Giveaway: Del Mar Designs

When we purchased our house years ago, one of the first items on our "to-do" list was to overhaul the light fixtures that came with the house. Most of the basement lighting was that old-fashioned "bulb on a pole" lighting and the previous owners had a thing for cheap jelly-jar light fixtures in every hallway and closet.
As we've slowly worked our way through room remodels, we've always changed out the fixtures in the room; either adding a new globe fixture or a ceiling fan with lights.

The great people at Del Mar Designs asked if I'd like to host a giveaway for my readers. Established in 2003, Del Mar Designs quickly moved into the online lighting market and currently has over 3,000 fans and 25,000 lighting fixtures for customers to choose from.

Why choose Del Mar Designs? Besides their vast selection of brand name fans and fixtures like Hudson Valley, Kichler, and Casablanca; Del Mar Designs offers free shipping on most orders over $75 and those under, a very reasonable $8.00 flat rate shipping fee. They also offer free returns on all orders whether defective or damaged or you just plain don't like it.

Their site is simple to use and they provide easy filters so you can find just the right fixture, at just the right price. You can narrow selections by style, color, size and even which room it would look best in as well as brand and price. I really like the fact that Del Mar even tells you what wattage of bulb and how many are needed for each light fixture as well as a pictorial description of the height and length of the product.

Del Mar is offering one of you the chance to win one great ceiling fan; The Minka Aire DownTown Loft ceiling fan with light fixture that retails for $209.95. The Minka Aire fan comes in an oil-rubbed bronze finish with an integrated halogen light.

• Features: · 54" Blade Span · UL Indoor listed · Wall Control Included · 15.25" Height, Top to Bottom · Low Ceiling Kit Compatible

Use the easy Rafflecopter form to enter for your chance to win. The giveaway will end on Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 12:01 am EST.  You can tweet daily for extra entries.  The giveaway is open to US residents within the 48 continental states.

There were survivors on the Titanic..right?

aka The Great Bathroom Remodeling Project of 2009-2010.

Welcome to my nightmare. My bathroom hasn't seen a coat of paint since I bought the house way back in 1988. The linoleum was in poor shape when I moved in and has progressively gotten worse over the years.



Andy cut out a section that was already coming up near the door so we could see what's underneath...it's not pretty.

Last weekend we removed the old rope window from the bathroom and installed a new double-hung window. How I'll miss opening that old rope window and jamming that section of wood molding into the frame to hold it open so it wouldn't slam shut and cut someone's fingers off....NOT! Andy also removed the old wood chair rail that ran around the middle of the room and patched and sanded the area where it was taken off.




After much discussion, Andy has agreed to replace the lighting, medicine cabinet, sink, vanity and faucet. I argued that since we were keeping the Titanic..aka the clawfoot bathtub with hanging shower combo..we could afford to replace those other items since everything in there now is old and showing signs of wear. I am working on convincing him to let me purchase the white vanity I saw at Home Depot. He's a strong opponent of any white fixtures since being the father of three sons he's seen firsthand how they dirty anything light-colored. My argument is that they're grown-ups now and no longer eat their own boogers, so any white fixtures should be fine.

Now here's the tricky part, I'm a color dummy. I have a lot of difficulty matching colors and I swear it's probably a defective gene..the same gene that controls balancing my checkbook and making crafts that don't look like a 2-year-old made it. I was leaning toward a deep red wall with a gray woodwork/trim. My bathroom isn't small, so I thought those colors might work.



I picked up two of the Glidden paint testers at Home Depot and gave them a try and I'm not liking the look...not even a little bit. I'm hoping to avoid another paint disaster; my kitchen looks like eggs and ketchup because I *thought* that yellow walls with red trim would look great in the kitchen. Trust me, it doesn't. Now I have no idea what to do in there. The shower curtain can and will be replaced, so I'm open to any color combinations except I want to stay away from white, off-white, and tan. It's hard to tell now, but the original color of the bathroom was tan although it vaguely reminds me of old cigarette smoke now. Tan walls, tan woodwork...lots of tan. Another reason why I want to replace the vanity and mirror. I'm tired of brown. So now I'm back to scouring the internet in search of a decent color combination for the bathroom. Wallpaper is out since there's no ventilation in the bathroom and I'm worried about steam accumulation from the shower making it peel. There was a small part of me that briefly thought about doing some type of faux painting in there and then I woke up. While Andy is an excellent painter with a roller; I'm not sure we can trust him with a rag or a sponge. I am a lost cause with anything creative. I'm open to any color suggestions anyone might have since I'm flying blind here.

As far as the floor goes, Andy is championing for linoleum and I want to go with a laminate wood plank flooring in a whitewash color. I like the Trafficmaster Allure in Blond Maple from Home Depot. After reading some articles online, I'm not sure that it will work in the bathroom. We're planning on hiring someone to put the floor in rather than do it ourselves, so that call will be theirs. I've read that it tends to "shrink" after being installed and I'd hate to have it pull away from the baseboard.