Ikea and Our Mattress

First- let's get the not so great stuff out of the way so we can talk about the fun stuff!

This is our new couch. We didn't want a new couch. We wanted a new cover for our current Kivik couch from Ikea. T surprised me one morning by putting the new cover on. What a doll face :) This is why I love him! I was fast asleep, cuddled in bed and he was hard at work in the living room tugging at the new cover. Unfortunately, it was harder than it should have been. Way harder. In fact, the back frame of the couch splintered down the entire length of the piece. I know what you're thinking, Solidly built, this couch. We agree. T was terrified that I was going to be a raging meanie and punch him in the heart for breaking our couch. Anyone could see that it was not his fault. A couch should not break when you are changing the cover. Unless you are doing it while drunk. With donkeys. Anyway, we called Ikea and they said, "Good news! It's still under warranty! We can probably help you. It doesn't matter that you can't find your receipt because I have all the information in the computer because you had it delivered. We will start a case file and someone will call you within 48 hours."
Sweet! Except they never did. So 72 hours later I called them.
"Yes, we looked it over and you can just bring the entire couch to the Portland Ikea and they will replace it for you."
The entire couch? It's a modular system, so I reiterated that it was just the back. We don't need an entire couch. Surely that's a waste of money.
"No, ma'am. You have to bring the entire couch. We can't do just one part of it."
Um. Okay. I asked what I had to bring with me. I like being prepared.
"Bring a photo ID and the couch. We have your receipt information on file. All you need is the ID and the couch."
Got it. So we rented a Budget pick up truck, took the cover back off the couch, disassembled it and hauled everything the Ikea. We told them the case number, who we talked to and that we were here to exchange the couch. They wanted the receipt. I'm sorry, what? I was told by both people I talked to that I didn't need by receipt. Then they said they weren't sure if they would exchange it. I was told over the phone that all I had to do was bring in the couch and it would be exchanged. The associate called her main manager down and they talked and hemmed and hawed a long time together. So there we were, sitting on the little benches in the waiting area like we were waiting to hear back if we had Mono or something. We may have driven this broken couch (in pieces) in the back of a rented truck to Ikea, only to have to drive it back home. I was about to go off. Luckily, the main manager ended up saying that she would allow the exchange like the people on the phone originally told us. They took our old couch, gave us a new one, and we were off. Trust me when I say, they are glad they took back the faulty couch. We are all glad.

Now for the happy part :) Our mattress! We had been sleeping on my full size bed that I'd had for years. It wasn't bad but it just wasn't quite enough room. Moving to the new house seemed like the perfect time to get a new, bigger bed. We bought our organic latex mattress from Cotton Cloud Futons which isn't just futons. We ended up getting a Queen Latex Green 6in firm. We are normally more medium density people but with latex we needed to go firmer than a regular mattress. If you know much about latex, you have two methods of production, the Dunlop and the Talalay. On the Cotton Cloud Website it goes into detail about the methods, but basically, the Dunlop is more dense and the Talalay is more airy. Ours is made using the Dunlop. Latex is awesome because it's supposedly naturally hypo-allergenic, dust mite & bed bug resistant. Also, it reduces pressure points because it molds to your body. We also got a 3 inch wool topper. We LOVE our bed. We also really liked the people at Cotton Cloud and would go back any time. Plus, they gave me a free pillow because I fell in love with it. Holla!

Just the 6in latex mattress

With the wool topper added

Showing the height with the topper

If you have any questions about mattress just ask. There are definitely some differences between latex and inner spring mattresses but it's nothing all that daunting, I promise.
Love you guys!
-E&T

And We're In!

We slept in our new house last night!!

We have been boxing up and carrying things over from the apartment to our house the past few days. I think I have burned a crap ton of calories going up and down the stairs over and over again. Friday we loaded the cats up (Pepper went easily, Penny was NOT happy) and headed over to the house. We put them in the bathroom with the essentials plus a scratch pad, a toy, and their favorite blanket from home so they might feel more comfortable. Penny jumped out of the carrier right away but Pepper was very apprehensive and decided to stay put where he knew it was safe. Then we left to get the Budget truck & go back to the apartment to meet the movers. We were very nervous that we wouldn't have a spot that was convenient at all for them & the truck but thankfully, there was a good spot. Whew! There have been times that we have had to park a block or so away during the day and even more at night. Can you imagine lugging a couch 3 blocks up a hill? I don't think so. They would probably quit on the spot. Anyway, they got things loaded up while T packed up more in the kitchen and I swept up the massive amounts of cat hair that kept magically appearing. Then we all drove to the new house. While they unloaded, we had the terribly difficult job of telling them where to put things. This was actually a little difficult because we hadn't decided on some of the things. I was proud that we only changed our minds on 2 things. We had mentioned to the movers in passing how the seller seemed to have left in a hurry and we were looking forward to hearing all about him from the neighbors. Before they left, one of the movers, who is actually a medicine woman (remember, this is Portland) gave us advice on how to clear the old owner's energy from the house and infuse it with our own. I thought that was really nice of her. We used August Movers. I think they are by referral only so if you need movers, let me know. They were great!

Pepper & Travis say "Hello! We're tired!"

Penny says, "I've been on this chair for hours since moving in! It's my favorite!"

So, tonight as we were eating dinner at our dining room table, I was looking around at this house and just smiling. This is my house. This is my family's home. This feels right.

The Original Listing Pictures

They're all we have so far but at least will give you an idea!

From the front

Living room (T hates the all white fireplace!)

Looking towards the front door

Dining room- the seller left these things! Guess we have a piano now...

The side door off the kitchen plus the door to the laundry room

The arch to the right goes to the dining room, to the left goes to the hallway (towards the guest bedroom)

Guest bedroom (Where you will be staying!)

Bathroom for the guests

T's writing room. He would like to pull up the carpet and put in different flooring at some point.

The stairs and the hallway back to the front of the house

My craft room at the top of the stairs

Our bedroom (no, it's not a weird angle, the closets are kind of short)

Our bathroom

The blank slate! T has so many ideas for the back yard.

That's it for now. It will be fun to post pics after we move in and personalize it :)

Welcome to Our Blog

Hi Everyone!
Travis and I have so much going on in our lives right now that it seemed only right to start a blog. What's going on, you ask? Weeellll, 9 months ago we moved far away from the mid-west (and our families) to Portland, Oregon. We are getting ready to celebrate our one year anniversary AND we are in the middle of buying our first home right now (a beautiful, 1900s 4 bed, 2 bath with a great blank slate for a back yard!)
If this sounds like something you'd like to hear more of, then stick around :)
-E