This weekend (really, starting Thursday as soon as they started pouring in) we, somehow, narrowed all 2648 of your bathrooms and kitchens you submitted for our Lowe’s Spring makeover down to hundreds. And then 100. And then 48. And now, 10. And we can’t possibly narrow it down anymore, so we’ve called on our dream team to help us get it down to 3. We wanted to thank everyone that told us their story and sent us their photos. There were 1581 kitchens and 1067 bathrooms coming in from all 50 states and D.C., too, and ALL of them are in need. Some more than others. It was humbling in a lot of ways and heart-breaking, too. We wish we could come visit all of you! We should have an announcement of where we’re headed hopefully by the end of this week or early next week.
• In between peeking into your homes, Chris finished building the new shelving in the storage room, and Saturday morning, we tag-teamed the paint job. Originally, I envisioned the shelves darker than the floor, but as soon as they were in place, they felt BIG (hooray for actually being able to store things!), and I didn’t want to weigh down the room with a heavier paint color, so we painted them the same color as the walls (Benjamin Moore, White Dove) and I love how the lighter, warmer floors (Ben Moore, Ice Breaker) ground the whole space. We’re working on a full tutorial for the whole room for you soon!
• Last night, while I was reading to Greta before bed, Faye came down, climbed in her bunk and asked to sleep there–the moment we’ve been waiting for! As much as she loves to spend time in the bunk room, and play in the bunk room, and “pretend sleep” during the day down there, when it comes time for sleeping, she prefers her crib and we haven’t been pushing it.  But I thought, “maybe if I don’t make a big deal about this, this will be the night!” So I tucked her in, and we turned off the lights and she lasted all of ten minutes before she was upstairs asking to sleep in her crib. Maybe next time…
• I’m still getting used to using Instagram stories myself, but I love seeing what pops up in everyone else’s! @thriftydecorchick was at some home show, and shared this photo that I immediately screen grabbed. The prettiest ping pong table I ever did see. (I think you could DIY something similar!)
• Lastly, we really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments and opinions on this mattress post. Chris recently bought an inversion table (this one!) that has been helping his back somewhat, but we’ve also decided to go ahead and start shopping for a new mattress. We recently partnered with Sleep Number, who is confident they have the mattress for us, and Chris and I thought it would be fun to do a Facebook Live in the store when we go try their options for the first time. We’ll let you know when that’s going to happen!
My husband had a bulging disk for years but it became unbearable – 24/7 pain. Lost 15 lbs and an inch in diameter and shuffled his feet like a 99 year old man. He still worked (sm. animal veterinarian), but could not sleep at all and basically started to loose it. After years of chiropractor, massage, inversion table, physical therapy, he was nearly hopeless. And he was totally against surgery. But when the foot went number over night and foot-drop was appearing, he was in surgery in four days…left the house and back again with a microdiskectomy (sp?) in 8 hours!!!! He woke up pain-free (of course, when anesthesia wore off, he had surgery pain and muscle pain to deal with and was very careful and obedient re: what he could/could not do for 6 weeks. His mantra has changed….”Surgery is the miracle of modern medicine!” Life-changing! The kids all thought his exoskeleton (staples) rocked and that he grew four inches during surgery. I hope surgery isn’t needed, but since my husband’s, we have met a dozen people who said they suffered for years as my husband did and it changed instantly with that surgery. Maybe it isn’t what Chris needs??? Prayers!
Not too happy with our sleep number mattress. i8. Felt great in the store with their foundation–I returned to the store multiple times trying to solve our issues. The last time she had me lay there for a looong time while she worked with other customers. Still felt great. I think the problem is our wood framed queen size bed. The horizontal wood supports don’t support the mattress properly. It took an independent mattress store owner to suggest that we support the mattress with 2 1x4s screwed together into a “T” shape to prevent bowing. He even had a print out to show how to make them. We went in his store to shop for other options.
Customer service didn’t have an answer to all of our difficulties. We really want to keep our beautiful maple sleigh bed, but may eventually have to change to a platform or their base to improve the sleep experience. My last phone call was finally with a supervisor (yay, I thought). He was very abrupt with me and said we should try plywood. Really? Do you think a piece plywood would stay supportive over a 60 inch span? Our linen cabinet has 3 foot wide plywood shelves. They bow under the weight of towels. I wish they would have told us that their mattress doesn’t work well with beds that have wood rails. At least then we would have known where we stood.
They do sell ping pong nets that just clip onto your regular dining table. I think I’d love to go this route since my family tends to go all in on new hobbies and then forgets about them when the honeymoon is over. I’d be so pissed to spend any really money on something like this just to have it gather dust. There are also portable (miniature) tabletop air hockey and pool tables that just sit right on your existing furniture. We own both of those. We’ve used them exactly one time.
My husband and I have a split top king Sleep Number bed and unfortunately we hate it… The split at the top is a huge gap that makes snuggling impossible. The gap is so bad that our sheets and mattress pad have ripped under the pressure! Sleep Number has replaced the mattress pad once already but it just keeps happening. It’s like we are sleeping in two different beds! Anyway, if you are getting the bed for free or next to free then try it. I would not recommend getting the split top though. Just my two cents. :)
When we were transitioning our kid (who was 2.5 at the time) out of her crib, we left her crib up in her room and set up her “big girl bed” in her new room. She liked playing in the big girl bed and talking about it and would sometimes say that she wanted to sleep there, but two minutes after we put her down she’d ask to go back to her crib. We didn’t have the option of waiting until she was ready (we were expecting her baby brother and didn’t want to buy another crib), so one day we just took her crib apart. We told her it was broken and so she’d need to sleep in her big girl bed. She didn’t bat an eye and has been sleeping perfectly in her big bed ever since (a year). So I don’t see any reason why you’d need to push it, but if you get tired of doing the in-and-out dance and want to make the leap, you might be able to get away with simply removing the crib as an option. (YMMV, of course)