Maxwell -

That's a great color choice--
--but when you make your real headboard, why not make it even taller - say 48" high from the top of the mattress?

Since the fabric will most likely be 54" wide and plywood is 48" wide - if you used a 1" thick foam plus batting, you'd still have plenty of fabric to wrap under and staple around the backside and the result would be a much more dramatic and luxurious effect.

In addition to the general de-cluttering and some minor repairs (which have been neglected) I plan to paint my studio and refinish the floors. I've already gotten rid of some stuff and have the old carpet pulled up in the hallway.

For this Cure, I would like to get rid of stuff I've been meaning to get rid of for a year now, fully furnish and decorate my living room, paint and rearrange my bedroom. If I'm lucky I will also paint my entryway and redo my closet.

I've been (since I was a kid) using clean-ups as a meditation time, so that's the one thing my house does not need! I'll be working on the small 1/2 bathroom downstairs. It does need help (paint and some color), but also because I have to prove my husband that doing small things for the house may have a big impact on how people feel in it; so, basically I have to inspire him to do bedroom cure next spring (I do have a plan for this one already, just need his help and support). What he gets for helping me now is a poker/dinner party at the end!!!

Enter the confessional: This is my first Cure and it's long overdue. My oldest daughter has gone off to college and I'm anxious to get her stuff under control. I have years of general decluttering to do. My husband is a college professor and music director at shows in the evenings, so I'm mostly home alone with my 3 year old daughter. I'm a little nervous about committing to this Cure (because I'll be doing it on my own), but now is really the time to get moving. At the end of it, I hope to have gotten rid of a lot of things, including some large furniture items that should be replaced. I also plan to switch my daughters rooms. I have so much to do that I really haven't gotten the courage to post any before pics yet. Maybe I'll have the guts to post before pics by the Spring
Cure. By the way, Maxwell, thanks for a great site that has already given me a ton of inspiration to improve my home!

I'm excited to get started on the cure. I'm in the process of fixing the layout of my very tiny (8x9!) bedroom. Decluttering is the major task at hand. I'd also like to paint my very long, dingy white hallway since it's the first thing people see when they walk in and it's depressing:(

One of our main projects is about colour too, we actually posted about it in our blog http://www.wetakeiteasy.com/2008/10/the-work-on-progress-in-our-apartment/
About how we're not sure about what to do with our entry hall. I think that and our storage room are our main focus for the cure.
Oh and painting a small chest of drawers, and the open shelving in the kitchen... so much work!

For my Fall 2008 cure, I am doing a Deep Treatment. I want to live in one place (no more storage unit!), unpack everything and know what I have, and feel like I have a home that can breath deeply. As for budget, I am focusing on using up what I already have instead of buying more. I should be able to do any repairs myself, but I can put in a call to maintenance if I need it.

I'm working on my bedroom and trying to create a serene and comfortable place to escape my crazy household. My issues are clutter and furniture placement. I think I need to get rid of a few pieces of furniture but I'm not sure. I guess that's what the process if for!

Also, I need to declutter much of my home and I'm craving a more minimalist approach to things which is a big change for me. I'm looking forward to the process.

Declutter is the first - and often the biggest - work!
I want to do: transform my ugly 70's desk into a bar, paint my 'showerroom' and maybe also toilet, improve bits here and there. Some things involve more $$$ so I have to wait a bit, with buying furniture and rugs and all. I think that sharing is great for opening up the perspectives anyhow, even if not everything can be done at once.

Major major major declutter. And make some final decisions about re-arranging furniture -- decor will fall into place after that. I painted during the spring cure, but the walls have been sadly empty since, just "waiting" for me to do some work on re-arranging.

My only issue is that I've got a hunk of travel coming up during the cure . . . worried that it'll hold me back.

i've never understood the painted headboard thing. it gives you a quick and easy jolt of colour but the lack of weight just doesn't make it feel like it's anchoring the bed in the way it is intended to. even a frame around it would improve it drastically without having to go so far as actually making a headboard.

good luck all. two thanksgiving dinner parties one after the other had me doing a quick cure on my space. organizing, getting rid of things, sending pieces of furniture home with other people and cleaning like hell. still have a lot to do but breathing very easy these day.

After putting together a fairly large style tray selection:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12721467@N02/sets/72157602086867191/

and doing the quiz I figured out that my vision is classic, charming with a down home vibe.

I did my repair list and already scratched off two or three things.

I got rid of my black sofa. Am about to get rid of a ginormous rug that doesn't fit in my apartment anymore.

I swept and mopped the floors with Mrs. Meyers Lavender All-Purpose cleaner.

The maintenance guys came in and repainted my entire apartment white and I love, love, love it.

I didn't get a chance to take current before pics so I added the ones from the end of last year's fall cure.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12721467@N02/sets/72157602167088268/

But now after the painting, all my stuff is in the middle of my apartment, so I'll have sufficiently embarrasssing photos once I find my camera.

Declutter, purge, clear out, organize!

We moved into my grandparents' house in February- they house they built in 1958 and lived in until the beginning of this year. When they moved out, they took very little of their belongings with them. So, we're curing our own stuff, plus 50 years of build-up that we were left with.

We haven't even looked into the garage attic yet.

I am not officially signed up for the Cure-have an issue with posting my home online. Though I have taken pics for myself. But I will be doing a half assed version of the Cure this fall. I have been mini-curing over the summer and late fall and reorganized and decluttered quite a bit. I want to declutter some more and add an extra layer of decorating and brightness (wall art, lighting etc) to my apartment.

My cure focus will be our second bedroom/home office. I want a clean uncluttered space where I can be creative and not be embarrassed if someone needs to sleep over.

My impediments (besides massive amounts of laziness) are: (1) 198376780 pounds of books and art supplies; (2) mr. deathstar who has rejected all my design plans thus far; and (3) a 700 pound sleeper sofa that I want to get rid of but can't find anyone who wants to try to take it down 3 flights of steep stairs.

I'm all about a deep treatment this time. I'm looking forward to finishing off a couple of rooms I consider mostly done (kitchen, bathroom, hallway) and really digging into rooms that need a lot of work (living room, bedroom, den). I don't have too much decluttering to do since I tend to get rid of things easily, organize well, and have a lot of storage space to work with; however, I really need to finish getting furniture, determine a cohesive color palette and look for the room, and work on keeping things clean.

the to do list includes:
Paint--everything--closet, bathroom, kitchen, livingroom, bedroom
declutter
new sofa
new filing system--goes with the decluttering
organize closet
get rid of clothes
get rid of all the boxes of stuff that we are going to "eventually" put away
taxes--yes, the taxes are not done

what we did this weekend:
since we haven't painted yet, we have all these boxes in the apt that have arrived with some new decor and artwork and such. We have put off hanging because we are going to just have to take it down again. It is all up now--rather make a mistake with the hole in the wrong place now than on the freshly painted room.
boxes gone, mission accomplished.

Cleaned out file cabinet that was filled with junk, receipts from 10 years ago , assorted non relevant things, manual for products that we don't own. All relevant receipts from the last year only! are now in the file cabinet, a file box is on order because everything will fit in the box rather than a 2 drawer ugly cabinet, the manuals will go in a storage box and we will be able to move the desk down giving us 2 feet more livingroom space!
all receipts to be kept were put in the storage bin for them and are gone.
Mission accomplished, and the taxes went off to the accountant too--I went through 2007 receipts while cleaning out the file cabinet. Taxes done.

We have 1 closet and it is oddly shaped, so we bought the pax system and use that. Our regular closet is where long things are stored, winter coats, and generally where papers go to die. Really, when we have people over we just take all the papers that have no home, throw them in a box and in the closet never to be seen again. I could not even walk in there.
Closet cleaned, papers thrown away, realized that I cannot add a lower rack to make more space. But I can get in there. Still have to weed some stuff out for donations to charity.

I haven't added pictures because things seem to change daily and if it isn't a disaster it isn't worthy of a before pic.

There are a lot of very ambitious people on this cure - I am looking forward to seeing their results and being inspired. I have tried to start the cure twice now on my own and have gotten distracted, I hope that doing it with the site will keep me on board. I have started to declutter, and hope to get rid of lots more. Much to do on the bones of my house -- I'd love to get the floors redone in the front part of my house. Maybe this will make me do it!

I just found out about this today so I'm starting late, but I have a lot of things to do and I need motivation to do them!

-Get rid of clothes and shoes I don't wear

-Reorganize my closets to make them hold my stuff efficiently

-Install wall shelves in kitchen and bedroom

-Buy storage cabinet or something for all my paperwork and computer stuff

-Put up more artwork and decorations, especially in the bathroom and front hallway

-Fix ceiling lights (only one out of four is currently working)

-Buy new dining table

Charging my camera battery now, and will soon put up hideously embarrassing Before photos.

This is my first cure and I'm looking forward to it. My goals are to purge a lot of useless things we are holding onto, come up with better storage for our media, finish our main bathroom (paint the tub) and fix the toilet in our guest bathroom. But first and foremost - we need to fix our AC! Summer in Miami with no AC has been great for our pockets and great for the environment, but not so great on our psychological well-being. :)

We're going to be putting our place up for sale very soon, so I'm hoping this cure will prove such a positive impact on our lives that we can find a buyer sooner rather than later.

My first cure, Deep Treatment. I've been in my apartment for a month and a half now. I want to define my style and embrace it. I also want to train myself into a routine of cleaning and cooking and buying fresh flowers so that I can be happy in my healthy home.

We've lived here a year, bought our first house - a place we could afford but don't love, it's been hard to put our hearts into it. But we're staying for a few years and we want to make it special. Deep Treatment first, then individual rooms will get extra attention.

This will be sort of the second cure for me. I started the cure process back in April but it devolved into "get rid of old stuff and decorate the walls" and I lost sight of some of the cure goals, both the book's and my own.

My goals for this cure are:
* finish decorating my bedroom
* remove 80% of the junk in the boxes that clutter my dining room and closets
* patch paint all the holes in the walls left over from moving frames around
* learn to cook a healthier variety of meals (and wash the dishes immediately after!)
* stay on a consistent cleaning schedule
* have my friends over more often

I'll be using this cure just for repairs, smaller upgrades, and serious decluttering. That's plenty! The plan is to start another cure immediately afterwards--a one room cure of the bedroom. Etc until I have finished the whole apartment. I think that's the best way to do what I want to do, keeping it manageable.

I'm starting out condensing the weeks together, whether this leads the cure to take less than 8 weeks, or makes the later weeks easier, I'll be happy either way.

my list includes:
a deep cleaning of the house
culling through the coat closet
moving records to the living room
moving- or starting move- of computer out of bedroom
painting the den
making a list of needed furniture
picking out living room curtain fabric

I am not officially joining the cure, since I started in the spring, did a lot, and slowly, and now my boyfriend has made me promise not to mention the C word for a few months.
but I do want to finish emptying the outbox (a tough one for me), do a deep cleaning, get on a set cleaning schedule, and spend more time at home, cooking, etc. I'll post my "after" pics at some point...
I have to give you guys kudos for all that you're doing, it's sometimes really hard (I gave away 150 books out of 500, and now want to get rid of more) but makes a huge difference in life and the feeling you have when at home...

highlysung: it sounds really brave, if you want a thought it sounds like you should limit the scope of what you are trying to do in 8 weeks. it is not that long of a time, and if you focus on one room that you spend a lot of time in (or want to), OR with switching the two girls' rooms, you will have a tangible positive difference that will give you the energy and motivation to replicate it in the rest of the house later on. versus, trying to do something in every room of a cluttered house and feeling like you are working so hard and not making any headway. so you can follow the different rooms/weeks with the group for cleaning purposes and ask "what one thing can I do in this room that will make a big difference?" but when that week's over, move on. and put in a lot of time into one limited defined space in terms of decluttering and how you want it to look and feel. good luck...

I am doing a deep treatment.

I will focus on de-cluttering, purging, organizing and repairing. The main area I want to de-clutter and organize is my loft bed/desk area. I am considering getting rid of the loft bed and want to migrate as much stuff as possible into my 2 closets. This will require some serious organization MacGuyvering!

As I go through the decluttering process, I will also look at my style tray and come up with ideas for replacing furniture, adjusting furniture placement and adding more color. These ideas will then be implemented in my next cure since I have quite a few repairs to do, an outbox that is already huge and will doubtless need to install some gadgets for organization.

I want my place to be organized, clutter-free and more guest friendly.

Louisa, you are so smart -- I read your post to highlysung and I'm gonna take your advice myself : ) . We moved to our small house one year ago and it has been sadly neglected. I think I will limit this Cure to just one or two rooms, what a relief it will be to not have to worry about the two bedrooms -- just focus on living/dining, kitchen, and small bathroom.

Wow, I feel better already!

my to do list includes:
making a landing strip next to my door
fixing the leaking faucets of the kitchen sink
making my bedroom a relaxing place where the furniture doesn't look like I just threw it against any wall that was near by.
finding a place for my and my boyfriends bikes that doesn't drive me crazy
I'd also like to work my way through the closet in my bedroom. It is poorly used and I end up with a pile of things on the floor. I think installing deep shelves would be the best thing to do.

whew, writing it down makes the list sound at once small and large. I think I can do this. I'm sort of excited to learn how to replace or repair my faucets and put shelves in my closet.

I'm doing a full house deep clean this weekend starting tomorrow. Tasks include:

1. Clearing the hall closet and setting up as an art supply area
2. Cleaning out and organizing the garage (pain!)
3. Deep cleaning the bathrooms and scrubbing tile (double pain!)
4. Going through all magazines and recycling ones over 2 months old
5. Clearing the master bedroom of all but the essential elements to begin the re-do process.

I'm tired already...

making a list seems like a great place to start.

* prepare porch & balcony for winter

* get rid of magazines (read or unread)

* steam clean couch

* resand and oil wood tables

* organize and clean out kitchen cabinets

* cook a few times to stock up on food

* put storage in W/D closet

* take everything out from under the bed

* fashion a night stand

* deal with the insane towers of stuff (all neatly organized, of course) in my closet

* purge and deaccession stuff

* leave my boyfriend's room untouched as he can do the cure on it himself

* deep clean the bathroom

* deal with storage issue in bathroom

* fix dog's crate so it really works as a jumping pad up to the bed

yup, that should do it.

Hi love the book and got the following things accomplished this past week.
kitchen cabinets decluttered and new shelf liner
washed inside and out refrig threw out old food yuk!
bought coffee mugs that actually match.
outbox is overflowing brought the stuff to goodwill.
deep cleaned the whole kitchen decluttered counters and cabinets.
bought fresh flowers for the kitchen table (that is now clean and clutter free)!
Love walking into my kitchen it's a joy to cook in now that everything is so organized.
this weekend going to create my landing pad.that way the kitchen table will remain clear. also got rid of junk mail and old magazines and made phone calls to cancel catalogs.And I am also going to Cure the bathroom.

"Zenifying" my apartment is number one on my list: purging, organizing, blablabla. I've started last spring but need to get rid of my "outbox" and get things moving.

Next, my bedroom and office corner/library: from A to Z!
- need new bed
- bookshelves
- closet to reorganize
- address window treatment

Time permitting, lots of little things around the house:
- bathroom: grout shelves maybe paint
- kitchen corner: big cleanup & cabinet diet
- entrance closet: reorganize
- living room: artwork on walls bicycle solution
get rid of the sofa would love a breakfast
corner, diner style (probably next time)

The main projects of my Cure will be cleaning out my basement, reorganizing my kids playroom, reworking my pantry, and preparing for a complete renovation of our main bathroom.

Right now I'm in the final stages of renovating a bathroom on the first floor. I also have about 20 people coming to my house next Sunday for my daughters First Communion. So I'm starting off the Cure with a good old fashioned crisis cleaning. Here's what I hope to accomplish this week:

Still left to complete bathroom:

Purchase shower curtain rings
Purchase towels/bath mat
Purchase accessories
Purchase shower curtain
Finish painting
Install medicine cabinet

This weekend

Friday:

Paint bathroom
Declutter/clean dining room and living room

Saturday:

Finish bathroom
Declutter/clean den and kitchen

Sunday:

Work in garden
Replace bedroom furniture with some new heirlooms passed down from relatives
Try to hang some artwork and pictures on some walls (putting this one off a long time).

The rest of the week will be spent on general projects necessary to pull the party together. The work this weekend should get the Cure off to a good start.

Question for the group.

One of the projects I'm going to tackle over the span of this Cure is the dealing with the change of seasonal wardrobes for myself, my husband, and my two children. Today I opened the first bin (a plastic Steralite one from Target) and found a dreaded worm in the bottom. I don't want to spinkle everything with moth balls because I can't stand the smell, but I also don't want my sweaters getting eaten up.

What are some methods (both in terms of containers and moth deterents) that have worked for you?

Thanks.

Louisa - thanks so much for your clear-headed advice! That is a really great way to look at it. My husband is going to be between shows for the next couple of weeks (a rare treat to have him home in the evenings) and he's excited about the Cure, too. I think we'll focus on switching the girls rooms and do the cleaning on each room and let each week be "done" as you suggest. I can already tell we'll still have a lot to do for the Spring Cure. That's ok - this is a great process to be in!

Last time I tried the cure I gave up before finishing because I chose too large a project. This time around I'm focusing on one room instead of the whole house. Livingroom, look out!