxq_sdyM37zh-KN8pK/s640/blueandwhitebookshelf.jpg" width="420" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I was so happy with the result that I used the leftover planks for the backs of the bookshelves.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4rb0qDhcv4Jef8ZxSPjmFsGQNfVMefD123us8LktDXWNk7ZvetgOcRa5fhkA2MhsHzSP1hJQo_TGJpON2ToOHch1v7rcaQE2hVSRnLO6RaMh5qytDzt6UD16zPUqD4GHgZEqwLrXJlNd/s1600/c6f0a9afd0562cec256e9f48fe4f46d0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga4rb0qDhcv4Jef8ZxSPjmFsGQNfVMefD123us8LktDXWNk7ZvetgOcRa5fhkA2MhsHzSP1hJQo_TGJpON2ToOHch1v7rcaQE2hVSRnLO6RaMh5qytDzt6UD16zPUqD4GHgZEqwLrXJlNd/s640/c6f0a9afd0562cec256e9f48fe4f46d0.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I finished the corner where the plank wall meets the stairwell with a piece of corner trim that fit like a charm. And with that the project was done.<br /><br />So with the experience behind me and the benefit of time and hindsight I would tell you that a plank wall is a very cost effective and manageable DIY. Just be sure to make sure those boards are cut straight, and know that if you thought this wasn't an option for you before Scotch Outdoor Mounting Tape is your friend.<br /><br />What about you? Have you ever had to tweak an online tutorial to fit the quirks of your house? Ever hung anything on your walls with tape? (Besides your Cory Haim posters)

plank walls - what i learned

When I did the reveal of our family room on the latest One Room Challenge , I got a lot of comments and emails about the plank wall and sev...

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how did i do - 2013 review

So we can't get started on the new year without seeing how I did last year, right? It's always fun to see if your December 2013 self was in tune with your January 2013 self - did I get anything done or not? So with that said, may I have the envelope please.<br /><br />My <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/01/2013-goals.html" target="_blank">2013 goals</a> were:<br /><br />1. <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/10/freshening-foyer-finale.html" target="_blank"><b>Entry Refresh</b></a> - Wahoo! We are off to a good start. It may have taken me a while (I started in June and finished in...October) and I did have to <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/06/freshening-foyer-part-2.html" target="_blank">redo the entire stencil</a>, (sometimes I guess it pays to read the directions) but it <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/10/freshening-foyer-finale.html" target="_blank">turned out even better</a> than I had envisioned and now it's fresh and bright and a jolly little welcome to our little home.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXGtx8xWJdUnjeM27BScLDuL9_hnQjyx8z5kD16gbdktwpZJRLTivpC52uvsA1JufdJjXUv9zHBl93QtYduH0W9SqE_RVnEt_UwPLWrNwX8ssPoBpjGShlIikkuT6r98qOf_htii_E3dN/s1600/GreenStenciledEntryStarPendant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlXGtx8xWJdUnjeM27BScLDuL9_hnQjyx8z5kD16gbdktwpZJRLTivpC52uvsA1JufdJjXUv9zHBl93QtYduH0W9SqE_RVnEt_UwPLWrNwX8ssPoBpjGShlIikkuT6r98qOf_htii_E3dN/s1600/GreenStenciledEntryStarPendant.jpg" width="321" /></a></div><br />2. <b>Sew something. Anything.</b> - Bam! I rocked this one like a hurricane for the <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/11/one-room-challenge-week-6-aka-reveal.html" target="_blank">One Room Challenge</a> in November. It is amazing what confidence a looming deadline will give you. I had just days to go before the big reveal and I was staring at a pile of fabric and no pillows, so I bit my lip and gave it a go. I will say that the intimidation factor is squarely on that damn machine. Actually sewing a pillow is pretty simple, its that blasted bobbin that gets me. Every. Time.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZO9M4Edjomp3yVGcTZY0PdLEsiIe2_0ummRWGnGm2s9nEscf5RNdrbAawQqah3ux0QULYHiTJ0lMBbwL5pOP-2rbqZ_z537D9eIG0_3MfQSph7DEOohNEEp-YGuAHE1yG7LvuSGwXPf4L/s1600/greensofafamilyroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZO9M4Edjomp3yVGcTZY0PdLEsiIe2_0ummRWGnGm2s9nEscf5RNdrbAawQqah3ux0QULYHiTJ0lMBbwL5pOP-2rbqZ_z537D9eIG0_3MfQSph7DEOohNEEp-YGuAHE1yG7LvuSGwXPf4L/s1600/greensofafamilyroom.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />I even went ahead and made myself some pillows for my <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2012/05/now-i-can-lay-down-bedroom-reveal.html" target="_blank">bedroom</a> while I was at it. Overachiever.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_uknUaUPGaKjesJPkaG9CjgTuzmdiqdKIxqeLoAirLnF0yBGrjWSbLT37Fc86RdhTu-vxdSo9XEeaoCrxSBx_5pQpvh5GrPX0N6pCCMP6kHH3P0CDmNydhMzTbLOIGFZk1o6FnuNPMhl/s1600/sarahandtommypillows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd_uknUaUPGaKjesJPkaG9CjgTuzmdiqdKIxqeLoAirLnF0yBGrjWSbLT37Fc86RdhTu-vxdSo9XEeaoCrxSBx_5pQpvh5GrPX0N6pCCMP6kHH3P0CDmNydhMzTbLOIGFZk1o6FnuNPMhl/s1600/sarahandtommypillows.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />3. <b>The girls' room.</b> This already feels like a million years ago, but I knocked this one off the list in February/March thanks again to the <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/03/one-room-challenge-reveal.html" target="_blank">One Room Challenge</a>. This was one of my favorite projects of the year and I'm happy to say the room still looks largely the same - just with the addition of a thick layer of clothes, toys and naked barbies strewn on the floor.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhizGB_rDSgM_dqtsCO2C5pJ9ABtkQzdPsxq_mVyKe-EZiK3nyckYhOq7R25ggtkkbW88MWJkm771OeBoTQEinGHIaBaoexKXqv5us-9FUb5Nw82-zqFVtQijZchhfi56icl-NgnZZiIOeq/s1600/GirlsRoomWideShot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="390" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhizGB_rDSgM_dqtsCO2C5pJ9ABtkQzdPsxq_mVyKe-EZiK3nyckYhOq7R25ggtkkbW88MWJkm771OeBoTQEinGHIaBaoexKXqv5us-9FUb5Nw82-zqFVtQijZchhfi56icl-NgnZZiIOeq/s1600/GirlsRoomWideShot.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />4. <b>Bathroom Redo.</b> This one is a mixed bag. Yes, I have updated the bathroom. Good homeowner. But I have yet to share the updates. Bad blogger. I did share a very small sneak peak a while back on <a href="http://instagram.com/littleblackdoor" target="_blank">Instagram</a> but that is it. For shame! I promise a full reveal before we hand out Valentine's.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9HLYRwWgfgMbcq0WHZHcV0vSL1_dTWCu-evsay_irAQ2hcMU4VbTdBuMIZVMhCv153QJr5ZhptHQh_Vb23sRJxUmXWb1-_FDwVPqNJQTO6bfLCP4so_72AtpEUck8S7jGmdiIrKsJoa4/s1600/bathroomrefresh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9HLYRwWgfgMbcq0WHZHcV0vSL1_dTWCu-evsay_irAQ2hcMU4VbTdBuMIZVMhCv153QJr5ZhptHQh_Vb23sRJxUmXWb1-_FDwVPqNJQTO6bfLCP4so_72AtpEUck8S7jGmdiIrKsJoa4/s1600/bathroomrefresh.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />5. <b>Open my little black door a little more.</b> I just realized how...interesting that line sounds. But anyway, it was about sharing more about other aspects of my work, my life, and just putting myself out there more. And I did work on this. I shared some client projects <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/04/before-and-after-farmhouse-kitchen.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/05/blue-and-orange-library-before-and-after.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/12/family-room-design-board.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I started a new series, <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2013/09/fess-up-friday-animal-prints.html" target="_blank">Fess Up Friday</a> and shared more of my crazy life on <a href="http://instagram.com/littleblackdoor" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, which I consider like a mini-blog of sorts. I have more plans and more work to do this year, so we will call this one 'under progress'.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP-H9b_u06NAsWE_9Dq8EK5vHHjm_Ig1nACG2g6O4Kqr8M5TSAKUh3tNdDLfhlsEh-wrC_sXOQGWoRwxpJiesAHZpZ1rFh2Ub9qv6T7TnTqMWfomvPnaLq-GPkkztMYCWFYjjN-YZ3J-VX/s1600/ClientWork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP-H9b_u06NAsWE_9Dq8EK5vHHjm_Ig1nACG2g6O4Kqr8M5TSAKUh3tNdDLfhlsEh-wrC_sXOQGWoRwxpJiesAHZpZ1rFh2Ub9qv6T7TnTqMWfomvPnaLq-GPkkztMYCWFYjjN-YZ3J-VX/s1600/ClientWork.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br />So all in all, not so bad for old Elizabeth. And I'll tell you, this has gotten me motivated for 2014. I'm ready to get working! And I'll share those plans tomorrow.<br /><br />So how about you? How did you do with last years goals? Do you make any years goals for yourself, your business, your home?

how did i do - 2013 review

So we can't get started on the new year without seeing how I did last year, right? It's always fun to see if your December 2013 self...

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fess up friday - chez v

Have I got a yarn to weave for you today. I've got my partner in crime <a href="http://chezviviv.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Emily from Chez V</a> over for Fess Up Friday today and we've got a good one for you. Freshen up your drink and enjoy. And <a href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck" target="_blank">Zuck</a>, if you want to use us for a Facebook commercial, we're open to offers. Emily, fess up with Part 1...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAbbtBx0ciVZTNwD9it5w7lWVN7ZfkL7UTb2UeOwI8yNJeDSMldF8FkCEaLx2teaBuY_t9riY_vemWRb0R9X7UyLYlw-K0yupvDmJ_gNb7DFeItk92dVMAOmZ3RSyFbVIvBNYprbkXrqKT/s1600/FessUpFridaylogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAbbtBx0ciVZTNwD9it5w7lWVN7ZfkL7UTb2UeOwI8yNJeDSMldF8FkCEaLx2teaBuY_t9riY_vemWRb0R9X7UyLYlw-K0yupvDmJ_gNb7DFeItk92dVMAOmZ3RSyFbVIvBNYprbkXrqKT/s320/FessUpFridaylogo.jpg" width="160" /></a></div><br /><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Is there anything better than the thrill of the chase?  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Well here is a little ditty for </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">you about </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">a desperate chase, the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">power of social </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">media, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">and the<br />kindness of strangers.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">As a linking participant of the <a href="http://www.callingithome.com/2013/11/one-room-challenge-linking-party-pretty.html" target="_blank">One Room Challenge</a>, I was on </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">a </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">frenzied search </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">to locate a pair of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">affordable sconces for my bedroom plan aka Project Chinoisy Safari Chic.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaCKVCS8EgszIA-yd8NLylvPBd6veHD2hxeR1yZuH3Tt3j-P8UDGU8vrVQcI_q6vwzT2xJlAc2l1aSLOPneDBpe-_b1uW17Jv_6g7LW6yzNloNsvjZAtR_iYH6a6E8BWhUnxnVIg__fY/s1600/ORC+-+Week+1+Graphic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaCKVCS8EgszIA-yd8NLylvPBd6veHD2hxeR1yZuH3Tt3j-P8UDGU8vrVQcI_q6vwzT2xJlAc2l1aSLOPneDBpe-_b1uW17Jv_6g7LW6yzNloNsvjZAtR_iYH6a6E8BWhUnxnVIg__fY/s640/ORC+-+Week+1+Graphic.png" width="388" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">With little time, I knew my search would be a lot like trying to avoid bread and cheese.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Not </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">gonna </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">happen.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">On a Wednesday, mid-challenge, I headed to <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/" target="_blank">IKEA</a> in search of some drapes to hack.  Imagine my glee when I stumbled across the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20231325/" target="_blank">Ranarp</a></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">clamp </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">spotlights.  I was </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">complet</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">ely smitten upon first sight considering </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">all the other sconces I was </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">contemplating </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">for my </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://chezviviv.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-big-reveal-wk6-orc-challenge.html" target="_blank">ORC room</a> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">carried hefty price </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">tags</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">and long lead times.<br />The </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Ranarp</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> - $19.99.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Say what?!  Done and done.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVcHNlE0JUwMzcIsdtUSGLwyvh73cBsuuJuXTjwfiCykHxI755ER43E3scq9fypStz4nd8PsFxRZyIxGup4bpYV41kNnhH1Fn3DIAvsf-KmekRVEkGEQm1rREwASTX2Ct2LkpvEyHVUw/s1600/Day+186+-+ORC+Link+Up+-+WK3+-+Ranarp.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVcHNlE0JUwMzcIsdtUSGLwyvh73cBsuuJuXTjwfiCykHxI755ER43E3scq9fypStz4nd8PsFxRZyIxGup4bpYV41kNnhH1Fn3DIAvsf-KmekRVEkGEQm1rREwASTX2Ct2LkpvEyHVUw/s400/Day+186+-+ORC+Link+Up+-+WK3+-+Ranarp.png" width="300" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">But like all too-good-to-be-true dreams, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">I awoke from my design euphoric nirvana state only to realize that </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">they </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">were sold out.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">course you are, little gorgy industrial glam thingy, you!  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Immediately, I </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">sent out a request on </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://instagram.com/chezviviv" target="_blank">Instagram</a></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> asking if anyone knew of any in stock anywhere.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Like the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">shot heard round the world, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">my fellow design soldiers started rallying to the call, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">one of which </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">was one of my </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">favorite gals in all of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">blogland</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Elizabeth.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">It seems she too was on the hunt for the coveted <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20231325/" target="_blank">Ranarps</a>.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">  </span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">In </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">the meantime, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">while my little was busy hopping herself up on a cinnamon roll, I </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">sweet talked a very accommodating IKEA customer service guy into doing a country wide inventory search (</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">which </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">I do not necessarily suggest as it took </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">forever and garnered </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">a </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">lot of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">evil side </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">eye from the long customer svc queue</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">) </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">only to discover that the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">lamps were indeed, sold out everywhere with the exception of </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">17 </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">in Paramus, NJ and </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">3 in Houston</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">, TX.  I shared this info with Elizabeth and thus began a dual mission to score these lamps through one of our varied networks.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">We schemed, we commiserated, we called, emailed, <a href="http://chezviviv.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blogged</a>, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="http://instagram.com/chezviviv" target="_blank">IG’d</a></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> and </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/chezviviv" target="_blank">FB’d</a></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> in an attempt to reach anyone who had peeps near Paramus, NJ or Houston all to no avail.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">I even contacted </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">my master finder-of-all-things </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">bestie</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> in Berlin, Germany.<br />This is the </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">kinda</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> 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.<br />Meanwhile</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">on Friday </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">evening of that same week, at 7pm, </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">my sister’s father-in-law, who lives in </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">NJ, happened to be near the Paramus store, and agreed to go pick some up, but would I mind calling to verify stock first.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Hoo</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">-ray!!!!  No problem!!!! </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Except when I called IKEA another very nice customer svc lady informed me that no, in fact, Paramus did not have ANY in stock.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Is it possible that all 17 sold out in 2 days?!  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">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.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Wha</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">wha</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">wha</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifNWY6lLSrzOL77shOyzxj9lNiHv4oHn_T8HyBe7SuQ7H-Zvi2E44w_UlGgody9QzZfoutv3cXaaq_x3bP8nkxvDsatur9AZR6kmcy5EaVcp5dA-NyIYtE0gQuO40K4mcWN2y1z9wUeU/s1600/royvey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifNWY6lLSrzOL77shOyzxj9lNiHv4oHn_T8HyBe7SuQ7H-Zvi2E44w_UlGgody9QzZfoutv3cXaaq_x3bP8nkxvDsatur9AZR6kmcy5EaVcp5dA-NyIYtE0gQuO40K4mcWN2y1z9wUeU/s400/royvey.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.thejimbolist.com/?p=415" target="_blank">via</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Are you still with me?<br /></span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">I know, me neither.<br />I am exhausted just retelling it. <br />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.  </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Thankfully, Elizabeth’s </span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">hubster</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> could!</span><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="direction: ltr; language: en-US; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; mso-line-break-override: none; punctuation-wrap: hanging; text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #d99694; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 12.0pt; font-style: italic; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 5; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Century Gothic"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Century Gothic"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">kisses,  </span><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 36.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">mrs.</span><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 36.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> V</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSgy0iOEwC0Cg_2DT7geX5i8O1e_An1nPZMSUaRsVZWFSF0eKtgnlJvvDvbrF5isj5NDbWGv-_68apKyU7Xtwj-dVmLcfN8x2NqFkhjDX2bq7RO1_2UYQwZ2AXSQ6UJ48eGxbkoRKbRoQ/s1600/Slide2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSgy0iOEwC0Cg_2DT7geX5i8O1e_An1nPZMSUaRsVZWFSF0eKtgnlJvvDvbrF5isj5NDbWGv-_68apKyU7Xtwj-dVmLcfN8x2NqFkhjDX2bq7RO1_2UYQwZ2AXSQ6UJ48eGxbkoRKbRoQ/s640/Slide2.PNG" width="480" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> </span><span style="color: #254061; font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; font-size: 14.0pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: "Satisfaction Pro"; mso-bidi-font-family: +mn-cs; mso-color-index: 4; mso-fareast-font-family: +mn-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz39VbzK0lKVwJPYyOju9XW8AUSgRJ_5Pv6kr43iiVbjxzh77cbP4kYs6SQNpE2Mqylsc2ZWFVN0wRrblzL4Z-k4_X9lnlSxQruQNONJNxUv_e8vfInnEsloODaj_axW8DZnw9V7SCydQ/s1600/Sunny+ORC+pictures+045.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz39VbzK0lKVwJPYyOju9XW8AUSgRJ_5Pv6kr43iiVbjxzh77cbP4kYs6SQNpE2Mqylsc2ZWFVN0wRrblzL4Z-k4_X9lnlSxQruQNONJNxUv_e8vfInnEsloODaj_axW8DZnw9V7SCydQ/s640/Sunny+ORC+pictures+045.JPG" width="424" /></a></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj05iiJ5U8S_4Ptk2Zyt7kGzChrkIX0mQdkJTdPxEWVqOVq_tomUjefJmaerylKON7whbcp3RwQuVN3XroTHqbUnf9jLBllhOzQi7b8fupfifxqo6NsMbiidc0_gMDz7hXFl00xQfiNdcw/s1600/Slide7.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj05iiJ5U8S_4Ptk2Zyt7kGzChrkIX0mQdkJTdPxEWVqOVq_tomUjefJmaerylKON7whbcp3RwQuVN3XroTHqbUnf9jLBllhOzQi7b8fupfifxqo6NsMbiidc0_gMDz7hXFl00xQfiNdcw/s640/Slide7.PNG" width="480" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQsgmRw1Ed46p8KKgqDGuOe3cBTJ4eIIzCRLSQ1u_PrpcUR9WXm2YTe2tw_Jujko2vIuJeD69r5lgpNTQJu8J51C-26JmGYBpAgyW1eRNhNRGmQOgyDiq4Gicy_ddYccLpVFhEG5UoxM/s1600/Master+Makeover+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidQsgmRw1Ed46p8KKgqDGuOe3cBTJ4eIIzCRLSQ1u_PrpcUR9WXm2YTe2tw_Jujko2vIuJeD69r5lgpNTQJu8J51C-26JmGYBpAgyW1eRNhNRGmQOgyDiq4Gicy_ddYccLpVFhEG5UoxM/s640/Master+Makeover+001.JPG" width="424" /></a></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 0pt; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><br />Part 2...<br /><br />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.<br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHDVpCnb_RiMKDUstohKBPKLRhbsCQP4WRdx8CxsJRv3OHzd3OWYDl7tWXH4XT1hHmZLIHGYDNwpxpEdFZ2vVgjBIizH9OBiB-MwcFY4r1mn7eXknSCRHexbHs5ZndHuTVG4ip7FKqimd/s1600/lukefb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSHDVpCnb_RiMKDUstohKBPKLRhbsCQP4WRdx8CxsJRv3OHzd3OWYDl7tWXH4XT1hHmZLIHGYDNwpxpEdFZ2vVgjBIizH9OBiB-MwcFY4r1mn7eXknSCRHexbHs5ZndHuTVG4ip7FKqimd/s640/lukefb.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />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 <i>she</i> has a friend who lives in Houston who would probably be up for it. "She loves to shop."<br /><br />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.<br /><br />So a perfect stranger agreed to go to IKEA on <strike>the worst IKEA day of the week</strike> 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.<br /><br />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 '<i>looks</i> like there are 3 available' but they couldn't be sure. Awesome.<br /><br />So we waited, and waited, and just as I lost a bid on some fab ginger jars this popped up on my phone.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHHc-TRI6w4Nop4vKz-7toLCdNHKZmG4yOtAdFnDXvSo0VqTvSmjLGYnUQhGYd6vqtvt1p8PKfD_Ks0vJP4ykBnucO_j1t6Y5gtNhx3mgFjoeAtceQyK1IJ0Mo16fayaL5o7nPp2OmTDjM/s1600/IKEARANARP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHHc-TRI6w4Nop4vKz-7toLCdNHKZmG4yOtAdFnDXvSo0VqTvSmjLGYnUQhGYd6vqtvt1p8PKfD_Ks0vJP4ykBnucO_j1t6Y5gtNhx3mgFjoeAtceQyK1IJ0Mo16fayaL5o7nPp2OmTDjM/s640/IKEARANARP.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><br />Three left and they were all ours. I cheered silently and forwarded the picture to Emily. IKEA, I love you again.<br /><br />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?!<br /><br />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.<br /><br />So in the end this<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxe0lsbDl7QFTIiOOU9FCGHbqTlpKyJKho8rFwvdOQSB7T7gjRRqRhw4924FzkkiFd_EDZF7LR8uOvvGdM1f-1qYyLvcxDLeyjH9npRnyyQGVW_PxhQAx_RkYiGfXIYVttoIL9KDqgcxUu/s1600/creativityismessyfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxe0lsbDl7QFTIiOOU9FCGHbqTlpKyJKho8rFwvdOQSB7T7gjRRqRhw4924FzkkiFd_EDZF7LR8uOvvGdM1f-1qYyLvcxDLeyjH9npRnyyQGVW_PxhQAx_RkYiGfXIYVttoIL9KDqgcxUu/s640/creativityismessyfinal.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />and this<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisn0B2WfIaJlC04gMUc9N_ItVFBV3YSH3GAN6UY7ne7brreT6a841Sc_UjZO9twhOkoKu9FGkywEu0Pa-ctLtxhTJfJO2kqd5_zAHZEmIiVnrSvOXFDGCyE7jOwGJK_Kv0F1nlNyCtjYCX/s1600/Slide2.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisn0B2WfIaJlC04gMUc9N_ItVFBV3YSH3GAN6UY7ne7brreT6a841Sc_UjZO9twhOkoKu9FGkywEu0Pa-ctLtxhTJfJO2kqd5_zAHZEmIiVnrSvOXFDGCyE7jOwGJK_Kv0F1nlNyCtjYCX/s640/Slide2.PNG" width="480" /></a></div><br />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.<br /><br />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?</div>

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 go...

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i've got my sources

One of the best parts about the <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/p/one-room-challenge.html" target="_blank">ORC</a> is hearing everyones comments. It is so interesting what people notice and what sparks their interest. I've had several source requests so I thought I'd lay it all out nice and neat, just like this room was - for about an hour. I am happy to report it is now perfectly trashed, and will probably stay that way for the foreseeable future. Also, the sun finally came out so I got some more true-to-life pictures.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefdTD0z76s3dQ-ztNIkUJ1RNxwYTTn7lXX5THU9d6TTMBJPd0SZdWE3ZgQXBsGFcyWkHr7hpdK9Sf9sDp4cg7qNv_yuDMxiXLYmIqdCfsNv734Rb8B9R1B_X_RZfVZ6WldYcfaSZ1JnDN/s1600/familyroomfinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="590" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiefdTD0z76s3dQ-ztNIkUJ1RNxwYTTn7lXX5THU9d6TTMBJPd0SZdWE3ZgQXBsGFcyWkHr7hpdK9Sf9sDp4cg7qNv_yuDMxiXLYmIqdCfsNv734Rb8B9R1B_X_RZfVZ6WldYcfaSZ1JnDN/s640/familyroomfinal.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The rug towards the front of the room is an outdoor rug from <a href="http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Saddlestitch_All-Weather_Area_Rug/840/" target="_blank">Home Decorators</a> and I love it. I may or may not have spilled a small bit of paint on it and it wiped up as though it were water. (thank god it was latex). Trust that I'm not the only messy one in the house though, the girls have dropped and spilled on it as well and it always cleans up like a champ. And to know that I can take it out in the spring and hose it down makes mamma very happy.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The vintage rug in the play area was found in an antique store down in Sarasota, FL. It is soft and plush and very well warn. And because of its...age spots I know it can take a beating from toy strollers, legos, and the occasional glitter nail polish and still look great.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzpxZbMrqC2hxjzLxe_sHtC1ERqTubHj-NCkP9mrNDlgxL4_AM4HFyZa74dCHrwDihhHodG5ldQ-uy3yquMQcRpXfYWNlHhUE7MddaKBYD_DdxQnbvfqjlTLXbhYd3QM3Q145fMmlVP4rR/s1600/familyroomconsole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzpxZbMrqC2hxjzLxe_sHtC1ERqTubHj-NCkP9mrNDlgxL4_AM4HFyZa74dCHrwDihhHodG5ldQ-uy3yquMQcRpXfYWNlHhUE7MddaKBYD_DdxQnbvfqjlTLXbhYd3QM3Q145fMmlVP4rR/s640/familyroomconsole.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The white stools were purchased several years ago at my favorite local antique store and have been in just about every room in the house and every color in the rainbow. I had just barely enough <a href="https://www.houseofpemberley.com/p/98/brunschwig-fils-les-touches" target="_blank">Les Touches</a> to cover them and I love how they tie the red accents from the front of the house to the back of the room.<br /><br />The console is an outdoor buffet table. It folds up, has a zinc top and weights practically nothing.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJj7LIDuI0H10Ag3jA_wwKVEfKkC9zvBEwfDAZ59wyzLDU0_Ym54TcpExQowDKNx3cqDesC_y_6gAdR1JOSmcW-F4zIEgJtc8QygddL-b2qUxibUqYj9E_ldWfPYkWebMaSCGC34QKvEx/s1600/blueandwhitebookshelfleft.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiJj7LIDuI0H10Ag3jA_wwKVEfKkC9zvBEwfDAZ59wyzLDU0_Ym54TcpExQowDKNx3cqDesC_y_6gAdR1JOSmcW-F4zIEgJtc8QygddL-b2qUxibUqYj9E_ldWfPYkWebMaSCGC34QKvEx/s640/blueandwhitebookshelfleft.jpg" width="398" /></a></div>The blue and white is from <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2012/11/winterizing-kitchen.html" target="_blank">my collection</a> that has made its way around the house and the lovely brass hardware is from <a href="http://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/waverly-knob/items/cabinet-knob-waverly-1-1-4-c0016-lq" target="_blank">Rejuvenation</a>.<br /><br />The backs of the bookshelves are planked, just like the far wall. Tutorial to come soon.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZe4-dtmE-b80R4GiJkRulOnmeLUvpufLMsfrItMA3vqBqqUJAd0IDVytrBE8bqg53xA_sMAqSMCANKDVf-aeudTcLx6USPLFPjCWFldzKmAsdcYAt3PjrNfres5i4gzGLGAjDE7HkOQB/s1600/familyroomslipcoveredchair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZe4-dtmE-b80R4GiJkRulOnmeLUvpufLMsfrItMA3vqBqqUJAd0IDVytrBE8bqg53xA_sMAqSMCANKDVf-aeudTcLx6USPLFPjCWFldzKmAsdcYAt3PjrNfres5i4gzGLGAjDE7HkOQB/s640/familyroomslipcoveredchair.jpg" width="522" /></a></div><br />The fabric for the slipcovers is plain <a href="http://www.housefabric.com/Prairie-Denim-White-P92530.aspx" target="_blank">white denim from housefabric.com</a> (they are local for me). All the fabric was prewashed and the slipcovers were made without piping to prevent shrinkage when they are washed. And they will be washed. Frequently.<br /><br />The red and white pillow is from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/kassapanola?ref=l2-shopheader-name" target="_blank">Etsy</a>, the white table <a href="http://thelittleblackdoor.blogspot.com/2012/07/keep-your-feet-on-ground-and-keep.html" target="_blank">used to be black</a>, the mirror is from the side of the road (classy) and the toy under the table is probably Fisher-Price. (real life)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXSLoKC1cVmQNSri3HSAW645yU3koBV490xCvdzIm8Z_99sPVAKQJ65c7Q5-ALv1FKdHs8I2_o05RHn6K9bilAHHbetaBlJRepOfCd8BbAcVGmPHG-AztpjHuww3m7eSauZOz5R_yseFw/s1600/greensofafamilyroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijXSLoKC1cVmQNSri3HSAW645yU3koBV490xCvdzIm8Z_99sPVAKQJ65c7Q5-ALv1FKdHs8I2_o05RHn6K9bilAHHbetaBlJRepOfCd8BbAcVGmPHG-AztpjHuww3m7eSauZOz5R_yseFw/s640/greensofafamilyroom.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />The <a href="http://www.housefabric.com/Plaid-Tartan-Multi-P3087.aspx" target="_blank">plaid fabric</a>, <a href="http://www.housefabric.com/Gloria-Jubilee-P91860.aspx" target="_blank">floral fabric</a> and <a href="http://www.housefabric.com/" target="_blank">blue and white fabric</a> are all from <a href="http://housefabric.com/">housefabric.com</a>. They know me well there.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1z9tnjVsZv-F_qgPpmvFPWoW8zJOQMzC0xjVADaCZcA4RNg4OPKTrw4e7f8MH27A_OoiEnjHnepdRu7MW0CX2rbLX2OtizD6tXlU3jPd8DdmMIdFFPvfIO_LYWAOZImExtsjhODwlds5F/s1600/creativecorner2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1z9tnjVsZv-F_qgPpmvFPWoW8zJOQMzC0xjVADaCZcA4RNg4OPKTrw4e7f8MH27A_OoiEnjHnepdRu7MW0CX2rbLX2OtizD6tXlU3jPd8DdmMIdFFPvfIO_LYWAOZImExtsjhODwlds5F/s640/creativecorner2.jpg" width="586" /></a></div><br />The color on the chairs is <a href="http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Painter-s-Touch-2X-12-oz-Satin-Lemongrass-General-Purpose-Spray-Paint-263148/203160400#.UoLv6JTk_CA" target="_blank">Rust-Oleum Lemongrass</a>. The green pillow is from <a href="http://www.worldmarket.com/" target="_blank">World Market</a> (although I don't think it is available any more) and the ikat pillow is from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/CaliforniaLivinHome" target="_blank">Etsy</a>. Rainbow Pom-pom garland from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/CaliforniaLivinHome" target="_blank">Furbish</a> and sconce from <a href="http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20231325/" target="_blank">IKEA</a>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw3wQn5gpteVpkBHZFpeUDsOH0xJI4Fh0QNZkfra-WJ7HxEjAMEiYCqTDcVZN9Jra5vc8dFnH0Z_XdFCbHNQMCTLd_d_SVZxrR4NHmaYmKZDYciVEmXnZhdWWmTmkZxQBkxvjYoZHJOzzE/s1600/plankwallspaintedstairrunner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw3wQn5gpteVpkBHZFpeUDsOH0xJI4Fh0QNZkfra-WJ7HxEjAMEiYCqTDcVZN9Jra5vc8dFnH0Z_XdFCbHNQMCTLd_d_SVZxrR4NHmaYmKZDYciVEmXnZhdWWmTmkZxQBkxvjYoZHJOzzE/s640/plankwallspaintedstairrunner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />I told you it was a sunny day. Can you believe all of this light came in from the door at the top of the stairs?!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqml-14fvrwh588URyy4xBqGog1Rz3L37AGC7SCC9hMO7BDqYD4f_SgReZxPNO9iT_U9wIpFMbvRswhPYqzIjKQrikyZ881C7U1sXCpr97njsKms2rTMbXw5hRhFhbIWpLqVJUQNRH3yH/s1600/vintagedollhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqqml-14fvrwh588URyy4xBqGog1Rz3L37AGC7SCC9hMO7BDqYD4f_SgReZxPNO9iT_U9wIpFMbvRswhPYqzIjKQrikyZ881C7U1sXCpr97njsKms2rTMbXw5hRhFhbIWpLqVJUQNRH3yH/s400/vintagedollhouse.jpg" width="333" /></a></div><br />I think that about covers it. Do you have furniture that you recycle from one room to the next? Ever dump something in storage for a while and all of a sudden it seems new and exciting? How excited do you think HouseFabric.com is going to be when they hear I'm actually sewing now?

i've got my sources

One of the best parts about the ORC  is hearing everyones comments. It is so interesting what people notice and what sparks their interest. ...

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