apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I am so excited about this! I have been reading religiously and have just gone over the interview questions. They really made me think. This is really going to lead me into a whole new area of my life.

My book just arrived this morning and am going off to do my reading homework over lunch now!

I did the fall cure on the my whole apt. except the bedroom as it was/is in dire need of the one room cure. Am very excited to get started on it and have been collecting inspirations for my style tray since Oct. I have actually maintained pretty much everything from the Cure -- although the storage closet is in need of a cure-like clean out which I am going to sneak in as a I do the bedroom because it doesn't have its own closet. Am most curious to see how the one room cure experience differs from the deep clean version. Are others doing 1 room version?

Jacquelyn, I remember your lovely home! I am also doing the one-room cure on my master bathroom and we will see how I survive...

Anne (in Reno) -- am glad to have "old friends" from last cure doing one room this time around. I remember your great results in your bedroom -- definitely inspiration for me this time around. May I ask the source of your double dresser -- getting one is on my list for curing the bedroom. Thanks!

I have recently become an AT addict and ordered "The Book" a few weeks ago. I've mostly made it to Week 3, but I think I'll start over so I can have with a support group.

I'm hunting for tips on the best way to clean wood floors--mine are beautiful, but they are driving me crazy!

We live in a 1927 apt. with plaster walls, so dust can be an issue. No pets, but my hair seems to get everywhere, so our dust bunnies can be frightfully large. I recently switched from conventional tools to the amazing o-mop.

My floor routine:

(1) Sweep with a broom to get the big stuff.
(2) Sweep with an o-mop (using the corn cloths) to
get the leftover dust.
(3) Mop with an o-mop, rinsing the microfiber pad
at least once or twice per room.
(4) Realize that there is still much dirt on my
floors.
(5) Use the o-mop corn cloths again.
(6) Still feel grit everywhere.
(7) Give up.

Can anyone help me? I could mop twice a day and still want to pull my hair out.

All suggestions are appreciated.

Thank you!

i'm ready to get going!

That photo of Lisa's in Sacramento "before" looks like most people's after! Looks like she has my same cabinets, which I love.

Hey Nicole,
I, too, have monster dust bunny issues in my apartment. Have you ever tried an old-fashioned floor duster? It does better job on my floors than my vacuum cleaner, doesn't leave grit behind, and is washable.
L

Nicole --

I have wood floors throughout my apt. and have adopted the HEPA vacuum cleaner and then Bissel steam cleaner method and I am pretty pleased. The steam cleaner just uses water, so no chemicals (I do have pets and nephews).

Jacquelyn

Hi, everyone! I've been looking forward to March 5 since the end of the Fall Cure, and today I didn't even realize it was Spring Cure Kick-off day until just now! (Good grief!)

Alana in Canada, if you're reading this, saw your comment on the last thread -- at least you'll be reading, if not participating (I know how easy it is to get really caught up in this). Had wanted to email you in January, but couldn't figure out how to do that on Flickr, so glad to have the opportunity now to say "Hi, how ya doin'?"

Jacquelyn -- your home is a constant source of inspiration.

I should be able to get my before pics taken tomorrow night, of the empty apartment. Then I have to get 'em developed and up on Flickr before I dismantle my computer and move it over to the new place.

This is gonna be fun!

Yea! Okay; figuring out flickr. Borrowing my friends van and truck for my out box this week. (I've had crap stacked on one whole side of my living room since I started reading the book and blog in January.) Have to vacuum vacuum vacuum! :) And I bought myself a little bissel steamer sooo; more carpet cleaning.
Yea!!! so happy to be here. Have fun everybody!!

oh, I've been waiting for the cure to start again! my main living area is desperate for some kind of love and attention: i've been waiting for The Boy to move in, but the longer it takes the less at home i feel. sigh.
and also, lisa, i love the pass-through/shelves in your kitchen. they're super.

i read the first 30 pages and am now getting stressed about how my furniture is arranged... i have an L-shaped couch in a 325 sq ft studio. if i drew a diagram of my apartment, there'd be dead energy everywhere! i'm hoping to figure out some way to rearrange without losing my couch... although, 325 sq ft is not much to work with!

annie-nyc -- post some pics, we'll try to help! It's amazing the creative ideas that come out when everyone gets brainstorming about someone's quandary.

I agree with Curtis! Boy, if Lisa needs a "cure" I need euthanasia. Did she not post the pics of her clutter?

annie-nyc, I live in a small studio and take everything about layout with a grain of salt. I mean, I know everything shouldn't be pushed up against a wall, but when you dealing with smaller spaces, I think it is more important to fit everything in comfortably.

I decided to get a jump start this week-end by replacing a cheesy pottery barn-esque cabinet with floating shelves in my bathroom. It has been an unmitigated disaster. I am still working on a solution, but will post pictures when I am done.

Heh heh, I agree with xxx - if Lisa needs a cure, then I'm hopeless too. It's inspiring to see a picture of a great-looking kitchen, but sort of leaves me feeling in over my head.

Anyway, this is my first Cure and I'm really excited. I'm doing the deep clean. When I'm done, I think I'm going to jump right into a one-room cure (bedroom).

I was so ready to get started, I've done a little pre-work in the last week, purging some books and other household stuff I'm not using anymore, and taking a first stab at organizing a closet and some cabinets.

I have a couple of "Before" pictures posted on Flickr, but I still have to take the rest - hopefully tonight.

Oh my gosh! Ah! Eek! My apartment is on AT!! *Doing a little dance of joy...then stopping and realizing that the gauntlet has been thrown...*

Um, oh yikes, I guess this means I really need to step up now! This is for real and I am doing this!

To be fair you guys, my kitchen is without a doubt the best thing about my apartment. You'll notice Maxwell didn't post the pic of my UGLY sofa! But on the flip side of that, it is probably the area that will have the least dramatic transformation. At least, that's what I anticipate.

Like I said, I got rid of much of my clutter before taking my pics (pride getting the best of me!) but it's still around, inside desk drawers, on top of the filing cabinet in my closet, etc etc. Must...get up courage...to post pics of that...! I'll let you all know when they are up.

Yay! Changes are a'comin'!

Also, not sure if Belledame73 is lurking or participating under another name or what, but I just looked through your flickr set and we have very similar tastes (colorful, global/moroccan, etc.) as well as small studios. Hope you'll be joining in- I've already found your pictures so inspirational. I've decided to paint one of my walls hot pink, and I think you may be the only one out there who would understand...

Avocado, I understand you on that hot pink! In fact I used to have a room in my house painted that until we had another baby! Now it is a boy nursery--but dang! If he had been a girl, I would have kept it hot pink!

Hey Everyone!! I'm so excited to finally start on this ride. I think one thing I need to learn during this process is how to channel my energy and love for bold, intense colors in a way that won't overwhelm a space...If you take a look at the link on my name, you'll see what I did to one of my walls. I get overly excited and want to lash out with extreme statements. What do you all think?

So excited!!! Can't wait to start posting pics on flickr.

Woohoo, finally! I found AT recently and have the book checked out from the library while I wait for my copy. Can't wait to jump in.

The boy and I moved from a single bedroom in a shared house (we're grad students) into a large 1-bd apartment about a month ago. It's so nice to have so much space to ourselves! Most of our furniture appeared out of necessity - garage sale purchases and hand-me-downs from some neighbors. We're hugely lacking in wall decor at the moment, since we only had 1 room worth of stuff before, so that's my main goal for this in addition to the deep clean. I'll attempt to post some pics this evening.

Hi Alana

i've been marking the days on my calendar! jacquelyne, i'm also doing a one room, bedroom this time. nothing new posted yet, but i'm so optomistic, i'm already planning a party.

I am really excited about this! We just moved into a new apartment recently and while we tried to keep the rooms we use reasonable and I like them, all of our real junk is what we have named the 'Awesome Room' where all the awesome stuff we have has to live, so it doesn't junk up our regular rooms hopefully. I'd like to sort it out and make it so we can actually use the Awesome Room for a guest room and still have it to store our junk in, only in a more organized way.

I'm also hopeful that I will finally decide on some dining chairs so we can sit down at the table to eat, which we have never done in TEN YEARS.

Hi.
I'm reading and going through the quizzes and questions again. I'm having a hard time defining my style. I grabbed some photos i've collected of things I like. Any help with what the heck my style is?

i'm ready & nervous too. the room i'm curing is actually EMPTY. it did have stuff in it, but i had to clear it out b/c of ceiling repairs. i've been using it as my art studio the past week or so. so, i'll take befores of the mess. i don't have much money to spend, but i'm still going to try hard.

avocado, I'm here. It is so hard to keep myself in, but I would dearly love to beat it this time. The Cure ends a week after my birthday. Would I love to throw a party at home for once.

Bravo on the hot pink wall!

I, too, was just looking at the kitchen and thinking it must be "after," not "before." I also do not consider your "clutter" to be anywhere near professional level! Clutter is when you have to move a basket of laundry before a guest can sit down. Clutter is not being able to find your pets. Or your income tax stuff. Or eved something really important. Clutter is (and this actually happened to me) having a friend say: "A piano? I didn't know you had a piano!" and the apartment is 635 square feet!

oh, staciaD, that's my problem too! Not sure what my style is either. But you're way ahead of me with your great style tray...need to get one of those going myself!

I'm in! Got the book last month or so and read though it. Will also post photos soon.

This will be my third Cure. I really dug fairly deep during the first Cure and got rid of a lot of stuff and cleaned everything. Last time, I got rid of more and did another cleaning. Since the last Cure, I also got rid of my TV and all the crap that goes with it and the extra space I have is unbelievable - both in time and in physical space. I've been really happy with the level of declutteration (my word!) that I've been able to achieve. I also like to use the Cure as a semi-annual clean up time. One of my goals this time is to dig deeper into my repairs list, which I never seem to make enough progress on. Also, although I'll go through the deep cleaning Cure, I think I may also paint my small bathroom. That will really be an accomplishment in my book.

Jacquelyn, unfortunately my double dresser is a curb find (unusual around here), sorry I can't be more help there.

StaciaD, your style to me looks like what everyone's ends up being - a combination. It looks like you like the clean lines of modern stuff with the warmth of a sort of country rustic influence but nothing too over the top. I like your style tray! I don't think you have to DEFINE your style as long as you can identify and collect things you like because you just need inspiration, you don't need to pigeonhole yourself.

Just bought my light fixtures, the electrician comes at 8am and then I will post new pics!

Just got the book right now, and can't wait to get in bed and read (with post-its in hand). Can't help but think I am missing something here - I've posted some before pics at Flickr....but is there anything else I should be doing...like paying a few bucks or something to participate? Nothing is free, right? But if it is - excellent!

oteach1 -- you're doing everything you need to be doing. There's no charge, no official registration form, nothing like that. It's an informal, come-as-you-are-and-see-what-you-can-become sort of experience. There's a lot of give and take as people look at each other's pictures, make suggestions, ask for help, celebrate successes, commiserate about things that didn't quite work. There's no predicting it -- if you skim through some of the previous two Cures, you'll see that it's the people that make the Cure experience, and each Cure is unique.

(By the way, to provide a quick link to your Flickrs, copy the URL when you're at your Flickr page, then paste it into the URL blank under where you put your name and email address when you're posting a comment here, then folks can click on your name and get to your Flickr pics. I've done so here, linking to my End of Fall Cure pics, because that's all I've got on Flickr right now.)

Hrm.... I see there is more than one Andrea in for the cure.. I'm changing my name to avoid confusion!

My husband and I are super-super excited about the cure and can't wait to make our home fab-u-lous... or at least more efficient.

Further to the comment I just made about Flickr pics, you should see the mess my living room is in now! It looks so peaceful in the pictures, but that is all in the past now, and, well, moving creates mess. I'll be spending the next two weeks moving all my stuff over to the new apartment -- moving-in chaos will be much better than moving-out chaos! (and by the end of the Cure, the chaos will be gone! Yay!)

OK folks, full disclosure. I posted the Awful Truth. Figured some others have been brave with their craziness. And all these folks going on television nowadays...

I don't know why I'm so lazy, but it's time to reign it in. Suggest as you will (but no anti-clutter comments, we've already been thru that.)

I just posted my before the cure photos on Flickr.
I am getting excited about doing my first cure; my main goal is to organize and declutter. I already have a binder with decorating ideas, a good start to my style tray. I need to re-read the first pages of the book, and deep clean my floors. Does anyone know a good eco-friendly product to clean wood floors?

I'm so excited to join the cure this time! The book was released shortly after I moved from Dallas to DC and I have been de-cluttering for much of that time. I have been taking pictures along the way so now I just need to get them organized to show the progress. I have posted a few in my Cure website (linked in my name).

Looking forward to Cure-ing with all of you.

I'm still at a loss as to how to avoid "bowling alley syndrome" in a super narrow railroad apartment. The middle room in our place is only about 9 feet wide. (Side note, my husband thinks the people who live above us must have an actual bowling alley in their place.)

Does anyone recall good layouts or before and afters on flickr showing how people dealt with railroads apt?

I got an amazon gift card for my birthday (today) so getting the book and doing the cure is going to be my birthday present. I just moved and I have a pretty blank slate - except for all the stuff I want to ahave with me at all times ;)

Happy Birthday Gracie! Can't wait to see pictures.

I spent a few hours pushing all the furniture around after vacuuming last night, since it was already off the walls. I came up with something that I think works pretty well. Posted up on flickr, let me know what you think!

I am excited to begin this. I started a little while back on my bathroom. Even having one room clean has really made a difference. I am excited to see my entire place finished.

My site, while an overhaul of my entire life, also will document my apartment progress. I've tagged all of the entries with "apartment," so people can skip over the other stuff.

I am doing the deep treatment.

Avocado - I live in a lavender apartment (it's major selling feature) and once had a bright red living room - I totally understand the hot pink wall.

I agree - BelleDame you're me...I guess I should take some real pics of how my apartment looks now - not how it looked the day I moved in and had it all spic and span

Alright, I posted the before pics of my bedroom, with comments. My primary goals are to replace the gray carpet that I really dislike and to add more color. I have a lot of art waiting to be framed, so I plan to add quite a bit more art as well.

I posted my pics on the flicker group. Just having vacummed, mopped, and generally cleaned makes a huge difference. I'm going to try to keep it up. It really feels good to come home to a clean house. Now all I have to do is take care of the clutter!

I soaked up the book and started on my apartment during the last cure... but couldn't get the nerve to join in! I had to do some work on the side because redoing my apartment was so overwhelming! I'm not a clutter bug, I'm a commitment phobe of new things! I owned a bunch of useless crap! I bought some things (after MUCH thought and pretty much with every cent possible) and now need to work on final touches. I have more pictures I have to upload. here's starting to mid point. I'm so excited!!!!

i need to do this , but dont think i can get a copy of the book that quickly - i'm overseas. can i do this just reading online?

Oh my god, Jamie. You are me and I am you. I am turning 30 next January and this is like my year to get my sh*t together and be an adult. I love your blog.

Lynnea -- good for you! Small problem, I can't access your pics. When I click your name for a link, it says "Log on to Photobucket". Thing is, I'm not a member of Photobucket. (The AT Cure pics are generally posted to Flickr.) Can you post to Flickr?

Just Bored, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only person thinking of Cure #3. The last one turned out to be too soon after moving into this apartment, so it heeeelllllpppped, but we just didn't know how we'd live here well enough to make final decisions in some areas.

Since tuition bills mean I have no budget, I think the deal this time is going to be getting to the fix-it or organize-it projects that always seem like a good idea for some OTHER week.

I am thinking of participating in this Cure even though I don't really have any money in my budget to spend on decorating. Maybe some purging and reorganizing will be enough. I need to find a way to improve the futon couch since a new sofa is definitely beyond my pocketbook right now.

I did already have a plan to repaint and change hardware on a desk I currently hate the look of, but I want to wait until it's warm enough to paint on the balcony or at least open the windows.

Lady J -- Your photos don't say "lazy" to me. They say: "My piles look daunting, and I can always think of more amusing things to do than being daunted."

OK, I've started putting up some pics of things in my style tray/idea box (somehow the stuff that has more to do with logistics and building doesn't seem stylish enough to belong in a style tray). I'll put up more throughout the day/week. Flickr link is in my name.

Too true, wende.

All, I didn't mean don't comment on the clutter, just none of that "I hate clutter" nonsense. We're all doing our own thing and these threads tend to get invaded by people with minimalist complaints. It's not about saying "that's not my style" it's about helping eachother work well with our own taste and style.

If you have a nifty containment idea, I'll take it.

Thanks!

i think i finally figured out how to post pictures as a link from my name. hopefully this works.

it's amazing how much more i notice about my apartment from pictures than just being in it. the pictures are definitely getting me motivated to get rid of clutter... (and put away my laundry!)

Lynn and Jacquelyn --

Thanks for your responses to my floor cleaning dilemma.

Lynn: How do you use your floor duster? The ones I remember are giant things that you have to shake the dust out of. But I do know they work. How do you use yours?

Jacquelyn: I've been wanting to purchase a good vacuum anyway, as I hope an area rug or two are part of my Cure. Any recommendations? And do you just "mop" the floor with the Bisell?

Thanks again for the help!

Nicole -- I have used the Eureka "Mity Might" with true hepa for about 7 years. (Link in my name.) My first one died a few months ago and I bought the current version. I have to say that I liked the old version much better -- why does that always happen??!!?? But I am still very pleased with the current version and would recommend it for quality/price/effectiveness/ease of storage etc.

Yes, I use the steam mop as a mop - I have a sponge mop for quickie cleanups, but mostly just steam 1 time per week.

It's been a while since I've posted. I am going to attempt to do this I suppose. :) My fiance is a regular reader here and has read the book (that she bought for me for my.. birthday?) and would love to see it happen. I think I will even take TRUE before pictures tonight (in the true state of guy living alone cleanliness that it lives in) to begin the process.

I'm excited to have found this group. It looks like I don't have to be in NY to join. I'm in rural Nebraska, and my house is small--it's not an apartment. Is this okay?

I've been reading the book for the last couple weeks. I wanted to read it once, and then go back and follow it. I'm almost done with that first reading. The timing for this cure couldn't be better!

Lynne,
Murphy's Oil soap is eco friendly, smells good, and works great.

Viv, you're in. Welcome!

I'm on board. Been waiting for March to come. Still trying to decide which cure to do... My man says let's do the one-room cure on the kitchen. However, we're not ready to do the remodeling just yet... Maybe in the fall. We've been decluttering, but still could use the whole-home cure.

I’m going for the one-room remedy this time around. It’s the same room I was planning to do on Cure 2, but had to drop out because other projects were competing for my time.

It’s the main room, and I hope to get pictures posted in a day or so. I had reorganized my one-bedroom apartment to accommodate a true home office. I work from my apartment, but more often than not, borrowed desk space somewhere or decamped to Starbuck’s or a local friendly restaurant. The habit was not only inconvenient, but also wasted time and money.

The home-office project disrupted the entire place and for a while my dark joke was that the main room looked fully functional, but wasn’t, while the bedroom (where the home office is) didn’t look fully functional, but was. The deep treatment worked, took care of that problem, but alas ruined the punch line.

I plan to use the one-room remedy to fine tune. Well, more than just fine tune. Sort of everything from selecting a new color for the wall down to whether a particular decorative pillow works in the space.

And on to commenting on others’s comments: hot pink. ABC Carpet was channeling Diana Vreeland a bit, but its recent India promotion (which may still be going on) is pink. Very pink. Pink in all its shades, values, and hues, from orangey pinks to lavender pinks. Pink furniture, pink upholstery, pink glassware. This was the think tank of think pink. It was so over the top it was wonderful. And pink.

This may be my odd point of departure here, but why is pink necessarily a feminine color. Or blue a masculine one? There are appropriate or interesting uses of each. This reminds of Lionel Trains pink set just for girls, which dive-bombed as well it should have.

What else can I be grouchy about today? Oh, yes, I begin to wonder if Wende, Just Curious, the other veterans of both earlier cures, and I will wind up doing this semi-annually even after we’ve all been exiled to the designers’s old-age home.

Oh yeah - I almost forgot. For those folks who are deep treating or just interested, I have a book recommendation. It's called Green Clean: The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home, by Linda Mason Hunter and Mikki Halpin. It's a pretty awesome resource, listing both products that are green AND providing recipes for homemade green cleaning products. Some of it is stuff that people might already know about, some of it doesn't seem to work very well (the homemade dishwasher detergent left our dishes with an unpleasant salty/soapy film), but there are a great many things in there that are worth trying out, including natural disinfectants and anti-bacterial cleansers. I'm sure most of the info is available on the internet, but it's nice to have it all together in a book. And, if anyone has any specific things they're looking to replace, ask and I'll check it for you this evening.

Jacquelyn, Thank you for the link.

Lynne: For wood floor cleaning solution, I like Wood for Good by Method. I'm pretty sure it's eco-friendly. I find that it does a good job of dissolving most sticky stuff, and it smells good, too. I don't notice that it leaves any film behind, either.

I am so excited to be doing this. I am really working on my housekeeping skills, which are not so good, and I'm working on getting rid of things, because I have a lot of clutter. (I only photographed the clean rooms of my house so far).

My boyfriend, my two kids and I, live in a rented 2 bedroom house that is about 1200 sq. ft. The house has great bones, but a crazy paint job that we can't change. Our kitchen is bright orange, bright purple, and bright yellow, with a pale green ceiling! It also has no cabinets or counters at all.

I can't wait to see what everyone does.

Here's my before photo set, and I'll be adding more photos to it this week. http://www.flickr.com/gp/98656899@N00/X5Y190

JonathanB quoth: "What else can I be grouchy about today? Oh, yes, I begin to wonder if Wende, Just Curious, the other veterans of both earlier cures, and I will wind up doing this semi-annually even after we’ve all been exiled to the designers’s old-age home."

Probably. At least we'll have tidy, gracious rooms in which to drool and reminisce about how people once understood style, and our heirs will thank us for not having saved cents-off coupons that expired in 1986.

The last time I felt fully Cured, I promptly moved to another state, so it can be said with some fairness that I create my own decorating problems.

OOOOOO. Thanx for the book recommendation LauraII. I want to get my home SQUEAKY Clean. And healthy green! I still have a borders gift card from X-mas so i'll go check it out. :)

avocado, i wish i were turning thirty next january! i've got two months to go! i'm excited to turn thirty, but it's coming at me so fast!

lynne, i use method or swedish cleaning formula from restoration hardware. i had a bad experience with murphy's oil soap -- it took all the finish off my polyurethaned floors and i had to get them redone.

okay, posted i've posted pix and started on my outbox. how did it get so full already? i'm having trouble exporting my floor plan from bhg.com to my flickr page. if anyone has any ideas, that would be great. i've totally spaced on how i managed it last time.

just got the confirmation in the mail that the husband got into grad school. So it's bound for colorado this summer unless nebraska pitches a better offer. Time to get our clutter cleared and make our move hella easier.

As of budget, we don't really have any money to invest in decorating(it's all going to tuition), so I'm on the lookout for cheap, creative uses of resources. Let me know what you have!

Saturday I picked up 6 filing boxes (the cheap cardboard kind) from staples and bought some craft paint to paint them. I'm about 3/4 done with painting them to match the office/storage room color scheme I picked out. Now I need to return to the craft store to return the paint that actually looked like the right color in the craft store, but magically turned another color at home. That's another color relativity lesson for me.

I'm so excited about the move. I hope the excitement will overwhelm the dreaded feeling I get when I look at all the stuff in our current office. I need that momentum to get me started...

An episode of "Redesign" shows the power of using what you got to redecorate on $0. They've done wonderful things in those apartments.

Congratulations to the husband, Jessi!

Purge relentlessly. On a grad school move, you're going to have to do it all again in a few years anyway.

The big issue with making a home office look coordinated is to have all the storage look like it belongs together, which is hard to do on a limited budget (though IKEA certainly helps). However, your husband should have (or make) some opportunities to network with other students in his department, so he can be prepared for what's about to hit him. Look for colleagues who are about to move on and intend to dump their student shelving cheap rather than move it. Student newspapers are good for this, too. Coordinating the timing could be challenging if people leave in June and you're arriving later than that, but it's worth a try.

I'm trying to do this connect the photos to my name. I've made my photobucket public. http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e276/crazycatwoman12/apartment%20therapy/ - these are before mixed with the "in progress"! I can't wait to get started.

Thanks Stacia, Nicole and Abbey for the wood
floor cleaning suggestions. I hope to purchase something tonight and then start the deep clean on my floors.

I finished re-reading the first chapters last night, made my repair list, and I started the outbox.

Found the book on the 3rd floor in the Union Square B&N...started reading it on the train this morning--the first time in ages I haven't dozed off. Very excited to start with the Cure and look forward to getting to know everyone & their AT-induced homes.

Greetings to the other Andrea (ALammle)!

Cheers,

Andrea

I am so excited. Spent the day out looking at cleaners, and getting ideas! This is my first cure, but I have gotten my husband in on it and even am trying to talk my mother into doing a cure to her house! I have posted some before pics on flicker and have gotten some nice comments already. We are getting HAMMERED by a snowstorm so it's floor cleaning time!

The people on here without the book - check your local library, I found one at mine for the last Cure and might have to check it out again for this one as I loaned my copy to a friend.

The electrician is finishing up and I am about to post pics of my adorable new light fixtures! He has to patch a hole in the ceiling and then I can sand and paint everything this weekend, hopefully. Paint swatches are the next project... that and getting the book from the library as I am doing this totally out of order, I'm sure.

looks like there are at least 3 Andreas now... I guess I'll call myself Andrea(in MN)

Viv, you're certainly welcome to join in -- a small house in Nebraska is fine. The principles ought to work anywhere, although some of the ideas address problems that are more common in city apartments. (For example, you are probably more likely to have food in the house and cook dinner, and less likely to roam around town "grazing" every night.)

I will be doing the 8 parts somewhat out of sequence, because (for reasons unrelated to the group cure) I did some things last week, and I'll be traveling part of the time. I'm trying to spend no money at all except for cleaning products, and I think I have enough even of those!

Hi all...I thought for sure I'd be doing the one-room cure, but after reading the first section of the book, I can see that I really need the deep clean/cure before I can do my living room. Though I will still be looking closely at the room posted here - especially the work space...any thoughts always appreciated (plus, I am trying out this link to the picures thing through the URL - hope it works...)

Inspired by the whole Cure thing, I did some furniture juggling today to try to find a better arrangement. (This was a major enterprise since it involved emptying and moving 3 bookshelves). The only conclusion I have is that our apartment has too much furniture for its size. I feel demoralized and defeated because I neither want to move nor want to get rid of any furniture. It's all useful. I need some floorplan and/or purging help.

Here's the situation. We have a bedroom, which I Cured before and now refuse to screw up, which means it actually has a good amount of furniture for its size, including a nice empty corner I'm constantly tempted to stick something in to make everywhere else less crowded. So far I've resisted.

I've narrowed our problem down to a few key pieces that just don't fit:
-a Poang chair that is nice, but takes up way more space than we have available for it
-an extra kitchen table (currently in the office/guestroom) that I love and refuse to part with
-some shelves that either stack or are a nice bench height in which we store dvds/misc with baskets that fit really nicely
-a sewing desk which the machine folds into for storage and the top folds out creating a nice work surface when using it, but which can't be used as a regular desk normally because of how the machine folds into it

The problem is that I know that we won't live in this apartment forever and that I'll be sorry I got rid of stuff when we have a larger place. But how to live with it in the meantime? I'll try to make up a floorplan so I can get some help with finding the best arrangement.

How do you decide which things to put in the outbox?

Lisa in Sacremento - I posted when you first put up your pictures and said I loved the space and thought you were perfectly poised for the Cure. Looks to me like your bones, flow and head are pretty good in the kitchen. I think what's missing is heart. A suggestion: in the shelfy-divider thingy, I count 9 boxes. What about choosing four or five of one repeating item (like the Crate and Barrell Lilac Petal Candleholder) and scattering them randomly among the nine spaces and choosing one sentimentally valuable item for each of the remaining boxes?

P.S. If you choose candles there, stick to tea-lite size. They won't burn the bottoms of the shelf above them. Any larger and you might.

Lynnea,
I really love your dining area with the silver radiator. The pink is lovely.

Is there anywhere on Photobucket to put comments or for you to give us commentary on what you are trying to do with your space? If not, perhaps you should sign up for Flickr during this Cure.

I've just made a start on my style tray by gathering images I had collected and uploading them to flickr. I'm feeling a bit down now, because they are so beautiful and my home is not! Oh well, one step at a time!

Lisa from VA,

I need to connect this blog to my regular blog. that's next. tech slowness. Glad you like the pink!

Angorian -

Cruise thru at least the first half of Peter Walsh's (HGTV's "Clean Sweep") book - "It's All Too Much". Excellent inspiration and rationalization for ALL of the "Cure" folks. Lot's of "why-we-do-what-we-do-and-why-we-get-bogged-down" info.

lorijo, are you in Michigan? I'm outside of Detroit.

Ooops. Posted my photos in the wrong thread. Attached to my name.

Hi LauraII,
Yes, but about 3 hours north of you!

Joining the party a little late here. I got my book last week and still have to finish the reading. I have started to answer the questions but surprisingly, they are hard...I'm one of those who can't make up her mind!

Very excited about this as I have been feeling my home has been sick for quite a while now...here's to the cure!

I've been working up the courage to finally post my before pictures. I've followed along with previous cures and am looking forward to making a small dent in the amount of chaos I've allowed to accumulate in my life.

Doug in DC,
I remember that little blue chair and your red walls from one of the AT contests and I still want a chair just like that one. Welcome!

Angorian quoth: "The problem is that I know that we won't live in this apartment forever and that I'll be sorry I got rid of stuff when we have a larger place. But how to live with it in the meantime? How do you decide which things to put in the outbox?"

You have to be clear on your priorities, which is easier said than done.

Stuff comes in three categories:

1) Things that represent our pasts.
2) Things that are useful and relevant in the present.
3) Things that we expect to need in the future.

The past is a problem when it becomes a dead-weight burden of guilt, rather than a healthy source of identity; the future becomes a problem when "saving for what might happen" eats our space and energy in the present.

BUT -- if you *know* that a specific change is in your future, then it can make sense to give some space to preparing for it. So I'd consider... do you know that a larger apartment is in your future because something in your life is going to change, or do you just kind of figure that everyone moves up to a larger apartment so you'll do that, too, in the fullness of time? If you just kind of figure, is that future appealing enough for you to give up something for it now? There's not a right answer.

Lisa from VA--

Thanks! As I'm sure I mentioned "back then" it was a chair that sat in my grandparents' basement. When my dead inherited the house he was going to throw it away and I snatched it up. There is a similar one in the master bedroom that has a "buttoned" (I'm sure there's a more sophisticated term) back. If you happen to know a good upholsterer in the DC Metro area (I don't know what part of VA you're in) please let me know.

Lisa from VA--

The other chair is linked to my name.

well I have jumped in with both feet, but have a problem with one thing, taking an item outside. I live in a rural area and taking an item outside would mean eventually putting it in a landfill. I won't do that.
But, I sell vintage items (from clothing to furniture)as a business, and every year have a huge yard sale for the excess (I really do mean huge)- and I am putting things that I am purging in the sale. Once I have decided the fate of an item, it gets priced right away, packed up and placed in my stock room, away from my living space. Excess clothing- I am also purging my closets this time around-that's going to my local womens shelter for their thrift store. Items can be re-used and I don't feel guilty tossing stuff in the landfill.
That is my personal solution, and I am dedicated to making this work and de cluttering my personal space.

Oh, lorijo, it is *so* much more difficult to get rid of stuff now that we don't live in the inner city, where we could just leave things in the building foyer with the assurance that someone would want them!

I need to bite the bullet and put in some serious CL listing and Goodwill-going time. I'd be happier if I did it instead of thinking about how much trouble it is to do it. (We don't even have that much stuff, but I made a couple suboptimal decisions about what to move to this apartment.)

Actually I'm an Andrea as well. I'm in Denver.

Jesse in Oregon. If you end up moving to Boulder, paring down is a good idea because housing there can be pricer than some would assume. A couple of quick resources:

*Denver/Boulder area has a very active Craigslist that would be good for freebies and low cost items. I'd assume the freecycle boards would also be busy.

*There's a Habitat for Humanity thrift store in Broomfield, which is near Boulder.

*Boulder has a Savers thrift store.

*A store called Good Use "reinvigorated furniture and housewares" offers classes in refinishing and reupholstery. Click on the link for more info.

Greetings Folks,
I'm joining this cure also, just outside Boston. I am reading the book. I will post photos soon. LadyJ you are my hero. Okay back to my homework.

Wende and lorijo - Have either of you investigated freecycle groups in your area? We've had great success getting rid of ALL KINDS of stuff - wood from an old deck, the glass out of our old windows, cheesy useless christmas decorations, furniture that we didn't want to take out of the basement ourselves, old miniblinds - I don't think we've ever listed any manner of junk (subjective junk, of course) and not had someone come to get it. It kind of amazes me - thing that I've been convinced were unmitigated trash were taken by folks. Then again, I'm sure some people think some of the stuff we've taken is nutty, too.

Wende-
I know how you feel about sub optimal. I actually moved a ton of stuff up here from Tx 3 years ago. Now I look at the stuff and I scream "why?" If I knew then what I know now, I would have saved myself renting (and driving) that huge ryder truck full of crap that I am now trying to rid myself of.

Hi all,

I'm looking forward to doing this with a group.
I gave the Cure a go last fall, when we moved into our little apartment, and I was *very* pregnant.

Now that our bebe is almost 3 months old, I'm ready to whip our place into shape, on a miniscule budget of course. There were so many things left to done from the last round, we're going to do the Deep Treatment (again.)

Cheers to healthier homes...

LauraII
Freecycle up here is just in the infancy, kind of scary . I miss that kind of thing ( I lived in Austin Tx for 20 years prior to coming back up here in the woods). I do have good luck putting out excess building materials (lumber, pipe, etcc) and other assorted free stuff at my yard sales. I live on a dead end road- so no one just drives by my house- so just a free signon a pile doesn't work.

spell check is not my friend-sorry

What gets me, lorijo, is how hard it is to guess which pieces will actually be suboptimal. I just finished putting on CL a liquor cart that I was 100% certain we would keep forever, and I think its lifespan has proven to be less than a year -- it was just way too specific to the earlier apartment, and it was so easy to find a better solution here.

LauraII, Freecycle may be the answer to certain issues in the garage... thanks for reminding me...

Hi SMB and Francesca! Thanks for thinking of me.

This looks like an enormous cure--lots and lots of participants! Wonderful.

I was inspired to put up out "new" shower curtain and new curtain rods in that dang bathroom!

(I started curing it the second last week of the last cure. The bathroom stuff is still in the hallway!)

I quess I'll do some reading and perhaps get motivated to wash my floors, lol!

And hey, I bought flowers again for the first time in a long time!

Hi, Alana! when you mentioned washing your floors, I just had a vision of what happened in week one of the Fall Cure when you started on your floors... (For anyone that wasn't around then, Alana did a fantastic job of refinishing part of her wood floors, but it was mega work!)

Tonight I'm going to pop in to the bookstore and get a new copy of the book. New apartment, new book. My old copy is all marked up with notes from the old apartment.

If I remember to take my camera over this evening, I'll take my befores, and drop 'em off to be developed on my way to the bookstore.

I'll get my flowers this weekend -- the first flowers for the new place. I'm going to make kind of a ritual of it (a quick ritual, as I have so much to do!)

I'm ready to do two rooms. A bedroom and guest room! Maxwell, i've always enjoyed the blog, and now i LOVE the book! Here's looking forward to a transformation :)

Good Afternoon all.
(or Evening for many of you)

abby: YOUR HOME IS BEAUTIFUL! It will only get better as you keep curing. I love your lush curtains.They make everything look so warm and rich; regal even. Very inspiring for me.

Windwolf: Thanks for another great book recommendation. I'm in 'STUFF' HELL. and 'why do i end up with all this crap?' Will check it out.

Lorijo/ wendeinpheonix; I think if I could just drag stuff out to the curb I would be so much farther along. The most difficult thing is the logistics of actually getting rid of stuff. It can be so overwhelming. I even have to borrow a vehicle to do it; wait for good weather; and end up procrastinating instead. UGH! I've finally taken some pictures. They are of my outbox. LOOK AT ALL THE STUFF! :) wow.

zooza: my impression of your style tray is that you have a very traditional, cozy sensibility. Contemporary colors with old fashioned warmth. What's great is that you can find a lot of stuff and darn good prices at KMART's Martha Stewart Everyday Collection. I love how she's made some good quality stuff available to 'common' folk.

Welcome to eSusan_MA and returning Feather in LA.

We seem to have a big group here. I hope I can keep everybody straight! :)

I too understand the hassle of not being able to get rid of things by putting them on the street. I live in AL, so I can't count on anyone to just grab my stuff off the street (I'm not even sure I could put anything out.)

I've considered asking my building manager to start a resident stuff swap in the extra room downstairs.

Anyway...what I meant to say was: this month's Blueprint has a couple of neat charities listed that take specific items. Could be an alternative to places like Good Will and the Salvation Army.

I also keep my outbox in plain view of visitors. Once I make sure there's nothing in there I really want to keep, I invite people to "go shopping" when they come over. If they don't take it when they leave, I donate it.

Goodness, what a big group! I hope I get to know some of you over the next few weeks!

I just posted my pics up on Flickr, which is a big deal for someone technically challenged like me. I'm so happy I figured out how to add notes! And I'm also glad to see I'm not the only one with piles of stuff...

I was going to do a whole apartment cure, but I've been thinking I should really tackle my office with a deep dive. It's become the place where all of my random junk ends up, and embarasses me every time someone comes over.

Ironically, my cat--who is normally not clumsy--chose Monday as the exact day to knock over a glass of water on my AT cure book! (I mean, she *only* damaged that?!? pretty suspicious!) Fortunately I'd already read the first few chapters, but I need to go back to see what to do for the deep dive.

I'm really looking foward to this...and also dreading it at the same time!

I am so excited it's ridiculous. Been in my new apartment a month and my rooms are developing but need help. I want to do things right with this place, so the cure it is. Will post pics later tonight as the ones up now are pre-move.

My dilemmas so far...

Choosing a cure--because every room needs a cure right now, and so does the whole apartment.

Choosing a style--my style is totally schizo! The bottom line is that having all kinds of odds and ends, as well as "ugly" furniture makes me happy. What to do...

Tonight I am going home and polyurethane coating the abomination of tile that I hate so much, as part of repairs. I haven't bought my flowers yet, and of course have procrastinated on mopping/sweeping (one of my most hated chores).

These homes are all full of so much energy, I can't wait to see what happens!!

I went and sat on the floor in my Awesome Room last night, and actually left feeling a little down. Today I had some time to think about it tho and came up with some ideas.

Has anyone ever attached bookcases to the wall? We have some ikea bookcases on one wall in there already, but they are screwed to the wall. I was thinking of getting some more, but on the other walls we have a baseboard radiator heater thing, and the bookcases would be a few inches from the wall. Any ideas on how to attach them to wall if they are out like that? I might have to think some more on the Awesome Room.

Hey everybody!

I'm here but will be doing a variation on the Cure - I desperately need to do a massive purge. I am currently planning on moving this summer, and will have less space for my things. I already feel like I am stuffed in here around my belongings.

I have a friend helping me (if it was easy for me, I would have done this last summer lol). He is already helping a lot.

Wende in Phoenix - thank you for you post about the 3 types of clutter. That is a great way to look at it, and I'm sure will help me out.

I will be doing my best to keep up with what is going on here, and may be back for fall Cure as well if the new place needs it.

Sharon, thanks for the input! You are correct about Heart being the area I need to work with. On my quiz, it was by far my lowest scoring area for the entire apartment. I'm so grateful for your idea on the dividing shelves -- I have some items in there (it's hard to tell in the photo) and I like all of them but it's always looked haphazard, so I love the idea of having a unifying element!

Wende in Phoenix, thank you for your words of wisdom. I’ve been struggling with my desk in my bedroom, which I don’t really use much. Why do I want to keep it, then? I keep trying to figure it out. I'm reluctant to give things up for fear I might need something similar in the future (hence the clock radio I've had for 15 years!). More pondering is necessary, I think.

Wish I didn't have to, y'know, go to work and do everyday stuff so that I'd have more time for Curing! I only started on the floors tonight. I'm determined to keep up, though.

There are so many of us! Strength in numbers for sure.

Angeleno, I'm with you on the choosing-a-cure dilemma. I just moved into my apartment this weekend. I didn't own any furniture besides a dresser, file cabinet, and kitchen table and chairs (although I have since managed to acquire a bed), so every room needs attention. I want to do both the living room and the bedroom, but I'm worried I will get overwhelmed with both.

Anyway, I just posted my before photos on flickr. They are from before I actually moved in - the furniture is not mine. I feel like the apartment has a lot more potential than shows in the photos - I took them very quickly when I came over to see the place before deciding to rent it. It's on the top floor of a row house and overlooks a national park (well, in DC). On the plus side, it's got lots of windows, a very open feel, and tons of light, and I am allowed to paint the walls and the heinous mauve trim. On the downside, the floors are all ugly and their coverings are non-negotiable. The closets and cabinets are cheaply done. The radiators are sad-looking (layers of paint, chipped) and I'm not sure what to do about them. But, I'm very excited to get started!

Oh, can anyone recommend a good, free, easy floor plan tool? I tried one but could only make a plan of a room, not the whole house. Is this just how it works?

Hi,

I'm a newbie and I just wanted to say hello to everyone. I just got the book a few days ago and I'm almost all caught up for the first week and I will be posting my before pictures shortly.

Hi, all -- I'm thinking of joining and doing the 1-room cure -- bedroom + adjoining study (that's 2 rooms, but I think of them as one). I've already read the book and am excited but not so clear how things work here. Have to figure out how to post pictures (and charge the camera batteries!).

Since a lot of you are focusing on bedrooms, I thought it would be really fun to join in and get inspired by all of you. Bedrooms are my favorite. I just want to warn you -- I do NOT have modern taste; I'm much more traditional.

Does anyone post answers to the quiz questions? I thought they were so much fun (and really why I bought the book), I'm curious to hear what other people answered!

Emily (praxilla)

I finally learned how to use flickr!

Emily - re: the quiz questions... I didn't answer them one by one, but in reading through them I realized everything in my apartment was broken/ makeshift or not totally what i wanted. My apartment was not functional for my lifestyle- I didn't have a table even though I would love to have dinner parties, need a work space for my computer and a crafting side buisness. I also have my bedroom in my walk in closet. That was just a mess...

I live in 350 square feet. So when something not exactly beautiful is in my apartment I see it and feel it right away. I found I liked how cheap I was...and some of the artistic value in that. But for living...not so functional.

yeah! the changes I've made work for my life! In the last few months I spend way more time at home since I bought a table...I've spent Less money!

I'm excited to do more work on it. It's needed:)

Taryn

I'm a dork but I used illustrator. It's not to scale, so if you want to be that exact, it won't work. But you can still move everything around and get to see how it works. But if anyone has better ideas - I'd love to hear them too

Kendra

I attached my bookcase to the wall (Earthquake compliance. It's very easy just get the right kind of anchors and screws for your wall

kendr.e:
One way to attach bookshelves to a wall without having them directly screwed to the wall is to use a door chain. Screw the chain to the wall and the slide-y part to the top of the shelf and then slide the chain in. the shelf can sit away from the wall but is still secured to the wall for earthquakes, etc. :)

I have a living room that must be divided into a small bedroom for my 17 year old son and a tv room for the family. I need help. I would appreciate any and all ideas and suggestions.

I'm hoping Maxwell will post the Thursday CURE thread fairly soon and hint for quiz answers, Praxilla, as it's too juicy a topic to hide at the end of a 120+ thread.

Kendra
They make a baby proofing item that attached tall items to the walls- it is a heavy duty belt with a hook and it attaches to the wall and the item. I use them all over the house to keep my son safe and you can get them at baby's r us or on Amazon. They are cheap (like 3$) apiece and are very strong.

Thanks, Gracie. I don't have Illustrator at home but we might have it at work. I will check. I don't need to be exact.

This thread is hard to follow!

Kendra - do you use those baseboard radiators? You might not want to cover them if you do, have you considered floating shelves? Or if you want more bookshelf space instead of display space, shelves that hang from brackets mounted on the wall might be good.

Other people - I have been commenting a bit on flickr as I am having trouble keeping track of who is who (it's still early on and this is a long thread). I loaned my copy of the book out so I need to get a copy from the library and catch up! My bathroom is definitely still looking sad, the new light fixtures help but I need to get motivated and start testing out paint swatches!

I'm in for the deep treatment on my little house. I just posted my pics on Flickr, but I'm still working on descriptions and such. I'd love some advice on what to do for living room curtains...

FYI there are no right answers for the quiz - the results are there to help you decide what to do to best help your space fit your needs.

does anyone know any tricks to using a camera that does not take so great of pictures? everything comes out so dark that no matter how nice my apartment looks it looks dingy. i'm sure there has got to be a way to make stuff look better with some light trick or something!!! let me know if any of you know em :)

Hi Chris, Praxilla, and Candice! Can't wait to see your pics. Praxilla, I think it will be great to have a variety of styles and tastes represented in the Cure.

Persis, that's a tough one. The only things that come immediately to my mind are things that wouldn't afford much privacy, like a large bookcase. A quick Google search on "room divider" yields a lot of results though...here's a pretty nice one: http://www.slidingdoorco.com/.

Well oh my goodness.

My plan was to cure the whole house, but today when I had the plummer over to snake the drain, we went down into the basement to assess how much plumbing work we'd have to do when we renovate the *only* bathroom in the house sometime next year-- or so I thought.

When we got down there, water was dripping from the shower line. The plumber looked at me, looked at the pipe, and said-- "I've got some bad news".

The bathroom wall needs to be ripped open to fix the leak. Once it's open, we might as well do all the other work we were planning to do. I thought I'd have a year to design the bathroom I want. Now I've got a few weeks at most!

Glad it's bathroom month.

Moral support here will be welcomed.

Hi Lisa, thanks for the welcome. I'm sure it would be a lot easier to FIND my pics if I posted the link, eh?

Hannah - Yikes. I live in fear of those kind of repair issues. But you can do this! Don't forget about the library if you need to gorge yourself on bathroom and deco books.

Wow, thanks for all the clever ideas for attaching bookcases to walls!

I'll have to think a bit about covering the radiators, and what is going to happen in that room. I'm going to stop by the library this afternoon and pick up some decorating books to look at and consult with mr. kendra.e, who seems to have some ideas of his own.

Hannah -- It's amazing how having a wall broken open clarifies one's thinking.

First priority should be to check whether your city requires a building permit for the type of work you intend to do. I know there are a lot of AT'ers who believe that off-permit improvements are a clever cost-saver, but in most places, if the changes are extensive enough to require a permit, they're also extensive enough that you'll have a huge mess on your hands if the work later fails because it wasn't up to code. Plumbing lines have a particular penchant for mischief, which I will leave to your imagination.

persis - there are many room divider ideas on this AT thread:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/good-questions/good-questions-temporary-modern-divider-suggestions-007490

i ended up using a curtain to separate my studio, as you'll see in my picture, but i doubt a curtain would be enough privacy for your son. some of the ideas on that thread are pretty creative...

Hi everyone,
In doing my floors I have found that I need some sort of smaller vaccume cleaner. I have a larger Hoover windtunnel for my carpets that I love, but for my non carpeted areas I don't think it works. Also, I need to get under more items than that big vac will allow. Any ideas or suggestions? The swiffer thing just moves the tiny pieces of stuff around- never seems to pick them up -and a roomba is out of the question due to my dog. HELP! thank you.....

Hannah and Wende, I am just putting my bathroom back together now as we had to rip out some sad walls, but I was under the impression that one didn't need a permit if no plumbing was being moved. If you are just repairing and replacing and not doing a complete redesign (I want the toilet over There and the sink over Here) that you didn't need a permit.

But maybe I just was being lazy. Now I'm just waiting for the tile guy to have a free minute in his schedule to deal with the pile of tile in my garage... Hannah, someone recently posted links on the AT:NY thread for bathroom design websites and they had some good tips, you might want to look for that.

Anne (in Reno) -- The odds are extremely good that you're right; I'm just a big fan of always checking.

But you have to keep my personality in mind -- I had a sales tax license when I sold on eBay. The State Board of Equalization was all: "You're actually getting the license? Why?" Me: "Yes, the law says I have to." Them: "But no one obeys that law." So now you know.

I just posted my photos....

lorijo,

i use a "venus vaccum" which is like the "shark". Maybe yours already has a long tube thing attachment? if not, it works well on hardwoods to get dust and especially animal hair. I love it for corners and under the bed.And this mini vaccum is easy to store...and carry around with the strap it come with - so you can move around while cleaning.

I was just unpacking stuff in my Awesome Room and debating what to put down by the curb. I decided on one piece of Awesome, but then thought I might be able to sell it. I went and checked to see how much I paid for it and it was $10 - I was sure it was made of gold by the way I have been toting it around for a decade!

Out it goes!

I can't believe the amount of junk I'm getting rid of! I thought I spent months Curing last year! (Well, I did. When I stop to think what this moving process would be like if I hadn't spent months Curing last year, well, it makes me shudder...)

kendra.e, I love your Awesome terminology! Good luck with the rest of the Awesome!

I'm doing the floors in the new place this afternoon. The managers cleaned 'em, but I always like to do my own cleaning before I move in. And it'll make a break from packing.

staciaD -- thank you!!

leahs -- i just posted a pic of my outbox. it's ginormous and it's just the first week! but this is my third cure so i think i've become more ruthless about tossing things in there.

taryn -- i use www.bhg.com for my floor planning but yeah, it's still a one room planner so not sure if it'll suit your needs.

lynnea -- i use my cell phone camera and email the pix to myself. the camera's limited in it's ability to capture details (and it's awful at photographing curtains) but somehow when i upload to flickr, everything looks better.

i'm totally excited about this cure. i feel like each time i do the cure, even when i'm concentrating on one room, other things get tweaked, more junk gets tossed and my apt becomes that much more supportive of my life and vibrates with that much more energy. thanks maxwell!

Lynnea- Thanks for the tip, pet hair and dust bunnies are taking over my dining room- my hoover does have that attachment, but the thing is big and heavy and loud. I never use it, my husband does all the vaccuming but I would like to help. I have looked at the shark but haven't seen a venus.

wende in phoenix! Go look at abby's flowers! She's got orchids!

So she does! And it just happens that I have a table in the living room where a TJ orchid would be about right, if I can come up with a reasonable sort of pot. About five moves back, the husband saw no reason not to leave my McCoy bamboo-pattern flower pots in the basement for the next owner; I'm still peeved.

I *have* bought flowers for once -- had to completely reflower the patio -- but I haven't taken pictures because there's some outbox action going on there, too, that I'd like to resolve.

Lynnea, I'm having a hard time finding any info on a "Venus Vacuum." Can you post a link?

the vacuum is just like the corded, handheld "shark". the venus vacuum is just a cheap immitation i picked up at the drug store. i'm always looking for a bargin:. Here is the shark link...http://www.amazon.com/Euro-Pro-EP035-Shark-800-Watt-Vacuum/dp/B000096JFW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_7/103-1015009-0368646?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1173471846&sr=8-7.

I recommend getting it with the cord. Rechargable always die and need parts replaced. This shark comes with a hose. And if your place isn't huge, like mine it takes up no space...and the best part- no bags!!! i've had mu little vacuum for 4 years and I love it.

ok! I spent a couple of hours clearing out some boxes from my room. We seriously got rid of two tons of stuff before we moved, but somehow still have a boxes of stuff like a phone bills from mr. kendra.e's apt in 1993, and money order stubs from 95. So beyond that kind of stuff, we do hav a lot of stuff we would like to keep in that room, where it can't multiply.

This is the stuff I know we will keep: cds, books, a collection of slide rules, misc bobbleheads and silly pottery, a old minnow bucket, and lots of little stuff that we really know is tacky, but we love it anyhow.

I picked up a lot of books at the library today, but even books on displaying your collections seem to assume you have one collection and not a mishmash. If anyone can point me to some ideas of displaying this stuff that would be great; there must be some way to work it out!

kendra

Question: Does anyone know the easiest way to figure your square footage? Is it in a standard lease or do you just measure...

Thanks for the tips on moving. We found out this week that the husband got into Creighton too. So I'm researching omaha as well. Anyone from Omaha have any helpful tips. Viv, are you close to omaha?

Lady J, I love that redesign show. And I wish I had rugs, extra fabric, and curtians lying around, but the truth is, I'm only a year and a half into our marriage and we havn't collected good furniture yet. Our apt still looks like college students live there.

Andrea, thanks for the boulder tips. I did notice that the denver craigslist is very active. I subscribed to a feed for creative jobs there and I get multiple results daily. I don't think omaha has awakened to craigslist yet.

As far as purging and organizing, this week hasn't got me anywhere and we have a dinner party at our house and I've got to take my work home this weekend. So I'm hoping next week will be more promising for the home. As for tomorrow, I just need to fold the laundry, finish up the dishes, and make it look presentable in our downstairs rooms before the guests come tomorrow night.

what is a landing strip?

Anyone interested in having a sub-group for especially small apartments?

Wende in Phoenix: I still would be crying if I owned a McCoy pot and dh left it behind

oteach1,

i don't think landing strips come up til week 3 but it's maxwell's brilliant term for what you need to maximize the entrance to your home and to keep the outside world at bay. basically it's an organized place to put stuff down when you come in -- so a coat rack for your coat & bag, a mat to wipe off your feet and a place to put your keys, mail & other stuff that comes out of your pockets. i also use it as runway (to continue the plane metaphor) to put all the stuff i need to take with me in the morning. especially effective on the days i'm running late and i don't have coffee

oteach1: a landing strip is a shelf, table, or somesuch near the door, where you deposit your stuff in an organized manner when you come in the door at night. Landing strips are the focus in Week Three. If you'd like more of an idea of what a landing strip is supposed to do, or look like, check out Week Three in the Fall Cure, or Week 3.5 in last year's Spring Cure. some of the people in the Fall Cure came up with very attractive landing strips. I wasn't one of them. I hope to do better this time around.

Abby, you said it so much better than I did! Thanks!

This is going to be the decor equivalent of gastric bypass surgery: a sudden and drastic reduction of physical mass.*

I just picked up the AT book from the library today (I have my own copy but I can't find it; see how badly I need this Cure?) and did the interview and quiz. My space is in such dire need of breath it's suffocating. I'm going to focus on one room--my bedroom--since whenever I've tried cleaning I've always left it until last as the space least worth it because no one sees it. However, when my apartment "spoke to me" as per the interview question, I was surprised to find out that the poor, neglected thing is quite eloquent and gave an impassioned speech about needing to be loved and divested of a lot of emotional and material baggage.


*Not to be flippant about that kind of surgery--but in terms of the way my life is going through significant changes, it seemed apt, especially since stuff and food are two ways I barricade myself from changes.

kendra.e - re the mish-mash of stuff you want to display. The slide rules seem to be an ideal candidate for a wall display, but for the other stuff, I would start with gathering it all into one place (on the floor, maybe?) and spend a couple of hours playing around making groupings. Then identify as many small nooks as you need. I think even with a mish-mash of things, as long as it looks as though some thought and care has gone into it, it will look good!

One book I own which is an inpiration in this regard is 'Elephant House' which is a photo record of Edward Gorey's house after his death. He was a complete hoarder and collector, but there are some inspired groupings of weird stuff! Amazon link in my name...

I'm in!!! No money, no time, and a landlord who won't let us paint but what the hell. The mess has got to go.

Nicole -

I, too have been driven crazy by trying to keep wood floors clean. I have found that going over the floor with the Swiffer Vac thing, and then mop with the Swiffer Wetjet. I love Swiffer products! The vac is rechargeable - love that, no dragging a stupid cord around, and has a pad behind the vac to get the finer stuff. The vac itself picks up pretty bug chunks - it passed the Cheerio test. The Wetjet does a good job assuming the floor is not incredibly filthy and it does not leave a sticky residue like all the other stuff I have tried. My favorite thing for a deep cleaning in the kitchen is this all-in-one thing that vacuums, scubs and then squegees. I don't remember who makes it. As a bonus, I noticed it also buffed my floors a little.

Anyway, hope this helps - I hate cleaning and therefore have tried everything to make it easier (lazy = efficient in my case). Another Swiffer plug - the dusting thing acutally DOES capture the dust and hold on to it!

Tangerine

PS - I am very interested in this topic. We just bought a new place and I am going to purge everything! I am looking for a good platform bed - any thoughts on the best?

I'm so glad I found this site..I'm quite excited to begin my bedroom make over..I've been looking for quite a number of sites already with same topic, but sadly, I found it difficult to access their instruction. This one is easy and I believe would be very effective..
I believe following the steps above would be as easy as installing my GMC GMC cargo liner ..=)Well, anyway, I'll just visit this page from time to time for some updates..
Thank you...