apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

There's already a new thread? Alana, I posted a picture of my Landing Strip, During. I got an energy boost after reading the thread last night and worked till after midnight decluttering my living room, so the outbox is again filled and the stuff is sorted or tossed. This morning I got an earlier start than usual and continued tidying up. The manager said that maintenance would do my repairs today (I think he responded quicker to my request because he sees I'm trying to clean up the place. :) ) I still haven't asked for the dishwasher to be fixed because I haven't emptied it yet. More pictures of my living room after I clear the dining table and the coffee table.

Oh, and I'm behind too. Today I sat for 10 minutes someplace I never sit (in the Pier One chair). The dinner I'm going to cook this week is teryaki chicken, brown rice, and broccoli. It's the only thing I know how to make other than spaghetti. :)

Way to go, Marilyn!

I should have been more specific, it's not a new Cure thread, it's the new Open Thread on the New York main page. Maxwell usually "welcomes" 4 or 5 people, with links in their names to the comments he's highlighting, and today he "welcomed" wrtrmaus.

P.S. I love teriyaki chicken! And brown rice... and broccoli... can I come over for dinner?

This is a before picture??? What did the after look like???

If my place ends up looking even half as good as that before picture, I'll be thrilled.

Also, LOVE the Victorian/Frankenstein lamp. Terrific!

I tried tackling the cord problem under my boyfriend's desk a few months ago. It's the worst I've seen. I could only do so much, since he wasn't (and still isn't) willing to actually unplug everything. There's so much going on down there, that he's afraid stuff won't work right if unplugged, moved, or modified in any way. It's a fragile ecosystem. I did manage to bundle as much as I could, but it's still a huge mess.

All I can focus on is my own batch of cords, and not worry about his cord clutter. "Choose your battles," is right-on advice, maxwell.

Alana,
I loved your comment on painting my kitchen cabinets a dark brown. Thinking about it, I realized that one of my favorite images of a kitchen is a dark brown kitchen with red accents - so I posted it for you to see.
I love that it is a lovely comfortable place that is obviously not straight off a showroom floor!! Of course, the counters are nothing like my awful green ones so it probably won't work, but it is something to think about.

Thanks Maxwell, for that. I appreciate what you're trying to say, and I also appreciate the link.

But I am still really uncomfortable with the connections being drawn between body size and our homes. I think there is a danger in going too far - when I read that article, I could immediately think of a number of young women in my life who would see it as justification for their anorexic behaviour. Maybe it's harder for a guy to see what women go through when it comes to body image, but some of the comparisons to body size and home clutter are making me (and no doubt a number of others) really uncomfortable.

Working on my home has been an amazing process for me, and I can draw many parallels alongside that and my personal life and well-being. So I really do "get" the connections between home and self...I think it's really important to make those connections. But I also think there are a thousand ways to make that connection besides just looking at body size. I think you do try to do that, but this last article felt like the culmination of an emphasis I've been noticing for awhile - I felt like I had to say something.

Anyway, thanks again, Maxwell, and thank you for all this amazing work you do for us out here. And I'm glad you like my dining room mural. My mom and I did it together - an interesting outcome of our joint healing from disordered eating!

Oh, I forgot to mention, I am getting rid of my big Ikea Klappsta chair during this version of The Cure...really hard to do (especially after dyeing the slipcovers chartreuse!), but after I started getting the space set up so that it REALLY works for me, the chair (comfy as it is) makes my apartment feel way too crowded now.

Is anyone else getting rid of really beloved furniture to fit a more streamlined home lifestyle? Misery loves company! I just hope the friend I'm giving it to picks the chair up soon, because I've changed my mind a million times...

"If you are meticulous and like to work slowly, do so and don't tackle each room in your house. Go deep and do a good job"-Thanks for that Maxwell, this is me exactly. I don't know that I'll be finished by the end of the 8 weeks, but I'm being thorough and I'm really happy with how it's going so far.

Thanks also for mentioning my socks :o)

I second the request to see an after picture, the red wall and gold loveseat are perfect together, I want to see more!

Janelle, Love your lampshade, it's so creative and funky. I'm filing that idea away for a future project.

I'm hoping to get through tidying up the rest of my junk this weekend and getting at least a coat of primer up, if not the paint as well, so hopefully I'll have some pretty dramatic changes to document on Monday.

I'm behind because my toe is so utterly broken I can't stand on it long enough to vacuum, paint, or even whistle. My goal is simply to finish by Thanksgiving, which I decided to host this year in a fit of insanity. But, the Outbox is almost completely emptied out! The house just needs painting, cord-tackling, a little hardware makeover, and cleaning. As soon as I can walk I'm doing it!

Oh, Leela, so sorry your toe is so bad. Please take care of yourself -- you're more important than your Cure! (And people will understand at Thanksgiving if your home isn't "finished", knowing what you've been dealing with in the last few weeks.)

And thank you, Maxwell, for "permission" to choose our battles. I was realizing today that all my shredding may not be done by Thanksgiving, and I'd pretty much decided to be okay with that, but it's really helpful to have that decision validated by your words.

On the up side, I tamed the rest of the cordtopus this evening, despite the fact that I had to reschedule the old-tv pickup (the guy wasn't going to be able to get here until about 10 to 12, and I had to leave before that to get to another appointment, so he's coming next Friday instead.) I managed to slide the old tv further into the middle of the living room (looks lovely, ha ha), but that allowed me to move the little bookcase (technically called a jelly cupboard) and deal with the rest of the cords. The bookcase is back in place, the two little lamps are glowing happily, and I cannot say enough about how much I like those non-locking cord channels. They just look like thicker baseboards, and the cables, phone wire, electric cords, are all nicely contained. See me smile!

I really like the way my desk looks now, with the printer in the drawer. Pics tomorrow or Sunday. I won't get pics taken of the rest of the living room until that old tv is gone, but it's shaping up nicely. I was thinking about art tonight, and I've got ideas that I think will work nicely (and I'm hanging them lower than I had 'em before. Thanks, jessi in oregon! It was you that suggested my pictures be lower, right? You were certainly right. I can tell even just when I'm holding them up on the wall just to "see".)

Alana -- you accomplished so much in the first couple of weeks of the Cure, that you deserve to have time to do other things now. Homeschooling, I'm sure, takes a lot of time, and you need to give yourself lots of points for doing that. And, you've done a lot for others of us in the Cure this week, with floor plans, and drape suggestions, and all kinds of encouragement (and I'm sorry I said the snow was yuck for me -- you did understand that it was the idea of snow I was having trouble with, right? Your picture is lovely.) So, take a deep breath, and pat yourself on the back for all you've done! I'm certainly doing that for myself, I'm looking around my living room/office, and although I've still got stuff to do, the room is making me smile!

Interesting about the brown, Alex!

I think it could totally work with the green countertops--and as it is temporary--it's just a bit of fun for now....

Here's my 2 cents about your colour "problem." Paint the hallway in the taupe.

Then take the taupe, find a paint chip "match" for the counter top and then, take your paint deck and pick out the living room and the kitchen cabinet colours...at the same time.

That way you'll have a palette for the whole apartment that will work.

In fact, that's the advice I'd give everyone trying to paint areas which can be seen from other areas.

Leela, can you not get a cast or something? Good heavens. I'd be stir crazy in your shoe! At least my pain comes and goes....

In cure news, I took back some blinds, and purchased two valences for the troublesome living room windows instead. They won't work either (sigh).

In desperation I've arranged for my mom to watch the kids so I can spend an hour in my favourite shop in the city--they are very, very, pricey, though. However, all I need is a metre (a yard to you) of fabric to cover those windows--so hopefully I can get out of there without spending more than $40.

Cross your collective fingers for me.

Alana - I have an ancient, battered, stretched out pair of Merrells that are the only thing I can bear right now. They're so fracking ugly, but they don't make me scream. The problem is that I can't get out of my dance commitments right now (and don't want to), so I'm taking very large doses of anti-inflammatories and trying to dance on the inside of my foot.

Regarding the cords, could someone please remind me of where to find this magical cordtopus-tamer?

Oh my god, that stitchy lampshade is the best!

Oh, Leela, dance carefully! Oooh, ouch.

The magical cordtopus-tamer I used is from Office Depot, link in my name. They show it stuck to a desk, but the one I bought is about 4 feet long, and they say it can be stuck to a desk or a baseboard. I didn't remove the sticky backing, didn't want to risk sticking it on and not being able to get it off, I just propped it against the baseboard, and it seems to be staying in place (helps that the little bookcase is holding one end of each of them -- I got two). My computer and phone are the other side of the room from the cable outlet and the phone jack, so I have ultra long cables and wires going around the edge of the room. There was excess that I've looped together and bound with velcro cord holders, those were, I think, from Staples. Fortunately, I can hide those bits behind the TV stand, and no one but me (and all of you) is the wiser. Hope this helps. It sure made a difference in my little corner of the world.

Leela, did you just say Fraking? Are you a
Battlestar junkie too?

Dorianne, it looks like i'm going to be getting rid of some beloved stuff as well. namely this really cool old record hutch which is currently used as a stereo stand (and much-needed crap storage). i got it via an installation in the gallery i once worked for, and i've dragged it around for ages. it's actually in pretty bad shape, but it works so wonderfully as crap storage. and yet the new media cart has room for the stereo on it, and i'm radically changing what goes on in that corner of the living room. the record hutch just won't look right. so it might have to go, unless i can find another place for it. not nearly as beloved as a comfy chair, but still, i love it so.

i've also realized this cure that i have a total fear of letting go of furniture. funny, as the 'one thing to get rid of' in week one was a file cabinet. i now have an extra dining chair i don't want, this storage hutch, and my nightstand. i don't want to let go of any of them, though they're no longer being used. odd as i'm usually so good about this...

this weekend is one of serious transformation -- i'm going to paint the window wells, radiators, and my new desk chair (and perhaps my vestigial door), and then hopefully sunday night i can move the desk into place. i got paint last night. the turquoise i chose for the chair is absolutely lovely. i'm really excited to start using it. i'm less impressed with what i chose for the window wells. the chip was so beautiful, but glidden. which is a line i generally won't cross in terms of pigment quality. but the kid at home despot talked me into it (i know). and now i have this paint that doesn't so much resemble beach glass as mint ice cream. we'll see how it goes on, but i'm really doubtful that it'll look right.

good luck, guys, (and leela, try to stay off that toe!). wish me well!

oof. realizing right now why i'm not generally a fan of Ralph Lauren paint. it goes on weirdly and tends to look like absolute shite without like a zillion coats.

which doesn't bode well for the Glidden, as it's a lower quality paint made by the same company.

moral of the story: find a brand of paint you like and stick to it, despite which chips you think are the prettiest. i really should have gone with Behr, which i've had nothing but good results with. or stuck to my guns on Benjamin Moore, which is what i wanted for this project in the first place (unfortunately i got out of work late last night and Janovic Plaza was closed. damn you janovic plaza and your stupid hours in the face of open-til-10 home depot!).

all that said, i think five coats from now the chair will be lovely. and i spent under $15 on the Glidden, so i can always change my mind and make the trek out to Janovic later without feeling too guilty.

ok, just took the two toned window well look for a test drive.

and the answer is no.

while i'm adoring the turquoise on the chair, on the wall (especially on a 'trim' part of the wall) it brings up some bad associations. the hallways of my office building. the bedroom of an ex boyfriend.

on the wall, the icky mint green glidden doesn't look so bad, though it goes on terribly and is also going to need like a zillion coats.

is it media fast day for the Deep Treatment folks, or is it just that everyone's in a mountain or pacific time zone and it's only like 8-9 AM for yall?

because i need help procrastinating/waiting for paint to dry!

Opoponax, I'm here. Getting up the guts to go move all the furniture, and deal with actual work on the computer. I've gone through my pile of office paperwork already. It's moving a king-size bed that I don't want to deal with!

I hope the paints come out the way that you want them too. Turquoise & sea-glass green sounds wonderful.

opoponax, i REALLY hate working with ralph lauren paint. i tried to paint my bedroom with one of the colors from the whitewash collection and it was a nightmare. i went screaming back to behr, but i've yet to finish painting the bedroom the chocolate brown color i picked out (i feel like i've painted so much in this apartment that i just can't bring myself to pick up the roller right now, even though i desperately need to).

i too have been looking for an old chair to couture, but kentucky craiglist is not helping me out.

Cord management links:

http://tinyurl.com/vu54a (from Cure 1)
http://tinyurl.com/rroh4
http://www.belkin.com/surgeprotection/

One more cable management link:
http://tinyurl.com/y4jhkj (from AT)

There are certain things that I'm REALLY dragging my heels on:

1. Sending out my "housewarming" invitations

2. Calling the electrician and upholsterer about the repairs (everything else on my list I can fix myself)

I don't know why. I'm procrastinating so much on doing these two tasks that there must be some psychological thing going on. It's not hard to pick up the phone or send an email.

Is anyone else really balking at stuff on the list, and not sure why?

Opo -- while I know nothing of various brands of paint, I'm sending lots of good thoughts and positive vibes your way!

Anna -- I have a pretty good idea why I'm procrastinating on sending out my housewarming invitations...lately, it seems that if I plan a gathering of some sort, something happens that I end up having to cancel it. So I figure if I don't plan it, I'll be able to round up a few people at the last minute, and all will be well. Besides, I keep thinking, "but everything will look even better when I can get the last couple of things for the living room, and etc., etc." Not good excuses, I realize. Anyway, you all, all my fellow Curers, are the people I'd really like to have at my housewarming!

I'm procrastinating about getting the building manager to come and fix the bathroom tap, and put the closet door back on its track, because I want the place in better shape before he sees it. 'Nother bad excuse. Sigh.

I have a chuckle I wanted to share with y'all. Yesterday, a clerk in a store called me "Miss". I haven't been called "Miss" instead of "Ma'am" for a looooooong time. The Cure must be even more rejuvenating than I thought!

I'll be back later, right now I want to go over to the drugstore and see if they can develop my film today. (After pics of the "office" area, and some bits and pieces that I need extra opinions on.)

Well, I bought my fabric.

I am an absolute jumble of nerves about it though. Second guessing myself, worrying about whether it will work--the same rigamarole I went through with the paint!

Mom was here, fortunately, and her suggestion to line it was spot on. (sigh). I also want to get some trim--but by my calculations I'll need 24 feet!

I also have to figure out how to "hide" my seams--and though I once took a course in sewing and know there is such a thing as a french seam--I am just a-quiver.

Oh, yes, I can do the little panels for the end windows...no problem. What I'm talking about NOW is lengthening the current curtain panels I have up on the "picture" window by 14 inches so they hang to the ground. (I cut them so they would clear the bench when I pulled them but realised once I had them hung that that would look ricidulous.) And of course, I want to put this pretty new fabric along the top.....(and I have the bromill curtains from IKEA as my centre panels with the tabs still in them, just folded back--so I have to take them out, stitch the holes closed and then figure out the seams....)

I think I'm rambling and not quite coherent at this point in my frenetic musings.....

How did my "deep treatment" turn into a one-room fixer-upper of the living room???

Had I chosen a room to make over it would have been my bathroom or my bedroom (of which, you will have noticed, I haven't posted any pics.)

Though I do think that I will paint the ceiling in the bathtub area of the bathroom. It's flaking and peeling.....we need a better (and much quieter) fan, but as dh bought one just a year ago, that idea isn't going to fly....should I ask for one for Christmas??

Opo--how's the paint?

i haven't written up or sent out invitations because i'm just not the mailed paper invitations type. it's just not really what people in my social circle do. i've been invited by email to weddings. so it seems silly to do printed invitations for an informal dinner party.

i'd rather save that energy for a round of christmas cards. which i say i'm going to do like every year and then don't.

so i discovered the slightly further away neighborhood hardware store carries Benjamin Moore, so i went over and splurged on some. Copper Patina. very nice. except i got halfway through my first coat on the windowsills when it got too dark to see what i was doing. so i had to stop. that's the thing about mood ligting -- not very useful for home improvements.

Yes, sometimes you just need to buy some 100 watt bulbs....or 150....or 300....

Thanks for those links Pixie. I like twist ties, lol! But I really like those channels you found at office depot, smallcitybeth. I want to check them out.

Anna--are you afraid the work won't be up to your standards? I always have a problem getting other people to do things for me--especially "professionals." I'm always afraid someone's going to take advantage of me somehow. (No, I'm not really paranoid, am I?)

I understand not sending out the invitations. 1) it really does put you under the gun. Preassure I do not need! And 2) who's going to notice all the work you've done? How on Earth can others appreciate all we're doing? Like scb--I don't really want to invite anyone but my fellow curers, too.

So, I for one, propose we have our own little "after" party. If Maxwell is agreeable, we should have a week 9 thread--extending into the weekend, perhaps? On that thread we post our "afters" and congratulate with each other. If it's in week 9--or even the weekend of week 9, that will give us film people time to take the last pics and get them developed and up. It should also be the first weekend in Dec then (right?) so our Flickr accounts will be renewed.

And eric, that bedroom is to die for--the brown one. Beautiful.

And I broke down and took some pics of the bedroom. I want to get this roll developed so you can all see the transformation painting the cove in the living room effected. Ok, my grammar is going....time to stop "talking" and do something.

Good luck with the painting, opoponax. The previous owners of this place used Behr paint and it's pretty decent; I'll try it the next time I have a project.

Just a little FYI about paint colors: A lot of places can mix any color you need and often have the formulas for other companies paint chips. I'm a loyal Dunn-Edwards paint user and they've been able to mix up paint from chips I pick up at Home Depot. So just because a chip is a Glidden color, doesn't mean you have to use Glidden paint.

Where is everyone?

Other than fretting about curtain fabric, my "other" project for today was to sort and put away---oh about several hundred photos today. I have pics on the roll of that too. Man, some aspects of the "cure" are really boring, lol! However, I find I'm tossing bad shots as I go, so you see, it really is "curing."

My nephew was here today and helped me with the kitchen. I'm back to the kitchen tonight, cleaning the oven and maybe the refrigerator later. A housewarming is a bit too ambitious for me this time around. I think my goal is to cook a meal here. :)

I just uploaded some new pics to my Flickr page (link in my name). I'm pleased with my Cured desk-space and Tamed Cordtopus. My project to add a bit more red to the kitchen is still a work in progress, I couldn't find red tiles, but I have a "scathingly brilliant idea" to make white tiles into red tiles. We'll see if it works...

The last few pics are a question for the Cure Committee. I want to add an accent color to the darker sage and lighter sage green in my living room (drapes are darker sage, chairs are lighter, loveseat will be lighter sage floral) My inclination is to go with dark dark green, but is that too predictable and pedestrian? I have a few color suggestions on Flickr. (the orange cushion in the first suggestion pic is destined for the bedroom, but there are plenty more where it came from.)

I'd appreciate all the comments, suggestions, questions, that you can give! Thanks.

Alana -- I love your idea of us having our own "after" party! Perfect!

While you were wondering "where is everybody?" I was trying to upload my pics. I get a free CD with the paper pictures, and I've been using that for my uploading, but this one just plain didn't work. So I had to scan all the pics, which took longer (but turned out better, so I'm not complaining!)...I took your suggestion about lowering the resolution, the pics look fine, and I hope I'll have more space in my Flickr this month as a result. Thanks!

Seems like everybody had somewhere else to go and something else to do today. I was out and about, and got a couple of things for the bedroom (a couple of throw cushions, and some curtain hanger-uppers for when I get my new curtains next weekend.) By the time I pay for the stuff I'm getting next weekend, I'll have really blown my budget -- but I'm anticipating that my bedroom will look oh-so-nice.

none of the Home Depots in NYC will mix paint from one brand to match another brand's chip. i've had no luck trying to get people to match off-brand swatches in general. so i try to stick to the swatches of a brand i like, like Behr or Benjamin Moore. now if you bring in a card painted with another brand's paint, or a chipped-off sample of the dried paint, they'll do it. but that's way too complicated...

Ok I'm back, had to leave town for work (took the AT book with me). I think I left responses for everyone who has ever left me a flickr comment (LOVE those). I've been doing some pondering, we'll see if it gets me anywhere.

Smallcitybeth it's great to see all the cool stuff going on in your living room. Can you (or did you) post a panorama-type shot so we can see more of your living room at the same time in it's current state? Also, I think I left you about a million comments.

And Opo - I haven't personally had any issues with either Behr or Glidden but I think I may be less picky than some. The bedroom is Glidden, just two heavy coats (Forest Glen, although not green as it would seem it should be). And I think the entryway is Behr. I haven't tried any of the expensive brands but everything I've done so far has been no problem at all.

The goal is to do MORE cleaning out this weekend (office closet, cue scary music) and finish painting/hanging curtains in the bedroom.

AND, does anyone have a recommendation for a place online where I can find nice solid-colored pillow covers? I just want some fairly plain ones in something cozy like chenille but apparently all my 18" sq. pillows are nonstandard or I can only get pillows with covers instead of just covers. This is an ongoing annoyance so if anyone can help that would be awesome!

Oh, and Maxwell, "unique" colors? I thought I'd just been spending too much time looking at the color contest page. I think I'm still at a pretty mild-mannered step up from plain white.

OK smallcitybeth--I'm going to throw some colour wheel theory at you for your green plus what dilemna.

Green and red: complimentary colour scheme. energetic, lively, invigorating. (usually). Did you see lucy's entry into the colour contest? She took these usual effects of the scheme and turned them on their head and created a serene but fresh space. That's how to use red and green without it looking like Christmas! So, using red will depend on how "green" your greens are--and the photos just don't tell us that. Red will tie the living room into the kitchen, though, so if you can make it work, do! (Remeber, pink is pale red!)

Other colour wheel combos with green:

Green, red-orange, red-violet.
Split complementary. Also energetic, etc...see above but a bit more unexpected. Peach is pale red-orange....terracotta is deep red-orange.

Green, orange, violet. The triad combination. (Each colour is equidistant from the others on the colour wheel). My most favourite combination in the world....remember my inspiration photo? (The blue is more of a blue-violet in the pic rather than a true blue or violet).

Green, yellow-green, blue-green: analogous, soothing, relaxing. The yellow green is a bit on the warm side, so this combination is a bit more invigorating than the next analogous scheme. However, depending on the intensities you use, it could put you to sleep or wake you right up!

Green, blue-green, blue. Probably too cold for you.

Green, blue, yellow. Cream is pale yellow. Again, yellow is warm, so this combination has a bit of spark. I think the cream on your chair would work: it would be very soothing...but perhaps a bit boring?

Green, yellow-green, yellow: again, warm and interesting, but the hues are close enough for the whole thing to be soothing.

Green, yellow, orange: another soothing combo with an emphasis on the warm side of things. Brown is actually a shade of orange. Brown, cream and green is this colour scheme: though I would pick a caramal brown, rather than a chocolate brown for your living room. Not, however, for Alex's kitchen. Her green is quite intense and can "take" a deeper brown like chocolate. (I quess I'm nixing that option for you.)

When doing an analogous or triadic scheme, you can use any two of the three colours and they'll still harmonize.

I think I covered them all. I don't know where I've put my colour wheel actually.....

I hope that gives you some ideas, anyway.

I took my pics in to be developed....yay...I know you've all been anxiously waiting too see! (wink).

Thanks for all the advice and comments so far, people, keep 'em comin' -- and thanks for all that color-wheel stuff, Alana! I'll print that out and study it, having never learned anything about the color-wheel.

Anne (in Reno), I'd be glad to do a panorama, if I knew how. I will take some more pictures, and get them developed at a good place, instead of a fast-cheap place, and then hopefully the colors will be truer. It'll just take a day or two longer to get the pics back. Then I'll attempt a panorama (having seen other people's panoramas, they're definitely cool, and definitely give a better idea of the room.) Meantime, I'm going to go and play on that room-arranging site that Alana does so many neat things on, and you'll see the layout of my living room, anyway (for what it's worth...).

Hey all, I've been thinking. Is it weird to have what feels like a totally different color scheme in every room? You pretty much can't see any of them from any of the others, but I'm realizing, so far I have:

Entryway: medium green and white.
Hall: plain white (only place where you can see more than one color).
Office: light and medium greens and navy (and quilt colors) and white.
Master Bedroom: medium blue, white and burgundy.
Guest Bath: Dark blue and white with tiny bits of green.
Master Bath: so far, sky blue. but no guarantees.
Living Room: burgundy (couch) with green accents and the rug colors. can't face painting the walls right now.

So overall it sounds like I should stick with greens and blues with burgundy and white as more of accents. Does that make sense? I feel like I've done all this stuff randomly and am now looking for a common thread to tie it all together.

And all the wood in the house is different colors. I'm going to try and stain some of it darker but I'm writing off the bedroom as All oak, All the time. I'm still hunting on CL for some more respectable office furniture...

New goal for the weekend, calm down.

Just one 'nother little comment -- Alana, you said "remember, pink is pale red"...that caught my eye, because I'm planning to bring some of Dad's wildflower photographs into the livingroom from the bedroom. 2 are prairie prickly pear cactus (sage-y green cactus pads, and pale yellow flowers) and 2 are prairie roses (the pink roses that grow along the roadside all over the Canadian prairies -- pink flowers with dark green leaves). Maybe I could pick up some colors from those photos? I need to keep studying your color wheel stuff...

(It probably goes without saying, but the questions I found the hardest in the Week One quiz were the visually-oriented ones.)

Great to see how much everyone has gotten done today! Alana, thanks for the color wheel information - while I do know a bit, you covered more than I ever learned in art class.

Anne in Reno, I agree you should stick with greens and blues with burgundy and white accents. It does sound like that is the thread of color running through your home.

We have more stuff than I realized. I just finished re-arranging our bedroom. Lots of books to move so I could move the bookshelves, and oh look! the parquet flooring is coming up, let me fix that while I'm here.. got all of those except for the one spot that actually doesn't have furniture on it now and so can wait. The room actually looks BIGGER now, it's great. On the other hand I will pay for this tomorrow; but once I started I had to finish. Tomorrow I can re-locate the living room I buried in the process.

I haven't sent out housewarming invitations because I don't know when I will be ready for it. I'm working on heart in all the rooms, but I know I need to de-clutter closets (again) as well. If I'm going to show off the house I don't want to feel like I've just stored all everything I don't want out.

I wanted to check back in and see how everyone is doing before I go relax for the night.

Well done, Tara! (Hope you have a heating pad or something, sounds like you'll have sore muscles in the morning...)

Alana in Canada, I had a wonderful time making a scale floor plan of my living room on Arrange-a-Room, but now I don't know how to get it from there to my Flickr page. ???

Meantime, it's 12:05 here, and waaaaaay past my bedtime (but I was having fun, and that's gotta count for something...)

Thanks, Tara...that was a sweet thing to say. Where I personally have trouble is combining the colours in various tints (lighter versions) and shades (darker versions.) And when we get to intensity--well, I like to stick with pretty clear hues.

Intensity or chroma, (some of you will have called it that) has to do with how much a colour is greyed down. For example, there's pink--hot pink (clear hue, no grey) and "dusty rose" --lots and lots of grey in it. Generally, as I understand it, the trick is in getting the intensities to mix well. Would you put hot pink and dusty rose in the same room? All the stuff out there right now is NOT "dusty" but clear and vibrant.

I was actually sighing all over the place at the fabric place today. Whimpering at stuff that was $106.00 a meter (yard). Oh, so beautiful. And there I am with my jeans, my winter coat with the hole in it I burned while making bannock on a stick over an open fire with the kids last winter...and a woman dressed to the nines annoyed with her husband who was saying (as husbands do) "that looks fine to me dear." She gave me a look...and I actually said to her, "this is supposed to be fun." And she said, "I quess I should have left him at home." I didn't say anything to that because of course she should have left him at home....how long have they been married for heaven's sake? But, I quess if you have too much money, you have too many options...and too many decisions to make. That might take all the fun out of it. I don't know. I'd like to find out someday.

I realised today, as I do every time I start decorating, that I really should have done this for a living...back when I was seventeen and the world was at my feet--I actually considered it and rejected it.

So, this whole cure thing is a tiny way of me living out a little dream of helping folks feel happy about their homes. I had no people skills at seventeen...so I probably would not have got very far....but everything, and I mean everything (including cranky rich women) about designing interiors floats my boat.

Sorry for the novel--Anne, I think you are right on with your colour scheme--I actually took a look at your photos after your last post and noticed this theme of green and blue. Burgandy is a bit of a contrast--and it can jar unless handled carefully. But I think you are right on with diagnosing the "wood" problem. As long as they are consistent within one room (as they are in your bedroom) I don't think you have a problem.

Maybe thinking of wood in terms of coulor might help you think about unifying things?

Pine: either yellow or orange, depending upon the finish. Same with Oak.

Mahogany, cherry: red.

Espresso: well, dark brown (orange) to black. Almost a neutral. Ebony--black (neutral).

Birch--orange/yellow.

Maple--brown (orange).

Aged fir plywood (of which I have a lot) red-orange.

The opposite of orange is blue...which you have happening. The opposite of red is green....which you also have a lot of. For you, keeping intensities consistent will help "tone down" the cluttered feel of all the different woods--says she in a room with three different woods (in all different tones! yellow-orange (pine and oak) red-stained oak and dark walnut (brown, almost neutral.)

All woods are warm and have various undertones of yellow or orange or red. Really look at it to determine what you've got.

Sorry for the novel, but sorting and filing photos is driving me to reflection!

Beth--if you are still up--do this:

While on the page of your floor plan hit the keys (print screen)

Nothing will happen. It's OK.

Now, go to your program that you used to resize your photos....create a new document (however you do that in your program) create one about 800 pixels wide and 600 long (or whatever your screen size is) then once that is done hit the keys at the same time. It should apper. Then you can crop it to size and save it as a jpg on your computer and upload to flickr.
Hope that helps.

beth--where I wrote

While on the page of your floor plan hit the keys (print screen)

I should have tyoped: hit the keys and (print screen> simultaneously.

sorry.

what's going on?

Hit and simultaneously.

OK--I quess this program will not include info typed in those "greater than and less than" signs 'cause they're disappearing when I hit post.

so, hit "shift" and "print screen" simultaneously.

and this sentence :

then once that is done hit the keys at the same time.

should read hit the keys "ctrl" and "v" at the same time....geesh.

Alana, html tags are combined in ">" and the other signs, which is why the text inside isn't displaying.

Today was spent emptying the inbox to great financial gain. Amazing what finally returning to the store all of the stuff that's been piling up *and* selling a bunch of books and CDs does for the wallet and the outbox. Tomorrow: more of the same plus a big trip to target and a ski show. No, the ski show has nothing to do with the cure, but hey...it's ski season! Wooooohoooo!

I love the idea of hosting an on-line party to celebrate all that we have accomplished. It will be nice to see everyone's finished spaces.

So I'm still away at a volunteer board meeting, but one of the activities was to honor the woman/designer who redecorated the alumnae house, so I told her about apartment therapy. I'll be curious if she ever pops in...

Stopping at Ikea (New Haven, CT) on the way home to get the stuff for my new desk and some lamps for the new book case arrangmenets for the nephews and my new work office which we moved to on Fri while I was away. Tomorrow is my first day working there and I know a nice task lamp and plant are going to be key to making the space more comfortable.

The SO sold the filing cabinet we are not going to use in the office anymore while I've been gone, so that is fabulous. After the new desk gets set up the computer and printer stands can go onto craigslist as well.

Have a great Sunday!!

gah. after all this, i'm really not sure i like the painted window wells. at all. which is especially frustrating as i've wanted to do this one specific thing for almost a year now. i'm considering going maybe a darker color? but i've already spent almost $50 on paint. maybe after i finish a whole two coats and get the radiator and pipe done, i'll feel differently. i also might feel better about it after i hang the art it's pulled from, bring the desk and chair in, etc. maybe i should paint the whole room a darker color that somehow relates? but i like having white walls in here.

can i interest anyone in a gallon and a half of seafoam green paint?

hey, lucy! i just noticed your color contest entry! which is really, really cute. i love the fact that you weren't afraid to go 'cottage' in your little cottage. and what wende said is dead on.

i also noticed it's painted exactly the same color as i'm having such a hard time with. so i'm scrutinizing it for tips!

Good morning, all!

Alana, thanks for your help, I've uploaded my living room floor plan. It took up about 12% of my space for this month, so it will only be making a limited-time appearance! (When I get better pics of my living room, I think the floor plan will disappear.) That arrange-a-room tool is so much fun! A word about my room, it's 18 1/2 feet by 12 feet (seems larger when I write it out like that!), and faces south. The large "window" on the south wall leads to a deep, covered, balcony, that leads me to think plants wouldn't do well in here, as there isn't a lot of direct sunlight.

Also, Alana, I think it is so great that you're able to use your interior design ability in this forum -- an outlet for your creativity, and help for us, all in one package. There may come a time in your future when you're able to do interior design as a profession, and that would be great, too.

Opo, too bad about the paint color. I think it will help when you've hung the art that the color is pulled from. I've got my fingers crossed (figuratively, not literally, that would make it hard to type) that it'll turn out okay for you.

Just a word about the floor plan, it's so people can get a better idea of the layout of the room, a temporary measure until I can do a panorama of pics of the room. I'm happy with the layout.

Yes, yes I did. I said "Frack". I am, indeed, a Battlestar junkie. And I'm so tired of those same old oaths, you know? "Frack" sometimes says it all.

Back to the Cure, you guys are all so inspiring. Opo, are there pics of your new paint job to check out?

Alana - thanks for the tips on the wood, I've got more oak than I like and less espresso/ebony than I really want. The living/dining area is predominantly dark wood except then we have the dining table and barstools in various shades of medium-to-light oak. I purchased some darker stain which I am going to test on the Landing Strip chair (at some point) and if I like it it may stick around. It would be perfect for the barstools (just realized this) but the dining table I just keep a tablecloth on as much as possible.

The catch is things like my desk and bookshelf, and the mister's dresser/media stand in the bedroom, which I can't stain or anything because they are that veneer-y fake wood stuff. I just don't have the heart to waste good paint on them and make them all black because that would just feel SO dark and they won't last forever anyways. So I keep scouring CraigsList for stuff that is stainable, or just a little more neutral...

Also, Opo, we need pictures! Seafoam green is a tough one, I accidentally had a couple of swatches of that in my office before deciding it was too cool for the room, but I could see it as a nice accent.

Also, where is that room arranging doodad from? Now I want to do floorplans too! All the cool kids are doing them!

Anne (in Reno) You made me laugh--I was never a "cool kid".....

The link is in my name.

Btw I set up a favourites file for the cure where I have this arrange-a room tool, these threads, my flickr account and the group flickr account. Very handy!

Though I JUST figured out last night that if I click "Remember personal info" above, I don't have to keep typing everything in all the time.

I'm off to see Beth's floorplan!
And coming to the end of the photo sort and file.

i think the paint's going to be ok.

after i got the radiator done and a second coat on everything else, i caught a glance of things through the mirror in my bedroom. i saw it as if framed by a camera. and it looked right. can't explain what that means. i may try to do some pictures later, but the sun's already going down and you won't get a true picture in the low light. i'd also rather photograph the finished look with tape gone and furniture in place so as to get a better idea of what's going on.

but i think everything's going to be ok. now i just gotta finish the last coat before it gets to dark to see, again. furniture should be moved in later tonight. i wanted to hang art this weekend, but it just doesn't seem like there'll be time. why does the weekend have to end?

not a lot to say, but checking in anyhow. I had to modify my cure plans when I realized the LACK unit I want/need won't fit in the Civic. I came home with the 58" square EXPEDIT unit, and I can hold space for the LACK with another, smaller bookshelf I have. Hopefully the LACK can come home when a family member with a truck visits in a few weeks. I'm okay with this. Pictures to come when the pieces I did bring home are put together.

I survived! I got really late start today, slept in much later than normal. I woke up feeling like I had a hangover, but feel fine now. Living room has been found, laundry is getting done, etc. The bedroom does look bare, but I need 5 deep burgundy panels to get the final look I want. Really could use a new dresser also, but that will wait.

Alana, if you want to post 'broken' code, add a period like and it won't hide things. That's how I write code in emails when I need to ask for help with it. Glad you've gotten thru the photos!

smallcitybeth - I really like the backsplash. looks great!

opo - glad the paint will work. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics when they are up.

Alright, gotta go watch football. I'll check back in after the game.

Glad it's going to work out, Oponomax. I was worried for you.

So glad you found the living room Tara. And Amy--I know what you mean. We used to have a truck. It's been difficult adjusting to the fact that there's a lot of stuff we can't do now--like run to the dump to get rid of an ancient mattress and box spring, or to the scrap metal place to get rid of the broken dishwasher--which is why they're still sitting in my backyard, grrrr..

Hey--new pics up--of the paint job in the living room no less and the dimmer switch "project."
Enjoy!

Whew, that was a packed weekend. I trotted down to my mom's Saturday morning and just got back a few minutes ago. First order of business was to check AT, of course. :-D I picked up a nice lamp at Pier 1 that'll go in the living room or bedroom, along with a bunch of other non-apartment things (gotta love shopping with Mom).

I'm so far behind on comments that I won't say much beyond this:

Leela and lucy - BSG! Yay!!

I finally did the second bookcase and got all of the assorted piles of stuff off of the floor of the living room. Other areas of the apartment still look like disaster zones, but the living room's not bad. Link to "after" photos in my name.

Yay, Opoponax! Yay, Wrtrmaus! Yay, Alana! Yay, Tara! Yay, all everybody else!

I tidied in the living room this afternoon, and took a bunch of pictures (then took the same pictures this evening, in the different light), even though it's not really finished yet. Since Anne in Reno requested more pics of the living room in its current state, I'm going to oblige. (Do I hear a chorus of yawns??? Oh no, yet more pictures of scb's livingroom. aaaggghhhh...)

I was very interested in Alana's information about colors -- the teachers in my small town certainly didn't impart that kind of knowledge in our "art" classes, and by the time I got to the last two years of high school, in good ol' smallcity, I had been convinced that I wasn't artistic, so did not take Art. Anyway, this afternoon I went to the main library downtown, and loaded up on books about color, and color schemes, and decorating with color, and like that. I'm gonna learn something new!

Yesterday, I was telling my hairdresser about the Cure. In an amazing coincidence, she's just finishing an 8-week community college course in interior decorating. I was telling her about my quandary about accent color(s) for my living room, and she said "you'll know it when you see it". Well, perhaps she's right. Alana's remark about pink being a lighter shade of red got me thinking about the lovely shade of pink in the wild rose pictures I'm putting in the living room. Then, in the first color scheme book I looked at, "The Color Palette Primer" by Joann Eckstut, I found that the only color scheme that included both my dark green and my light green also included a pretty rosy pink. !! It's starting to feel "right". Any thoughts, comments, whatever? Dark green, and rose-pink? (not dusty rose, a clear rose)

I've taken a picture of the rose picture, which I will post when I get my film developed by the good developing place (as opposed to the fast, but not highly accurate color-wise, developing place).

I also took a couple of pictures that will contribute to my "scathingly brilliant idea" of how to turn the white tiles for the kitchen into red tiles for the kitchen.

Just one last little thing, Anne in Reno, you said you'd made about a million comments on my pics, but I only saw a couple. Do you suppose the other ones vanished into the ether, the way one of my comments on Lucy's Flickrs did the other day?

SCBeth = don't bother taking it down, that won't reduce the amount of space you've used for the month. I tried doing that, didn't reduce anything, then read the fine print, it's all about the amount of bandwith you've used to upload the photos, which is why lower dpi will use less % of your monthly allotment.

ahhhh, sitting down to a celebratory beer before i finish moving the last of my orphan piles of stuff back into the bedroom and 100% finish-finish cleaning up paintbrushes and such. the windows are done, in the paint department. the chair is touched up, dried in front of the heater, and reassembled. the floor is cleaned and the rug is rolled back out. the book cart is turned to roll-out mode.

the only thing i need to do in there before i move to the next phase is move in the desk and hang the art. which means unplugging all the AV and stereo components, cleaning all the DVDs and such out of the desk drawers, and setting everything up in the new media cart so that the desk is free to move. i wanted to do this tonight. but now just listing everything is making me sleepy, and it's getting towards my witching hour anyway. and i STILL haven't done last night's dishes or finished cleaning up paint stuff.

my brother and dad are coming into town for the weekend on thursday, so i HAVE to clean the living room and move my desk before then.

after taking the blinds down to paint the inside tops of the windows, i'm thinking about window treatments. originally i was going to leave that this go-round. but apparently it's tres easy to remove the blinds, and the hardware that attaches them to the windows could be easily converted for something else. but what? i'm thinking of roman or venetian blinds. i also like the curtains in that one style tray photo in my flickr set. though i found out today that the one rule my co-op has about window treatments (i know, co-op boards' rules, ick) is that they can't be tacked up sheets or something else "ghetto". this sort of thing IS monitored. (i know...) and we're not exactly on the management company's list of fave tenants these days. so i'm tempted to go with something conventional like venetian/roman blinds rather than trying to rig up some unorthodox curtains, lest some nosy neighbor think they're "ghetto" and raise a stink. so i will have to contemplate window treatment options this week, do a bit of measuring, etc.

wow, what a novel i've written. happy curing, all!

Opo, I think the co-op should appreciate you as a tenant, given the amount of time and thought you're putting into improving your space. I'm sure any window treatment you select will not be "ghetto." Are you still thinking of putting a daybed next to the windows? That would be a nice reading nook.

My stove is clean so theoretically I could cook dinner. I'll do that sometime this week.

With my nephew's help I've moved my desk closer to the front door to use as a landing strip, and the file cabinet closer to my computer (but now I'm thinking it should be next to my landing strip). I need to figure out what to do with all of the stuff that was in the desk (I guess it's in the outbox for now).

The paint job is complete and the bedroom is reassembled. I'm not married to the burgundy sheets but they're what I've got (blue sheets look nicer but are in the wash). It needs some pillow action. But I'm totally happy with the way the tapestry looks now, you can't see very well in my crappy photo but it picks up some of the blue in the walls. Now I just need a little more art on the other walls, and the white curtains will soon be hung. Might look a little too flimsy now I'm thinking, they work behind the futon in the office but I might use the second pair in the bathroom and get heavier curtains for the bedroom. So this is where I'm at. Feedback would be awesome.

Opo, I think some plain Roman blinds might look lovely with your utilitarian/casbah style. And good luck with the media tangle, you know it's got to get done sometime!

Beth, maybe I should have said "I FEEL like I've made a million comments on your pictures", I hope none got lost! And I'm excited to see these inspiration pics, they sound lovely!

Amy, good luck with IKEA, it's always hard when the stuff we want has little or no relation to the size of our vehicles (witness the dresser I am coveting).

I'm so far behind- I'm still working on last thread's comments.

Pixie - You absolutely can watch TV through your computer! Our "TV" is actually a mac mini attached to a "personal video recorder" (link in my name). Of course, it is way more expensive than just buying a tv - but think of the space you save!

Everyone seems to be making so much progress. And, much to my surprise, so am I!

This week the husband and I finished two projects: the kitchen cart (a seemingly simple project that took 3 weeks) and a "coat rack" for the back room that will keep smelly bike clothes out of the bedroom.

We also played with the living room arrangement. Couldn't get angling the couch to work - the room is just too narrow- but swapping the lamp and the bookshelf worked, as did moving the smallest bookshelf to the corner by the windows and centering the table.

Threw the art up on the walls and it's starting to feel like home. We still need more lamps, a new rug and a sofa cover... but, well we all have to pick our battles , eh?

Marilyn--I was in Pier One the other day and noticed that they carry chair pads for your type of chair. And good for you for getting stuff moved about. Can't wait to see your pics. What will you have for dinner?

Anna in Sanata cruz--I know how long projects--even simple ones--can take. Congrats on getting all that done!

Anne (in Reno) left some comments at flickr for you.

Opo--I actually got a book out of the library today on making window treatment. Fabric roman shades will be great--so classic, yet a touch of softness. But I want to see these windows, etc, before I say anything else! You worked hard this weekend. And why not use the family brawn to move your desk? Don't guys love that sort of thing?

And yay small city beth! I'm so proud I inspired you to go read up on colour! It's fun stuff. Looking forawrd to your (better) photos!

wtrmaus: lots of great work in the living room. Good for you.

Glad you're back CathinMin! and skywaykate!

And a shout to anyone I missed--got to go put the boy to bed.

Tomorrow, the kids are in a program for FOUR hours--and I don't have to be there! I think I'll take my box of books and start making the rounds to the second hand bookshops. (Don't want too--but it must be done, and best done without the kiddos.)

Thanks Anna--I didn't know about PVRs. I'll keep that in mind as I consider options for the future, after my TV time-out is over.

Finally cleared out the Outbox! So nice to see empty counter space where the stuff had been piling up.

I know I'm behind the curve b/c cleaning the Outbox is an old assignment. But the good news is that although I feel as if I'm being "lapped" by other runners in the Cure, I'm not at all stressed out about it. I figure whatever I can get done this time around will make my home that much better. Perhaps it'll take me TWO Cures to get the job done.

Also decluttered a draining obligation by resigning from a volunteer position on a board of directors. Such a load off my shoulders!

Yay, gekko! (My Outbox is still waiting for clear dates outside my control, so don't worry about it, you got it done!) I'm glad you're not stressed, although you see yourself as "behind". As I've said before, it's taken me three cures (my own two haphazard ones, and this one) to get to the point I am now, and I still have stuff to do. Everything we do is progress from where we were before. Yay, us! (And good for you for letting go the volunteer position...that's very important decluttering.)

Anne (in Reno), thanks for putting more comments on my Flickrs! I've answered them there. I love comments, they help me so much.

And Marilyn, you are absolutely right about me being able to watch TV and look out the window while at the computer!

whoops. googling around a bit i realized that when i said "venetian blinds" in my post last night, what i really ment was those bamboo roll-up blinds. which my grandmother always called venetian blinds. the plastic slat blinds i already have are venetian blinds. duh.

i like roman shades, but they look much nicer on tall, narrow windows. my windows are relatively short and quite wide -- they're the ones in my flickr set. you get a good view of what i'm dealing with in that one picture of the chair, bookshelf, and rug.

unfortunately i can't put the bed over in that corner, because one of the windows has the radiator on it, and i already deal with the room being too warm and dry as it is without having a radiator as a headboard. it will, however, be a great little nook for my desk.

i'm not afraid of what i choose actually being "ghetto"; i know it'll look great from the inside! i just have no idea what that means to people on a co-op board. so i want to keep it as simple and classy as possible. no repurposed shower curtains or saris dangling at precarious angles. nothing too crazy.

I'm just chuckling to myself thinking about anything you do, opo, as being ghetto! Highly unlikely!

Didya see, wrtrmaus? You got props from Maxwell in the "welcome" part of the new open thread! You're doing great work! Yay, wrtrmaus!

Ha ha, SCB, I guess your apartment has to meet certain criteria to get linked to the main page. :) Yes, I was thinking of inviting you all over the next time you're in LA. :)

Marilyn -- I was just celebrating that wrtrmaus was noted on the front page, I wasn't feeling left out or anything (I've been "welcomed" in the past, it's just kinda cool.)

Well, my plans for the morning haven't quite worked out, so I popped in to see if there's anything new....(I am officially addicted).

gekko: I think that's exactly the right approach to take: do what you can...and don't fret about what doesn't get done this time around.

And yet--as Marilyn so clearly demonstartes--there's something about sharing this whole experience via the internet that does jazz you up and keeps you motivated.

I'm contemplating re-painting the ceiling in the bathroom. Ugh. It has spots mold growing in places and peeling paint.

Anyone want to motivate me to do this? It's NOT a big area: just over the tub. But I'll have to scrape away all the old stuff. Anyone have any pointers/experience to share?

And speaking of bathrooms--How's yours coming along, JeffreyK?

Aw maaaan. I want to be out searching for an endtable instead of stuck at work. I'm trying to finish up the major parts of living room/desk by tomorrow so that I won't fall too far behind, and all I've got left is an endtable for the lamp, an idea of what to do with the coffeetable, and a chair (though I know that's going to take longer than a day or two). So close!

If anyone's interested, I put a link in my name to the lamp I picked up at Pier 1. It's less shiny in person than it is in the picture, which suits me perfectly. The living room needed a little tasteful bling. ;)

I'm still catching up on comments, but don't have a lot of time at the moment.

Leela, that's frakking awesome :o) (and Cathy too, yay for the BSG geeks)

opoponax: bummer about Home Depot not mixing other companies paint chips.

Alana: great explination of the color wheel. You can often get little cardboard color wheels at art supply stores, which can be useful when trying to visualize all the various combinations.

smallcitybeth: I was going to say I liked the red pillow, but if you've got an art print with rose pink, that might be just the right accent color for the room. I would try to go a little darker in value than the green chair you're going to put it on. If the values are similar, it will sort of fade into it, I think more contrast would be better, but you'll probably just have to experiment. You'll know the right one when you see it.

I spent the weekend continuing to clean out the junk in my guesthouse, but I was moving pretty slow, think I'm coming down with something, darn it. So no painting was done. Hopefully I'll be able to get everything prepped during evenings this week and then get that paint up next weekend.

CathyinMin--they have that at Pier One? Very nice. It'll probably take six months to get to the stores here...but I'd buy one. Love the mercury glass effect.

Lucy--too bad. I sure hope you aren't coming down with something. Take it easy.

Alana, yup! I was surprised too. It isn't mercury glass, though. It has a brushed finish, so there's still some shine but not the mirror-like effect of mercury glass.

Cathy, that's way sweet! Nice score!

Opo - For window treatments that aren't venetian blinds, try the nice rice paper or fabric shades from Pearl River Mart. They're really inexpensive, and I think they look very nice, modern but organic. I hate blinds, myself. Dusty, ugly, depressing, and very unstylish. A lot of places sell paper and fabric shades, but Pearl River is the only place I know of where they're actually affordable.

Well, in a fit of something, I took all the books of my bookshelf in the bedroom and sorted them by category on my bed.

Now what?

I only found four to get rid of....

CathyinMN - thanks for the link! I went window shopping after I saw that great lamp, and I may have found the new dresser I need. Might be awhile before I get it, but I have a hard time finding furniture I like in this Colonial-style area, so I'm very happy.

I'm thinking of their Shanghai dresser. I just need to measure the room to see if it will fit, and then budget it in.
Here is a link:
http://www.pier1.com/catalog/productdetail.aspx?oid=69294&returnURL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.pier1.com%2fcatalog%2fcollections.aspx%3ffh_location%3d%2f%2fpier1direct%2fen_US%2fcategories%3c%7b110297%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b110324%7d%26fh_refpath%3dfacet_59432939%26fh_start_index%3d0%26fh_view_size%3d8%26fh_view%3dlister&fh_location=//pier1direct/en_US/categories%3C{110297}/categories%3C{110324}&fh_refpath=facet_59432939&fh_start_index=0&fh_view_size=8&fh_view=lister

thanks, Leela! i went over to their site just to see the kind of stuff they have, and it's pretty close to what i'm looking for if i go with a blind instead of a curtain. i can also look for bedding -- i remembering them always having pretty textiles and pillows and things. and Pearl River is a must see when family comes to town.

it probably says something about my family that my brother and father would rather browse for steamers and fun stationery than do something manly like move furniture around.

You wanna see what I'm talking about?
Click my name.

Alana - that seems a bit sketchy if you put it that way! ;-)

Tara - very beautiful!

Alana - that looks very familiar. like our bedroom. I've got 3 bookshelves instead of 2 but just as packed. Not sure what to tell you as you've done what I did (sort & attempt to purge). Our cassettes will be put on the computer tho asap so I can get rid of the tape deck all together.

I do have most of the books lined up vertically, it looks neater but that is just my opinion.

I don't have pictures up yet, I have to finish using the roll so I can get them developed.

Skywaykate - thanks! I really like it, will fit nicely with the look I'm going for. I'm going to go to a local Pier1 soon, to check the workmanship. If you all like I will post what I find out.

Image sizes - several people have mentioned the images are big when the load them to flickr. What you do in Photoshop is this. Choose View- Actual Pixels (to see the visual size you're uploading). Then, go to Image - Image Size. It will have something that says "Pixel Dimensions: 923K" - this is the size you need to worry about. Most of the photos when I pull them off the disk from the store, are a few MG. I usually adjust the size in the same dialog box by changing the Document size - I start with half of what it started at and fiddle from there. I can get a much smaller 'pixel dimension' this way, and it saves a lot on the size I'm uploading. If you don't have Photoshop, most programs will have something close that will achieve the same thing.

Tara--that is gorgeous. What's the quality of Pier 1 casegoods, though? Anyone have any experience with them? For example, I bought an Ikea dresser once--and never ever again.

and thanks for the sympathy--that's what I wanted, lol!

Opo--when can we expect pics of this wonderful two tone window-well, etc??

Ok, two quickies - Flickr has an "Uploadr" tool and if you download it it will resize all your pictures automatically and upload them and let you tag them while that is all happening, it's just a little quicker than Flickr + Photoshop + whatever else.

Also, Alana, when I had to scrub nastiness of the bathroom ceiling I just used one of those harsh green sponges and stood on a chair. You need to get it off before you paint or it will just come back. I think the abrasive works fairly well, I'm sorry I can't remember what solvent I used with it. Good luck!

the next time i'm home during daylight hours. which will be sometime in april.

i'm exaggerating, mostly. i'll try to snap pictures this weekend, maybe friday morning. if i could ever manage to get up with a few minutes to spare in the mornings before work, i'd take some on my way out the door and bring the memory card into work to do my uploading. but fat chance of that...

Alana - I should have time tonight, so I will going to Pier1 and inspecting the furniture there. I plan to check for dovetailed joints, dust blockers (panels under the drawers), if staples were used anywhere, etc. I've learned basics of what to look for (and what not to!), and will be looking carefully. I'll post what I find when I get home.

Opo--I understand! I'd offer to call you to give you an early morning wake-up call....but then I'd have to be up two hours earlier. Nuh-uh, not happening!

Green scouring pad, gotcha. What else? Bleach for the mold??

And why are all my cure projects requiring me to work over my head? (oops did that sound like a whine? Nooooooo, not me!)

Thanks Tara. It seems you know what to look for better than I do.

Put up a pic of the bath ceiling. Fun stuff.

In fact, this bathroom is so bad (and it's our main bathroom, the other is a powder room upstairs) it really needs to be gutted. I'd like to make it larger too....

But, I suppose if I can get the ceiling looked after that'll be something.

I'm afraid I'll get home, sit in the living room on the couch that is now even more enjoyable than before (location means it's no longer staring out on the room, and all the clutter, just the room now) and not get up...I want to do this stuff, I've been waiting all day, but the darkness, combined with today's drizzle and serious grayness isn't going to make me motivated to work tonight!

I need some motivation help! I've got to do some grunt-y things, not so much fun as picking out paint and decorating once it's clean.

Tell me Kate--what are the "grunty" things?

And I challenge you to take "before" and "after" shots--knowing I can "show" all of you motivates me.

What's your favourite music? Will putting that on help out? You can do it Kate!

Thank you Alana!

I've got to put away some stuff, clean, and figure out what I'm going to do with some things I edited from my living room, sell, give away, put out next to the trash, etc. Put my bike back down in the laundry room, find a place to recycle my old computer monitor, put away clothes in my yet to be organized closet, add more stuff to the junk closet (stuff to keep, we just haven't gotten to that closet either), go to the hardware store and pick up our newly sharpened knives and figure out how to properly hang a few things in our kitchen, clean the kitchen (! DH cooked like mad yesterday, tasty stuff, but left quite a mess in his wake) and then hopefully get to some fun stuff, like assembling my new landing strip!

OK, well it's 5 so I'd better get home so I can get on it!

Kate! No wonder you want to put your feet up! What a list!

I say, pick five things that MUST be done and do those. You can't possibly get all that done in an evening, can you? (or can you?)

The challenge is on:

Let me see what I can do to join you--
clean up kitchen
fold and put away laundry
put painting crap away
cover two more boxes, one lid and re-file photos into "pleasing" arrangement.
Take a load of magazines out to the car for possible donation to the library tomorrow--and cook supper. I'd do more, but I have to take my son to his piano lessons in less than two hours!

Who can do more by bed-time???
Anyone else want to join Kate and me?

Okie dokie--while you were getting home, I folded some laundry, started supper, got the day's dishes done, and took some of the painting crap to the basement and stuffed the "paint cupboard" full.....still have some brushes to finish cleaning and all that.....

Surely there's something wrong with my computer--and I'm just missing other's posts for the last hour?

Promised ds some computer time before we leave for lessons....

let me know how it goes Kate!

Hmm, just got home, let's see if I can join in late. Here's the list:

laundry (of course)
cook dinner/clean up
wipe down bathrooms (they get so dusty!)
tidy living room before group comes to rehearse at 6:30
put painting crap away
load 4 bags of Outbox into car for dropoff tomorrow.

Also Alana, I think I just used a damp scrubby sponge and elbow grease, but that sucked so I'd try a little bit of one of those gritty cleansers like Ajax or Comet (not too much unless you want to clean up bits of that off the floor though).

Welcome Anne (in Reno)--and hey, if you haven't gone to bed yet, it isn't too late.

Hmm ... I think I will join the evening's challenge. I got home about an hour ago - dinner is ready, I took a shower, new-to-me monitor is hooked up & borrowed one is next to the door waiting to be returned. Dishwasher is rebooted, kitchen is picked up. Let me eat dinner, and I have items to rearrange so I can get the cat box out of the hallway (permanently moving it to a new location where I won't trip on it). I'm sure there is more that I haven't realized yet.

I went to Pier1. They had the dresser in stock, so I was able to look at just what I want. It is the right size, stands about 5" off the floor which I was looking for - I can get under it to get the cat fur up. The drawers have nice dovetails on all 4 sides and are stained inside & out to match the exterior. The inside of the dresser looked stained as well, but I didn't specifically check. There is a dust barrier underneath the bottom drawer but not between the drawers (I think this is standard now). The wood is pine, which is a softwood, but I was told no veneers were used. I've seen pine last 25+ years and be usable so not a problem. No veneers - should I need to, I can eventually refinish it. It's light enough to be moved easily by two people, and the drawers come out completely for ease of moving. It comes fully assembled. The floor piece looked ok, not perfect, but it is the floor model. The finish is nice, smooth, and even - looks good, will be easy to dust & maintain. Drawer handles look solid and have a simple design (ie, less easy to break).

I didn't mean to write a small book there, but I want something that will last a while, and this is the level of detail I'll go into for that. I think the salesperson was only half-kidding when she mentioned me working there!

you guys are all so productive. it's very inspiring! and alana, your color confidence is awesome.

so i've been seriously paint paralyzed, which is kind of funny considering that i am totally a visual person. i had my sheets of foam core to paint swatches on and some paint samples and it was all just sitting there, mocking me and i've been procrastinating on it for a week. well i finally got around to painting the foam core last nite around midnite, liquid courage courtesy of many very dirty martinis. anyway, total breakthrough -- i guess being visual, i really needed to see the colors big, not on those microscopic chips they give you. i've finally got a color -- gold (golden yellow) -- now it's back to the paint store to find the right shade and the right tone. i think i'm gonna do curtains to match with turquoise bobbles on them. definitely feeling renewed enthusiasm. definitely need a better camera. not enough pixels. okay, gotta go home, make dinner & go to sleep early so i can get to the paint store before work. you guys rock!

Wow, you challenge people are amazing! Wish I had the energy to join you, but tonight I'm just way too tired.

Tara, I'm glad you went into so much detail about what you looked for when you were looking at the dresser today. I would never have thought of even half those things, and it's very useful to have learned that those are good questions to ask about a piece of furniture. So, thanks. (I looked at the dresser in your link, by the way, and it's gorgeous.)

I bought deep pink flowers for this week's living room flowers, a trial run of the color. It may be a bit too deep. But I think I'm on the right track...maybe... The more I think about the combination of dark green and rose pink, the more I wonder about the fabric I'm planning to use to cover the loveseat. And I'm feeling dissatisfied with it. What it had going for it way back when I bought it was a) it was cheap, and b) the green in the pattern matched the green in my chairs. Now I'm thinking, a) it looks cheap, and b) it needs to be a darker green, a more elegant looking fabric, and not that print. Sigh. Basically what I'm saying is I now see the cover as a carb, and I want a protein. So, do I cover the loveseat in the carb for now, since I've got the duvet covers already (they will be cut up and mangled to form slipcovers), or do I wait until I can afford, and can find, the right protein?

Meantime, the dark pink flowers, with a little greenery, in my line-up of three vases, look really nice! Much nicer than last week's white flowers, making me think I could be ready for a bit more color in my life.

As I attempted to arrange my red and white kitchen flowers, I decided that next time I go to the library, I should find some books on flower arranging. :)

Jessi in Oregon -- I got a contact email, I assume through Flickr, from you. I haven't explored Flickr to the extent of knowing what all stuff is available (like contacts and things). I'm gonna leave a message for you at my kitchen pic.

And tonight I'm gonna go to bed early!

Oh, one more thing, speaking of pics, I uploaded a couple of Before pics of my bathroom. Not that it's anything much to look at.

Happy curing to all, and to all a good night!

i, too, am way too tired to do any curing. mondays are awful for me because i have to be at work an hour earlier than on other days. and on other days i work earlier and longer than most people, anyway. it was all i could do to buy flowers on the way home and do all the dinner dishes. even the idea of getting up to brush my teeth and get a fresh glass of water for the nightstand before i curl up to sleep is a bit overwhelming. this is the problem with using my bed as a daybed when it's not time for sleeping. it's sort of like, ok, why bother getting up to do the bedtime routine?

but way to go, all you who've gotten things done!

and beth, the question boils down to this: are you one of those people who'll stick to the inertia of the carb slipcover if you go that way "temporarily", or one of those people who'll stick to the inertia of the unfinished room if you don't put in a filler until you can afford what you really want? i'm in the latter camp, so i think you should go with the not-ideal cover in the mean time. but ultimately it's all up to you.

Smallcitybeth - for the dresser I was looking at how well was it made, how will it stand up to real life (floor model is great for this!) and how will it be to live with (cleaning etc.). Look at the drawer slides too - on this one, they are metal, located on the sides. I should be able to replace them if needed in the future.

FYI, if they are metal sliding over wood pieces, the wood will get torn up. Mom bought me furniture like that years ago - we replaced the wood pieces several times. The furniture overall lasted 20+ years. I don't know if she tossed it or gave it away.

For the fabric - do you need the covers urgently? Will seeing that fabric as the covers annoy you? How long (guesstimate) before you think you will get the protein covers? Keep those things in mind, as well as what Opo said, when making your decision.

Well, I'm home from the music lessons and made muffins. Now I'm taking the girl to bed.

As I've been getting the essentials looked after: cooking, dishes, laundry, tidying, etc., I was feeling like there weren't many "cure" items on my "to-do" list except recovering the photo boxes. I mean, the rest of that stuff is stuff I should be doing every day...cure or no cure.

But it is part of the cure, I realised. Learning how to live in our homes--which upon reflection is where the book takes its turn this week (by cooking at home more, reading in bed, going to bed early)--establishing our routines and rhythms in our spiffed up spaces is essential to making these places of ours "home."

So, what skywaykate wanted to do: go home and put her feet up and gaze at her clutter free space is "doing the cure."

Hope you got done what you wanted to do tonight. I'm bagged and not finished my to-do list, but c'est la vie. Tomorrow is another day.

But opo--I have to ask: why do you set your bed up as a daybed? Don't you have a living room behind those bookcases?

Beth, I'm thinking Maxwell would say hold out for quality. I'm sorry I stepped on your genuine happiness for wtrmaus--I didn't mean to. She did a lot of good work. Just an attempt at humor that backfired.

I got home late tonight but the night is young. Maybe I'll tackle that dining room table... :)

Hi All! You have been so busy and productive while I was MIA! I'm behind and happy--Landlord put new granite countertops and tile backsplash in the kitchen. BIG mess. (Made me happy that I didn't follow the "rules" and clean out my kitchen weeks ago.) AND really lovely. I'm so excited to have something "organic" in the kitchen! (Other than food and people!) I've started cleaning out the drawers and putting in new shelf paper. Weeding some stuff. Will be lovely in another week.

I'm amazed at how I look at things now--nearly everything can be "cured"! Cleaned out my closet a couple of weeks ago--always thought I was good at that...until I looked at my robe! WHY would I wear that old, tattered thing? So "new robe" is on my list of repairs! So are new oven mitts!

I'm hoping that we can go a little longer with this Cure--I need help finding a lamp for my living room. I've got this Italian Country meets Traditional with Color thing going on. We have a giant poster of a peacock on the wall. What I really want is a ceramic chicken/rooster lamp to go on the side table!

Whoever has the stain/mold on the ceiling--try using SoftScrub. It's great for walls.

Too many thoughts...too much going on...too late in the evening to make any sense...

Good morning, all!

Thanks, everyone, for your help in my cover-the-loveseat question. I think my tendency is to be a kind of Farragut (damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead), instead of reasoning out a decision. Your questions helped me to think it through, and I realized that what I probably really need is not a protein slip cover, but a new protein loveseat. This one is getting past its shelf-date (it's just over 30 years old), and the end I usually sit on is getting "sat out". So, instead of saving up for the slip cover color I would prefer, I'm going to start saving up for a new loveseat. It'll take more time, but be more satisfying in the long run (I tend to be sentimental, as well, and hold on to things for that reason. But things are just things, right? Right.) In the meantime, since the current color of the loveseat doesn't fit in with what I envision for my living room, I'll cover it with the covers I have, and know that it's just an interim.

Alana, thanks for that reflection on the Cure, it's good to realize that not all the Cure is about rushing about and getting everything done -- thank you for that.

Marilyn -- it's okay.

No more computer, beth. Breakfast and go to work now... (bah... wanna stay home and Cure!)

alana -- i use my bed as a day bed (and plan to set things up more than way as part of the cure) because it's the only room of the house i get a good internet connection in, these days. i also have a roommate, and in terms of privacy and space, it makes a lot of sense for both of us to be able to use our bedrooms as mini 'living' areas sometimes.

Thanks op for answering me. It makes sense. I admire those of you who can have roommates. After the first few years on my own, I never could. But then, I was an only child.

Well, I made the *mistake* of reading the next chapter. Bathroom. "Hide the storage" Maxwell says. Yeah right. And now I have a huge list of things I want to do....I'm going to have to assess the budget and do some prioritizing.

Anyone else concerned about posting any more to this thread and waiting for the "week" thread?

If you want to see Maxwell live on camera (taped, not live-live), download an episode or the whole season of Small Space, Big Style from amazon.com. The whole season, 13 episodes was about $18 for me, and very fun (each episode is ~$2 otherwise). So now DH could see who the driving force was behind all the (additional) craziness in our place.

Keep in mind, though, that these places are very well developed and should just be enjoyed, not compared to...consider them post-post-post-cures.

Opo - one of the episodes I watched last night had only a joint kitchen, the two sisters had their own living rooms within their bedrooms. I don't like that personally, but I understand the need to do your own thing, even when you have friends over--when I had roommates I definitely needed to have that.

I did get some stuff done, and need to give myself credit for it--I'm so good at focusing on what I still have left to do, I beat myself up about it, which is really productive (sarcasm). I got the stuff put away except for my clothes, got the hardware for the new kitchen items to hang, had to run an errand so that took up some precious evening time, ate dinner with DH, and did a bunch of general picking up and cleaning stuff.

Thanks for all of the encouragement, Alana. DH was using his laptop all night so I didn't get on to update. And yes, much of my stuff is actually everyday stuff, at least that I feel weighs on me.

Bella- what a wonderful thing to come home to, even if it was a mess!!

SCBeth - I totally agree with Marylin, go with a protein replacement, not just a protein cover. And way to come to that realization, that's an important step!

Tara - thanks for all the info on the furniture stuff, and to know what the piece had and didn't have, I never would have really known what to look for, just would have been more intuition than this articulated.

Abby - glad some liquid therapy helped you get over your color paralyzation! wish I could have been there to help (ok, and to have some liquid therapy too)!

Alana - Oh, and if you want to reduce the chances of the mold coming back prime it with that Killz primer stuff. I've heard that's good stuff.

Tonight will also be taken up by voting and running another errand...have a big fundraiser on Thursday for my volunteer group, so this will be a busy week. Hope to get a bit more done tonight, though.

Yes, I am, was waiting all day yesterday for the new one! Hopefully people will read my comments even if there's a new one.

Alana -- you were an only child, too? (I've had roommates, but greatly prefer life on my own currently, even though it can be lonely at times.)

skywaykate, thanks for the affirmation of my decision on the loveseat.

Yup, I'm eagerly awaiting a new post, too (I was just thinking that our comments really slow down when we're thinking that a new post should be just around the corner... ... ...)

I'm eagerly awaiting the new one, but I always check the old one a few times until it becomes apparent that everyone has moved over to the new thread.

Eeee so excited! I got stuff done last night!! My goal was to get a few major (in terms of "importance to the room", not necessarily expense) purchases and decisions made by today, and I did! I bought an endtable (online, so fingers crossed that it turns out to be a good idea) for the new lamp, figured out how to expand the landing strip shelf so that I could finally find brackets for it, picked out a slipcover (but haven't gotten around to ordering it yet, oops), and bought a Coink piggy bank!

Okay, so that last one was just a little treat for myself. :) But I've been wavering between the Coink and the Pamela Barsky piggy bank for a few days now, so it felt like a big deal to finally make a decision!

Good for you CathyinMin. Getting decisions made is important!

Do you have pics of these piggy banks? The thought that you would deliberate over piggy banks makes me smile.

Today is Big Suburban Shop Day. I'll spend about a third to a half of our monthly food budget in a few hours. A la flylady, I finally made up the "Master Grocery List" a few months ago and it is so helpful--though it's a bit depressing to realise we really do eat the same foods over and over....but I've planned my menus and we're good to go.

I'm waiting on posting my "to do" list until the new thread.

Alana, thank you for the links you posted for the Ikea hanging systems. I will be getting the Dignitet ones, and your links helped me make the decision.

Thank you, everyone. Without doing the group Cure I don't think I would be doing such a thorough job, but our home needs it, and we deserve it. I haven't enjoyed evenings home this much in awhile, and even the incomplete bedroom is great.

As for reading ahead - I did too. That's why I did the bedroom over the weekend. I knew it was coming, and I won't have the time again for a few weeks. The bathroom may not take long but all the 'extra' time will be spent in the master bedroom.

Glad I could amuse, Alana! :) I'm definitely one of those people who takes a looooong time with almost every decision. Shopping with me is a trial! Here they are:

http://www.wishingfish.com/coink.html
http://www.raredevice.net/detail.php?id=100&cat=5

The funnel on Coink was the tiebreaker. I realized that, being a rather impatient soul, I would tire very quickly of putting change in one coin at a time.


I second Tara's sentiments. If I had tried to do the Cure on my own, I would have either given up a long time ago or taken six months to do everything instead of two. Hurray for us! lol

i come from a big family, so the roommate thing works very well for me. it's also virtually impossible to live alone in new york city anymore, unless you have an extremely high-paying job or a nice fat trust fund. having a roommate is the norm for most young single people who either have entry-level jobs or work in creative fields.

my roommate and i get along quite well, socialize together often, and share use of the living room fairly well. but, you know, sometimes a girl just wants to be alone. so it's good to have a comfy chair, a work area, etc.

Cathy, love the coink! Totally cute! Although the other is stylish, it's not as fun.

I think Maxwell's forgotten about us.

kate, I was pondering whether Maxwell had forgotten us, too. I checked last week's "start of the week" post, and he put it up on a Tuesday around 4:30 pm. So hopefully he hasn't forgotten us and is just holding the post until later in the afternoon.

How could anyone possibly forget about US? (grin)

OK, well then maybe he's ignoring us! ;-)

Hey all, I'm just thinking here. Has anyone ever gotten any lights from Design Public? I love the pendants they stock and was contemplating one of them for the dining room but they are pricey and I have heard htey are a bit flimsy. Anyone? Anyone?

http://www.designpublic.com/shop/lights-up/3621

This is the one I'm tempted by, in the black mumm pattern. Any thoughts? I'm trying to decide whether it's worth convincing the mister we should splurge on it, I couldn't find anything respectable enough at IKEA and all the mid-range places (west elm, c&b etc.) seem to have boring stuff. I'd rather stick with the old ugly stuff for now than pay for new stuff that's just boring.

So anyways, decorating committee, I want opinions! Help me out here?

He's posting every 20 minutes since 11am today 0 maybe Maxwell is just behind?

For the light - I like it, but I cannot speak to the durability of it, since I've never purchased from them.

Francesca, you could use a wireless switch. Maxwell posted about them a few weeks ago:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/best-products/best-products-radio-shack-wireless-light-switch-001290

I'm considering getting one for the living room lamp. It's in the opposite corner from the door, and I'd rather not stumble through the dark to get to it.

We know that he'll put a Cure thread up eventually. We're just being goofy and impatient! :)

Anne (in Reno) -- would you consider sending your question about the light to the "Good Question" feature on New York's AT page? Seems like someone out there should have experience with Design Public. (The lamp really looks nice, but I know nothing about Design Public's quality and workmanship.)

Well, Maxwell or no Maxwell, it's time to start week six.

Anyone doing the media fast this week? btw--I don't think this includes a fast from the AT cure threads!

Clean the bathroom. ugh. Who needs to do what?
I don't have any tile, unfortunately: just one of those nasty pvc tub/shower surrounds. It's hard to clean in its own way--and doesn't give any reward at all. On Friday, I'm going to tackle the ceiling over the tub as I mentioned (the rest of the bathroom has a false ceiling of varnished wood boards to make room for the (inefficient and noisy) fan). dh has Friday, Sat, Sun AND Monday off next week so we should gets lots and lots done. (I hope).

Let's move on to the fun stuff: lighting! I realised that I pretty much have my lighting set up in ways Maxwell recommends though I need a task light for the computer--and uplights in the corners behind the bookcases (and TV stand) would be awesome.

I loved his suggestion to put a lamp on the dining room table. I used to have my OTT lamp there....I think I may just move it back. Got to think about that one.

I really want lamps in my hallways, too. But as there are no outlets, I'll have to wait for the grand re-wiring project that should take place in the next five years or so.

I'm still going to wait for the new post to write up the detailed to do list, though. I want to be able to refer to it during the week.

Alana- I was thinking of uplights too, behind my armoire-entertainment center. It is placed diagonally, across a corner. If I place a uplight in the corner behind it, it will be difficult to reach it to turn on and off. If I decide to place the switch confortably, I have the problem of trailing cords. Any ideas?

Anne in Reno: the Mibo lamp was on AT a while back. I just ordered one a little while ago. It has not come yet. Hope I did not make a mistake. I'm reading the comments backward.

CathyinMN-thank you. Tha will work well

Cathy and All,

I'm glad that we are goofy and impatient! I've been curing by myself for over two years now but have really picked up some serious energy and movement from you all! Everytime someone asks about an extra week for this Cure, I panic a little! Yikes! I don't get to keep doing this with the group? Maybe we could start an Alumni Cure group? (I'll be Cure Class #2...and 3...and 4...;-D)

No curing tonight--I'm going to a friend's house for Persian food!

Anne, The light isn't boring and it's soft (because it's fabric). I didn't see the dining room among your pictures. Are you going for black and white?

OK, I'm doing it..despite the broken toe, I'm painting my kitchen now, while I have a break from dancing/drawing/running around. Pale lime green. Pics when done.

Bella, Persian food...excellent. Persian anything, really: dance, music, cooking...

Oh, god, the fumes are getting to me already!

Persian food? Do you mean Iranian food? My only experience with that is references to concerns and triumphs about "how to "fake" it with North American ingredients" in an Eleanor Lippman novel: oops, or was it Anne Tyler in Digging to America? Yes, that the one.

You must come and let us know what you had and how it all was. Sounds exciting. (Much nicer than the chicken corn chowder soup we're having tonight!)

Well, I've washed the shelves in the bathroom and the walls behind them. I bought wooden shelf supports to replace the rusting metal ones we have there now eons ago: I don't know why I'm not putting them up. They need to be verathaned...as do the shelves themselves, I suppose. I suppose I could talk myself into it.

Anyone pick up the O at Home this month?
Anyone else dissappionted in the cover article?
When I got to the end, I couldn't believe that was it.

Oh Leela--take it easy!

Can't wait to see it though. You crazy chick.

Ha, Marilyn, black and white is the farthest thing from my dining room right now! I'm looking for a nice clean light element to replace that gross brown thing (there's another link in my name).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajftuba/264370485/in/set-72157594319201538/

I just can't quite picture it. Thoughts? Yet again, it is this:

http://www.designpublic.com/shop/lights-up/3621

and I'm thinking the black mumm pattern.

Anne, It's hard to see the area behind the speakers. Do the speakers have to be on the stands or can you put them on the floor? It would be great if you could remove everything off of the landing so the dining table and chairs (and lamp, of course) are the only things on it. Then I'm wondering if you need a bigger lamp to fill the space. Just some thoughts.

Marilyn, I would love to take everything else away but there isn't anywhere else to put the piano and the computer (believe me, I tried and it isn't negotiable). I was hoping to find a light that could be a focal point for the room and on some level, distract from all the crud in there (still working on getting rid of some of it).

OK Anne (in Reno) I've got you now.

The stupid site doesn't actually show you what the darn shade looks like in black and white.

I'm afraid it may be too busy for that room...there's so much going on already. If it is mostly white, then OK.

I'm wondering about the cover on the piano: why? And just out-box that clock and get a classic black/white one (espescially if you go for the mum shade).

How much "curing" are you thinking of doing in here--or are we strictly talking about the lampshade?

I'm trying to find a desk lamp under 18" high and under $50.00 not having any luck.
Anyone?

I've tried Sears, Ikea, Rona and Home Depot so far.

Hey, Anne. If you can't actually get any of the instruments and such out of there: perhaps you can remove the patterns instead? For example, as I mentioned, the piano cover, the cover on the computer table, etc.

Do you need some storage in here? For what sorts of things? I saw a glue stick on the table so I'm wondering if you do crafts at the table?

Anne (in Reno) do you have a style tray?

It's not that easy ladies, the piano cover was a gift from family in China and the clock belonged to his grandmother. I really want to get rid of the tapestry on the folding computer table and found the perfect table to put in there but A. it's cherry and all the other wood in there is either oak or black, and B. the mixer lives under the table (ugly, bigger than any of the amps in the living room) and the tapestry hides it. I'm trying to figure out a better home for the clock and a better piece of fabric for the computer table, any thoughts there? Maybe I should have submitted this room when Maxwell asked, but I'm kind of hemmed in here - the mister lived here for 5 years before I moved in and it's all the perfect system for him. I'm just trying to streamline...

And no, I don't have a style tray. I would get one started but it's mostly wishful thinking as the "But I don't like it" argument doesn't hold much water with the "it's perfectly functional and replacing it would be expensive" faction in the house. This only became my house recently and I'm trying to make it feel like home without stepping on his toes too much.

However, I will be covering or removing those crates that the speakers sit on. They may be for some sound thing or other but they can get covered up for sure. Does anyone have any thoughts on fabric for that or for the computer table? I'm tempted to just buy a really big tablecloth to hide it.

And the lamp pattern is in the main picture, it's big but sparse so I'm hoping it's not too busy.

"It's ugly" doesn't work here either--not when it's functional and it would cost $$ to replace it.

So, I know what you are facing. And as much as I would love a beautiful space, I love my mister more...so that's my compromise.

I think the cover on the computer table is actually quite nice. If it works, keep it.

But would it help to mention that it is inconvenient to play the piano with the cover? You don't have to out-box it: just store it, perhaps?

And the clock can go somewhere else, perhaps? At the end of a hallway where it can stand alone? Though one of the first arguments I had with my dh was where to hang the clock. Which is why it is in such an odd spot in the kitchen. I used to have some plates hung around it to make it look like a "witty display" but they got too dusty!

So, Anne, I say: Damn the torpedos and get the shade you want. You NEED it. Really, you do. I'm not being flip: you need something of your own. And I think it'll work well. Not too busy at all.

Anybody still out there?

Anne (in Reno), I just uploaded some better pictures of my living room (and everyone yawns, "more pictures of that same room...") I didn't try a panorama, or I'd still be sitting there trying to do it, well into next week. However, the pictures cover the whole room, as if you were standing in the center and turning around slowly, so it's sort of the same effect. The color is better this time around, more accurate -- more expensive developing place was definitely worth it! The pics were taken during the daytime, to make a change from all the night pics I've done before. They're not quite "after" pictures, but there's only a few things left to do (get rid of old tv and outbox stuff, cover loveseat) and it will be done! The wildflower pics that are inspiring me for an accent color are also featured, although the close-up of the rose that I took didn't turn out (half the pic is obscured by the reflection of the flash). So it's a pic of all four pictures instead of just the rose.

I'm glad to see we've taken ourselves into Week 6 -- I reorganized the medicine cabinet (not that there's ever any medicine in there, I read that the bathroom's about the worst place to store medications) and I started the detail cleaning (that is going to take some time, even with a small bathroom!) I bought a new darkish green soap dish, dispenser and tumbler to replace the clear plastic ones -- they look really nice. Hated to put the soap on the dish, but it's not just to look at, it's supposed to be used, right? Right. Anyway, I can already see that there's improvement there.

Bella -- I'm all for a Cure Alumni group, in fact, I was having the very same thought today!

One of these evenings (or once the weekend comes, one of these days), I'm going to tackle the grout in the bathroom with a grout brush (larger and stiffer than a toothbrush, so should be less frustrating) -- I will try not to get grout-chy! (Sorry, couldn't resist that pun.) There's tile all around the bathtub, but not quite to the ceiling, so I'll be able to reach it all without a problem. I will also get a bleach pen for the couple of little spots of mold.

Lighting? Can't afford any right now, and haven't found just what I want anyway (well, I've found what I want online, I just have to find a reasonable facsimile in "smallcity"). I need two lamps for the bedroom, one for each nightstand, instead of the one I have now. I want clear glass ones, the kind where the cord comes out of the fixture where the bulb is inserted (the proper terminology is escaping me just now), I've found clear glass lamps with a metal "pole" down the middle for the cord -- that's not what I want. I saw a beautiful lamp on AT NY sometime between April 2006 and August 2006 that I really liked, and someone gave me a link to another that I liked even more, and now I can't find either the links, or the post on AT NY. I'll keep looking and will report back later in the week.

Maybe we'll have a Week 6 post tomorrow??

Well I rebelled and took off the piano cover. It's where the tapestry used to be and the tapestry is beign washed. It looks really good. The piano is really pretty. And I hung the clock centered above it. The mister is on his way home, so we'll see if he gets offended. Or if he notices. No guarantees either way.

Yay Anne!
Fingers crossed for you.

Of course, you can always say "Let's try it for a month and if you really want it back, we'll put it back."

Anne -- good luck! I've got my fingers crossed for you!

Anne & Alana -- I've just been replying to your comments on my Flickrs. (this is such fun!)

Anne -- I think it's so neat that you're so interested in my coffee table. I've loved it since I was a toddler, standing on the lower level, and peering at my reflection through the glass on the upper level. I just went and removed the vases and the bowl, and very carefully turned it over on its side, hoping to find some sort of a manufacturer's mark, but there was nothing. Did determine that the legs are wood. (I've left you more explanations and things on my Flickr page.)

Alana, when I do my final "after" pics (assuming we have an AfterCure Online Party that goes into December so I can post more pics), I'll take a sideways picture of the photo montage over the piano, so the flash won't obscure it, and so you can see it. Even if we don't have an AfterCure week, I'll post the pics, and you can go to them if you like. (on another topic, I'm still chuckling about "swamp theme"! I was going for a south-west Georgia kind of look, but "swamp theme" is good, too!)

I'm glad you're amused, smallcitybeth. I hoped you would be.

Funny how I feel like I'm getting to know some of you very well--but if I step on someone's toes by presuming too much, just whack me, OK? The internet can be a dnagerous thing that way in that it leads us to assume more about others (and what they're like) than we should. (I'm using the royal "we" here.)

Let's do the happy dance! All done with re-covering the photo boxes--and you know what? It still looks like I've got too many photo boxes. And you know why? I've got too damn many photo boxes!

But nary a one is white.

I hear ya, Alana, on feeling that I'm getting to know some of the Cure people well -- I was thinking today that it's like being in a summer session class where you have classes with the same people for several hours every day, have coffee with them, have lunch with them, and you start to form a community. (I work in a university, can you tell?)

Go see what I replied about the "swamp theme" comment on my Flickr, you'll see why I'm still grinning.

And yay on covering all the boxes! If you've got too many, well then, what that means is go out there and take more pictures! Fill up them boxes!

(I'm having trouble with the "go to bed early" part of the Cure, because the "yakking on the thread" part of the Cure is so much fun!)

Oh -- and I'm doing a modified media fast this week. I'm allowing myself TV as an alarm clock, because that seems to be the only thing that wakes me up reliably (I have the tv on a timer, the combination of the sound and the flashing lights of the picture wakes me up. a clock radio didn't do it anymore). I'm also allowing myself to watch a bit of TV (such as Jeopardy) if I'm actually watching the program. No TV for "company" while I'm doing other things, like Curing or computering. (It's really quiet in here, but it's kinda nice.) But I'm definitely NOT cutting out coming to the AT site! Especially not the Cure part of the AT site!

Past my bedtime. Maybe tomorrow I'll go to bed early... g'night...

Oh no Beth--that's my problem. Every single one IS full! I am going to have to do some weeding out if I take any more photos. "If" what am I saying? When. I have started getting only singles (and not doubles) developed.

And Anne, I'm glad the two of you reached an understanding about the piano cover. Where's the clock going to go?

And you'll find something for that table/desk.

Let us know when you get the style tray posted, OK?

Oh and Anne--don't "settle" for something just for the sake of having something. I've learned this the hard way. It takes another round of negotiations to make changes--and it just isn't worth it!

Wait 'til you find the "perfect" thing--that's why a style tray will be very, very useful to you.

I'm starting over from the top. The last few months have been exhausting. Most of what I've done has been half-hearted sorting. I haven't emptied the Out Box in a month.

What with that Flickr Finds feature, I feel a bit of pressure (motivation) to really get this done and make it nice. So, I'm starting over and pushing through.

Anne,
I just looked at your pictures--would you consider putting the clock in a different room? I was thinking it might be cute if you have a powder room or small bathroom..."Time to Go!" ;-) I keep our cookbooks on a small set of shelves in our powder room--people think it's quirky and fun. (Well, that's what they say to my face!) The same powder room has an ocean theme--old Navy books, a BIG picture of a sea otter, ceramic octopus.

The silk is lovely! Can you hang that on the wall?

Everyone is really going to town--I'm so impressed with how far you've gotten! (Peer pressure can be good. Right?)

I put the whole family on a media fast! It's great! I LOVE not having TV or computer games! Makes me feel like Laura Ingall's! (Ha!)

Persian anything really is good! Tonight we had a big feast to celebrate "Framily" coming to visit (Friends who are Family). Braised lamb shanks, a beef stew with yellow lentils that you put over saffron rice and cover with crispy fried potatoes, another rice dish with loads of herbs chopped up in it, tons of fruit, tons of rosewater ice cream, and then tea flavored with cardoman. I always go to my friend's house determined to not eat like a pig and always fail! It's such a pretty meal too. I'm so full, I can't go to sleep just yet so I repapered a few drawers in the kitchen. Am trying to edit while I go but...I'm weak!

afltuba--(I'm getting confused with everybody's names--sorry if I misspelled that!) Your painted room looks lovely! Have you thought about taking the tapestry and draping it from one rod over the bed? (making a triangle over the bed with the two ends cascading over the sides of the bed) You have all those lovely instruments--can you hang them on the big wall as art? Or can you have a wall of CDs on the big wall? I think you have a lot of right angles in the bedroom...wouldn't it be nice to see the lovely curves of the instruments...

I wonder if you are overwhelmed with the amount of stuff you have in your living room? I agree that a little color would help--maybe the toasty color of the towels in your style tray? Just some thoughts!

smallcitybeth and others who are running out of Flickr upload bandwidth:

I have an idea that I'd like to run past you guys. I have a pro account on Flickr, which means I have a ton of upload bandwidth. I'd be happy to give the pictures that you can't fit onto your flickr a temporary home!

Does this interest anyone?

smallcitybeth - thanks for the idea about the tv-alarm. I have a hard time waking up in the morning, even to my screeching alarm clock (night person, getting up early, never quite works).

Alana - glad you've finished with the photo boxes! Good luck on cutting back, when you start weeding.

Anne in Reno - hope your mister liked what you did! And I second Alana - don't "settle" for something, get what you really want.

I've just checked my flickr - I'm responding to comments now. My home monitor broke last week and I just got a decent new-to-me one Monday night, so now I can actually see the pictures decently again.

Also, I really need to empty the outbox and get the extra furniture item out of the house - it's parked in the LR until I can haul it to Mom's, this weekend at the latest. Same with the getting the blown monitor to the recycling place. The main living area will look much better for this - I redid the bedroom and the LR 'caught' the overflow temporarily.

I have questions. For colors, is there a concept of warm vs. cool? I heard somewhere that people of certain complexions and hair color should wear either warm (yellow, orange, red) or cool (purple, blue, green) colors. I'm a "cool" person and I prefer cool colors. I'm just wondering if that would extend to color choices in my home.

Also, I'm wondering how easy (and expensive) it would be to replace this ceiling light with a pendant light:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11709818@N00/292366918/

Thanks Tara!

Just went and saw Anne (in Reno)'s style tray. I can see why that victorianesgque bordello of a music room drives you nuts. Yikes.

Today I'm washing the window curtains and shower curtains in the bath...and the bath mat. And I'll go through the cabinet today too.

The grout between the tub and the floor needs to be taken out and re-done: I'll check what supplies we have on hand for that and think about doing it today or tomorrow.

Marilyn,

I gave you a link on your flckr page for replacing your light fixture - it shouldn't be difficult. Make certain the new fixture either uses the same wattage as the existing or that the fuse box for that fixture can handle the increased load. -- overloading your fuses can be very dangerous.

There are good arguements for color of rooms complimenting your skin tone. If you want the rooms or a room in your house to be flattering to you (or someone else) you should select from a color palette that is complementary. Marilyn Monroe apparently had her home painted in a range of beiges that were very flattering to her hair and skin tone.
Generally, most of us gravitate to colors we look good in because we develop preferances for colors that make us look good.
There are some colors that most people look good in. For example, most people look good in lavendar - which is why Monica's living room was lavendar on the set of Friends.

I think the bedroom and bathroom must be flattering colors for the women who use them -- this should be a no brainer for us. Other rooms, shared by family and the public may not be selected for a single person (unless you are lucky enough to live alone ;) ) You may prefer the room to be neutral or compliment a painting or rug or create a mood - all perfectly reasonable approaches. Yellow, for example, is a very popular wall color that almost no one looks good in - but yellow makes us happy.
Some transistions spaces (front hall, corridors) can be any color as you don't spend enough time in them.

Thanks Alex. That's a good insight about thinking about others' preferences as well as my own when selecting colors for the living room. I live alone but I would like to invite people over sometimes.

Welcome Lady J! What's your Flickr name? Could you include the URL to your pictures the next time you post?

Well, I made it to the flower shop again last night - only the second time since the cure began.

I haven't really gotten into Week 6 yet (tonight!) - still playing catch-up. I think I'm starting to figure out what's needed in each room. I really liked the hard/soft exercise - I realized that my dining room is almost all "hard", and my bedroom is drowing in softness.

I finally got around to posting before and after pics of my entranceway, too. Right now it's cluttered again, but with boxes of things that are going to the goodwill as soon as I can get my roommate to drive me there.

Time for some "therapy" intervention!
I need your help.

It concerns make-up.

I haven't worn any in at least a year. I have what I need--but as you can guess it is old and would cost a lot to replace. (I buy quality stuff.)

Should I toss it anyway?

This is extremely problematic for me. I've never been one to wear a lot, nor have I ever worn it "every-day." (I was a grad student most of my adult life).

Where's the problem? Well, a girl likes to spiff up every now and again--and even though dh and I have not been out on our own for a long long time, I feel like that if I toss the make-up, we'll NEVER get on that date. It's like giving up hope of better things. Does that make sense?

Sorry I didn't welcome you earlier LadyJ! Where will you start to "start over?"

I left some comments at flickr for you Anna--great job you've done!

Alana - I'm kind of a makeup junkie - I can't leave the house without gold glitter eyeshadow and cat eyes (I'm a bellydancer....I need my glitter fix). So this is right up my alley. Here's what I found online:

http://www.makeupdiva.com/archives/002294.html

If you really don't use it often, you might want to try getting only trial sizes or mini-versions of staples like mascara and blush.

Alana - I agree with leela. If you're used to going without, then you don't need much for a date to be dressed up. Toss most of it, esp. anything that's really been around for more than a year, bacteria can really fester in some of it, and the quality degrades...actually probably an easy way for you to replenish without spending much is to get one of those deptartment store "free gifts" like from Lancome or Clinique, and whatever it doesn't provide that you want, can be your purchase or go towards the purchase price that will get you the "free gift." Plus you'll have something cute to store it all in!

What do you think about that?

Oh my heavens, skywaykate--I haven't been to a cosmetics counter in 15 years (or more!)

I get my stuff from a multi-level marketing company....so it isn't as if I can replace it in a week, kwim?

But I like the trial size idea....for that I just might venture to a drug store.

Great list, Leela.

But I still don't want to toss it. Ack.

BTW, I started looking for something in the "junk" drawer and got to sorting it. I feel like Alice--stuck in the junk drawer and I can't get out.

Alana, I keep my makeup for years - I only toss it if it smells funny, has separated or dried out or if I know I'm not going to use it again. I know cosmetics consultants would be horrified, but I've never gotten an infection from makeup. It takes me about 5 years to use up a lipstick.

Anne in Reno - can you do a floor plan of your living and dining rooms? I want to get a better sense of the layout so I can make some suggestions.

Here's the one many of us have used:
http://www.bhg.com/bhg/category.jhtml?categoryid=/templatedata/bhg/category/data/arrangearoomtest.xml&ordersrc=rdbhg0035

I'm kind of a makeup whore, so allow me to field this one. You're right to give things the sniff test. I'd buy new mascara (drugstore) and liquid foundation or tinted moisturizer. Lipstick smells if it's rancid, so that's easy enough to tell. All powder (loose or pressed) is fine to keep. Powder shadows can last 10 years or more.

Alana - the great thing is how many things come in smaller (and trial) sizes now! I always hated to have to drop a ton just to try something and risk not liking it after one use.

Hey all, there's a new Cure thread on the main page now. :)

My Flickr name is Belledame73. I had the Flickr Find a couple of weeks ago. There were a ton of hits but not any feedback.

Since you asked... I added a few pictures of my desk area post-cure to my flickr page. They don't look radically different, but my desk just works better and I finally got around to fixing all the stupid little things that drove me crazy [like the phone falling off the wall everytime I hung it up].

http://flickr.com/photos/czarina/293872236/