apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

For the future, I wonder if it would make sense to have the Smallest Coolest entry deadlines coincide with the end of the Cure. I moved into a new apartment at the beginning of March and have been somewhat-following the Cure guidelines as I went about setting up the apartment. By May 1, I believe I will have a completed, healthy home, but right now, I'm still a bit in the "almost there but needs a bit of finishing up" stages. I imagine I'd be ready to submit if I had those full 8 weeks, but for now, I suppose it's a plan for next year!

As a side note, I quite love the living room at the top. Interesting blend of modern and traditional/country elements--and great colour!

Great idea, OliviaLeigh! Note that you can still enter the Smallest, Coolest Home Tech contest (home office or A/V setup) without having everything done...and Curers will find some of their own pics featured on Home Tech when they click on the link above!

I'm just starting out with Flickr, how do I upload my cure photos into that pool? Right now I have them here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7517134@N04/

(I've been lazy about commenting, but getting a lot of work done in my apartment!)

I am stunned to see my living room up there! What a boost- I took a few minutes from cleaning my office because I was feeling completely bogged down and over my head. I feel better now-thanks.

Kathleen - click the button that says "Send to Group" on each photo. There is a discussion on this on the Flickr group.

Hello. Need help deciding on a bathroom color.... since it is generally known that the color reflects onto your skintone in the mirror, what would work the best?? I figured to stay away from greens and blues. What about orange? Does that look nasty or does it warm you the way peach or coral would? What about bright pinks? Reds?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks Lady J!

elevenhounds, I want to say I've read something that says that green (a soft pale green I assume) is actually the best color for gauging your actual appearance. It somehow acts as a neutral.

I can't recall where that information came from. I could also be slamming two bits of information together.

I think I read something about warm pinks being good around skincolors.....

Elevenhounds -- What makes you look good depends on your skin's undertone and, to a lesser extent, on the intensity of your coloring. If you can get hold of a copy of Donna Fuji's Color With Style, it has color charts for eight Caucasian types of coloring, nine Asian types, four African-American types, and four Hispanic types.

Years ago, Classic Chic declared that a very neutral maroon (not too blue, not too yellow) looks halfway decent with every coloring. So you could also pick a paint strip that has maroon at the dark end and then slide down to the lightness you want.

Yeah, I'm using clothing sources, because essentially, you want a color that would flatter you if you wore it as a shirt or sweater, even if you would not actually wear that color because you would not be caught dead wearing bright pink to work. (I actually do have outfits that blend right into the decor, come to think of it...)

Athena!
Your desk made the ChicagoAT pages! It's on the small space contest announcement. (Yea!)

If I look best in sharp and cool colors, is it advisable for me to decorate a room in muted warm shades? Of course I know it's "okay" to do that. But is it more likely that I will tire of it, or not want to sit there?

.. On a related note, I've been struggling with Maxwell's advice to vary contraction/cool and expansive/warm colors room to room. (First off, this may be because I don't have separate rooms :) - just one for bedroom, office, living room.) I've wanted to vary the colors in my studio, to make it feel like separate rooms. But my instinct, before reading AT, was to go cool *everywhere*. ... Now, here's one of my problems. I have a warm-toned beige/light-gold rug and forest-green sofa chairs. But my instinct has been to try to make that combo cooler, not warmer. Is that possible? Or should I stop trying that? If so, should I shoot for a warm 'living room', or go for cool tones everywhere?

my bathroom's lavender/amethyst. I HIGHLY recommend it as a good start to the day.

great thing -- new bed and new mattress. i am sleeping sounder than in ages.
unforseen thing -- the chair that i have in the corner is now way way way too low and squat in relation to the chair. i feel like i need a chair in the bedroom so i have a place to sit while i put on my shoes & to put out my clothes for the morning and to curl up on sometimes and read...so unless i can think of how to salvage it, i'm off to find a new chair with a higher back and, while i'm at it, a footstool, the better to read with....

You ever want to kick yourself in the head?

With the old dining table finally gone, I looked at the vast empty area between the seating and the kitchen island and thought, "A round table would really look good here."

The table we bought is rectangular. It has been too long for us to return it, plus it would not fit in the car if we tried.

And I'd speculated about getting a round table back when we chose this apartment... then for some unknown reason we moved with the old table...

I'm trying to reassure myself that a round table in the exact center of the apartment would cause the chi to swirl alarmingly, and no one would be able to stand the place. It's slow going...

Wende: maybe you can still try to exchange it? or sell it on craigslist? or put a round cover on it that would make it seem ... more round?

I think we're going to assemble the new one and hope that our liking for its features overwhelms its extreme rectangularity. It's one of those IKEA work tables with a glass top to display things below the table top, and we really, really wanted to do that.

At some hypothetical future AT get-together, after the second trip to the bar for a glass of chablis, I will entertain y'all with adventures in attempting to use CL in Phoenix. (Though in fairness, nothing here yet compares to when we tried to sublet a duplex in the SF Bay Area and one prospective tenant drove up in a hearse.)

I'm afraid of my office. It has been the room that I've just let go beyond belief. I have been trying to do a little a each day, but it is hard going. Thank god my taxes are done. Okay back to work for me.

I'm going through the cure way out of order, so I'm a bit out of step, but over the weekend my bedroom got completely revamped. I'd been plugging along without seeing much in the way of results, and suddenly, boom! So I'm newly motivated. The living room comes next. Before and after photos are here.

Taryn,

Your bedroom is gorgeous! The off scales btw the bedside tables throws it a bit off balance. But overall it is FANTASTIC! That purple is righteous. It is so soothing yet it allows the woods to pop. I'm sure all my bright colors would pop off that shade.

Way to revamp!

What a dramatic change, Taryn! I like the purple. It's so strong and also peaceful....

Hi all...thinking ahead to my bathroom...just so I am ready for it - has anyone ever used wall decals? They are all over the place these days and I wonder how they would be in the bathroom. I have a large art-less wall...and worry about putting any pictures up due to steam.

I've found some that I really like, but would love some feedback from anyone who has used them (the walls are a very light purple and white molding that I painted about one year ago...good palette for SOMETHING.)

thanks...

Taryn - just had to say your bedroom is looking amazing. The colour you have chosen for the walls works so well with those beautiful wooden doors. Amazing transformation.

taryn - you bedroom looks great! *love* the purple!!

Speaking of bathrooms, I couldn't sleep last night because I was thinking about how I want to redo my bathroom, get rid of the toothpaste green and go neutral. But I haven't even started on decluttering the office yet, so I think I'm just engaging in some serious procrastination. Tonight I have to dive into the office and get something done. It's an awful, awful mess.

Omigawd, the office problem. It's actually the craft supplies that are the problem in my case... they worked perfectly in their storage in SF, and they do not cooperate here at all. (Office supplies are mixed in, but office stuff is actually pretty neat and filed.)

I got my new (to me) desk yesterday and chair. I love them. We also put in a new light fixture which is fantastic. Cleaning and organizing is going very slowly. My office doesn't have electronics in it, my computer is in the kitchen area, so I don't have that to worry about this week. Wireless isn't a big deal for us right now, the laptop is wireless and I hardly use it. We live in the middle of nowhere and don't get cable OR highspeed out here. Only satelite. I can't convince anyone to do a media fast. So, I am modifiying it for the daytime this weekend. I would like to have the tv on less, but I am out voted at night. But I try....

I did a one day media fast (except for work) and I loved it. I need to cut back on TV, but the cure is keeping me so busy cleaning who has time for TV? Lorijo, can you try only X numbers of hours of TV for the week, so they can watch but not all the time?

Taryn, your room is lovely. I love the deep purple and the bed.

How do you turn an overhead two bulb into a hanging pendant set up?

I've been deep-cleaning my closets, sorting through all the stored stuff and getting rid of a lot of it - all the things that are not needed, unloved, unused. But I've been surprised by my reaction: it doesn't feel great at all - not lighter, not freer, not a release. It's hard to put my finger on the feeling, but it's more like feeling ill, somewhat sick to my stomach. Totally and unreasonably depleted. It goes away, of course. But I'm curious, has anyone else responded this way? Everyone always says how great it feels - does anyone feel the opposite, even if they're happy to be rid of these things?

I should emphasize that I do *not* miss any of the things I'm getting rid of. Truly, I am not ambivalent about that part.... but it still kind of sickens me to do this sort of clutter-clearing. (Oh and I should say, the stuff I'm sorting through is really clean and my clutter is not bad at all, - no one would feel disgusted by it! But *I* kind of do.)

Sea, I'm sitting here with an espresso and a Russell Stover pecan-caramel egg because I'm having exactly that reaction to sorting out the craft supply situation. And I'm not trying all that hard to purge on this round, just to put things where I can find them.

I always react that way to dealing with craft and office supplies. If I had to sort out the component feelings, they would include:

(a) Why is it our burden in life to have to store and move a box of 100 paper clips in order to have a clip on the rare occasions that I need one?

(b) Extend this question to include envelopes in three sizes, printer paper, and pens. Lather, rinse, repeat.

(c) What would my life be like if I didn't have a space-consuming hands-on hobby? (Answer: unsatisfying -- I've given up this hobby twice and always go back to it.)

(d) Why does everything require owning three more books because what I want is not available at any library locally, and I need it all the time anyway?

Right at this second, it's very tempting to abandon my entire life-as-it-is-lived and become a person who goes to art galleries every night, reads only recent bestsellers checked out from the library, and can fit everything into a studio apartment. I think it's the Easter egg talking, as I really wouldn't like that for very long...

...but, large apartment complexes should have central office supply repositories where it's possible to go get a handful of paper clips from the vending machine.

"...but, large apartment complexes should have central office supply repositories where it's possible to go get a handful of paper clips from the vending machine."

wende - what a fabulous idea! i think smaller apartment buildings should have that, too. maybe in the laundry room?

Wende,
You are on to something there. I work at a medium sized hospital and we are about to go to that type of system as we need more space for computer carts and they found that we were "using" a lot space on each patient care floor for supplies, now we are going to have a daily delivery of supplies from the basement and turn over the supply rooms for computer storage.

Hey! Wende and eSusan, what I want delivered is an espresso and a Russell Stover pecan-caramel egg. That would be great, especially right at this moment!

For me, it turns out I actually like storing things like paper clips (in fact, I love to be prepared for all sorts of impromptu activities - though I don't use most of the things I have, like my 3-hole punch, lots and lots of colored pencils, tiny oil paints, and things like that, very nice to have though I don't do much that calls for them). At the very least, I like to have enough to keep a child or two occupied, and so far, every kid who's seen my place really loves it.... But I think Wende might be right about the burden - the sheer materiality - of having stuff which is (in my case) tied to myself and my past, even though it has no sentimental value; and the burden of continuing to shuffle some of this stuff around because it's needed some days.

Hmmm.... Honestly, I don't know what the 'yucky' feeling is about. But it's definitely not stopping me, and it's not about facing a large 'Curing' task. It only comes after a big job is completely done! Does that seem strange?

I'd be much more efficient if the "yucky" feeling came at the end rather than in the middle. Admittedly, to escape the psychological maelstrom of the project room, I have been really productive in other areas of my life today...

It occurs to me that my fiddling with the master bath, kitchen, and landing strip was fun because I was solving specific problems, but I didn't start the project room with a problem to solve, other than "I unpacked in a hurry and put things 'wherever,' so now things are in complete chaos." Thus everything I'm doing feels like penance for past sins rather than like a foundation for future creativity.

Oh, that's a very difficult situation to face, Wende. (Not having a specific problem to solve, but needing everything to be made somehow a little better.) The only way I've found to deal with that is to bring in a certain trusted friend with excellent judgment (yes, I got him to come over today!), and let him make most of the decisions while I implement them, answer his questions about what things are for, let him go to my kitchen on tea and cookie breaks while I hammer away, changing all the wall art, discarding cheap side tables, and so forth! (And yes, this friend enabled me to overhaul my livingroom/bedroom/office all-in-one-studio today. Mostly because he's a ruthless editor of things, and also because his taste is very very good.)

What I'd do without that - at least for the initial 'where-to-begin' lostness, and for the final touches - I have no idea. I was feeling so desperate and overwhelmed last night. And now, relief! I can sit in my living room and feel like it has finally settled.

On the other hand, if you're already using the project room successfully, maybe nothing needs to be changed?? Just wait until you do get at least a small set of 'problems' you'd like to solve in that space....

Oh, it doesn't work -- I can't find anything; supplies overflow their spaces; stuff ends up in the wrong box. Every task involves opening three cabinets, the closet, and four boxes -- and then I still can't find what I want. It doesn't help that everything I deal with is tiny, so it easily escapes.

Cleaning out the taboret and arming it for the two most urgent projects went well... really, what I need here is to zone the storage for tasks. I do this automatically in the kitchen, and it was done when my stuff lived in the coat closet in SF, but it broke down when we got here.

See -- you helped me identify the problem!

hm, i hope it's not too late for me to join this group. i have lots of catching up to do! :)

Never too late, mar. There will certainly be people working beyond the 8-Weeks. There always are.

Doing the deep treatment cure here, but also a bit of a one room cure to our office (a.k.a living room corner). we have been looking at desks and stuff for awhile, but I often was afraid to take the plunge...afraid I'd just clutter it up and mess it all up like in the past.

Well - with the hard work of the past 6 weeks...we felt more deserving (kendra e. - listen up!) and took the plunge and the office (and LR is really beginning to come together...) Big time - we are both happy with it.




HAve to thank ajftuba http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajftuba/ for pointing out what seems obvious to some...which is that all pieces we fall in love with are not neccessarily for our home - translation - the very heavy, dark and large credenza was not meant for us. Instead, we went with an awesome new desk, and she was right, our "style" (still not sure what that is....) is coming through in small ways -

You folks are all awesome and I realy think I am learning a ton about space, design and few good habits along the way

Feeling good about the office, oh yeah.

Aww thanks oteach, I have been home being a bum and I am glad that I could help somebody since I'm sure not doing much here ;)

On the upside one of the tile guy's jobs got canceled so he has a whole week off coming up, the mister promised that once we get back from our very belated honeymoon at the end of the month, I will be able to take a shower in the master bathroom. Of course I pointed out that, no, then we will be able to get the door guy to come in and he said Oh yeah, I forgot about that, but it was the thought that counts.

So, very little curing going on here. Oteach, I freaking love that desk! Everything looks so much lighter and airier over there now! Good choice!

I took the night off and went to the movies. "300" = glorious manflesh. Oh, and the film was eyecandylicious too. Just what I needed.

Looking forward to kicking some apartment ass this weekend.

Taryn,
your bedroom is awesome!

i have a question....

i'm almost done with the book, though not participating in the cure...i just finished a bathroom renovation and a gigantic overwhelming organizing project, so no cure for me. but the damn book is addictive! i'm 10 pages from completion and i got it only three days ago!

but i do want to do one thing for myself...

i work from home. i have a desktop computer in the bedroom and i have a laptop in the sunny living room. i'm alwaaaaays drearily working in the bedroom. it's making me uber depressed. sleeping to the glow of a computer kinda sucks too.

i want to get rid of my desktop (who needs it!) but i'm confused about the wireless situation.

my current setup is:

modem >> router >> desktop >> wireless signal for laptop

but i'd like my setup to be:

modem >> router >> wireless signal for laptop

does my netgear router HAVE to be attached to a computer? it's what i always thought, which is why i've held on to my desktop computer for so long. now i feel really stupid, because i read in the cure book (somewhere) that that isn't the case...that you can work on your laptop anywhere in the apartment w/ a wireless router. so that must mean the router doesn't require a computer to be attached to....? eh?

can anyone lend me a techy hand?

thanks much in advance!!

katy

kdkaboom -- You don't need a desktop in the middle! We haven't used a desktop computer since 2003. The router is plugged into the modem and the wall, and that seems to be it.

The only peculiar thing you'll have to work with is if you've been connecting to your printer through the desktop, with a physical cable linking the two. I think we ended up with a physical print-server plug-in thingie that talks to the wireless router and then explains to the printer what it needs to do.

does my netgear router HAVE to be attached to a computer? it's what i always thought, which is why i've held on to my desktop computer for so long. now i feel really stupid, because i read in the cure book (somewhere) that that isn't the case...that you can work on your laptop anywhere in the apartment w/ a wireless router. so that must mean the router doesn't require a computer to be attached to....? eh?

You will probably have to attach the router to a computer with an Ethernet cable while you configure it. Once everything is set up it can run 100% wireless.

Katy, call your internet service provider, they'll guide you through the steps. As OK in MA says, it will probably involve physically connecting your laptop to the router while all necessary software installations and configurations are made, and then you can go permanently wireless. And you can also set up a wireless printer.

Not that I've done any of this - but my DSL server company explained to me that it could all be done easily. Oh, and you might want to have your desktop computer as a backup for all your stuff, depending on how big it is - just get rid of the monitor. You can always hook your computer monitor up to the desktop computer to use that if you need/want to..... but maybe you have no need for such a large (in terms of physical size, and in terms of memory) backup system.

this is so good to hear!! i'ma be a busy girl this weekend :)

the big steel worktable my desktop is currently on will become an actual writing desk/craft table...as a writer who's been a bit blocked, i think it's because of my reliance on writing in a word document...the whole 'i type as fast as i think' scenario is true, but it means i don't linger on certain thoughts... i need to simplify, because i'm starting to realize just how much my work setup/writing setup/sleep setup is affecting me (not to mention how non-ergo my current situation is, and the wrist pains are really scaring me).

oodles of poodles of thanks for your help!

sea, i didn't sea you there :) i'll hold on to my desktop (disconnected and in a closet) for a little while, just to make sure i can manage everything w/ just a laptop. i do have an external hard drive already, so i doubt i'll have problems.

now i just have to find the software for my router...grr...disorganization sucks!

The only peculiar thing you'll have to work with is if you've been connecting to your printer through the desktop, with a physical cable linking the two. I think we ended up with a physical print-server plug-in thingie that talks to the wireless router and then explains to the printer what it needs to do.

Yes. Some printers are "network capable," which usually means that they have an Ethernet interface and can be connected to a router using an Ethernet cable. Some are "wireless capable," meaning that they can be set up to communicate with a wireless router, no cable required.

If the printer in question is neither - for example, if its only way of connecting is to a USB port - there are three options:

(1) Bring the laptop to the printer and plug in the USB cable whenever you need to print; or

(2) Purchase a print server, which connects to both the router and the printer; or

(3) Replace the printer with one that is network-capable or wireless-capable.

If you choose option 2, both wired print servers (connect to the router with an Ethernet cable and cost about $50) and wireless print servers (allow the printer to be anywhere within wireless range) are available.

kdkaboom,

I highly recommend the system you're adopting! I have TWO desks wherever I go, no matter how small a space I'm in. My last apartment was only 12 by 18 sq. ft., and believe it or not, I had two large, full-size wooden desks in there. For the better part of a year I actually slept on an air mattress, which I could prop up on the wall during the day. People thought I was crazy, everyone always said, 'do you really need two desks?' The answer is YES, i do. One is for my desktop and piles of important papers. The other is a lovely wood space for writing longhand. My laptop hobbles between the two, spending more time resting by my desktop (I love the full functionality of a desktop - full size keyboard, large monitor, etc.)

In fact, I'm thinking of getting rid of my laptop - it's confusing me to have different versions/locations of various documents. I have to find a way to get my computer file system in sync - I've been thinking that that's (ideally) part of my Cure plan this week.... but I still haven't done my taxes, so it probably won't happen till some good time after that.

Also, very very important not to have a computer staring at you while you sleep. I used to cover my monitor with some beautiful thick, light-colored handmade paper - just folded it on the top and it would easily hook onto the monitor's top edge and hang neatly.

OK in MA, my printer DOES have a usb connect (who knew?) so now i'll happily store it away somewhere and access it only when i need to...no biggie! i don't even use it that often...my poor ancient hp...



Sea, I had similar issues with the two computer thing. my lacie hard drive enables me to move files from the computers to a central location, and has totally made my life easier and happier. no more duplicate file issues, emailing stuff to myself, or burning 100 cds!

the reason i've been holding onto the desktop is because it DOES feel easier to use, and it has photoshop on it (i don't have the discs...), and because it's more traditionally relied on, whereas laptops have always felt very situational to me. i need to start relying on it more, methinks, because i'm realizing this is silly....i don't need two, i just need a better setup for ONE. i don't love my laptop's usability, but i love its functionality. so, it stays. and my bedroom becomes a bedroom again! :)

yay!

Ah, it's working! I was shut out for days. Okay, I am back from the dead. I've had perhaps the busiest two weeks of my life, but now my work projects are winding down so I'm going full steam back into the Cure. I still need to finish tasks from week 3! But I am back. I am doing it. And looking forward to obsessively reading all these comments I missed. One foot in front of the other now!

The other option for wireless printing with a USB printer is to get an Apple Airport Express to use as a router. That's what we have.

Well.
My former bf called this Tuesday and our puppy (14 year old puppy) was finally too tired to go on. we had to put her to sleep on Wednesday. I was going to rent a car and drive down to Saulsalito to say goodbye this weekend but her kidney's were failing so it couldn't wait.
Even though we no longer had a 'romantic' relationship we've remained almost best friends; in part because her. Even when we split up he traveled a lot and I was her 'mom' so I was her part time human. we called it shared custody.
So. I've been really slow with the curing. Havn't done any big clearing out. but the house flowers have really helped. and doing a surface here, and a surface there. The smell of my eco friendly (grapefruit) cleaner is cheerful and a bit uplifting. I've just been letting myself move really slow, and cry and stuff. Plus re-reading Harry Potter with my kitty's seems to help.
Anyhoo. I've not got my "to-do" list done. but that's okay.
I think I'm going to make a spot for her picture in my living room. It may seem morbid (but I'm Catholic so we have kind of a morbid streak anyway) but I have a shelf with my dead grandma and my dead step father (their ashes) and pictures of other past-on loved ones. It's like a house shrine. I've tried to make it a bit Buddhist: like an ancestor shrine. not very feng shui. but i don't care.
I uploaded some pics of Miss Togger's. Just cuz.

Hope every one is really rockin this week.
I'm gonna take more pic's of my progress to post this weekend.
be well all.

Stacia, I'm so sorry.

My cat of nearly 12 years died in December, and he was a good companion in the way that dogs often are and cats not always. Even though his brother is still with me and we have added a younger cat, I miss him.

Coincidentally, I have just (a minute ago) freecycled the dog crate that I used to put the two littermates in together for car trips. It went to a breed rescue organization.

I'm doing the unthinkable: laundry on a Friday night. It's well past time and the clothes are always the beginning of cleaning the bathroom. Believe me, that bathroom wants cleaned with great vengeance and furious anger.

Stacia, I'm so sorry. She sounds like she had a good life with pet parents who loved her. That's the most important thing. I have a 9yr old puppy with an arthritic shoulder who is in some pain, and I can't bear the though that he's getting older and one day won't be with me. Just typing it makes me cry.

I finished my office today, it's not so much a computer working office, as a art studio so the supply closet was the worst. I got my new desk and chair (yea) and set up my new home files. We started our taxes. (boo) I invited my mother in law to Easter dinner ( I will be making Ham, biscuits, asparagas, and potatoes with garlic, onions, and lemons. ) The media fast? Well, I didn't watch tv or the computer today. My husband and son- not so much. They chose not to participate. This is not a battle I am going to fight. I have gotten the number of hours my son watches tv almost cut in half this week, so that is all I cared about really.
I will have new pics of my new and improved office up tomorrow. Have a good weekend and Happy Easter.

StaciaD, I am so sorry for your loss. And I actually love the idea of having a 'shrine' space for a picture of your beloved pet. I did this before and hope to do so again..had happy photos of the dogs that I have lost through my life. It always made me smile to think of the times with them. Our pets are very important to us and they just don't live long enough.

Decorative-wise, if you cover your shrine in black lace and light dreary candles it will border on morbid. Instead make it a cheerful space with bright flowers or something that makes you happy.

Stacia, i'm so sorry for your loss. But it was certainly better for your puppy, avoiding more suffering for her.

Concerning the Cure, i've done quite a few things this past week:
- set up timetable with the contractors, work is going to start on april 19th.
- ordered kitchen furniture at IKEA
- bought the fridge-freezer today (!!), is going to be delivered early may.
- painted my bathroom ceiling yesterday
- cleaned my bathrrom from top to bottom today
(photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/18145526@N00/sets/72157600004748409/ )

I'm glad the bathroom is done. I just hate, hate, hate painting ceilings. It never comes out really even, and this time no exception, there are some imperfections, though i did some final corrections today ( after buying some more paint, ran out of it yesterday ).
Painting walls: no problem for me, but ceilings...well, it's done, it looks much better than before, and the electrician will fix new lights by end of the month.

If everything goes as planned, and without bad surprises, the big work ( contractors ) will be done within five days, and then i'll re-paint my kitchen. After that, the new kitchen will be delivered, i'll have to assemble the furniture and somebody will come to install it. So by may 10th everything should be done. I'll be so happy when it's finished!!

The next two days i'll slow a bit down, cure-wise, it's warm and sunny this long weekend.
Happy Easter to all of you!

staciaD,

I think there's nothing morbid about an ancestor (and beloved pet!) shrine. Why wouldn't that be feng shui okay? Seems that honoring one's past, and especially expressing such respect for one's relatives (and a pet counts as family, too) is a very good thing to do. It honors what has value, and what lives on (whether we explicitly recognize it in our homes or not).

I think I needed a break from my hectic schedule..I'm planning to do some major make over with my house and intend to go for a trip for a while...I'd like to visit those lovely scenery in time...
For now, i have to prepare the things I need for the make over and of course my car for the trip...I've checked out all my auto parts and luckily they were all in excellent condition except for my GMC bed mat which needs some replacement..
But anyway, i find this post very interesting and worthwhile...It gives me new and better things to do...

Thanks a lot..I'll just visit from time to time for some updates...=)