Tray Cute

Forgive me for my non-French pun.

Do you have an area in your house that just turns into a bunch of clutter despite your best efforts?  We do.  Truthfully, nearly every empty surface in our house collects clutter.  But the clutter on our coffee table has been particularly irritating.

Our coffee table clutter on a good day.

We use our coffee table a lot.  We stick our feet on it when we watch TV.  We're constantly putting drinks on it while we're hanging out in that room.  And quite often we eat dinner or snacks in there.  I wanted a way to corral the magazines and remotes so that they'd still be easy to access, and easy to move if we needed more coffee table surface area.  I know that trays are a great way to do this, but I had a hard time finding one I loved that wasn't super expensive.  Until Joss & Main solved my problem.

Put a bird on it, continued.

This cute little guy was the perfect amount of rustic and contrast for our industrial coffee table.  Plus it had birds on it.  At $19, I couldn't resist.  And wow, does it make a big difference.



The tray holds some magazines (the rest are stored on the lower level of the coffee table, waiting for me to devise a wrangling solution for them).  A small basket from World Market ($8!) holds our Xbox controllers and TV remote.  And a gifted orchid lends some height and beauty.

Because orchids and Xbox controllers go so well together.

Everything's low enough to stay out of sight lines from the couch to the TV or to the club chairs across the room.

Netflix compatible.

Naturally, I love the little birdies on either end of the tray.

Tweet, tweet!

And I've always loved orchids but never bought one.  My outdoor green thumb turns black indoors.  But since every single inspiration picture I have ever seen of trays corralling items on coffee tables includes some kind of flower arrangement, it seemed the perfect place for this guy to live.  I had to take a picture of it now, as I'll probably manage to kill it off soon.

Bee-youtiful.

That tray has been an improvement in the beauty AND functionality department.  I can't wait to get more organization going on below the coffee table for extra magazines and DVDs!

I Just Met You

Habitat for Humanity finally opened a Re-Store in Everett a few months ago, and Steve and I went to take a look around with the in-laws.  Steve and I hadn't planned on buying anything.  But we found something there that made me feel a little Carly Rae Jepsen.  You know,
I wasn't looking for this/
But now you're in my way.

It was so pretty.  Stainless.  Nice high arc neck.  Pull out head.  Pause button.  Single handle.  Nice.

I just met you

Here's the deal.  We didn't need a new faucet.  Sure, it was on the list of long-term projects, but our existing kitchen faucet was perfectly functional.  After 5 years of abuse it wasn't exactly "pretty" but it was definitely a long way from being an eyesore.  Our plan had been to upgrade the sink and faucet when or if we manage to upgrade our existing counter tops.  Sounds practical, right? 

And this is crazy

The fancy new faucet was marked for $160.  Although it was brand new, it didn't seem like *that* great of a buy.  Come on, we were at the Re-Store, where spanking new solid-core interior doors are priced at $5.50.  Nevertheless, it seemed like a better deal than we'd be likely to get at Lowe's or Home Depot for that type of faucet.  We were tempted.

Here's my number

It was in its original box complete with label, so I whipped out my iphone and googled it.

So call me maybe

List price $790?!?!?!  On sale for $406???  Believe it or not, several other places carried this discontinued Moen faucet, most of them priced around $500.  Dude, $160 was 80% off of the list price.  We couldn't leave it there.  Ir was a total impulse purchase, and we couldn't be happier.

Our morning the following day looked like this.

And then it was done.  We love it!

My camera thinks it's hard to look right at you, baby.

Compare for yourself.

Before

After

Aw yeah.  I'd have included a wide-angle shot so you could see how much better the scale of the high-arc neck is with the rest of the kitchen, but honestly there was too much junk on the counters and I was too lazy to clean it.

And now for several gratuitous poorly-lit pics of the fancy new faucet!  (Time for me to get the paint ladder out of the side yard.)

I used a method for deep-cleaning stainless steel sinks that I found on Pinterest.  Worked pretty slick and shined everything right up (not that you can tell from my pictures)!  Check it out on my Pinterest board!

Kitchen Rug FAIL

Oh Crate & Barrel.  Why must you build me up only to let me down?

Ah, the runner that I was hoping would be perfect for our kitchen (read more about it here).  I ordered it nearly two months ago.  It was on back order.  And then on back order some more.  I pined for that rug!

It finally arrived today!  I pulled it out of the box and...  The yellow was perfect!  The gray was... brown??

Whomp, whomp.

I guess you could technically call it gray.  Warm gray.  Taupey-gray.  Brown gray.  Baby-poop gray.  Not what I'm looking for, people.  We've got black cabinets, white trim, white in the linens.  Warm gray just won't cut it.

Gimme cool gray tones.

And it was really smelly, like it had been fumigated.  Sorry, a baby-poop colored rug that stinks is not going to improve my kitchen, no matter how soft the rug is on my tootsies.  The bad news is that I have to keep searching for the right runner (and apparently I have to return the rug via parcel post, grr).  The good news is that I'm gonna be getting a stash of cash back from my friends at Crate & Barrel.  They can keep the baby poop.

So now it's back to the drawing board.  Trying to find a runner that is stain resistant and/or washable and would work with black, white, and golden yellow is tricky.  Here's a couple of rugs that I've tracked down that I think might work.

From ShadesofLight.com.  Pros: It's an indoor/outdoor rug, so it would withstand scrubbing and bleaching.  There's something appealing about the idea of dragging your kitchen rug outside and just hosing the dang thing down.  The print is fresh without being obtrusive.  Cons:  It's an indoor/outdoor rug, so it might not be comfy on the toesies.  I'm also wondering if the light colors would be more apt to show dirt and grime...?

2.5' x 8' for $119

From Dash & Albert.  Pros:  It's cotton, so although the website recommends hand-washing or professional cleaning, I could probably get away with throwing in the washing machine on delicate.  I love the yellow and it looks like it'd go perfectly.  High on country charm.  Cons:  It might be *too* yellow.  I don't want to be punched in the face with color every time I walk into the kitchen.

2.5' x 8' for $85 or 2.5' x 12' for $124.

Fallon Honeycomb by Jill Rosenwald from BA Stores.  Pros:  I lurrrrve the honeycomb pattern.  It's so much fun, modern but still sweet (ha!), and how cute for a kitchen, right?  The yellow looks right on the money.  Did I say that I lurrrrve this one?  Cons:  It's wool, so it won't wash easily.  The gray is described as "dark taupe"- not promising.  And it's more money than I wanted to spend.

2.5' x 8' for $170

It comes in a few other similar color schemes as well:

Dark Goldenrod, Silvered Gray, Parchment

Sunshine Yellow, Sky Gray, Espresso, Parchment

The Andalusia Dhurrie rug from West Elm.  Pros:  Not gonna lie, I think West Elm is pretty hip and I would love to own something that came from them.  The rug comes in a nice steel gray or a golden yellow, so I could go either way.  The print's not obtrusive- it feels modern but the pattern hints at floral (and I love florals).  I think this one is the most likely to look "right" in our kitchen.  Cons:  Looks like this rug needs to be babied.  "Keep out of direct sunlight.  Rotate regularly to avoid uneven wear.  Blot spills immediately.  Professional cleaning recommended."  Also, the runner is a full foot shorter than standard size.

In Horizon/Ivory, $149

In Gray/Ivory, $149

 So what do you think?  Any favorites in that list?  Other places I should search?