Thrifting Finds #81: Update!

Just a quickie today, kids.

So last week I reported that we were having the sofa cleaned.  It happened, but it was weird.  When I got home from work, I looked at it and it looked pretty good.  Not perfect, but better.  Hubs reported that the guy kept trying to upsell him--fabric protector, clean another chair (that was perfectly clean to begin with), etc., etc.  Luckily, Hubs has sales resistance, so we got the clean chair cleaned free, if we gave the company a good review.

Now here's where it starts getting weird.  The closer we looked at the couch, the worse it looked.  The best was I can describe it is that they removed the top layer of dirt that was hiding the even worse lower layer.  And yes, I realize how gross that sounds, but we're talking two guys and a dog here.  And it's really just grubby; it's not like we peed on it or anything.

So I'm getting a slipcover from Target, and we'll see how that does.  But first, I'm going to try this, since it's cheaper:

My couch isn't microfiber but at this point I probably can't make it any worse.

In other sofa news, I think I've picked one out for the living room, so now I'm soliciting opinions. I want the colors in the living and dining room to be turquoise and orange.  I already have orange chairs and the walls are turquoise, so I figured the couch should be white.   After reading all the above, bear in mind that the living room furniture will mostly be looked at, not used.  So I was thinking about this:

It's kinda mid-century, don't you think?  And it's affordable.  Please post your comments below.  If you have another suggestion, I'd love to hear it.

One last thing:  we have become official Suburbanites with the addition of this:

All I need now is an apron that says "Kiss the Cook."  We got it on a really good sale at Lowes, plus they were having a special on propane, so a $50 tank only cost me $24, plus I had a 10% off coupon.  This is far more grill than we'll ever need, but it is by no means the biggest available.  Actually, it's on the smallish side.

I took another stab at making pickles last week:

Hubs and I liked Pickles 2.0 much better than the first batch.  Hubs thinks they're a little too much on the sour side, but I think they're fine.  When we finish these, I'm going to try making Bread & Butter pickles next.

And that's it for this week, kids.  I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging but truthfully, there has been nothing to report.  I know that doesn't ever stop me, but still...

Thrifting Finds #80: It happened!

Well kids, despite the title of this post, there will be absolutely no discussion of Thrifting Finds, for the simple reason that there haven't been any.  To tell the truth, hubs and I haven't really been out thrifting in months because

Fondue Headquarters has moved!

Yes, it actually happened on June 15 and let me tell you, hubs and I are pooped.  I'd like to report that the new HQ looks lovely, but if I did, I'd get struck down for lying.  Here are some pictures from the day we moved in:

The Dining Room!

Eagle-eyed viewers will notice there's no dining room table.  That's because the one we had was an antique and while lovely, not as practical as I want.  So it went to auction and now we're in the market for a dining room set.  Though it's obscured by a rolled-up rug, that's our new china cabinet in the background.  It's a bit smaller than I would have preferred, but I really like it.  It's a Stanley, and I got it on CL for $175.  I probably could have gotten the price down but I was too tired.  P.S. The dining room looks somewhat better now.

The Living Room!

It's a new look I'm calling Early Garbage Dump.  You'll be reading all about it in the latest issue of Bitter Homes and Gardens.  If anything, the living room looks a little worse now.  I don't know how that happened.  Notice the complete lack of seating.  There are actually two new chairs:

but no sofa yet.  It'll look interesting for a while.

The Master Bedroom!

Though not perfect, I'll admit that the master bedroom looks a lot better now.  I think I only have a couple more boxes still to deal with, and then some decorating touches (or as close as I ever get to them.)

The Guest Room!

Not a whole lot of progress here, I'm afraid, but I do have the desk set up so that I can pay bills again.  One more bookcase has to be added and then I can start unpacking and getting organized.  I don't think we're going to have guests any time soon, so we're safe.

The Family Room!

Again, this looks much better today.  The Anga (Ikea wall system, shining example of the world's worst engineering) is up after much trauma, and restocked with most of my collection of vintage toys. There's some overflow, but I'm going to try to put them in the guest room.

There's no picture of the third bedroom, as that is our Room of Shame.  Everything that we don't know what to do with gets shoved in there.  It's sort of like a second-floor basement.

What else?  Hubs' bathroom and the powder room still need to be painted.  (Pssst!  Wanna be shocked?  Look what the previous owners did to the powder room.  Bonus points if you can find the electrical outlet:

Yeah.

The kitchen needs some work as well, and by "work" I mean "needs to be completely redone but there's no money for that so we're going to have to live with it."  Ooh, I should probably take a picture of the new washer and dryer--they look like little space pods!

Okay, there's lots more to tell (like the story of Jethro moving the refrigerator for me...), and we're meeting with our wonderful Realtor tomorrow to get the old condo on the market, but I'm at work and should probably do some--I have mortgage payments to make!

P.S.  Made baked chicken chimichangas the other night and they were delish.  I'll look for the recipe if anyone wants it.  Am also making pickles for the first time, but I'm skeptical; the brine has no vinegar in it and it's looking mighty murky if you ask me.