Category: Cleaning & Organizing

Cleaning and Organizing

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Bedrooms Cleaning & Organizing Design Tips

Catalina Kids Bed Collection: Every Kid (And Parent’s) Dream With Multiple Configurations & Storage

Catalina-Bunk-Bed

Sometimes gifting your kid with a new bedroom set is more a gift for you than for them—especially if their new bedroom set has storage aplenty for all of their toys, books, magazines or art supplies. We have just the thing to solve all of your storage woes—the Catalina Kids Bed Collection! With so many configurations, you’re sure to find the right kids storage bed for your child in Chicago and Indianapolis.

The first option to consider for you new kids bed with storage underneath is the size—twin or full? The Catalina collection comes in both sizes.

TRP Catalina Bed WhiteTRP Catalina Bed

Constructed of pine solids and birch veneer sides, the Catalina will see your child through many cozy nights of sleep.

If bunk beds are more their speed, you don’t need to look further than the Catalina Twin Bunk Bedroom set. With tons of storage options and a deep black finish, this set is as classic as it is practical.

TRP Catalina Bunk Bed Black

If one child needs more room than the other, you can always opt for the Catalina bunk bed which has a full mattress on the bottom bunk and a twin size up top.

Catalina Bunk Bed White

The Catalina collection comes in both white and deep cherry—both excellent options to complement your assuredly stylish Chicago or Indianapolis home. Stop in to The RoomPlace today to pick out your favorite kids bedroom set!

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Bedrooms Cleaning & Organizing Design Tips Living Rooms

3 Design Ideas for your Chicago Loft

We’re not alone in our love affair with lofts. This housing option offers bright, airy aesthetics and adaptable space. It’s a beautiful blank canvas for owners and renters, and it provides a fun range of design opportunities to experiment with. As a top furniture store in Chicago, we offer smart solutions to refurnishing your space. The RoomPlace team investigates how to make the best use of your loft space.

Continue reading “3 Design Ideas for your Chicago Loft”
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Cleaning & Organizing

The 2015 New Year’s Cleaning Challenge: Are You Ready Chicago & Indianapolis?

New Year, new priorities! As we bid farewell to 2014, it’s time to focus on New Year’s Resolutions that will help us live a simpler, stress-free 2015. We believe that the best place to start is—you guessed it—home sweet home.

Inspired by Organized Homes’ 2015 New Year Cleaning Challenge, we decided to compile our favorite new year cleaning tips for your space. Let’s dive right in:

Entryway

  1. Give shoes a home with a shoe rack. If they can’t fit on your rack, they don’t belong in your entryway.
  2. Ditto for coats and jackets. Install a few hooks to house them and store the rest in your closet.
  3. Avoid placing chairs or tables in the space. They tend to accumulate clutter.

Living Room

  1. Become best friends with your vacuum and dust your space weekly.
  2. If possible, wash shams and furniture covers at least once a season. Wipe any non-removable upholstery with a gentle cleaning cloth.
  3. Clean your windows! Spotless panes make all the difference in the world.

Kitchen

  1. Clean your counter tops before bed each evening.
  2. Regularly wipe down all of your kitchen appliances.
  3. Don’t forget about your fridge! Regularly scan the space for expired condiments or forgotten leftovers. Periodically remove all the contents to wipe down the shelving.

Bathroom

  1. Scrub the sink, toilet, and shower with disinfectant cleansers.
  2. Make your reflection shine and thoroughly clean your mirror.
  3. Mop or sweep the floor and cleaning tools to rid them of dust bunnies, hair, and any other debris.

Bedroom

  1. Don’t let under the bed become a clutter zone. If possible, keep it entirely clear.
  2. Clean out your closet to free up space.
  3. Wash your sheets weekly in warm water.

If you need a hand getting your goals into gear, use Organized Homes’ house cleaning checklist to get started. As our favorite house cleaning blog, this site is chock-full of tips and tricks to make 2015 your most organized year yet. After the chaos clears, The RoomPlace is available to offer you furniture and tools to help with your clutter-free goals!

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Cleaning & Organizing Design Tips Living Rooms

4 Tips for Buying Pet Friendly Furniture from The RoomPlace

Newsflash: Your pets and your home decor can coexist peacefully! With these buying tips, you won’t have to sacrifice any aspect of your home sweet home from beautiful, elegant furniture or snuggle time with your favorite feline or canine companion.

Be a Matchmaker

A black upholstered sofa might make a dramatic impact on your space, but the white fur that clings to it has a way of deadening the effect. Select fabric that either matches the general shade of your pet or features a bold pattern. This will distract from the pesky stray hairs that will inevitably follow when you have a pet in the home.

Focus on Durability

Microfiber is king among pet friendly fabrics for sofas. This synthetic fabric is tightly knit and not easily ripped, torn, or scratched. Leather is another durable option for pet resistant furniture. While it isn’t completely bulletproof – repeated cat scratching will take its toll – a piece like the Odyssey will see your canine companion through its rebellious puppy years and into mellow adulthood.

rendezvous

Create Limits
Furniture can serve as a creative way to create boundaries for your pet. Ottomans, benches, and occasional tables are the perfect way to artfully prevent your pup from straying into a do not enter zone, saving you from an eyesore of a fence or pet crate. When your pup isn’t around, you can simply move the pieces to suit your needs. Make sure that these pieces are upholstered in the dog friendly furniture fabric we mentioned above.

Train for Your Furniture’s Sake

Even the best pets can get a little rambunctious sometimes. In general, pet owners will want to learn how to keep dogs off furniture, as this will minimize the risk of any unexpected accidents. Also regularly trim your cat’s claws to eliminate kneading damage.

Gearing up to augment your home with new furniture? The RoomPlace team can provide guidance on the best option for you and your pet. We’ll help you find the perfect match!

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Cleaning & Organizing Entertaining Living Rooms

Is Your Furniture Ready For the Big Day the Seahawks Play the Broncos?

We’ve written at our blog about getting your setup suited for your favorite weekend matchups, but there’s one football event that’s unlike any other. This isn’t just any football game. It is the game. And if you’re planning on hosting any sort of respectable party to watch it, then you need facilities that can hold up under even the most raucous celebrating.

So, you probably already have a living room with a couch and some chairs, a coffee table, a media center, a decent TV. But does this setup easily transform into the ultimate environment for eating, drinking, and being merry while the Seahawks and the Broncos duke it out? Here are three quick ways you can update your space in time for the big game:

·       Make more room for food and drink. If you don’t have plentiful surface area for your favorite snacks and beverages, then it’s time to make some. A sideboard is a great option for creating a Bloody Mary bar or a place to make additional beverages and snacks available to your guests that’s out of the way but still accessible.

·       Not sure how many people are coming? A piece like the Parker Cocktail ottoman or the Trey Cube ottoman can be converted into seating, an extra eating surface, or a footrest depending on which you need more of.

·       If any of your trusty furniture needs repairing, then now is the time to take care of it—you don’t want wear and tear getting worse or broken-down pieces making a bad impression on your guests. Get in touch with us at The RoomPlace today for your furniture repair needs.

Time is running out, so if you need to pick up some last-minute furniture in Chicagoland, now’s the time to dash into one of our many Illinois or Indiana locations!

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Cleaning & Organizing Living Rooms Mattresses Shopping & Gifts

The Dangers of Buying Used Furniture

Many people think that buying furniture second hand is the best way to save money on furniture. Sure, it takes a little more effort to search for a good deal, but used goods are always cheaper.  But, cheaper isn’t always better. As Chicagoland furniture dealers, we know there are several issues that can come up when people try to purchase furniture second hand that may end up costing you more in the long run:

1. Bed bugs. Of particular concern in the city, once you have bed bugs in your home, it is costly and time-consuming—not to mention hugely inconvenient—to get rid of them. Bed bugs can live in virtually any type of furniture, and the person you buy an item from may not even know they have bed bugs.

2. Quality. You don’t always know how the piece has been used, how much wear it’s experienced, and if there may be wear and tear you can’t see from the outside. The bottom line is, if you’re not buying furniture new, you just don’t know what kind of condition it’s truly in.

3. Pet dander and other irritants. No matter how well a seller may clean a piece before selling it, if they live with pets or smoke, chances are you could be purchasing a piece of furniture that’s rife with substances that could cause allergies or asthma to flare up.

Buying new furniture is the only way you know that the piece is whole, structurally sound, and clean. At The RoomPlace, you’ll never have to worry about a mattress’s history or an armchair’s sturdiness—but you will get peace of mind with every purchase.

 

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Cleaning & Organizing Design Tips Home Decor

Use Your New Year’s Motivation To Power Through Your Renovations

Do you have rooms in your home that are in sore need of updating? Furniture that’s broken or worn out that badly needs to be replaced? If you’ve been putting off renovations or a much-needed décor remix, then The RoomPlace invites you to use your New Year’s resolve to finally kick-start your project. Below are some tips on how to make it happen.

1.     Don’t get sucked into blindly following the latest décor and furniture trends. Though you may really like the design of the moment, it may not be the design of the moment for much longer. Taking the time to find something that you really enjoy—and that you’ll enjoy for years to come—is more important than having the trendiest home.

2.     Nail down exactly what you’ll need the room for. This will help you determine which furniture items to buy, since some pieces (like daybeds) can fulfill multiple functions. So, if that shabby guest room is on your list, you might consider outfitting it with a comfy new trundle bed or accents (like the Trey Brown Cube ottoman) that can double as other things, like a small table or storage space—which allows you to both fit more people into the space, and get more use out of it both when it’s occupied and when it’s empty.

3.     Give yourself time, and a structured plan. Nothing burns out a New Year’s resolution like going too hard, too fast. It’s difficult to change habits or accomplish projects if you’re expecting it all to happen as soon as possible.

Of course, our last tip would be to come to one of our Chicagoland furniture stores, where we have plenty of experienced, passionate furniture dealers and design experts who can help you flesh out your project. Not to mention our wide selection of furniture, where we think you’ll find exactly what you need.

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Cleaning & Organizing Home Decor

Frugal or Fancy, Your Furniture Is An Investment—And Needs Protection

We’ve written about it before, but we think that it’s worth mentioning again in case we have any new readers who missed it the first time around. We all know that furniture is meant to be used, and that even the most pristine, “no touching” pieces will endure some sort of wear and tear over time. We know that you want to get the most out of your furniture items, so let us help you do just that—by taking advantage of one of our protection plans here at The RoomPlace, you’ll get plenty of options for preserving the value (and beauty!) of your furniture.

Administered through Guardian Protection Products, our Crypton Furniture Protection Program is a great option for those who care about their carbon footprint. This certifiably green program forgoes harsh solvents to prevent bacteria growth and stains, employing instead an eco-friendly approach instead.

Other options include our PremiumPlus 1 Plan, which gives you five-year protection for fabric, leather and wood. This means you get coverage for life’s accidents and mishaps, like stains and other damages. We know that when furniture is a part of your home and will experience the very human elements of home life, like food and beverage stains, human or pet bodily fluid stains, nail polish stains, and more. For a complete list of the different types of damage that are covered for different materials, check out our furniture protection plan page.

If you’re looking for new furniture in the Chicago area, then come check out one of our many Illinois and Indiana locations to get started. We’ll also be happy to explain to you the many ways we can help you protect and enjoy your furniture for years to come!

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Cleaning & Organizing DIY Entertaining Living Rooms

Protect your furniture from the mischief of summer

With the 4th of July barely behind us, we’ve just about entered the glorious midsummer season. Lazy nights drinking lemonade on the porch, fun-filled evenings barbecuing with friends on Fridays after work, exciting week-long vacations to exotic destinations – summertime is often the most relaxing and enjoyable part of the year.

Of course, summer also means the kids are done with classes and enjoying a well-deserved break from school, which frequently adds up to more than a few consequences for your painfully perfected home décor.

Even if your kids are the most responsible ones on the planet, always remembering to clean up after themselves and never forgetting to use a coaster on the expensive vintage coffee table in the living room, summertime fun in the sun isn’t exactly on the list of things your home furniture collection loves the most. Between long days at the beach, hands-on games of soccer and baseball, and plenty of afternoons spent sweating it out with the rest of the neighborhood kids, your children are probably bringing a whole lot of sand, moisture and grime into some of your home’s most delicate places.

The team at The RoomPlace furniture store nearest you is here with a handful of tips that will make sure your home furniture survives a battle with your own little hooligans without so much as a scratch.

Prevent the natural elements from entering your home in the first place by instructing your kids to remove any soiled clothing before entering the house – especially shoes. Long day at the beach? If there are no public showers where the little ones can rinse off before heading home, at least request that they dry out in the sun before coming in – that way they can brush off most of the sharp grains of sand that have an uncanny talent for embedding themselves into every surface of your house during the long months of summer.

Divert the attention from your plusher furniture by asking the kids to take their lemonade or ice cream breaks in the kitchen rather than lounging around on the living room furniture. Wooden stools and chairs are more durable than the expensive leather sofa or recliner in your living room, and besides, it’s a great way to keep them outside and away from the television set.

Protect your fancier furniture with slipcovers as a last ditch resort. No need to follow grandma’s lead with noisy and unsightly plastic; simply invest in a couple of cheap cotton slipcovers for your more expensive items to protect them from not only dirt and sand, but also greasy sunscreen.

Of course, if worse comes to worst, you can always stop by your local Chicago furniture store to replace that soiled leather sofa. We’re here for you, parents.

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Cleaning & Organizing Design Tips DIY Home Decor Room Makeovers

Why Spring is the Perfect Time to Go Contemporary

Now that April has come and gone, you’re probably – hopefully! – finished with your spring cleaning. Of course, when it comes to interior design, that phrase can take on a whole new meaning.

There are plenty of spring décor trends worth trying that can go a long way in freshening up your home. But sometimes, the best kind of “spring cleaning” refers to something a little less literal. This year, how about pairing your new clutter- and junk-free home with a “less is more” interior decorating style?

Here at The RoomPlace, we understand that any Chicago or Indianapolis furniture shopper who walks into any of our 20 furniture stores is looking for something a little different from the next. And we’re more than pleased to provide a vast selection of home furniture in every décor style you can think of, in order to meet the very distinctive demands of each unique customer who shops with us. From the grandiose and regal curved lines of the traditional style, to the more laid-back and subtle elements of transitional furniture, we can help you find bedroom, dining room and living room furniture in all shapes and sizes that suit your own individual eye for design.

But if you’re looking for a “clean” décor style that emphasizes functionality and simplicity over form and ornamentation, we recommend browsing the selection of contemporary-style furniture available at The RoomPlace furniture store nearest you! The contemporary style is all about sacrificing superfluous adornment in favor of sharp lines and geometric forms – perhaps the perfect décor elements to round out your spring cleaning philosophy this year. Here, we highlight just a few of our favorite contemporary furniture pieces available here at The RoomPlace!

Leah Chair & Ottoman. This living room set offers a bold, basic design with just the bare bones. Available in brick orange, light blue, jet black and smooth ivory, the Leah Chair & Ottoman brings a modern flair to its simple yet stunning design, featuring a sleek contoured back and high arms and distinctive, clean lines.

Ariana Queen Bed. If your bedroom is in need of a little spring cleaning, then you’ll want to take a look at the Ariana Queen Bed. The big-city look of its plain head- and base-boards eliminates the extra frills you’ll find on queen beds of other styles, allowing for a minimalist aesthetic that establishes your bedroom as anything but high-maintenance.

Montibello Three-Piece Pub Set. For hip dining room furniture, it doesn’t get much “cleaner” than the Montibello Three-Piece Pub Set, which masterfully blends the stark contrast of rich leather on cherry wood with the visual texture provided by a thick marble-veneered tabletop.

For more tips and tricks on how contemporary furniture can complete your spring cleaning mission this year, feel free to contact The RoomPlace or simply swing by your local furniture store. As always, we look forward to working with you!