Archive for June, 2009
Freestyle
When we upgraded to our new organic mattress this week, it left us with a spare queen mattress that we had no use for. We considered a few options for getting rid of it – selling it on craigslist, donating it to Goodwill, etc. But in the end we decided it was the perfect opportunity to give Freecycle a try.
Freecycle is a system you guys actually taught us about. It’s a network of locally run message boards where people can exchange unwanted items for free. It’s a pretty simple concept, but it seems to work very well at keeping unwanted items out of landfills. Heck, the Richmond chapter alone has over 150,000 listings posted (you can find the closest chapter to your hometown right here). We joined the Richmond list months ago to learn the ropes, but hadn’t actively participated until this past weekend (thanks to our mattress situation). Here’s how our first adventure in Freecycling went down:
On Sunday afternoon I posted this simple message on the Richmond Freecycle board based on the guidelines of the group: “OFFER: Queen Mattress, Bon Air. Queen mattress (Sealy brand) in fair condition, just upgraded to organic mattress and don’t need it anymore…” It’s a super easy formula to follow. Just lead with the word “OFFER” if you have something to give or “WANTED” if you’re seeking something to receive. After that it’s just a quick description of the item and your location.
Lucky us, our offer of a free queen-sized mattress tickled someone’s fancy almost immediately. It took just one hour for someone to respond to my listing (via Yahoo! Chat, oh technology).
Now, it’s worth mentioning that it’s smart to exercise a bit of caution when arranging meet-ups with strangers (need we mention the recent horror stories about craiglist?). Some people may prefer to meet in a public place, but with a mattress and a small car it didn’t really make sense for us (but we were certain to coordinate the exchange for a time when Sherry and I were both home during daylight hours. And we of course kept our loud-mouthed guard dog nearby). So we gave our free-mattress-hunter some quick directions to our house and got his free gift ready for pick up on the porch.
The guy arrived about 20 minutes later with his wife, son and truck. We learned that they had been put in a tight spot because their landlord had defaulted on his payments, giving them almost zero notice that there were being kicked out. They barely had enough time to pack more than a few bags before they were essentially homeless (and completely bedless). This free mattress meant they no longer had to sleep on the hard floor of their new place. You can imagine how happy we were to watch it ride away with a family in need, absolutely no money exchanged. We smiled for the rest of the day.
Then all that was left to do was to post our follow-up “TAKEN” message (meaning the previously offered item is no longer available). It felt almost unreal that we were doing it a mere 90 minutes after posting our “OFFER.” So what’s our take on Freecycle after our first swap session? Quick, simple, and win-win. It’s all about people coming together to help each other out (strangers no less) while keeping things out of landfills. What’s not to like about that?
Have any of you had good experiences with Freecyle in your area - either giving or receiving something for zero, zilch, nada? We can’t wait to keep an eye out for a free item that we might need (perhaps one that needs a makeover…) – after all, we figure we’ve earned a few good karma points towards something, right?
Reader Redesign: One Rockin’ Family Room
When Erin and her husband Ben sent their before and after pictures our way we couldn’t wait to share the eye candy. Here’s their letter:
I read your blog every day and love your style, your thriftiness, and your wit! My husband and I have lived in a 1925 Arts & Crafts bungalow for almost two years, and have been making it our own one room at a time. After three and a half long months of our entire first floor in total disarray, we’ve finally finished our family room project, and I wanted to share some before and after photos. We are really proud of our handiwork, and are thrilled to finally relax in our new space – we’re taking a bit of a break before our next big project! It was long and hard but we managed to remove the old built-ins and build new ones, strip all of the original oak woodwork, and tile the entire fireplace with ledgestone veneer over the course of about 70-80 hours (we lost count after a while). Thanks so much for letting us show it off! Sincerely, Erin & Ben
Here’s the room before their makeover magic:
And here it is now in all its gorgeous after glory:
And for all you Curious Georges (or Georginas) out there, here’s a source list- fireplace ledgestone veneer: Dutch Quality Natural Blend Ledgestone from a local dealer, paint: Valspar Martha Stewart Signature Barn Door Red & Valspar Churchill Hotel Wheat, new blinds: Levolar Real Wood Blinds from Lowe’s, floral curtains: Pier 1, leaning media center: Crate & Barrel, overhead lighting: Two-Tier Round Chandelier from Restoration Hardware, bookshelf lighting: IKEA, sofa: Crate & Barrel, chairs: IKEA, coffee table: Crate & Barrel, red side table: Target, rug: carpet remnant from local warehouse sale, pillows: all from Crate & Barrel.
Is that not a seriously amazing transoformation? And the fact that they did most of it with their own two hands (especially that breathtaking stone fireplace) is seriously inspiring. Thanks so much for sending the unbelievable before and after pictures our way Erin and Ben! We hope you find some time to relax in that lovely new room… before you move on to making over the next one.
Leena’s Design Dilemma
Leena’s basement family room may not look like much now, but we’ll just have to wait for her after pictures to see the big presto change-o. Here’s her letter:
Sorry for the overcrowded pics, but you can tell what we are dealing with: an orange-tinted, super shiny, knotty pine panel-filled basement family room. The plan is to gut it – take out any remnants of knotty pine, take down the built in shelving (behind the couch and behind the big TV), get rid of the carpet, put in drywall and start over. We like traditional, but comfortable. We don’t like white walls. We’re willing to go more modern and casual in this space as it is the less formal space in the house. The staircase down to the space is somewhat problematic. We pulled the carpet off the stairs and they are utility stairs. My current thinking is that we could paint them black and transition into modular black and another color carpeting on the floor, and it wouldn’t be too awful, but I definitely need help figuring out what to do with the stairs and the flooring. The ceilings are somewhat low and there is not a lot of natural light, so we need to account for that as well. We like clean lines, solids, simple patterns. This will be the pseudo-man-cave because we don’t have enough space in the house to have a true one, so keeping things masculine, or at least not feminine, would be ideal. I’m super excited about your recommendations! Thanks! -Leena
This space is primed for a major makeover. Here’s the plan:
And now for the mood board breakdown.
Read the rest of this entry »
Goodie Bag Freebie Winners!
This week’s Envirosax giveaway is one for the record books folks. Not only did you break the previously held contest entry record of 1,792 by a landslide - you guys did it in less than 24 hours! If we were in the business of making plaques you can be sure that this over-2,500-comments-contest would be a plaque-makin’ occasion. Though we do realize that this development may not be cause for celebration for everyone, since I’m sure you’d each prefer if you were the sole entrant/guaranteed winner of these awesome eco bags.
Of course, we’re not all that surprised that you guys are lusting over Envirosax. They’re easy on the eyes, the wallet, and the planet! So we certainly hope that those of you who don’t win will consider snagging a sack or two and living plastic-bag free from here on out. And how about this as some added motivation: Envirosax is giving YHL readers 10% off their next purchase by entering the code “YOUNGHOUSE” at checkout. But you better act fast because the code is only good today and tomorrow.
And we suppose you wanna know who the three randomly-selected winners are before you grab any of your own (it could be you, right?). Well, according to random.org, the lucky trio is… Cheryl Balmas, Bashtree and JBird. Congrats! You each get to select a 5-in-1 pouch of Envirosax from their graphic series. We can’t wait to hear which designs you each pick.
And on Monday we’re headed out of your purse and back into your home for our next giveaway so keep those commenting fingers limber.
More info about our freebies is available on our Giveaway FAQs page. Images courtesy of Envirosax.
Time For Bed
Ok, we’ll let you in on a small semi-gross secret. Our master bedroom mattress was way way old. Hugh Hefner old. And it was a hand-me-down. In fact, John’s sister graciously donated it to us when we moved to Richmond three years ago (after decades of use with it herself). They say mattresses get stiffer with age and we can definitely vouch for that fact. Ours was as tough as a brick and about as comfortable as one too. But it certainly did the job over the past three years and we weren’t in any place to purchase a new one off the bat as we embarked on our extreme home makeover one room at a time. Paint, primer, other furnishings and accessories- even a kitchen remodel- came first. And every night we retreated to bed sore and tired and woke up more achy than the night before. Here are John and Burger demonstrating how not fun our old mattress was. Look at those sad faces.
But three glorious years later, the time finally came for us to bid a sweet we-won’t-miss-you-at-all farewell to our ancient mattress and welcome a new sleeping companion into our lives. Now we won’t go to bed with just anything these days, my obsession with all things eco made me yearn for a pure and organic mattress free of fireproofing chemicals and made from 100% natural materials that are just as good for the planet as they are for people.
After hours of googling I found a great little organic mattress comparison site, which led me straight to the arms of our new bedroom companion: the Organic Serenity Natural Dunlop Latex Mattress By Savvy Rest. It was the top ranked mattress and it was actually the most affordable one as well (other than the much lower rated and thinner one at the bottom of the page).
At $1999 for a queen mattress, it’s hardly a drop in the bucket. In fact it’s pricier than every piece of furniture in the entire house. But when you think about how much time you spend on a mattress, and how this baby is warrantied for a full 20 years, it really breaks down to pennies a day and the added fact that it’s so good for the planet and our bodies really was a selling point for us- even if it upped the price a bit. So after a few months of saving (we literally had a “mattress fund” in our savings account) our new bedmate arrived in three different boxes. And yes I did that squealing and clapping thing that I do when I’m excited.
Possibly one of the most amazing features of the Organic Serenity Mattress is that you get to customize the firmness. It’s made up of three three-inch layers of natural latex encased in a certified organic cotton & wool cover so each layer came in its own box (another added bonus is that it shipped from nearby Chrlottesvile, Virginia so it didn’t have to travel many miles to our door- hooray for buying “local”). Here’s one of the layers along with the organic cotton and wool cover:
The fun began about a week earlier when we got to personally select each layer’s density online during the ordering process (choosing between soft, medium, or firm) so we could create the perfect customized mattress just for us. You can even split each layer up the middle so if John liked a soft mattress and I liked a hard one, we could have chosen different latex densities on either side of the mattress for an individualized result. Since we both like a moderately firm mattress (not brick-firm like our former one, just not too soft since we’re back and belly sleepers) we chatted with one of the phone consultants and ended up going with one layer of “medium” followed by a second layer of “medium” and a layer of “soft.” And needless to say when those three layers arrived in their own boxes we couldn’t wait to put everything together. You know we like DIY projects around here! First we cleared out our old mattress (which we Freecycled by the way):
Then we followed the so-simple-Burger-could-do-it directions that came in one of the boxes. First we laid out the bottom part of the organic cotton & wool cover:
Then we took out the layer of natural latex marked “bottom, medium” and stuck it into the cover, wiggling it around like we were shaking out a rug until it was centered and even across the bottom of the cover. Even with just one 3″ layer of hole-riddled latex our bed was eons more comfortable than our old inner spring antique.
Then we placed the “middle, medium” layer of latex on top of the “bottom, medium” one and followed that with the “top, soft” layer, which you can see John adjusting below:
Once each layer was stacked evenly and aligned in the cover, it was time to bring in the top of the cover and zip it around all three pieces of latex to hold them in place for the long haul (20+ years according to the warranty).
John worked his way around the whole mattress, zipping as he went, and before we knew it we had a fully functioning new mattress to call home. And since each layer is 3″ thick plus there’s the quilted organic wool & cotton cover, our new mattress is a decadent 11″ thick (as opposed to our crochety old 6″ inner spring variety). Words can’t express how much we love our 2 year anniversary present to each other (cotton’s supposed to be the 2-year anniversary theme, and by golly the cover is actually pure organic cotton!). Look how good life is when you have a new mattress. You start posing like they do in those commercials with the wine glass on the bed:
So that’s the story of aching backs, researching, ordering, and assembling which resulted in sleeping like babies ever since (no more pinned featherbed required). Our actual anniversary isn’t until July 7th but we sure are glad we saved our pennies for something that we’ll appreciate for years (and years) to come. And speaking of the passage of time, look who was still hanging out on our new mattress hours after we assembled it and retreated to the den to watch some tube. Yup, Burger was sold from day one.
How about you guys. Are any of you in need of a new mattress or another household staple like a couch? Any wedding anniversaries coming up with cotton (or something else) on the agenda? Do tell.
Psst- Looking for an update on how we like our mattress? Check out this follow-up post where we detail how we feel about our big mattress switcheroo after a good amount of use.
