apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I saw this on the Bombay Co. website. They're having a sale (who isn't this weekend?) and thought it was such a cool mirror at such a great price that I just had to pass it along.

http://www.bombaycompany.com/gp/product/B000ENQQN8/sr=1-20/qid=1148655756/ref=sr_1_20/002-0410974-8486453?%5Fencoding=UTF8&bmBrand=core&m=A2Z4DUPX2Z8M59

You think YOUR place is small?! These photographs really struck me. 100 photographs of residents in their flats in Hong Kong's oldest public housing estate, each 100 sq ft. in size! Interesting to see how some people have organized their tiny area with elegance and some are just living in squalor. I love the lady in #4, and also #5 who decorated with McDonalds' bags.

oh my god Angela. that was amazing. i'm so fascinated by this!! thanks so much for sharing!!

I'd like to get in there with The Cure and a whole lot of IKEA.

I love the way folks used bunk beds as overhead storage. I never would have thought of that, but it makes such good sense. It takes advantage of ALL the space over the bed. And it's a lot easier to get in and out of the lower bunk than the upper. At least it would be for me. And there's more headroom on the lower bunk.

I've looked at loft beds for awhile, because I liked the idea of using the open bottom area for seating or storage or a closet, etc.

I think the bags in 5 are to cover up the vents along the top, they are covered in some other pictures too. Most folks seem to use a fan, and it doesn't appear there are windows. Anywhere. Probably just the entry door. A ceiling fan would be good for all the apartments.

Where's my magic wand? I wish I could make things better for everyone everywhere. It's hard for me to view pictures, even when these folks HAVE a roof over their head, it's not an ideal situation.

I physically suffer when I see things that bother me. And everything bothers me. I can't watch TV anymore. I definitely can't watch the news. I don't read the news much online anymore either.

Okay, walking tonight, a come upon a couple, both in tears, she says something about "trail of lies" and he says something about "is that really the way you think of me?" and *I* am in tears as I approach. All the rest of the way home I'm thinking that there must be something I could do to make it better.

They say that simply being alive alters the world, and I think that's true. Each one of us alters the world around us, changes things, for better, for worse, or simply by walking by.

Geez, some folks have hardly anything. A small room and there's next to nothing in it. Image 18. Maybe they're like the Italian bike trip, and that's all that's really needed. If so, how come we all have so much stuff?

I just know there are at least another 100 people in the world I wish I could hug.

Bored everyone, eh?

Okay. Today's question...

What's the BEST THING about living in (or around) L.A.?
What's the worst?

Best: weather.

Worst: SPRAWL

I was born in Malaysia and still have relatives that live like this.... well.... maybe not 100 sqft but more like 200-300 sqft. And the funny thing is that it doesn't make me sad. It makes me nostalgic. It makes me think back to when I was 16 and we used to visit them all. And they were all pretty happy with their lives. They had their little communities. They had their food and social life.

Thank you Jessica!

I was taught to buy into the endless advertisements...look at TV and movies and magazines. This culture "American" that says "more is better" and "bigger is better". I'm still unlearning all that garbage.

I could probably live in a space of that size (100 sq ft) and be fine. I wear the same few items of clothing, even though I have bunch of stuff in the closet. The same couple pairs of shoes. I don't use the living room area at all, that's pretty much turned into the cat play area.

I need a place for the computer and a chair. A bed. A place to make coffee and to hold a few small things in a tiny fridge. Microwave is good. Fan. Some of my books. That's really all I'd need. NEED.

The rest is cake. Stuff that is nice to have around, but not needed.

The folks living in the 100 sq ft homes might look at my place as I look at some of the larger places with more expensive furniture. Like some of the things I've seen advertised or used in homes in the SCC or House Tours.

I'm thinking "What do you need all that space for?" or "Why do you need all those things that cost so much?".

What do those things mean by themselves? Like if you took all kinds of furniture out into a place inhabited by relatively primitive tribes, what would they think of those items? Would they even know what they ARE?

There was a "bowl" featured on one of the AT sites, something about "deconstruction" or "destruction" and it was ragged on one side and therefore would not serve the purpose of a bowl. What would that mean to someone who could use a bowl? It would mean it was garbage. Useless.

Is it somehow sophisticated to have many useless and uncomfortable items? Is it like "luxury"...in that "I can afford to have many useless and uncomfortable items, therefore, I have good taste and appreciate good design?"

Would love to hear the opinions of people on that one. Using the example of the items being taken to a primitive tribal society.

Best: the weather. Worst: road ragers.

A couple cool articles in today's "Room" section of the Denver Post:

http://www.denverpost.com/room/ci_3860460
A California Girl in the High Desert - she has a gorgeous 1963 custom California Contemporary here in Denver. Too bad there are only three pictures, but I like the kitchen. The article is about her, her art, and her house.

http://www.denverpost.com/room/ci_3860466
Retro Passion - a woman goes all out with the 50's in her house.

Hi Andree,

I like the way you put it "I can afford to have many useless and uncomfortable items, therefore, I have good taste and appreciate good design?"

I was raised in a 500 sq feet home with 2 other siblings. We never had our rooms and did not know what it means to have one. My father worked from home - used the dining table for his work. All of us studied and wrote our home work sitting on that table.

When one of the siblings burnt the midnight oil, the others slept with their lights on. When the 2nd sibling had to burn the midnight oil she studied in the kitchen - standing so that she does not fall asleep. We slepts on mats ( made of basket weave) We unfolded in the morning. That was the way of life. One closet, one trundle bed and 2 other small shelves to store our clothes. Majority of the space ocupied - books and my fathers piles - archives.

When I came to this country - I saw people shopping all the time, everywhere - even if they did not need anything. When I attended graduate school - I saw undergrad kids wearing a " new " jacket everyday. How many winter jackets does one need - How many pairs of shoes does one need - one for walking, running, playing tenning, one to go to the mall, the other for matching their pair of dress, winter boots - Is there an end.

GREEDY is the word for american consumerisim. gluttony oozes in its eyes. And the rest of me who tries to live a simple life enjoying the freedom of this country I am called "stingy" because I do not have useless and uncomfortable items in my houses. Friends say may be we can use your closets for your storage. They say I have limited needs -

It requires a great amount of discipline to resist the temptation of buying even if they are offering tons of discount.

Thank you for your comments, Race!

I don't know if it's so much "greedy" or "gluttony" but that it's a long training process during the lifetime, with many pressures. School friends that pick on other kids that don't have as much. Advertisements in magazines and on television that basically say "This product will make you a better person".

The products promise our clothing will be cleaner and smell better. Using this shampoo will make our hair much more beautiful. Buying this car will make us the envy of everyone (even though the ad shows the car doing illegal things).

Only the best pictures are used, and then they're retouched, making us think it's really going to work the way as promised. And when it doesn't, we go on to look for the next Holy Grail. The thing that will REALLY make us better people.

But no THING will make anyone a better person. It will only mean that the person has the means to buy stuff.

And, you're right, it DOES require a great deal of discipline to not be lured into BUY BUY BUY. It's OKAY not to have a lot of stuff you don't need.

As I work my way slowly through the Apartment Therapy book and relearn what I already knew, I keep finding things I do not need. There are things that I have that I WANT, but I don't NEED them to live, to survive, to be comfortable.

Another problem lies in exactly what you said..."Is there an end?" It's SOOOO easy to spend just a tiny bit more. When all I might NEED is a pot to cook in, this OTHER pot that costs just a tiny bit more is a nice color. And the next pot has a nice color and a fancy design. And the next pot has a nice color, a fancy design, and a neat handle. And so on.

Somehow I end up feeling bad if I don't get the pot that has ALL the pretty accents. It's just a pot. It's for boiling water and pasta. I don't think the fancy pot boils water any better or cooks the noodles any faster.

If the speed limit on my street is 35 and 45 mph, does it really matter if I have my rusty 20-year-old car or a brand new Lambourghini? Uh, nope. Legally I can't go any faster than the speed limit. And my car would get better gas mileage, even if it is old and falling apart. My old car is cheaper to insure. My old car won't get stolen, even if I put a sign on it that said "Take this car, please!"

There IS a skill to picking out the "right" things to fit in with a particular group of people and thereby being accepted as part of the "in-group." I never really figured that part out and I'm far too poor now to try. It wouldn't make me happy.

I don't need THE chair, I need A chair. A chair that is comfortable to me and well within my range and doesn't require special care.

If you have friends that think you're stingy or mock your lack of things, get new friends. They're already trying to make you see that your way is "wrong" and want you to buy into the consumerism they already have bought into, and you don't have to do it.

YOU can choose your luxury. If it's being free of crap in your home, so you don't spend oodles of time cleaning and dusting and polishing and caring for the stuff, that IS a luxury. TIME is a luxury.

The consumption-as-sense-of-self thing is one of those issues that lends itself to impassioned debate but just doesn't seem to have a clear resolution.

I'd started to write something else, but then I pondered that, while I'm fine with a "good" repro Oriental rug, I'd slit my wrists before I'd let those puffy blue plush sofas of the lower middle class into my home -- so whatever I say (and however much I eschew bowls that don't function as bowls), I'm still a willing prisoner of class distinctions.

Class distinctions are self-perpetuating, too. Once one makes those first steps toward being, say, a pointy-headed urban intellectual (that'd be me, not a hint at anyone else), it becomes natural to stay in the urb and pontificate about the beauty of smallness, rather than to buy a 4,000-sq-ft suburban Texas mini-mansion and decorate it with marble and gilt.

For all I know, exposure to miles of marble floors lowers one's cholesterol -- but for me, it's too late ever to find out!