Gift Ideas for Toddlers

I figured since I went full on Christmas yesterday that we might as well keep the train rolling!  

I find a lot of great gift ideas from other bloggers so I thought I'd share what's on our wish lists this year.  Maybe you can find some Black Friday deals!

We'll start with the toddler edition. Keep in mind that my kid needs absolutely none of this.  Currently his favorite toys are an oven mitt and spray water bottle.  Both of which he pilfered from the kitchen. Oh, and my Swiffer duster.  Another hot item.  

Play Kitchen and Cleaning

Last year we got Clark this KidKraft kitchen. It has been a hit. He really isn't into toys but he does play with this quite often. Probably because it appears to be an adult thing to do.

(Note: allow PLENTY of time to construct this kitchen. Nate is obviously very good at building and this still took him 3-4 hours. Also, I think I purchased this for around $75 during the Black Friday time period so keep an eye out for sales if it's on your list!)

Beings the kitchen is a hit, I added a few accessories to his list. I love the Wood Eats products. We gave him the coffee maker for his birthday.  He's a pro at lattes now (if only they were real.....).  He's also crazy into cleaning. He received the Melissa and Doug Let's Play House set last year as a gift and it's probably his most used toy. I figured I might get my water bottle back if he has the kit below.

Wood Eats Pizza, Wood Eats Toaster, Wood Eats Mixer, Melissa and Doug Ice Cream Set,  Melissa and Doug Cleaning Set, KidKraft Chef Accessory Kit

Trucks and Blocks

Skid-steers, garbage trucks and fire trucks! Oh my! Trucks and building are a huge hit around these parts!

Garbage Truck, Melissa and Doug Emergency Vehicle Carrier, Melissa and Doug Construction Trucks, Melissa and Doug Vehicles Puzzle, Magna-Tiles, Blocks Set

Books

We read. A lot. These are a few titles that have been on my (I mean, Clark's) list for awhile. We check out Gotta Go, Buffalo from the library at least once a month so it may need to be added to our collection!

Gotta Go, Buffalo, Noisy Night, Triangle, Home, Lovely, Dinosaurs Love Underpants

Random Things

(How do you like that heading? I need another latte!)

These are random toys that I found that might entertain my kid for more than 30 seconds.

Hape Counting Stacker, Schleich North America Farm Animals, Doll Stroller, Boon Building Bath Pipes, Alpha-Bots, Trampoline

Do you have a toddler in your life? What's on their wish list?

Posts of Christmas Past

Beings it has been a decade since I posted on the regular, I thought I'd share some of my favorite past Christmas projects! I know it's a *smidge* too early.  I'm not big on skipping holidays (especially ones as delicious as Thanksgiving) but I've been gathering some holiday ideas and thought you all might be too!

Here are some of my favorites:

How to Make a Christmas Wreath Trio

Bottle Brush Tree Place Card

How to Make a Gnome (Or if you're not feeling crafty, buy one here!)

 Holiday Marquee Tutorial 

I don't want you crafting while hangry so here are some delicious baked goods to whip up. And wine is never a bad idea. (Especially during the holidays! #amiright)

Andes Mint Cookies

Peppermint Oreo Truffles

Simple Holiday Sangria

What holiday crafts are you tackling? 

Tips for Buying a Sofa Online (Article Sven Sofa Review)

Ordering anything online is always a gamble. But furniture? What kind of crazy person orders a couch they've never sat on?

This crazy person.

I posted last week about our new Sven couches from Article. Today I'm going to share with you my full review of the process along with tips to help you with your next online furniture purchase.

(This post is not sponsored. I wasn't even considering blogging again at the time of purchase (January 2017)!

ORDERING

The actual ordering process was as easy as ordering toilet paper from Amazon. Add two sofas to cart. Check out. Boom. Confirmation e-mail sent. 

Things we considered before purchasing were a little more time consuming than a toilet paper purchase. Here's some factors to consider:

Reviews: Although the price was right on these stylish sofas, what is the quality actually like? Are they less expensive for a reason? Yes, I understand that they cut out the middle man but is that actually just a cover up? I Googled "Sven sofa reviews" and that search is lacking. I turned to the lovely Instagram.  I browsed Article's tagged photos and also searched #ourarticle. I found some Instagrammers (preferably ones that paid for them with their own dollars) that already owned the sofas to answer my quality questions. All had raving reviews.

Size: Will two giant couches fit in our living room? Should we go with the love seat size? To answer this, we mapped out the living room with painter's tape. The tape made it easy to see the footprint of the sofas. We also considered the height beings our floor plan is very open. We compared the listed height to the height of our previous sofas.  (Each sofa fits 3 people comfortably!)

Fabric: We live in our living room. This isn't just a pretty place to look at. We drive toy cars here. The dog sleeps here. We eat ice cream while watching Netflix here. These couches will be loved. The Article website states dry clean only. Will that work for us? Fabric choice was my largest gamble in this whole decision. (More below in Maintenance!)

SHIPPING

Our estimated shipping date was 3-4 weeks. Ours took closer to 8 weeks. Article had a two week delay out of their warehouse. They e-mailed me about the delay and also provided a credit for future purchases. A week after the expected two week delay, I still hadn't heard anything. I contacted Article and they quickly discovered the sofas were sitting in the local contracted delivery company's warehouse. The contracted company had failed to contact us. Article handled the whole issue quickly and the couches were delivered a few days after that. The delay wasn't an issue for us. My brother was taking our old couches and he didn't need them for another month.  I was honestly impressed at Article's customer service during the process. I assumed they would make me call the local company but they handled everything and were very apologetic. I would keep the possibility for delays in mind if you're needing your furniture right away. (Honestly this is something you'll more than likely have to deal with when ordering any furniture that doesn't come from the show room floor. I think every piece of furniture I've ever ordered had a delay in arrival. Maybe I just have bad shipping luck?)

DELIVERY/ASSEMBLY/RETURN POLICY

Our sofas were delivered in two giant boxes. (I wish I had a photo!) The sofas were well protected. The only assembly required was to screw in the feet. Extremely easy.  (It took us longer to unwrap them.)

Article has a 30 day return policy.  You have to keep the original packaging/boxes for returns. This could be a problem if you don't have a place to store two giant boxes. I'm talking take up part of the garage giant. It was a happy day when we took all of the packaging to the recycling center! We were instantly in love but definteily wanted to make sure they passed the 30 day test.

QUALITY/COMFORT

The category we were most concerned about!

We stinking love these couches. They are so comfortable. I feel like they mold to us but not in a saggy gross way. More in a loving hug way.  They're super soft. Nate and I were both honestly surprised with the quality.  

The frame is sturdy. The tufted seat bench is squishy but yet firm enough that it should age well. The back cushions fluff easily.  The bolster pillows work well enough for us that we don't feel the need to have extra throw pillows (which always end up thrown on the floor...because toddler).

MAINTENANCE

The cleaning aspect was actually my biggest hold up with regards to buying these sofas. We live with a toddler and dog. The Article website/customer service could only recommend dry cleaning because that's all they have tested. 

I would say they are  high maintenance but in a way that forces me to clean them on a regular basis.  I find that they need to be vacuumed once a week (which I should have probably been doing in the past anyways). We generally have Clark eat in the kitchen (even snacks) so I wasn't super concerned about food but we have had a few drink spills.  I also hadn't considered toddler snot in the equation. (Why are toddlers so adorably gross?)  After some Googling of maintenance of velvet upholstery, I found recommendations to use just the bubbles of dish soap to gently clean soiled areas and this has worked like a charm.  It's actually kind of like magic!

Would I purchase from Article again? ABSOLUTELY!  We actually purchased two chairs for the living room shortly after. More on those soon!

I hope this review helps some of you! Let me know if you have questions!