Good News: The No-Stain Treatment on our couch REALLY WORKS

March 26, 2009 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Furniture 

  I want to pass on some good news for mom consumers….

 

We bought this couch a few months ago from Havertys. They offer a ‘5 Year Furniture Protection Plan’. It cost just over $100 extra.  At first I wasn’t going to get it, but what really got me was the No-Stain Treatment they put on the couch- to guarantee no stains.  So I did.  Afterwards, I felt a bit like a sucker, but thought, I have a 5-year-old, so I gotta try something.

Good News:  So far- it works!  I found what looked like black magic marker, and then chocolate smeared into the couch (oh, and by the way, NOBODY knows how it got there, and no one is allowed to eat or drink on the couch or be drawing with magic markers on it),  I took a damp sponge and wiped it away… no stain.

And if you do find a stain that won’t come out- you can call an 800 number or contact Guardsman online and they will come to your house and get the stain out…

And if THEY can’t get the stain out- they’ll replace your couch.

So once again, this is but 1 opinion, but I’m satisfied… and I don’t feel like a sucker… victory!

A small victory- but still, a victory.

Why is it a Coffee Table?

February 5, 2009 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Furniture 

Ah, the coffee table. We all have them.

But why are they called coffee tables?  

Why aren’t they called tea tables?  Or rather, why didn’t they start out being known as tea tables?  Tea was a lot more popular than coffee way back when.  I went to Wikipedia and didn’t find a whole lot…

Basically, coffee tables were designed as low tables and this idea may have been introduced from the Ottoman Empire, based on the tables in use in tea gardens.  See- tea gardens- so why weren’t they known as Tea Tables??  

Coffee wasn’t even introduced into Europe until the mid-1600s…

And it didn’t become popular here in the States until after the War of 1812,

and that was due to the British temporarily cutting off access to tea imports. 

So I understand why it is now known as a coffee table- people gather round and sit their coffee on it,

But why was it never known or referred to as a tea table?

It boggles the mind 😉

 

 

 

STUFF FOUND IN MY COUCH

October 2, 2008 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Furniture 

We covered our couch in a throwcover (is that what they are called?) from Pottery Barn… almost a year ago. Wait – is it called a slipcover?

We did this until we decided what to do in the couch department…

now we’re talking about an addition to the house, so the couch is being put off once again.

I am washing ‘said cover’ as we speak because I’ve never washed it…

Wow, I hope it still fits after washing, especially because I’m having a party Saturday night…

cross you fingers. I’m thinking good thoughts. I’m thinking good thoughts.

Anyway, the point of my post, here it is=

when we took off the slip cover (that is fitted, by the way) Gosh, I’m really hoping it still fits right now.

we found a key… I don’t know what it locks or unlocks

and a MEASURING CUP!

Why was there a measuring cup in my sofa?

This is the answer I really want:

not the answer to world peace, or time continuum, or life on Mars.

What was I or let’s be serious, my son doing, that a measuring cup got stuck, in the couch, so far down, that it wasn’t found until now?

IS THAT DRIED-UP CHEESE?

September 18, 2008 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Furniture 

Continuing on my self–disclosure kick…

The other evening I flipped open the chair you see above. It’s a great chair, it’s been through a lot of vomit as I related in another post.

If my Little Man needs a snack or juice in the living room, he sits in this chair. It’s also nice on a Saturday morning to sit around, drink coffee, eat muffins, read the paper, talk about what we are doing that day… all sitting around the coffee table on big comfy chairs.

Yesterday evening I was opening said chair to relax in it; it opens into a futon and it’s exactly my size when opened up… Yes, I know it’s for children, but I’m five-feet tall.

I opened it up and just before I laid down on it, I saw what I thought was a yellow lego.

“Oh, I’ll just pick that up,” I thought. I leaned over to pick it up, pulled on it and it stuck to the chair…

Legos don’t stick to fabric…

Looking closer, I now realized that I was holding a dried-up piece of American cheese; the last time I gave my son cheese and crackers in his chair was a week ago…

I am quickly losing my reputation for being neat, tidy and almost an anal-like cleaner…

HELP!

MY CARPET IS NOT BEIGE, IT’S WHITE

April 18, 2008 by · 2 Comments
Filed under: Furniture 

carpet.jpgSo we’ve just celebrated our 5-year anniversary in our house.

I vacuum regularly and generally keep our home pretty neat. I got the name of a good, professional, local carpet cleaning business. The price was right- $20 for stairs, $40 per room. So I decided to complete my ‘Spring cleaning’ with this company’s help.

The guy came in with an industry-size carpet cleaning machine and got my carpets cleaner than they have ever been.

In fact, I always thought this carpet that is pictured was a light beige…

It’s not…  It’s white.

Wow.

Enough said.

‘RECYCLED’ TODDLER FURNITURE

March 9, 2008 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: Furniture, Mom Victories 

chair.jpgWhat do you do when your 4-year-old son vomits incredible amounts of medicine, food, liquid, some brown particles, and a few carrots, onto his favorite chair? You throw it away…

That was my first reaction. But the chair in question has been a mainstay in our home. He sits in it, does art projects in it. We make paper maps on top of the coffee table while sitting in it. It is a fixture.

It’s been through a lot in the past three years- snack incidents, mucus and colds, more vomiting, but I’ve always been able to clean it with whatever cleaning solution I’m into at the time.

But this time was the vomit of all vomits. And after trying to clean it and scrub it, my husband and I realized that it may have reached the end of its time with us. The chair smelled so bad, we had to put it down in the back part of the basement.

I started thinking… It’s gone. This stinks… literally.
Stain cleaners can’t tackle this job. It’s been a great chair.

Hmmmmm, I’d always noticed a zipper on the bottom of the chair. I went downstairs and looked at it again. There were a couple of zippers strategically placed on the chair, so I looked for possible laundry instructions. Then I saw the tag, and I quote:

‘Do Not Remove the Cover’.

“Shoot, I can’t take that off,” I thought.

Bummer!

Wait a Minute… Wait One… Little… Minute.

I can’t believe I’m obeying this little tag! This is worse than obeying those PILLOW tags that read- ‘Do Not Remove’.

I can do this. I WILL do this. I’ve lived through a 17-hour labor! I’m not listening to a little tag. I’m an educated mother, wife… woman.
I will remove this cover, I will wash this cover and take my chances. Consequences be damned! I will not obey this little tag, but instead obey my instincts!

I removed said cover. It felt great.
Into the washer it went… with a lot of detergent.

How will it look? Will it fit back on? The wash cycle seemed to take 45 minutes… Well, it always takes 45 minutes, but back to the story.

I took it out and it looked BRAND NEW! I’m embarrassed to admit how excited I was…
Victory seemed so close. So then I dried it on just the ‘AIR’ setting to prevent any shrinkage. Would it work?

My husband and I took it out of the dryer; he was completely into the ‘Saving of the Chair’ by now too.

It took some prying and wiggling and me pushing on the chair with my full weight at strategic angles to put the cover back on. I was sweating by this point, again… literally. BUT IT WENT BACK ON!!!!!

It’s beautiful! It looks like it can last another 3 years! Victory is mine (start humming ‘Rocky’ theme). I didn’t listen to that little tag or any little voices telling me to obey directions!

What a victory… I have saved a beloved chair from extinction!

Okay, it’s a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.

I am so psyched! Gotta go upstairs to the bedrooms to remove all those tags from the … well, you know.

This victory tale is crossposted at DC Metro Moms Blog. It’s a great site!

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