Chris and I have always been very selective about the sponsors and partners we work with. Our main goal of our blog is to document our home renovation and to share a little peek into our lives occasionally. We look at it as a story and we like our simple story. We pass on a lot of sponsor opportunities, but love to say “yes!” to partnerships that naturally fit into that goal and our timeline of projects we’d like to complete. That being said, we are so happy to be on the Ace Blogger Panel again this year. It’s a very natural partnership because Ace Hardware is the only hardware store within a 30 mile radius of us and it happens to be less than a mile away right in our very rural small town. We have become familiar with the staff at our local store and although they don’t know our names (I don’t think), I know that they recognize us, too. They perk up and greet us with a, “Hey!” It’s friendly. It’s like what you see on a television show depicting a small town and although I grew up in Pittsburgh, the change of pace can be heart-warming. But no matter how quaint things are, we are continually impressed by the vast product selection our Ace carries that has helped us conquer our to-do list weekend after weekend. And let’s be honest, weeknights lately, too.

This flooring project is kicking our butts. Even as I type this at o’dark thirty, with Greta in bed way too late, Chris is still upstairs giving our plywood subfloors one last look over before we install another subfloor layer starting tomorrow. Removing any staple we’ve missed and sucking up all the debris with our Shop Vac. Ace asked us to talk about one of our most surprising finds this past month at our store, and while we loved this thing I posted on Instagram, we were so happy to find a big 18 gallon Shop Vac at our local store–on sale!! It has been indispensable throughout this project and one of those things that we were pleasantly surprised was available at our neighborhood hardware store we’ve come to love. The suction is really powerful–comparable to a vacuum at a commercial car detailing station, I’d say. So while we have used it (and a few of the many attachments it came with) to clean up the endless amount of debris, I really cannot wait to try it out in my car. Or let Greta–she’s pretty attached to it, too, as you can see.

Good news! Ace Hardware wants to help out one of our reader’s shopping trips, too. A $100 gift card to Ace Hardware (locate your neighborhood store here or use it online!) is up for grabs today. Just use the Rafflecopter widget below and we’ll announce the winner right here on Friday.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We are members of the Ace Bloggers Panel and Ace Hardware has provided us with a $100 gift card to scout out a product of our choice (this Shop Vac was just the ticket we needed and on sale for $104!–score). I was also compensated for my time and this blog post. All opinions and positions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of Ace Hardware.