HAHM SWEET HAHM

Curious to know what Dock 86 was, I checked it out. It's owned by HOM furniture (who also now owns Gabberts). It's in a former Levitz location north of St. Paul.

Nice, clean graphics on the outside. 

Inside you'll find long couches.

White couches.

Chairs for munchkins.

Pink and blue recliners. Ewww.

I'm not a big fan of ugly recliners, but this one is HEAVEN!

Lizzy hated nearly everything she saw.

And them I happened upon this:

So bad, it was actually good. Heaven for slouchy TV watchers.

 And the matching chair?

Cute as heck. Kind of looks like a baseball glove. 

And it swivels! 

It seems to be smiling at me. 

Should we take it home and name it Wilson?

Just add white dog...

... and you can get all the publicity you want. Exciting day... my post from a couple of years ago made craftzine, a hip blog i read everyday.

IKEA-KINI

These creative folks are creating swimwear and more out of IKEA bags...

and you can buy them here.

It's that time of year

Can you believe it's the 60th anniversary of the IKEA catalog. Here's a sneak peek at the cover:

Apparently IKEA put on a cool bash in NYC. Check it out here.

Das Not IKEA

I've been searching for a small chair for the corner in the bedroom and something for the playroom. My furolough day led me to Dania furniture, housed in the old Roseville Room & Board location. Remants of the store remain, like the cabinetry that once housed the coffee bar to the font used on the entrance to the store. The first thing I spotted was a smaller scale chair for $195. Nice looking AND they did not feel cheap. Great for houses with 8 foot ceilings, like mine. But seat depth was a little short.

Behind the pair, I saw this chair. Much better for the bedroom as far as cozyness, size is perfect, but the price was a little steeper, at $400.

And if I had a LARGE budget, this would be ideal. Leather with an adjustable headrest, for about $899.

So on to the family room where I spotted this party in a box:

Not really sure I'll pull the trigger on any of these. But isn't the hunt fun?

Oh and here's one more...liked the fabric on this:

your ultimate playroom planner

This is how I make room plans:

I cut out little furniture shapes a play with them.
And I always use a BLUE flair marker.

This is the fabric I bought (maybe a little too early):

Because I thought it might go with the denim chair:

I need a loveseat width couch:

Tom doesn't want anything from IKEA. So I searched real furniture stores in Minnesota. Here are some possibilities:

But it the microfiber was so static-y. The saleswoman said I would have to keep a can of static guard nearby. No way. I have a rule about static. I will not buy static producing clothes, and certianly not furniture!

Now I'm leaning toward a Klik Klak sofa. They fold down into a bed. And were fairly comfortable to sit on.

Even though I like this blue one, I know Tom will want an ARM rest.

And a place for his beer.

Room and Board at Ten to Four

I haven't been to the Room and Board outlet for about 10 years (did another store fill this void?).  I wasn't even sure they'd be open so late on a Sunday. The roads leading there were GLARE ICE. Luckily I ended up having only 10 minutes to shop. Here's what I found:

A buttery double-wide for two (in a cozy chenille).

A midnight blue couch in a linen-like fabric (no kids, no pets allowed)!

Did I mention it was hard as a rock to sit on?

 And the "piece-day-resis-tawnce" (sorry i took german in high school):

Even my new camera didn't really capture how fantastic the red leather was. "I DIE!" says it all.

Yes, I'm a sucker for RED.

But perhaps I should share my best R&B piece from the outlet (purchased in 1992?).

It was crazy outfit day at our house.