NLI Favorite Finds: Moving Edition
Updated: Sep 2
As you may have discerned from the various recent posts like "Moving Soon? Expert Decluttering Tips for a Smoother Move to Your New Home" and "Relocated...and it feels so good" OR various coastal photos on the 'gram, we recently moved and by moved I don't mean just across the street like we did last time. I mean long distance, across the country, to a new state, a new community, new house, new everything and it has been, well, a LOT. While I'm very thankful and excited to be here in the low country of South Carolina, I won't lie, I'm completely exhausted. Did I mention that we also just dropped our last kid at college last week? Yep, yet another move. Stick a fork in me y'all, I'm done.
On a positive note though, I have been keeping track of favorite recent finds from the past few months that have kept me sane(-ish), made me smile, and generally just helped make multiple moves between homes as enjoyable as possible. Herewith, my favorite finds: moving edition...
Our Favorite Finds: {Moving Edition}
Organizing OGs
If you've been reading my blog for any amount of time, you'll know that I have more than a little OCD when it comes to cleaning and organizing and if that's wrong I don't want to be right. This might explain why I started packing and organizing myself before the professional movers were even hired (more about that in an upcoming post). Ha! In fact, as soon as I knew we were officially moving I ordered more than a few sets of these heavy duty moving bags that came in so handy during dorm and apartment college move in with our boys. I used these to organize and transport bedding, pillows, and clothes then labeled each on the outside with the room it was going to as well as a brief description of what was inside. Here are a few more of my other tried and true organizing favorites...
Naturium Body Products
There were a couple of days, who am I kidding here, a couple of weeks, when things were in disarray and I couldn't find some of my favorite things like beauty products. They were either in transit one way or left behind while I was busy moving us ahead. If you don't understand that story its because you're missing out on my newsletter in which case click here or my other blog on substack but just to explain that previous sentence in case you're wondering WINTW, we did an interim move before the final move (and before the last college kid move). Honestly there have been times recently, especially while on an airplane, "what state are we in?" or "where in the world are we?" One might also have heard me asking "where are my skin care products?" because it took me a while to find my stash of goodies which is how I found some amazing new to me body products like this Naturium glycolic shower gel and lotion plus I also ordered this multi-oil body wash to alternate with. You know I sometimes refer to my skin as "special" thanks to psoriasis and I still use these even after finding my old shower soaps and that's saying something for me.
Laura Mercier Tinted Blur Bomb
By now you might be wondering how are bath and beauty products in any way remotely related to moving. Am I right? Well, let me tell you how. I don't care how organized you are (and I've been reassured by many that I am) or if you hire professional movers (we gratefully did) or how logistically gifted you are (check another box in the affirmative), here's the bottom line. Moving sucks. Let me put that in all caps. SUCKS. And it is hard whether you're doing the moving yourself or whether you pay someone else to do everything for you because I think we can all agree that moving is, well, chaotic. So while you're moving or while you're settling in, if you can find little ways to treat yourself, then I say hit the easy button and treat yo' self. Which is why I did some retail therapy one night and ordered myself Laura Mercier's Tinted Blur Bomb.
I don't wear a lot of makeup anyway or with regularity but with my special skin (double lottery winner here with psoriasis and also rosacea, woot woot), showing off its ability to turn or stay red all day long, I decided I needed something quick to apply that might tamp down some of the ruddy red-liciousness. Let me tell you this blur is the bomb dot com and does just what I need...applies quickly and evenly, doesn't budge during the day but also doesn't feel suffocating and in fact, I put it on and forget that I even have it on until I pass by a mirror and think to myself dang girl your skin looks good today. I'll take it and so should you. I have it in both the 01 and 02 shades with 02 being a pretty perfect match and I use 01 as more of a concealer when I feel the need. I bought the LM flawless foundation brush to apply it and help get it where it needs to go on my face rather than my fingers or hands. Here are more of my face favorites...
Lightweight stick vacuum cleaner
Call me crazy but I seriously get giddy when I start thinking about using this vacuum cleaner and that in itself makes me wonder why I didn't have one sooner. During the moving process, I ended up giving our old Dyson to our twins for their apartment and brought our other one, a Miele classic canister vac, with us to the new house. Don't judge about having two vacuums. Back when I struggled with frozen shoulder, we got one for upstairs and another for downstairs so I wasn't lugging it up and down. Anywho, our new house has hardwoods throughout without a carpet in sight and so after a few days of sweeping and swiffering, I decided I needed something quick and easy that fell somewhere between a broom and my heavy duty carpet loving Miele. Meet my new lightweight stick vacuum cleaner that makes my life easier and keeps my OCD tapped down a notch.
It's rechargeable and you can wash out the canister easy peasy. Did I mention how light it was? Ladies of a certain age who've even heard whispers of the phrase "frozen shoulder"- do yourself a favor and hit the easy button by saying with me the word "Sold!" Your shoulders will thank me later.
Samsung Frame TV
You might know from my other posts like "My Favorite Home Gadget Buys" that I'm a big fan of the Samsung Frame TV so I knew that when we moved to our new house that we would be installing at least one of these bad boys. I know it can be kind of controversial locationally speaking but we had one installed over our fireplace in the new house. It was a bear to install according to the electrician because of the wooden wall treatment in our living room and well, I'll spare you all the AV details but suffice it to say it's installed and it looks great! Note if you're building a home even if you don't plan on putting a tv above the fireplace, if possible, go ahead and have your builder drop the electrical wiring for it.
What I love most is the fact that this TV lies flat and you can hide all of the wires in the wall with "the brain" in a nearby cabinet or shelf or these days some installers will do a recessed box behind the tv if possible. Of course, the next best thing about the Frame is that you can load your own gallery of artwork or photos to highlight when you're not using it as a TV. You can use one of the preloaded art selections already installed OR you can pay for a monthly subscription that rotates art from a constantly updating collection.
Now fair warning coming at you so take note...in my experience this time it was an absolute BEAR to figure out where the FREE collection of preloaded art is on the latest Frame TVs. I have finally managed to put one on there without paying the monthly fee and gosh only knows how I did it. I wish I could tell you exactly how I managed to do it but alas it was by trial and error and I don't love it but it will do for now. If you know how please feel free to send me a DM with instructions. #wishIwerekidding
What did hold true this time? Well, like I previously shared, you can choose the color or finish of an additional frame that fits around the tv that will go along with the rest of your decor OR since the main Frame is black anyway just leave it as is...no extra frame bezel for your Frame is actually needed in my humble opinion. You can always add one later if you change your mind.
The {Right} Wright Mattress
If you know me in real life or have been reading this post for any length of time, you'll know that I have not slept well in, oh, say 150 years. Ok, I exaggerate, let's take that down a notch and call it a decade plus five. I tried everything you can think of but eventually resigned myself to being able to function off 4 or so hours a night if I was lucky. Now I don't know if I should even bring this up for fear of jinxing it all but since we moved here to beautiful Bluffton, SC, I have been sleeping deeply and peacefully. Now, could it be that we no longer have three young men who are night owls making racket like raccoons in the middle of the night and leaving lights on until dawn, or perhaps street noise or outdoor lighting? I don't know and I don't care but I am {sheepishly she types} sleeping better and better. That said, could it also be that we got a new mattress????? Now I don't want to pin it all on that but I gotta tell you we did and I'm pretty sure I'm in love with it. Meet the new love in my bedtime routine....
It's the W2.15 Hybrid Mattress by Wright Bedding and it's currently on sale for Labor Day. You're welcome in advance.
I hate to say it but in the sad way that the world works now, my phone or computer let the 'gram know I was interested in a new mattress long before I found this bed. Now you know that I don't just fall for anything so I set about doing my research but seriously kept coming back to this Wright bed. Among the reasons I fell in love is that its 100% made in America, from 100% American materials PLUS they have a guarantee that your mattress will hold up for 15 years of use, without wearing out. They say that it won't get softer, it won't sag - it won't feel different at all AND if any of that happens, they'll replace it with a new one, free of charge according to their website. As if that wasn't enough, I felt good about ordering it because all of their mattresses feature a risk-free 120 day home trial. I've ordered two so far...our king bed and one twin for a custom built in bed in one of our secondary bedrooms. Not one complaint to be had y'all and I would tell you if there was. Read more about Wright Bedding mattresses here.
Made In Ceramic Non Stick Pans
I'm working on a new post of lessons I learned during the big move itself but in a little preview let me introduce you to our new cookware....
Moving is the perfect time to refresh on many fronts but especially when you move into a new house that has an induction stove because a lot of our old cookware just wouldn't work on our new stove. Just in case you don't know what an induction stove is or how it differs from gas or electric stoves, never fear, I'm here to help with a link that tells you all about it from Made In, the makers of our new cookware. After a little getting used to figuring out the new stove settings, my husband and I both rave about our new induction stove and LOVE our new cookware and not just because it's new and, who am I trying to kid here, its good looking.
If I come across any other things I bought for me or the new house during our summer move situations I'll be sure and update this page. In the meantime, you can find them all corralled in one spot over in this favorite finds moving collection or follow all my latest and greatest finds in my shop my shop (say that ten times fast). I'd be grateful if you followed along and as always thank you for being here on my blog. Also be sure and check out A Designer's Tips for a Long Distance Move for more than a few lessons gleaned from our experiences with moving.
NLI partners with affiliate platforms, in this case shop my, where a small commission may be earned based on clicks or purchases at no extra cost to you. Affiliate links help fund the free content we provide on our blog and all linked items are ones that I truly love or lust after and would wear or use in my own home. Thanks for reading and following along.
