AREA RUGS...

After we moved in we quickly realized we would need an area rug for the C Monster's play room if we wanted to avoid him screeching up the hardwood floor.  I really wish I could now be posting that we only looked at eco-friendly area rugs but well in reality I did not want to spend 1500$ upward on a rug that was going in a playroom.  We also did not want to buy a kid specific area rug, so that if in 2 years our dinning room stops being a playroom and starts being a dinning room, we would not be stuck with a 8x10 kids area rug.

We started by browsing online and found patterns that we liked and work with our space. Narrowed them down to our favourite 4; then we checked them out in-store along with many others. Here are 4 rugs that had made our short list before we started to look at them in person:

Stockholm @$299 from Ikea: I was really disappointed with this one.  It was not our favourite  pattern but the idea of a wool rug at $300 in the right size was exciting.  It is a woven flat rug that mean it has no pile which translates into a very rough surface - not good for playing on.

Gate @850 from Dwell Studio: We never visited a store with this one as this was our back up rug if we did not like the Structube ones, as the price point on this one was a bit more then we wanted to spend. 

Freeport @ $499 from Structube: In person the white is actually light grey; this  caused the rug to look soiled even when it is clean.  However this is a wool rug and I do like my natural fibres. I would like to note that before we saw any of the rugs this was Geoff's favorite.

Juno @499 from Structube: We were a bit concerned with the white and that it would easily stain.  I would like to point out that this was my favourite rug before we saw any of them in person. This one is also wool.

Some of the key points we were looking for were:

• Durability
• Thigh pill count, meaning that the yarn used to make the rug was weaved very tightly and dense
• Natural fibre
• Priced under $1000
• Size: 8' x 10' minimum and 8'-6" x 11' maximum
• Flexible design, wanted an area rug that would work in a playroom or a living room or a dinning room
• C Monster's opinion. This was by no means the deciding factor but we wanted him to feel involved in selecting the rug; it was going in his space after all.

And here is our final choice; so far everyone is happy with it; C Monster particularly enjoys driving his toy cars along the white stripes:

My Ikea experiance part 1

On June 26 we had a minor flood in our kitchen and this prompted us to decide to renovated our kitchen; the kitchen really needed a makeover and we were planning on doing it at some point so why not now. The only concern was cost we needed to keep the full reno at around 10,000. We got to this number after talking with my Realtor Josee Couture (if you live in Toronto and need a Realtor she is great) she basically said with the market value in your area and the condition of our home a kitchen reno would add approximately 10,000 to 15,000 to the value of our home. That said since we are doing all the work ourselves (or I should say my dad is doing the work) all we needed to do is try the keep the materials cost down and everyone knows that Ikea gives the more bang for your bucks in wow factor.

Luckily I am an Interior Designer so I was able to measure design and turn around a preliminary floor plan and elevations for my kitchen in a day; so off we went to Ikea North York on June 28 to purchase my kitchen. I had already chosen at home all the Ikea finishes that I wanted (their website is extremely detailed); they even have a kitchen planning toll online that I would have used instead of drawing my plans by hand other then the fact that the software is not compatible with a MAC. We go to the kitchen section of Ikea and I find someone in a yellow shirt; this is a brief description of our conversation:

Me: I would like to speak to someone to ensure that the kitchen I've designs works and then get some help to make sure I have all the components.
Ikea: Did you plan your kitchen using our kitchen planner?
Me: No, but I am an Interior Designer and I have full plans and elevations of the kitchen.
Ikea: You have to enter your kitchen in our kitchen planner; let me set you up - it should not take you too long. We will also place your name on a list so someone will come to talk to you.
Me: The only reason I did not use your kitchen planner was that it does not work with a MAC
Ikea: Yeah we know you should have just come straight in to the store; here is everything you need to get started.

I would like to point out that the whole family (Geoff, Chrstophe and me) left for Ikea that day around 10am. So I sit down get started various people come around and tell me how the plan looks great; wow you have such a big project, your kitchen it going to look great, and to answer various questions I have. Lunch rolls around we have pasta at the Ikea restaurant (the kitchen planning tool lets me save my kitchen on-line o I could leave freely and come back as I needed). After lunch I come back and finalize my kitchen around 4:30pm it's done I am finally ready to order. You ask why it took so long?

1. If I could have used the planning tool with my MAC I could have came in with a plan already inputted in their oh so sacred kitchen planning tool
2. Every time I tried to add a upper cupboards the system would go bonkers
3. I could not override the pulls to mix and match the styles (we are using long D pulls and want to select the length based on the size of the door or the drawer)
4. Unless you have a perfectly square room the programme does not seem to like you and gives you a hard to to place cabinets in that will need to be cut to fit your room
5. Every time I tried to rotate my 3D drawing it would zoom all the way in and I would have to restart looking at the 3D a few times before it worked
   
6. Whenever I wanted to speak to someone i had to wait 15 to 30 minutes on average. 15 minutes is acceptable; 30 minutes is a bit long. One time I waited almost 45 minutes. they really need more staff.

So at 4:30ish (it might have been latter then that at this point the time is all a blur - I have been there all day). Janice comes over to help me finally finalize my kitchen. I ask her all the right questions such as.

1. Will the cabinets fit with the height of my ceiling?
2. Will my range hood fit with the height of my ceiling?
3. What pieces will have to be cut to fit - so when everything gets home I know what to do.
4. Can I actually cut all the pieces we talked about?
   
5. What is the return policy
6. What is the warranty
   
7. Is there anything I did not ask or seem to have though about that your expertise as an Ikea Kitchen Planner can add?

TO BE CONTINUED...