apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

With the fall (allergy) season soon upon us, I think this is my year to buy an indoor air purifier. Any suggestions for models that have worked particularly well/not well? I have a 1BR apartment, bedroom about 120 SF, total apt. maybe 600 SF? Thanks!

We just got an Ionicpro little air purifyer for our son's room and it works great. It's the kind that's made for bathrooms or kitchens and just plugs into the wall. He used to sneeze all night long and now-not a peep. And the faint lingering diaper smell is gone too. It was around $25 at Target or Walmart or one of those big box stores. That's if you only want to clean the air in your bedroom (which is the room I'd be most concerned about).

i have two questions for all you lovely design-minded people. 1. my boyfriend and i want to put up some wood panelling behinf our flat screen tv (think large, flat pieces of wood that come out about 1 inch from the wall, not the wood panelling of our grandparents' basements.) the problem is we don't really know where to start in terms of perhaps hiring someone to do it for us. has anyone ever done something similar? okay, and 2. i have been looking everywhere for counter height stools that have a seat height of 27". the only ones i can find are super expensive at dwr. any tips for less expensive ones? (cb2, ikea, etc. only have seat heights of 24" and 30"). thanks a million!

I've searched through the site to see if I could find the answer to my question, but haven't seen it, so I thought I'd post it in the open thread.

Does anyone know what the difference between the DWR Sapien bookshelf and the CB2 Array one is? Same designer, made of the same material (steel), just different finishes. But for some reason the DWR model claims to hold up to 20 lbs. per shelf versus 9 lbs. for the CB2 version.

Is this a product of over or underestimation on the part of one of the retailers, or is there a substantive difference? Thanks!

Can someone recommend a good place in Chicago to buy shades? I've seen ads for Eddie Zs, and that's about it. Thanks!

mbuttine -

Why not get some 30" stools from CB2 or Ikea and a hack saw and metal file from the local hardware store? Many stools have basic metal legs with feet just held in by friction, so you should be able to pop out the feet, push them back into the shortened legs and viola, an affordable 27" stool with no signs of a hack!

mbuttine -

There are some great modern stools here:
http://www.brightandbold.com/chairs.html

I saw 4 different styles - scoop, acrylic, sugar cone and uptown (and a ton of color choices - not sure what colors you're looking for) - and all of them look to be adjustable hydraulics, so they seem to have an adjustable height from 25 to 35 inches high... sounds like it would work for you if you can find a style you like - good luck!

McNicole,

If you are open to online ordering, The Shade Store in NY has a great selection and very good service.

They may as well have been in Chicago, it was that easy.

sorry, MCNicole

Where are some good sources for upholstery fabric? I want to recover my 70s-era dining room chairs, and I need something a little more substantial than the cotton Repro Depot offers. Ideas?

anadequatenovel - not sure your aesthetic, but I have been really happy with Calico Corners. You can order small or large samples, and they come really quickly. They also have several suburban locations I think, which if that is convenient for would I would recommend so you can see the fabrics up close - and there are so many online it may just be faster to go to the store and look through them that way. I have also been really happy with lsfabrics.com in Atlanta. Great customer service and they give you really good sized samples (even though they are $2.50 each). Good luck!

I might try lsfabrics-- I actually live in Cincinnati. I'd say my aesthetic is urban with a vintage flair-- I have a loft (exposed brickwork, ductwork, beams), colors tend toward browns and blues, and I'm somewhat anti-floral. Thanks for the tip!

I have a cat litter question! I want to move my kitties away from the clumping clay kind of litter for health & environmental reasons. I purchased Yesterday's News and they are less than inclined to use it. I have mixed it in with regular litter, but I keep finding pee on the mat next to the litter box and also in my scheffalara. Any suggestions??

angry.kitty, did you switch to 100% Yesterday's News? If you did, you might try adding some of the old cat litter in-- a 50/50 mix, then slowly add less and less old litter and use more new litter until it's all the new stuff.

On another note-- I tried the Yesterday's News and my cats hated it. There's one made out of corn (World's Best Litter) that they liked, and they also liked feline pine (though it's disturbing to clean up sawdust..). I hear Nature's Miracle makes one out of corn that has enzymes in it to help with the smell (the reason I switched to Tidy Cats Small Spaces), and I'd like to try it. If you do, let me know how it works for you!

I swear by "World's Best Cat Litter" having switched from clay when I moved to apt. life. Scoop and flush! No problems with the 2 cats adjusting other than their amazement at ongoing sparkling-clean litter!

Another thought -- I initially tried the World's Best multi-cat formula. No problem for the cats but I had an allergic reaction to it. Switched to regular/original (Petsmart even refunded my money) and no problems for me (or the cats).

Julien, if the CB2 shelves hold less weight I'd assume that it's not as sturdy as the one from DWR. The finish on the CB2 piece is probably not as nice. Side by side, I'm sure you'd see the difference.

Cat litter - I've been using Feline Fresh (not to be confused with Feline Pine) for some time now and will probably not use anything else again. It's close to World's Best but costs a lot less. It clumps but it's not a detriment to your cat's health.