apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It's terrifying to think it's the last week, especially as I feel like all of my Cure progress has just taken one huuuge step backward. I've been in denial about my hulking air conditioner, having convinced myself that I was going to leave it in the window all winter because there is NOwhere to put it (who am I kidding, this is Chicago - do I want to freeze to death?). But my building manager just told me that there is a window cleaner coming today and the AC must GO. I cleared out all of this shelf space in my closet (should be patting myelf on the back, actually, it looks so much better!) to make room for the bugger only to find that it was way too huge. There is no floor space in my closet - no floor space anywhere, actually, except for the back corner which also houses a hideous bookcase stacked with crap that is only there until I can get my filing situation completely figured out. My dresser is supposed to go there, when I get it.

I had to put the AC there, and it is now holding court, and I have renamed the corner "Uglyville". I can't escape it. And I can't bear the thought of leaving it there all winter (and banishing my dreams of a dresser). I know I'm being melodramatic and silly, but it's so gross and my apartment is so small that I can see it from *everywhere*. Anyways, there isn't really a solution to this (I will just have to figure out SOME way to fit it into my closet) but I figured my mini-crisis (or total regression, depending on how you look at it) might make some other Curers feel better about your progress - everybody's homes look so great!

Jeez - I feel like I am the queen of monster posts here. Please excuse my extreme verbosity.

I am not nearly finished. I think I will be working on it for another week or 2. AHHHH!

I am posting from a hotel room tonight due to my unforseen trip. I had forgotten how much I love hotel rooms- not for their mostly horrid generic decorating, but because it reminds me how I love very small, very organized spaces that are clean. I remember that although I love my stuff, I don't need a ton of it to live and be happy. Now, I just need to remember that when I am actually AT my house.

When I return I will be finishing my kitchen and laundry painting- and the tile work in the kitchen. My husband called and said that the furnace man was at the house today and I have a part in the blower motor that is not working correctly. Part is ordered and that it will be fixed before I get back home. It took him all of 20 minutes to find out what was wrong. I Love professionals.

Mavieenrose, don't be discouraged! You need a hug! Seriously, perhaps you can ask other tenants what they do with theirs or the landlord might have a suggestion. If it were me and there was not any other alternative, I'd make a fabric cover of some sort to disquise it and use it as a "corner table."

Although I have a ways to go to feel my apartment is fully cured, I had a simple moment last night that made some of the frustrations/work of the last couple of months worth it. My son came by while I had guests over and asked about a TV I had offered to him. We hauled it out of the bedroom closet (yeah!) but I told him I wasn't sure if I could find the remote. I opened the credenza trepediously in front of guests that I had actually forgotten I had "cured" early on in the project to search. I was pleasantly shocked at the wonderful organization (I DID THIS?) and was able to immediately sort out the remote from the assortment that remained. Cool beans!

I seem to always run a week or two beyond week 8. I think it happens a lot, and it does not stress me unduly. My aim is Thanksgiving: I'm hosting family, extended family, and various displaced people from the University.
mavieenrose- would it fit in a trunk?
Thans everybody for the comments you left on flickr

I know the pain of the "great idea gone bad" -- I've had plenty of those in all my years of apartment living ("I thought it would fit..."). Air conditioners are a blessing in the summer, but such a pain in the winter. When I lived on the East Cost, I heard of window-washing companies that dstored window AC units in the winter. Seems like an idea solution for those that could afford it.

It's surprising how big those AC monsters are! I second the idea of finding a trunk or box for it, especially if you can get one that could be used for extra seating. I could see something with a bright red cushion in the Uglyville corner; it would look snazzy with the yellow table.

In a former studio apartment, I used an Ikea crate to store my bedding (no closets!). With a plywood top, it looked like a table during the day. The line has been discontinued, but the Gorm line has a crate now (not sure if it's big enough). Of course, this means that the dresser idea is out. But you could still do a wall-mounted system above the crate.

Good luck! I'm struggling to make my office look as good as I thought it would, so I know the melodrama of a plan that didn't quite work out.

I just declined a bunch of catalogs using
http://www.catalogchoice.org/
a tip from lifehacker. I hope it works

oops, I've been posting to the wrong thread!

Today, after I finished applying 2 coats of (water based) varnish to my New! Shiny! White! Dresser, I did lots of little things in the bedroom.

1) Fixed the laundry hamper. This took about two hours and I think I've earned an Engineering degree.

2) Re-covered the laundry hamper. Need to do it again, this time in cream. (The white contact paper is too bright. You're supposed to see the New! Shiny! White! Dresser, not the laundry hamper.)

3) Cleaned the ceiling fan blades and attempted to straighten them.

4) Re-attached one of the pull-thingys on the ceiling fan. Another one of those simple little things that takes a year or so to get around to doing.

5) Replaced mean, thin, sleeping T-shirt destroying hooks on the back of the door with friendly, beefy, sleeping T-shirt compatible hooks.

Still painting a few things in the dining room. Getting very impatient for Things to be Done.

I still have the second dresser to paint and varnish so it can be a New! Shiny! White! Dresser too.

Mavieenrose--can you post a pic? Maybe we can give you a few suggestions--though I like the idea of hiding it in a box-like thing and using it as a low table somewhere....

Oh, I'm sorry.

This is Chicago.
I thought I was in San Fransisco!

Must have been that short-cut in Montana.

That's okay Alana, Chicago looks a lot like San Francisco... um... well, not really, but... um... nice to have you drop by for a visit!

I spent some time this morning framing (inexpensively and temporarily) three black and white photos my Dad took in 1954. I was going through some old pics looking for something else, and came across these. All three were taken in Stanley Park in Vancouver in an incredible amount of snow (I didn't know they got that much snow in Vancouver -- even though I've seen those pics before, I guess I never really thought about them) Anyway, they make a nice triumvirate of photos for one of my bedroom walls. Now, if I can drag myself away from various blogs and AT sites, I'll frame a few more b&w photos for the bedroom.

I'm still trying to keep expenses down, although I'm really really wanting to do something about a headboard... I'm still wavering, but I think I'll hold fast to the spending moratorium, because I have an idea in my head but I want to do it well, and I want to consider the color, so I will try to discipline myself not to rush out and buy some fabric, any fabric, so that I can have "something" in place for my after pics for Flickr. Patience is a flower that grows not in everyone's garden. (Saw that under someone's picture in a yearbook once. I've quoted it about myself many times since.)

Thanks Beth!

The word isn't triumvirate, I don't think.
I just looked it up at Mirriam-Webster, it said:
triumvirate


Main Entry: tri·um·vi·rate
Pronunciation: \trī-ˈəm-və-rət\
Function: noun
Date: 1584
1 : a body of triumvirs
2 : the office or government of triumvirs
3 : a group or association of three

So, I guess the third defifinition is OK--but it seems pretty broad. The tricycle is a triumvirate of wheels?

The word you may be looking for is triptych --but only if you attach the frames horizontally, side by side, and hang them that way.

Sorry, don't mean to hijack your thread. The bus for SF is boarding now.

Hi, Alana -- Yes, I knew "triumvirate" wasn't really the proper word, but "triptych" wasn't either. I was just going for the "group of three" definition, without just saying "group of three". Next time I'll just say "group of three". "trio". "threesome". There are three photos on the wall, in a row, in the same frame. That's all, really. The grouping (of more than three) pictures for the other wall isn't really coming together -- the threesome set too high a standard. But I'm going to put *something* up there so I can take pictures.

The "fivesome" of photos for the other wall has now been done -- almost to my satisfaction (couldn't locate one of the pictures I wanted to frame, and was unwilling to lug out storage boxes from the storage room to hunt for it, so there is a substitute there for now). Now there are picture groupings of 3, 4 and 5 pictures on three of the walls in the bedroom, and it makes the room look much more complete. However, since they are black and white photos, on black backgrounds (which I really like), the chocolate brown blanket on the bed no longer satisfies me. Until I got all the pictures on the wall, I was planning to do a chocolate brown headboard thingy, and a chocolate brown duvet cover, with copper colored covers for the euro-pillows. That has changed. The black of the pictures demands a more dramatic color on the bed, so now I'm back to thinking mode.

Pics will be posted this evening (I'll take them to be developed after lunch, and pick them up later this afternoon).

Just posted my clean, decluttered bedroom pictures.
smb- looking forward to see those pictures. Triumvirate might not be the right word but it conveyed the meaning of what you intended just fine. It was nice of Alana to drop in for a visit, she is always so willing to help. The black photo frames might look well with the chocolate. Look at the pictures over my bed: I was thinking to change all the frames to black, either painting is possible, or reframing when finances permit. I have a lot of chocolate brown too, but my bedspread is white

Your bedroom is gorgeous, Francesca!

I've just posted my bedroom pics on Flickr and on my blog, http://serenityathome.blogspot.com

Because I couldn't spend much, the "after" isn't as different from the "before" as I would like it to be, but it's becoming a place of serenity and peace, and it's at a state that I can happily live with until I find just the right additions. So this is good.