Useful Tools and some home decor

Today I read M's post about important things to look for at your pre-settlement walk through (find it  HERE), and  it prompted me to look for an important tool at Lowe's today.  We are now proud owners of two cheap and nifty tools that will allow us to test the outlets of our new home, and in the future will assist us with any electrical projects we may have.

We got THIS IDEAL Analog Voltage Detector Meter, which will help test the functionality of our GFCI outlets (the ones in the garage and bathrooms that automatically trip when there is an issue with the circuit) and we also got THIS Sperry 80-480V AC/DC Voltage tester.  Total cost for both including tax was just under $15, so definitely worth the cost!

The reason I got two tools is because the first one by IDEAL will overload the circuit with the touch of a button, automatically tripping the GFCI outlet.  If the GFCI outlet doesn't do what it's supposed to (and lose power) this handy tool will tell you what's wrong with the connection and help you determine why it's not working.  The other tool by Sperry, will help us test all the other outlets in our house to make sure they are working, but also in the future will allow us to test whether power has been shut off to areas we want to do electrical work.  This will be especially handy when we hang our own ceiling fans!

I am a DIY fanatic and get so excited when I get new tools!  Mike isn't into being a handy man, so I get all the cool projects all to myself.  Its fantastic.

Anyway, this weekend we also FINALLY decided on our dining room set.  It took many weeks of debate.  I was originally going to build the table myself, but didn't find plans that I truly loved.  Enter World Market.  I LOVE this place!  They are having a big furniture sale right now and this weekend there was a 10% off coupon in the Sunday paper, so we made our move. 

We got the Verona extension table in mahogany, as well as 4 matching Verona chairs.  To complete the look, we also got two Suzani Hayden upholstered chairs to go on the ends.  The table extends to seat 8 so eventually we will purchase two more Verona chairs to complete the set.

Verona Chair

Suzani Hayden Chair

Verona Table

Other than the dining set, we plan to replace our very broken sofa with something cheap and easy to clean.  The plan right now is the Ektorp sofa from IKEA, primarily because the slipcovers are removable and some of them are machine washable.  So if the cover gets dirty we can wash or dry clean it and if we get bored with the color, we can purchase a new cover with minimal cost.

The only other place that I know of that has sofa's like this is Pottery Barn, and as much as I would LOVE to have a Pottery Barn sofa, it is just WAY out of our price range right now.  So alas, I must settle for my Ektorp at $399.  It sure is better than having a broken couch, right?

Stay tuned for my next non-construction related post, sometime next week.  I'll be talking about wall colors!  I have been STRUGGLING with choosing my colors.  Mike likes white, sigh.