Up until now Ikea only carried Blum blumotion (soft closing) hardware for drawers, while their hardware for doors were a lesser quality plunger system. Well no more! While at Ikea this weekend we spotted revised door hinges that are higher quality and blumotion compatible. The system works just like the Ikea slow motion drawers, with the blumotion hardware simply clipping onto the hinge.
Prices are $5 for a set of hinges and $5 for a set of “Ikea” blumotion stoppers. And remember, for regular sized doors only one hinge needs blumotion.
We bought our house in the fall of 2005. It’s approximately 1400 sq. ft. with 3 bedroom and 2 water closets that share a shower room. It was a for sale by owner listing listed on the the MLS with one horrible picture of the exterior and no interior shots. We decided to drive by the place to check out the area and see what it looked like in person. My initial impression was NOT favorable. The house was a neutral tone with nothing distinctive about it and the landscaping consisted of a large number of overgrown rhododendrons.
I immediately took it off the short list, which was extremely short given we were at the bottom of the price scale for single family homes.
Continue reading ‘About Our Shack - Locating’
Kartell makes some really nice contemporary furniture and we were considering purchasing some of their pendant lights. Their products rely heavily on plastic as a material but that doesn’t stop at least one vendor from spinning this into an environmental benefit.
Under “Helping the Environment” on the Easy Lamp product page we get this description, “Kartell products use a wide variety of plastic materials, thereby reducing the use of living organisms, such as trees, which are difficult and time-consuming to replace.”
Unbelievable.
Much like the inspirational folks at AustinModHouse, our journey of home renovation began with an exit from the crushing home values of California. We left San Jose for the greener (literally) pastures of the Seattle area with hopes that the lower cost of living would allow us to provide a better overall quality of life. The move was not an easy one to make. Although we had dreamed of moving to Washington for nearly three years, when the time came to make the decision to take a job, uproot the whole family, and leave all our friends, anxiety over the unknown set in big time.
Now with three years behind us, I can say without a doubt the move was the correct one. The Seattle area fits our lifestyle perfectly, it’s surrounded by amazing views of natural beauty from every angle and it has a large amount of art and music culture. Best of all, the desire to own a nice home in a good location was achievable, something that was depressingly untrue in California.
By the way if you’re ever planning a move to Seattle, be prepared for one of two comments to come up in every conversation.
“I hope you like the rain!” and “Did you get a job at Microsoft?”
