Monday, July 30, 2012

Must-Haves for the New House

Let me just start this blog off by saying WE CLOSE A WEEK FROM TODAY!!!!

I feel like every time I buy something for the new house, my list of things I need keeps growing! We already purchased our washer, dryer, fridge, morning room furniture, and family room furniture last week. You can read about those here. This week I picked out a rug for the morning room, a dehumidifier for the basement, a new light fixture for the study, an invisible fence, and a battery backup for our sump pump! I also bought new toilet paper holders, if you want to know why, read my last post.

I literally looked after over 1,000 rugs for the morning room and only found 3 that I liked. Apparently I am extremely picky. Who knew? I was looking for a neutral rug since I haven't even picked out paint colors yet. We aren't going to paint for at least another year so I'm not even going to stress myself out about choosing colors. We already have a color picked out for our family room but that's because we worked with an interior designer to pick out our furniture, artwork, and paint at La-Z-Boy furniture for this room. I wanted to make sure our morning room rug looked good with the family room rug since the space is open and you can see them both at the same time. Here it is!
It is 8x10 and will fit our table and chairs, even with the chairs pulled out.
This is from Overstock.com

I felt the need to replace the light fixture in our study because the one RH provided is too small for the space. We also accidentally ended up with a tray ceiling in the study and I felt that we needed something a little nicer for this room. The lady at the light store said I should get something larger and a semi-flush mount instead of a flush mount. If you want to see the fixture that RH installed,  read my last post. We are going to move the fixture that is already in there to the laundry room so that we can replace the hideous mushroom light RH installed. Then we are going to move the hideous mushroom light to our rental property. It's musical light fixtures! I haven't purchased it yet because I'm still looking around, but I like the one pictured below.


Found it at Lowes.


Here is the toilet paper holder I picked out. I ordered four, one for each bathroom. I am very detail-oriented. I don't like the holders that RH installs. I guess this just goes back to me being picky. Seriously though, if you want to read my story about my TP holders, read my previous post.
Found this at Home Depot but it's only available online.

Since RH pours their basement walls, they strongly suggest that you use a dehumidifier in your basement for at the least the first year. You should leave it running constantly. Make sure you buy one that can handle the size of your space. Also, get one that you can connect a hose to so that you can drain it straight into your sump pump. This will save you from having to constantly empty it out! I don't know much about dehumidifiers but we found one that had good reviews, is energy star compliant, and  is quiet. It even includes a 3ft drain hose. Most of them do not and you have to purchase them separately.

DeLonghi 45-Pint Dehumidifier

Model # DD45


We decided to purchase an invisible fence after talking with our future neighbor about them. I never realized how inexpensive they are and how easy they are to install. Our neighbor put one in and he said it was pretty simple. We aren't getting our sod until about a week or two after closing -- that was per our request -- so we will be able to get this into the ground before we have grass. Our neighbor already had his sod when he installed his but he said all he did was lift the sod up and put the wire under it. Our PM also installed a pipe under our drive at the bottom so that we could fish the wire through it. If you want to see our pipe, click here. We chose the High Tech Pet Humane Contain Electronic Fence Ultra System - wow, that's a long name! We chose this particular system for many reasons. It had great reviews, the dog collar is much slimmer than most others, and it has a tone-only mode. We are going to try to train our dog with the tone-only mode first. We want to avoid using the shocking method if possible. She's a pretty smart dog so hopefully she will catch on. This system covers up to 50 acres but only includes 500 ft of wire. We had to purchase an extra kit with more wire and flags because our lot is larger.

Home Depot Model # HC-8000
Extra wiring and flags. Model # BE-500

Now for the battery backup for the sump pump. Your sump pump pumps excess water from your house. It is operated by electricity. If your power goes out and it is raining, the excess water will not be pumped from your house. It will end up flooding your basement if there is enough water. A battery backup is a little pricey but it's much cheaper than repairing any water damage to your basement. Our sump pump failed in our condo and now we have to replace a 2-year-old floor down there due to water damage. We are not going to let this happen in our new house! This sucker is getting installed within the first week of living there! I was under the impression that it was literally just a battery that you somehow connected to your sump pump. Wrong. It is actually a whole other sump pump that you install. Also, when you buy the kit, the actual battery isn't included. Say what? Yeah, it's weird to me too. The kit is about $140 and the battery itself is $94. We chose the Basement Watchdog Emergency Battery Backup Sump Pump from Home Depot. We love Home Depot, can you tell? It helps that we get a 10% military discount on all in-store purchases :)

The kit: Model # BWE

The actual battery: Model # 24EP6



15 comments:

  1. I love your rug…simplistic, elegant and neutral. I know it will look great in your morning room. How lucky are you that you ended up with a tray ceiling in your study. Tell me more about the battery for the sump pump, I'm clueless!

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    1. Thanks! I can't wait to see the rug in the house! The reviews for it say that it looks even better in person! I don't know what else I can tell you about the battery backup other than what I put above. It is something you should definitely look into! When it rains, the sump pump pumps excess water up through a pipe and away from your house. It sits down in a well looking thing and is usually in the same room as your HVAC and water tank. It uses electricity so if the power goes out, it will stop pumping water out. The well thing (I don't know it's official title) will fill up with water and eventually overflow if the sump pump is not working. The battery backup will last for 6 hours and will recharge when the power comes back on. I hope that helps! Seriously though, Google it!

      Maybe someone more knowledgeable on the subject can explain it better! I just know from personal experience that if it's not working, your basement will flood!

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  2. Thanks for your input. Now that I think about it, my old house had a sump pump battery. So, I will definitely look into it. So much still to learn. I know you can't wait for this building process to be finished. And then you will be off to decorating!

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  3. I like the rug, too! And the lamp is pretty. I did want to mention about the invisible fence...they're fine for keeping your dog on your property, but they do nothing to stop someone else's dog from entering and getting into a fight with your dog. Just something to keep in mind.

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    1. I don't plan on leaving her out there unsupervised. It's just to keep her in our yard while she isn doing her business!

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    2. I LOVE the rug. We have an invisible fence for our four dogs. Our dogs are less than 15 lbs and we are surround by 50 lb plus sized dogs. Ironically...the big dogs run away from them when they are barking up a storm at the end of our property. Our biggest challenge was training. Our Shitzu will not take to it. She's scared to death. We've never had a problem with other dogs fighting our dogs. I think dogs generally stay within their own territories. I'd be more worried about rabid racoons. But this is just my experience. I'm sure there has been some problems before but I've never heard of seen of them.

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  4. I love your rug, had hoped to get something similar. My budget cup is overflowing. Loving the decorating aren't you?

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    1. Thanks! It is fun but stressful too! Especially when picking things out online and not being able to see them in person! I blew my budget a long time ago! My formal dining room is going to have to stay empty for at least a year, lol! If you are looking for rugs, you should check out overstock.com. They have a TON! If you want the same rug, I can give you the link for it!

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  5. I bought the same rug (a smaller version) in blue and cream! It was my first purchase for the house :o) I plan to put it in my great room under my coffee table.
    Great minds think alike :o)

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    1. Great minds do think alike! I would love to see a picture of yours!

      P.S. We have the same first name only mine is spelled the right way, with a C! ;) Ha Ha!

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  6. This is a great post! The rug is beautiful. We are leaving our dehumidifier in our current house for the renters, so I am going to check out the one that you highlighted. I am going to check into a generator that we can connect directly to the sump pump. I read on another RH blog that those $100+ batteries for the battery back up sump pump have to be replaced annually.

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    1. We hope to get a generator for our house some day. They are just so expensive! That battery I have pictured above says it lasts on average 5-7 years. I still don't understand why they can't just come up with a battery that you plug your existing sump pump into! Why is it necessary to have two sump pumps?!?

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  7. Love the rug! We aren't putting a rug under our table because our kids are still really young. Our current house has carpet in the dining room and I'm really looking forward to floors that can just be wiped clean after my 3 little monster's get done with them!

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  8. Are you going to get a water softener too or did you get one with the house?

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    1. I don't think we need one? How would I know if I did need one? We have city water if that means anything.

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