apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Raikenn, where is that desk from, please? Thank you.

the desk is from IKEA

Raikenn- where did you get those fantastic prints in your studio? They are fantastic!

I have to have that desk for my new office nook!

I'm having trouble finding the desk on the IKEA site. Does anyone know the model name? Or if it's been discontinued?

I am having such a hard time this last week and a half. I'm really discouraged. My accident really knocked me off task. I'm still in a moderate amount of pain. It's not so much pain that I can't clean, it's just enough that I don't want to. I've been doing sit down projects mostly.
It's frustrating because certain portions of the apartment are really messy right now from all the sorting. It's so much harder to CLEAN and SORT than to STRAIGHTEN. I'm also realizing that certain things aren't going to get done. I can't afford to finish up my living room like I wanted to. The bathroom has so many problems that I don't even know where to start. AND The roommates bedroom is still sort of like a storage unit. I know that I've made some really great strides. I've given away car fulls of stuff to local charity shops. I've cut my wardrobe down by a third. (It's still way too big) I love my new Dining Room. I'm a lot happier with my kitchen. My Living Room is working a lot better. I just feel like the last week and a half were wasted. I did small things this week and none of them were assigned for this week.

1)This week I had my own personal sheet music cure. When I started I had three trunks full of loose sheet music and books of sheet music everywhere. Now I have one trunk of loose sheet music and one square of my expedit unit is allocated for music books.
2)I organized most of my paperwork and allocated the smallest cleaned out trunk for bills, envelopes, important papers, my address book, stationary, etc. I call it my "correspondence station." :)
3)I cleaned out one of my kitchen cabinets and made it the "wellness station." My roommate and I are both singers and actors and getting sick isn't an option. So the wellness station has a large assortment of tea, throat coat, cough drops, vitamins, airborne, honey, and all my assorted coffee mugs. It's a little happiness.
4)I edited and rearranged both my expedit and my steel curio in my dining room.
5)I have tulips in my Dining Room and in the Living Room. I have lilies on my Landing strip and two succulents in my Dining Room.

Sigh. Little accomplishments. Little happiness. I guess it all adds up though, right?

Indeed it adds up, harmonyfrance! Don't feel badly--that's just a waste of your energy. You've taken this time to focus on little things that will help your life run more smoothly and productively--and there's nothing wrong with that!

It's hard to live in a mess--can you tackle it slowly? What about your roomate? Can he take on a bit more of the tasks which need to be done but you aren't feeling up to doing right now? It would seem to me his room as a "storage locker" is really his responsibility, not yours.

I've hurt my right arm--all of it--started with the biceps and triceps, now my forearm and wrist hurt. Reaching and lifting is painful, so I'm working in very short spurts and doing my best to leave lifting and reaching out of it. It's nearly impossible of course (just doing dishes involves lifting and reaching!) but it's vital to pace yourself and take the time you need to heal.

Let go of what won't get done in the next two weeks. Remmember time doesn't stop when the cure is over. See if you can set up a plan to work later, when you're in better shape.

Hi Harmony France

I was feeling the same way last week and was going crazy with lists of things that needed to be done and things that aren't going to get done this cure. I really feel the small things can do a lot of cure. Sorting through all your sheet music and music books is a big step, I can tell in your comment that you were not looking forward to getting that done. Those things add up to more than getting the wall painted and new things. Painting and getting new items is a breeze and just takes a day, but getting rid of things you need and love take so long to get to and stress you out so much when doing. Keep doing the sorting and purging it makes you feel so good. Go buy flowers and sit in your beautiful new dining room and sort and organize, this counts a lot towards the cure. The cure will be here when you feel better.

Okay, so I fell behind for what seems like most of the weeks. I actually did most of the things for most of the weeks, however it all seemed like preparatory stuff, and there was nothing to take pictures of. I felt bad!

But finally, I got to the part where you call in help. Luckily, my boyfriend's sister is this gal: http://brownturtlenecksweater.typepad.com/

And she was SO helpful! We went through my style tray and floor plans, and looked at windows and lighting and everything. I'm totally inspired! I may not put up more pictures till the last week, but if you're feeling stuck, definitely find a friend and talk it through!

Raikenn, lovely advice (and also, I love your home!).

Never worry about being behind: there is always the fall cure to finish up, if we are ever totally finished!

Wow. Thank you alana and raikenn. I really appreciate it. :) I looked at my before pictures today and it made me feel a lot better. I just can't expect it to be perfect after my very first cure. Because as Francesca said...we are never TOTALLY finished. It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. ;)

Once you get a vision for something, it is human nature to want it fulfilled RIGHT NOW! AT is great, because it encourages you to find that vision and capture it (the style tray!) so that as time and opportunities permit, you can always be working towards realising it--and once you've got it, enter Small Cool!

I have really slowed down. Organized the "paper plate" box--embarrassing but true, we have a huge box full of paper plates, disposable cups and cutlery--but then, we like to paint and go on picnics and I'll likely not have to buy any ever again!

And I made two boxes into one. I love doing that!

The husband and I looked into buying a wooden screen door--with the screen at the top and wood on the bottom so we can insert a doggy door. We talked to a "door guy" tonight and apparently such things are rare. Why would that be?

Tomorrow should be better, I hope.

Harmonyfrance - Let me be the third to say try not to let slow progress bother you. I dropped out of the Fall 2006 Cure (my first) after maybe the third week. But I still got so much more done in my home over the last year and I really think the Cure helped inspire that. Getting all this done in eight weeks is a tough thing.

I've fallen off the Cure wagon again. I really didn't get much done last week, hardly anything actually. And this week is looking the same, maybe worse, although I have a trip to IKEA planned, so maybe some new decorative items will inspire some last minute progress. :)

I'm wondering, did anyone actually do the media fast? I looked at that and thought, you've got to be kidding me. A day without my laptop? *shudder*

Thank you everyone for the support. I really needed it and I appreciate it. I'm back on task. I landed some new chairs from Craigslist that have really inspired and excited me again. They are much closer to my REAL taste and they make me extremely happy. Now I want to clean up this LR so that I can showcase these awesome chairs! Thanks again.

Here's the chairs!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harmonyfrance/2418772017/in/pool-apartmenttherapycurechicago
I'm so excited!

Candice - I did take advantage of the media fast, but it was only easy because we were out of town all weekend. I made it from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning without computers or TV. It wasn't so bad, it was actually nice when I did go to check my email Monday morning, I was like, well, I'll check it quickly and be done. I had no desire to sit around and look up every website and check the news and read blogs, etc.

Even if you only do it for HALF a day, I'd say it's really worth it!

palindrome - that's part of the VIKA system at IKEA. It's not discontinued at all, it's still on the website. You have to go to workspace and click on the table top & legs catergory. I'm actually thinking about getting the same desk myself.