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Copy Cat Chic Giveaway | Delta Faucet Temp2O™ Shower

If you follow along on my Instagram account, you’ll probably already know that I took a quick trip to Indianapolis a couple of weeks ago. The trip was for an annual event held by Delta® faucet where they invite a small number of bloggers to visit their headquarters and learn everything there is to know about Delta and their higher-end, fashion based design, sister line Brizo. I’ve been fielding a lot of questions lately about kitchen faucets; more specifically the pros and cons of touch and touchless faucets. So I was pretty excited to learn more about them. AND it was all expenses paid, which is always a win-win in my book 😉

The first thing I learned was that the people of Delta truly care about their company, their customers their products and their employees. Everyone I met was passionate and so knowledgeable about their brand and products. It was inspiring to be in such a environment.

As a company Delta is always thinking about their customer. The take the design of their products very seriously. And what I didn’t know? Not only are Delta’s products beautiful, but there is SO much thought about how the products work and perform that they really are functionally beautiful as well. I was pretty impressed with that factor, because before? Before, in my mind, a faucet was a faucet and all one-touch and touchless faucets performed pretty much the same. Not so, my friend, not so.

While at Delta headquarters we got to explore and compare several other comparable featured faucets: the Kohler Sensate™ Touchless Kitchen Faucet, Grohe Minta Touch Kitchen Faucet, Moen Arbor MotionSense Kitchen Faucet and a Delta Trinsic Faucet with Touch2O®. In my humble opinion, the Delta faucet performed the best.

– DELTA’S TRINSIC FAUCET WITH TOUCH2O® TECHNOLOGY –
Makes it possible for anyone to turn on or off the faucet by touching anywhere on the spout or handle of the faucet. Delta was the first company to create a touch faucet and they have a patent on their touch technology. That means that no other faucet company can use the same technology, therefore they have to create work around. Bottom line? They just don’t work as well, even the touchless ones. The Delta faucet knows to turn on/off depending on the length of your touch. Therefore if you’re moving the faucet around it won’t turn on or off unless you want it to. The touch sensor is very responsive and I found I only had to touch it once to respond. The Grohe wasn’t as reliable. Delta’s faucet is powered by batteries and they’ll soon be releasing an electric option as well. Delta made sure that their faucets function like a normal faucet first, so there won’t be any confusion on how to turn the faucet on and off when guests use it. Another fun fact? Delta’s faucets turn off after a certain period of unuse, so if your toddler or pet turns it on, it won’t stay on for long.
$433




– GROHE minta TOUCH –
Was the closest comparison with Delta’s  Touch2O® Technology. They’ve developed a touch faucet as well, but the response time after touching was super slow and kind of clumsy. Also you can only use the cold water when using the touch on/off feature. The Grohe touch can also be confusing to people who aren’t familiar with the touch on/off. For example if you turn the faucet on using touch it disables the handle, so you won’t be able to use the handle to turn it off (!!). Which would be super confusing to most anyone, right?
$358

– MOEN ARBOR WITH MOTIONSENSE –
The Moen has two touchless sensors on the top of the faucet, so you can wave your hand over the top and on the inside of the faucet near the handle. Drawbacks? The faucet can turn on accidentally when you’re working near the sink, just by moving your arms near it. I also noticed that the sensor on the top of the faucet was not very responsive, sometimes you’d have to wave your hand over the faucet several times for it to turn on or off. The sensor on top also got confused when you went to move the handle of the sink by sometimes turning on or off when you didn’t need it to. Also if you’re using the handsfree mode, you can’t adjust the temperature of the water using the handle(s), you have change the temperature using a preset gauge on the control box under the sink. Not too convenient.
$495



– KOHLER SENSATE™ TOUCHLESS –
The Kohler faucet has a touchless sensor on the inside neck at the top of the faucet. Therefore you have to  wave your hand up to the inside of the faucet. Kind of awkward and at one point I accidentally got my sleeve wet trying to wave my hand in the right position under the spout to turn it off. Not fun. Also the placement of the sensor affects the design of the faucet. AKA since the sensor is pretty thick, you won’t ever be able to get a thinner and  more streamlined looking spout. The Kohler faucet has to be hardwired, which is pretty inconvenient for those with no access to electrical under the sink.
$600

Okay, whew, that was a lot of text. Hopefully you found it as interesting as I did when learning about these faucets 🙂 Now onto the giveaway! As you know, Delta is always exploring new product ideas to make our lives easier when using them. One of Delta’s latest award-winning innovations is their Temp2O™ Technology. It hasn’t even been released to the public yet! Coming soon, Delta’s showerheads and hand-held showers will feature Temp2O™, which shows you the exact temperature of your water. The LED-lighted screen will either light up blue (<80), magenta (80-110) or red (110+) and will display the actual temperature reading as well. So cool right? I know this will come in handy with a baby in the house!


Delta has generously offered to give one lucky winner either a Temp2O™ shower head or a Temp2O™ handheld shower (your choice). You can enter to win using the rafflecopter widget below! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Five for Fifty | Natural Wood Tones from Dot & Bo

Okay, here’s a new feature for you all! It’s kind of like my Saturday Shopping posts, but a little more short and sweet. It’s called “Five for Fifty” and what I’ll be doing is doing a short and sweet little collection of products that are $50 or less.

This collection I decided to go with some natural wood tones. The items are all pieces geared towards entertaining and they’re all from one of my favorite resources Dot & Bo. Hope you guys enjoy!


ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR | FIVE

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Nespresso To The Rescue

I’m a big fan of my lattes and during the holiday season, Starbucks pumpkin lattes are a special treat! Peet’s maple lattes are a close second, have you tried them? Yum. I would love to buy my $5 lattes (decaf, soy, grande pumpkin lattes with only 2 pumps) everyday, but that’s a lot of $$$ a month. In an effort to upgrade our home brew, we traded in the Keurig for this Cuisinart espresso maker. Well, we traded it in after it died after only a year and a half. Always fun when something dies right after the warranty ends, right?

Monster Machines 1 and 2.

Monster Machine leaking…

Having to deal with this every morning.

Oh the mess, especially with TILED (not solid surface) countertops. *Sigh*

More leaking….’nuff said

As for the Cuisinart Espresso machine? Gah, what a monster this thing is. Not only did I miss the convenience of single serve, since the Mr needs his caffeine and I’m all about my decaf right now, but our espresso machine is large, messy and a big pain in the butt. Not long after we got it, every time I used the steamer wand for frothy milk it would dump watery milk all over the counter for 10 minutes afterwards. Now it leaks water and coffee on our counter as well. Not only do we have this mondo machine on our counter, but we also have a coffee bean grinder as well. And let me say it’s really annoying to have to empty out the Mr’s coffee beans for my decaf beans to get fresh grinds. I seriously debated getting a SECOND bean grinder just for my decaf beans 😉 Needless to say I’m over it. Way over it.

I’ve been lusting after a Nespresso for a long, long time. Guess what? Nespresso was listening! They sent me the brand new UMilk model and what a beaut it is. It’s so petite and pretty on my counter. Ah, I love it so. The sleek design is adorable and is such a contrast to all of the bulk that was there before. After I first set it up, the Mr commented on how empty the counter was. I responded by saying “Isn’t that a good thing?!”.

I love that this little machine makes such a difference in my morning routine. I love the cute little colored espresso capsules and the super easy, touch-of-a-button milk frother. How did it take me this long to get here, Nespresso? Thank you for coming into my life, especially with a newborn (and sleepless nights) right around the corner. Might have to make that switch from decaf to regular espresso sooner than expected 😉

Here’s the pretty in its place of honor.

Look at that tiny foot print!

All the pretty colors.
Time to froth the milk. Press this button.
Load the pretty jewel of a capsule.
Voila espresso.

Fabulously frothy milk!

My pretties in the morning. Ahhhh…

Oh and as for my love of pumpkin spiced lattes? Can’t wait to try this recipe out! What about you guys? Any diehard Nespresso fans out there? What are your favorite flavors and do you make anything fun with your espresso?



I was not compensated for my review of the Nespresso UMilk, only provided the UMilk in return for my honest opinion.


Ranch House Redo | A Pantry Update

A little pantry update was long overdue in this house. The kitchen pantry was a mish-mash of mismatching shelving and no organization whatsoever. When we moved in I just shoved things into the pantry and never looked back. Not a good system for finding things that’s for sure.My Lowe’s Creative Ideas mission for November was to organize and update your kitchen or panty. I was happy to hop on the pantry bandwagon. Here is the pantry before in all of its awfulness….scary I know.

BEFORE

Now for some fun after pictures….

AFTER
I painted the whole pantry a fun shade of teal using some mis-tints from the paint at Lowe’s. I love buying mis-tints, I usually hit that area up first every time I visit Lowe’s. You never know what goodies you’ll find. And what’s great is the blue teal color tied into the blue mason jars I already had. I love when things fall into place like that!
 
I also lined the shelves with brand new bright white shelving liner to freshen it up a bit. I also did some reorganizing. I moved coffee and tea over to the top shelf. Before it was in a cabinet right above the oven and every time we used the oven everything above it would get baked. Now we just store mugs and travel mugs in that space, so no harm no foul.
 
I bought some great reusable jars and containers for our usual suspect pantry items like nuts, grains, rice, flour, sugar etc. I used black contact paper and cut out round circles to use as labels. I just label things with a white chalkboard pen. *Whoops, just realized that my cornflakes are labeled “Fruity O’s”! Ha! Oh well, not everything is fail-safe, huh? 😉
 
I also moved the “snack” shelf down to the 2nd to bottom shelf so that way Arden can access it whenever she wants to. I bought easy to open plastic containers for things like cookies, crackers, etc. She loves being able to open the cabinet by herself and see what food is available for her to munch on. And it makes Momma’s life a little easier too 😉

 

 

 
I bought a clipboard and painted it with chalkboard paint so I could keep track of what I bought at the grocery store for the week. It’s mounted to the inside of the pantry door. After we’ve eaten something I just do a quick swipe and erase that item. It helps the Mr know what’s available too, since I’m usually the one doing the grocery shopping. The clipboard part is great too, because I can use it to hold any coupons that I might want to use.
 
And there you go! My fun LCI project for November. It didn’t take a lot time to do and it was 100x worth the effort! The only thing I need now is a great basket for the bottom shelf to store my potatoes and squash and the like. Then the pantry will be 100% done. Yay 🙂
 
 
 
This post was brought to you by the Lowe’s Creative Ideas Network, which I’m so happy to be a part of along with a crew of other really creative bloggers, you can check out all of our fun projects on the Lowe’s Creative Ideas Blog. As a part of the LCI Network, I’ve received compensation in the form of Lowe’s credit to help with my projects above.
 
Lowe's Creative Ideas
Lowe’s Creative Ideas Blog (featuring yours truly!)
Lowe’s on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram

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Saturday Shopping | My Kitchen Tool Favorites

I had the kitchen on my mind this week and I figured I’d share with you some of my kitchen must-haves. Now, let me preface this with my belief that one of the few places that one should splurge is in the kitchen. Kitchen utensils are a necessary part of everyday life, therefore, I believe in investing in good pieces once and not over and over again. I’ve learned that lesson the hard way. A good kitchen tool will make or break you, so just take a deep breath and open that wallet. Right now I’m saving for my dream Nespresso. Come to Mama!…in a few months 😉

1. Wüsthof Knives $600
Pricey, I know, but think of it as a one-time investment. These knives will last you forever, just remember to get them sharpened regularly. And I always remember to use the sharpening steel after every use! This knife especially is my go-to for almost everything.

2. This spatula $27
$27 for a spatula? I know….but this one is SO worth it. Try it, you won’t regret it. I promise.

3. Our trusty toaster oven $250
I have this model specifically and I love it. I don’t think it was originally $250 though, I’m sure you could find one for a lot less. I don’t believe in having a microwave, so this little guy is my life-saver.

4. ZESTER $15
This zester is a rockstar. Easy to clean and super sharp.

5. cutting board $100
Ahh, the luxury of a Boos board. I think I want to have Boos countertops put in…eventually. This is a powerhouse, we use it for all of our chopping. Just keep it well oiled and flip it over periodically. Another one that will last a lifetime.

6. A pair of tongs  $12 – $13
We use these for cooking everyday. We have the 9″ and the 12″. It’s great to have the two sizes and when we cook a big dinner, we usually end up using both.

7. a set of pyrex tupperware $35
Plastic = bad. Glass = good. And these are great because you can throw them in the toaster/oven (and yes even the microwave) to heat those leftovers back up.

8. the garlic king  $9
Oh yes, this is called the garlic king for a reason. I hate handling garlic because the smell always seems to seep into my finger tips…for days. No matter what. This little tool makes that a problem of the past. Just put a peeled clove down and rock this puppy over it and voila, minced garlic and a happy Mommy.

9. a pretty salt box $23
My friend Sara actually gave this to me as a gift after I agonized for weeks about not finding the perfect salt keeper. She spotted this one day and picked it up for us and we LOVE it! I keep it stocked with my favorite finishing salt.

10. an old fashioned can opener $9
Stick to the classics. I’ve had almost every kind of fancy and modern can opener you can buy, but none of them compare to the good ole’ original. This guys is solid and won’t do you wrong.


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Housewarming Ideas

Having just recently moved to a new home, I’m pretty familiar what are the necessities for setting up a new household. It’s funny how things don’t really transfer from one home to another, isn’t it? I’ve been working with Hayneedle and using their new registry feature. It’s been fun! I’ve set up a “housewarming” registry with a bunch of goodies I’d love to have in the new house. 






To see my registry and some of the items I’m lusting after click here to see my guest post on the Hayneedle “Make It Home” blog!







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