apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

So today i went to ÌKEA, to get some complementary advice on the supplies to buy for my kitchen. But...saturday is the wrong day for things like that, it was just too crouded, and the guys at the kitchen section just too stressed and busy.
However, i've learned that i cannot put the small washing machine into a cabinet. It has to be on the floor.
Hmmm, ok, so i redrew my plans, porperly and according to all changements that have been discussed already with the contractors.
(I've posted it to the gruop already.)
I've put a second layer of transparent paper over the new plans and colored them to get an idea of the final outcome. Because, as i leave the tiles as they are ( seventies-red), the new cabinets will come in anthracite color to contrast the red of the tiles. I was a little worried if it would'nt have an too dark impact, but i like it. The visible appliances will be all in inox to give a modern and clean look, the counterspace will come in plain wood.
I adjusted my budget according to the changes, too.

Tomorrow i'll start to sort out the cabinets and put into cartons what i won't need in the near future, and fill up my Outbox, which, up to now is only occupied by one of my cats ( who will stay, of course ;)).
I would be so happy to read your opinions on the color outcome. Thanks in advance!

I've had a busy, busy Saturday. I dismantled another kitchen cupboard, decluttered all my pots and pans, painted the chimney breast and fire surround in the sitting room, started chipping the old plaster off the walls and took up the quarry tiles in the kitchen. I also fitted the last shelf on my built-ins and primed and painted it. A final quick coat tomorrow and I'll be ready to arrange all my books and stuff. Woot!

Oh, and the print I ordered to go above the fireplace arrived yesterday, and I bought a frame for it on Thursday. And... my new(ish) cooker was fitted on Monday... and the electrician installed the kitchen lights and new fuse box... and I bought all the kit I need to plumb the kitchen radiator in to its new position... and...

... I'm amazed I'm still alive. But although I'm feeing physically exhausted, I also feel very energised mentally - full of hope for a bright shiny home to come. Will take some pics and post them on flickr as soon as I find the energy to get of the sofa. :-)

Wow ! That really was a busy day for you, Zooza.
Just relax a bit ( cup of tea ?!). And take the photos tomorrow. We all need to allow us some time to just sit down and relax. Have a nice evening !

Hey, I'm the administrator for the (Unofficial) Apartment Therapy Cure Flickr pool. I just wanted to mention something that I just posted in the Discussion section at the site. By the way, I love how useful and popular the group discussions there seem to be getting.

When placing photos from your Style and Inspiration trays into the group photo pool, please try to source and give credit for these pictures, especially when using personal photos that belong to other Flickr users or apartments that have been previously featured on Apartment Therapy.

Besides giving credit where due, this is also a great way to help the rest of us Cure members. Your picture from a magazine story or a website might be exactly what another member of the Cure is looking for to finish his or her space. So thanks in advance!

Have a great weekend and/or get back to your Curing!

Lisa - thanks for the reminder. I've just weeded out everything from my style tray that I'm not sure where it came from. Still got it all on my desktop, but I'd rather err on the side of caution.

Hah! First sighting of the tile guy! Plan is for him to come back tomorrow and grout the floor and do trim on the countertop. We'll see how far he gets, he was super fast putting it all in today. And it is going to look so good when it is grouted and clean and sealed! The sealer gives it a little bit of shine and I just had to post these few pics to test my new camera (b-day present, and what good timing)!

I was pretty excited to see my chairs on this post, I feel like they are totally stars. We went to home depot today and picked up some covers for the leg ends. I was very happy that when there was some sort of discussion about whether the chair ends were ugly, we did go ahead and get some anyhow, instead of spending the next 10 years in search of the perfect leg tips.

We also went to a city wide garage sale, where I did not buy anything at all. That's good news, then I also put some stuff up for sale on ebay (well, one thing, but I have plans).

I also finally made a possibly layout for the Awesome room, so any feedback on that would be great. I need the room to hold our Awesome, but also the futon and a desk and printer. Right now it has some bookcases I can't really move, so I am working around them.

I'm not sure where I am in the whole plan, but I feel pretty good about it anyhow. If I come out of this thing just with the kitchen table chairs, I feel like I'm already a million times better off then I was when we started.

I just found out some great news to help us all keep our landing strips clear. I was looking at a couple of pieces of pre-screened credit card offers I got in the mail, one from my own bank and one from American Express (who I don't have a card with). At the bottom of each piece of mail was a phone number to opt out of receiving their junk mail offers and I noticed it was THE SAME number. So I called the number to opt out and they gave a web address where you can do the same. Apparently you recieve almost all credit offers through the same credit reporting marketing scheme. I just went to the website and opted out for the next five years. It took a minute or so. You can also opt out permanently if you want to do it through the mail.

I get several of these offers every month, so this should hopefully cut down on my junk mail significantly. I'll put the link in my name if any of you want to do the same.

let me try that again...

I gotta say, I think the best thing about all the pix being posted is that, almost without fail, there's a proprietary-looking cat or dog somewhere in one of the shots. Can an animal friend be part of the style tray?

I finally got my before pics up. Pretty bad!

I have a late start due to a pulled back. Can I still play with you guys?? :)

Thanks Pignolia: I just followed thr link and opted out

I'm having a productive saturday as well. I made it to Ikea to scout out some storage - but they didnt have what I needed/wanted. I also divested myself of about 100 photos from high school of people I know longer know/see. I also finally bought some frames for posters I've had rattling around in my trunk - and as soon as I go get some batteries for my laser level, I'll get them hung, too.

I'm still having a tough time with my kitchen. I'm hesitant to hang shelves because it's a rental, but they really can't do anything but improve on the value of the apartment since there's NO storage. There's also not really much floor space left so no standing shelves. Other than that - I'm loving the cure...and inspiring my friends to also declutter and make their homes healthier

Bless Pignolia! I just emptied my junk mail basket and it is one huge haul. As usual. I get some offers every two weeks from some companies. It is ridiculous!

Hey Gracie B, you and I are in sync today. I spent all afternoon sorting through my random boxes full of photos, correspondence and miscellaneous sentimental stuff. Of course it's still totally overwhelming, but I tossed a ton of greeting cards and some correspondence from people I don't even remember. If you're looking for storage boxes for that kind of stuff, Exposures is having a good clearance sale. I bought photo boxes, CD boxes and letter boxes from them (link in name).

This week has been porductive, I decluttered and
organized my front hall closet. Today I took 2 big bags from my outbox to the Salvation Army, and I am sure by the end of the cure I will have a lot more. It feels good to let go, and I can't belive that I have a little bit of free space left in the front hall closet. I have posted a few photos of my landing strip and front closet.

Being part of this cure has been very motivating, I love reading about eveybody's progress. I need to stay focused, because I still have a lot to do.
I have tons of photos to go thru and I do not even want to think about cleaning out my bedroom
closet. One step at a time.

LynneF

A note about turning the gas off and back on after a fix.

When the gas is turned back on, the guy will have to go throughout the building and relight every pilot light.

Just a fun idea from Nick Olsen:

http://www.dominomag.com/daily/blogs/dailydose/2007/03/i_will_wallpape.html

http://www.timeoutny.com/newyork/Details.do?page=1&xyurl=xyl://TONYWebArticles2/599/real_estate/how_to_wallpaper_your_fridge.xml

Wallpaper your fridge. And black electrical tape. And Olsen is just so darned cute, isn't he?

Today was a great day for me. I had to go take care of some things in NJ, so while I was in town, my mom let me borrow her van to go to IKEA. I got two really tall BONDE medium brown bookcases for my living room.

I had been waiting to get these since I moved in (my little brother was going to make me bookcases but he's finishing up college this semester and is very stressed. I'm gonna make him make me something else with his intense wood working skills someday!).

While I was there, I actually spent money on non-practical things like baskets and vases and light fixtures. I can't wait to go back tomorrow and put everything together!

Unfortunately, I have a coworker staying with me for the week while she goes to Virtual Worlds 2007, so my productivity may be way down.

Last weekend, I bought everything I need to make a headboard, install pegboard above my workbenches and accessories for my bathroom. It'd be amazing to get all of those things install this week even if someone is on the couch :)

good luck everyone and have a great week!

Holy crap, that's my house! :)

And w00t! for the shout out to my girl Lorrie in BKLN!

kendra.e: I think so far you've won Apartment Therapy Cure Spring 07 with those chairs. Not like we all don't win, but, yes, they are the cat's pajamas.

Pignolia: They asked for my ssn which kind of freaked me out... Are you sure this website is legit?

This week was much better than kitchen week for me as well. One huge garbage bag of papers, cards, junk, etc. plus a giant stack of boxes. It might not sound like a lot but keep in mind, I shipped all this junk UPS from Brooklyn to LA only a year ago. I also re-arranged my walk in for better storage. I can now get to my sheets and towels AND I found a place to store the green pastic IKEA chairs I don't want out but are good for company and getting things from high shelves.

I went to Home Goods as suggested... still no rug. I may suck it up and lay down the cash for the blue sleepy hollow one. We'll see how the taxes turn out. Will be posting more pics later tonight or tomorrow.

I can't remember who gave the wonderful instructions for clearing a big pile of junk (first shovel it all into a box, then clean your surface, THEN go through the junk), but thank you so much! It is so much easier psychologically to do it that way. Plus, you can take your box of junk to a nice, clean area of your home to work on it, rather than laboring away at the site of the crime, s-l-o-w-l-y watching the mess diminish. I'm a total convert.

Hey Gang,

I love this site and what all of you are doing.....Alot of you have taken on the tremendous task of reorginizing closets,going to IKEA and planning desins,decorating,and also becoming your own Contractor,my hats off to all of you....
As a Designer/Decorator/General Contractor in NYC , New York State,NJ,& CT "FROM" "THE HAMPTON" TO "THE CATSKILLS" And some where in between, and doing this since childhood and becoming third generation specializing in tight NYC apt remodels,as well as whole buildings and building custom homes,you can see the difficulty and stress that I am under on a regular basis,and the difficulties, I try to pass on helping my clients with very difficult decissions to releive their stress levels as a professional.......
Thank you to places like this to help be able to vent and get other creative ideas...
I have been rated # 1 By WWW.Angieslist.com ,WWW.Contractors.com,GOOGLE 5 Starighet Years,Yahoo,Relaestate-Pros,as well as WWW.NYCContractors.com & WWW.NewYorkStateContractors.com, been filmed for HGTV ,Home Remodleing Shows,as well FILMED BY CNN NEWS AND RATED # 1.........
So you can see my appreciation for this business and this site....
Good Luck to you all

Kevin A Klepper
A-1 Home Improver Construction Co.
WWW.Angieslist.com
WWW.Contractors.com

I've started sorting out my kitchen cabinets today and filled up my Outbox. I've stumbled over things i didn't even remeber possessing...like an electric steam-cooker. And i must say, that i've moved only 15 months ago inot this apartment...

I've put all the things i don't use or haven't used for a long time into the Outbox. Also things i used to keep for sentimental or memory-reasons, like my first set of Espresso cups, another set of designy cups a friend gave to me years ago and which, to be honest, i have NEVER used.

I've sorted through my food-stock and threw away everything that was expired = 2 1/2 trashbags! I feel ashamed that i had to throw away so much, and learned that for me, buying canned food for "emergency" doesn't work at all. I just don't eat it, prefering fresh produce.
Conclusion: No more "emergency"-food and no more stocking up.

I've also packed up kitchen stuff ( bowls, Tupperware, etc. ) which i surely won't need for the next few weeks until the kitchen is ready. And even then, i guess that i will have a second round of sorting out, when i put back my stuff in the new cabinets.

15 months ago, when i moved, i've already let go of an enormous amount of things i've been keeping, thinking, maybe one day...i'll need it again. But, experience has been a good proof, this day will never arrive. If it does, i'll borrow the missing item from somebody or buy it. I remember, while packing for the move,that i wondered why i have bought this or that item. It was quite shocking, actually.
In my 'new' home, i go thru my stuff regularly now, because i've gotten afraid to accumulate too much clutter, and because i refuse to buy additional storing solutions.

How has been your sunday?!

Jany - Well done! hang on to that electric steam cooker, though - you might need it when your kitchen is being rebuilt.

I've had a quiet-ish Sunday. I was busy this morning. I finished painting the built-in top shelf (now just waiting for the paint to harden before loading with books), stained my curtain poles and rings and sorted out all my screws and nails into a new little metal cabinet. Then I went for a little lie-down and woke up 6 hours later... I haven't got as much energy as I thought I did.

Still no pics to post on flickr - my camera batteries have died, so I need to recharge them.

How has everyone else got on? (I think we're cheating in Europe by being 5-8 hours ahead of everyone in the US - so you're probably all still busy right now.)

Well, my excuse for low energy is a week of stomach flu, which gave me entirely new perspective on the guest bath, but not in what I'd call a fun or even useful way.

Today's goal is to get a backlog of Outbox listed on Freecycle, as well as to finish Marva & Brian's condo (at last! at last!).

It's tremendously tempting to throw out almost everything in the refrigerator and pantry, though, even though I'm already punctilious about use-by dates and discarding leftovers. I wish I liked other household tasks as much as I like organizing the kitchen.

I just got up. It's how I do. Yesterday went to IKEA for more storage boxes. Late last night, I started sorting some of papers/boxes in the coat closet. It was good few hours work. Packed up two old alarm clocks and an iron, plus several books and some clothes in the Goodwill cart.

Back to it...

Wende: at least you spent time in a part of the house that you don't normally spend time in. Check that one off your list! Seriously though, I hope you feel better soon.

Anyone in LA need a DirecTV reciever?

Indeed, Jessica, indeed!

Actually, we do use that bathroom a lot... but I did not know that the shower rod was the tension kind until I sat on the bathroom floor, leaned back against the curtain, and had the whole thing fall on me. This is what we call "experiential learning."

I'm not offically "in" the Cure, as I haven't acquired the book yet, but I'm taking inspiration from reading everyone's posts about what they've accomplished - congrats to you all. I've been motivated to deep clean my bedroom (always the last place to get worked on) and will buy paint as soon as I can settle on a color. I've also cleaned my dining area (already painted) and had a really enjoyable time sitting there with my coffee this morning, admiring what I'd done and enjoying the view into my little backyard thru a clean sliding glass door.
The AT book is at the top of my wishlist so I'll have it by the time the next cure rolls around and I'll get to the things that are still left to do. Always something left to do...;-)

I was initially feeling like I hadn't accomplished much this week, perhaps because doing the kitchen felt much more cathartic in some ways because it's been a space that I'd been feeling very negative and defeated about.

But that said, this week I stuffed a Scion xA from FlexCar full of the debris of my outbox, and managed to get a few things to charities other than Goodwill. And my front closet is now more than just a pile of junk behind a door.

The largest thing though was managing to sell my old bicycle to a coworker, I'd not ridden the damn thing since leaving Sacramento over three years ago (I'm a timid urban cyclist). It was great to be able to get that awkward space filler out the door!

I'm continuing in my off-schedule way - I think it would be more satisfying to do the Cure week-by-week, but I began before the Group Cure started, so much of what I'm doing now would be considered finishing touches. Also, I was traveling during part of the kitchen week and have postponed some thorough kitchen cleaning until just before Passover.

For the living room, I've just ordered faux leather to recover the seat of a chair. I also need to have glass cut for a picture frame, and wash and/or iron and then rehang the curtains. I've already freecycled a table and offered a dog crate (I have cats), and begun listing computer stuff on craigslist. I need to get some stuff out of the Outbox to make room for other stuff!

Diana,

That's probably why the plumbers didn't turn the gas off to refit the piping - ! That, plus the fact that they were so fast, gas was escaping for maybe less than two minutes total. Or maybe it was more - I could certainly smell it. But as I mentioned in the last thread, the whole thing -from entry to exit from my apartment - took nine minutes. Wonderful! And I've been happily using my stove ever since....

Now I've been agonizing about my main room - have to fit a bedroom, living room, and office all into one room. (It's roughly 13 by 20 feet total.) It all fits, and I've been living with a really nice layout for the past two years, but the problem is that the layout hasn't supported what *I* care about most (my work and office). Rather, it's been set up for visitors and to look good in general - but visitors rarely come, and I'm tired of living without my main values most prominent to me. In fact, in order of importance to me, the functions of the room should be office, bedroom, and last, living room.

So today I took up my central rug and moved *everything* around. I tried to decide how things should go by using a floorplan, but that hasn't worked for me - I really have to see things in 3D. (Which of course is a lot of work, and makes it unlikely that I'll try out some promising ideas just because they would involve too much rewiring, etc., especially if I'm not sure that's what I'll like in the end.)

Folks,
I too was felled by illness this weekend, but managed to clean out the entryway, got a curtain rod to hang a new curtain in the back. But my landlords said that they will paint--whoo hoo--starting Tuesday, so now I have to move everything to the middle of room for the living and dinning rooms. I scored two new chairs, one for the kitchen and one for either the office or my living room. I am loving the electrical tape on the plastic cabinets.

Just have to share this genious idea with you guys - stair drawers!

http://images.scrippsweb.com/HGTV/2006/03/14/hssbs210_2B_stairdrawers_i.jpg

No more linking in our names? That's no fun. Also I guess I used the wrong login thingy, I'm normally Anne (in Reno) on here but ajftuba is my flickr name anyways, so whatever. I wanted to post pics with my new sink and toilet in but the tile guy has to fix the hole he cut for the sink and I need a water pipe connector thing to hook up the toilet. So nothing has officially changed except I have grout now. But I guess he's coming back next weekend, which implies maybe starting on the shower or at least doing the trim. Gaah. Toilet tomorrow. Be satisfied.

Anne (in Reno)

So today I had a reminder as to why I am doing the cure. I went to Monterey with a friend and he volunteered to come up and help me hang some pictures. Of course my apartment was a mess. It was definitely better than 3 weeks ago at the beginning of the cure, but because I had done like 14 projects yesterday and didn't clean up after them and had neglected to attend to the cup collection that was on my nightstand from yesterday and this morning, it just looked bad. Unmade bed, big stack of magazines. Laundry basket in the middle of the floor. Etc Etc Etc

As soon as he left - I had a flurry of cleaning. yeah - too little too late - but it was the kick I needed. I'm sick of being afraid to invite people up.

Otherwise - I hung 2 pictures today in my bedroom and put up my motivation cork board. I also tackled the stack of work papers that were on my coffee table and realized what I need to purchase to finish up my landing pad.

Also - question. I have 8 pictures in 11(h) by 10(w) frames that I want to hang on the wall above my bed. 4 are black frames, 4 are white - but the pictures do make sense together. I was thinking 2 rows of 4 (bwbw,wbwb) but I'm not sure of the centering. My bed is centered over the wall, but this is the longest uninterrupted wall in the apartment (11ft) - I'm afraid that centering it over my bed would make the room look too small.

Any recommendations/thoughts?

Gracie - could you put four of the pictures (2 rows of 2) on either side of your bed and then find a bigger framed something to go over the bed? That would spread it out a bit more, but keep the grouping.

You've done a lot, Zooza!
What color are you planning to paint the walls ? And what have you chosen for the tiles ?! Are you going to put the tiles by yourself, too?

I'm still thinking about what to do as a backsplash where the stove will be. I was thinking of making kind of a frame of two layers of plexiglas and put a nice poster in between. When i'm fed up with the poster, i can change it.

Another option is tiling with a mosaic but so far i didn't find a mosaic that is red and matches to the existing tiles.
Third option will be an inox-plate, i've seen that at IKEA on saturday, it would fit in size and is very cheap (Swiss francs 16.95 only !!).
Still have time to figure that out.

Wow. Everyone's been so busy while I've been out of town. Hope I can catch up.

Zooza - hmmm...that's a thought...though a little tough because they're pictures that I took - so I'd have to blow up another one or find one that matches.

After being laid up all week with a cold (that I have passed to everyone else in my family) we got moving this weekend. I re arranged the living room and de cluttered it. I still have all the toys in there, because that is the family room right now, but I organized them. I put up my spring curtains all over my house, and put up new art in the dining room. I started setting up the landing pad in the desk in the dining room-but I need Mr lorijo to work with it for a while and get his imput in the design and function of the space. I went to home depot yesterday and looked at copper for a possible back splash solution, along with new paint and countertops. That won't probably happen while this cure is going on, but this summer. I got some test colors for the tiny bathroom. We put some more new flooring down in the hallway (we are now 2/3 of the way down it) and took out the door to the baby's room to replace it (maybe tonight even since we have the door) I bought 2 new door knobs too. We cleaned out half our garage and took 2 station wagon loads of garbage to the dumpster we have in town. I also put out some of my garden stuff. WOW. Now that I have written it down it seems like a ton. We are going to go pick up my crashed car from the body shop tonight too. I have promised that I will keep it cleaner and more organized from now on also. There will be more after pictures sometime tomorrow. I am so happy- I feel lighter, organzied and capabable again.

Anne (in Oakland) -- We no longer need to link in our names, as it's now possible to do real html links to our photos, thus also allowing multiple links in the same posting without all that tinyurl fuss.

I finished Marva

Whoa! Why did that comment cut off? I'm not up for retyping it so will show later what I was going to tell now.

I'm still a bit stuck on my entrance, fiddling about trying to arrange the furniture and sort out a landing strip. I have, however, cleaned and rearranged my living room including moving the TV etc and the masses of disgusting dusty wires involved.

I have a question about hardness and softness, does this include bathrooms? We've finally tiled our bathroom floor and we definitely have an echoy feel now- which would make sense since we're all hard easily cleanable surfaces- should I try and soften it, or are bathroom inherently hard? I can't really imagine adding cushions and rugs and we already have a couple of plants and big fluffy tiles.

Most of the bathrooms we've seen during bathroom month are ultra-hard, with barely a bath mat to soften them.

I dislike completely hard bathrooms, I think plants, art, hanging towels and floor mats are all important components to having a balanced bathroom. That said, I am still searching for the perfect bath mat...

Jany - the walls are going to be white, and maybe a grey-blue in the dining corner. The tiles I have chosen are plain white oblong. I think they are called 'subway' tiles in the US, though I might be wrong. I'm going to do the tiling myself - I did our bathroom a few years ago with no mishaps, so hopefully I can repeat that success!

I like your plexiglass / poster idea for a backsplash - I bet that would look great and you could choose posters that had a bit of the red from your tiles in them.

I am in need of a boost to get myself going. Feeling bad about using this excuse but it's the truth that procrastination has kicked in. I never got to cleaning my refrigerator in the kitchen nor clean the counter where the areas are behind the microwave, toaster, coffeemaker, etc.

Yesterday, I was at my home desk doing some other stuff but didn't throw out much of anything. So, right now I guess I'm throwing a small pity party lol. I feel like I'm behind the three weeks already, sheesh.

Anyway, this week I plan to do the kitchen and organizing my desk. I wish I had a digital camera for taking pics to show you all the mess on my desk and on the floor. Just a bunch of papers scattered all over. Most of the papers are bills and I have two of those plastic filing boxes that I bought from Office Depot to keep important documents, and a few of those smaller plastic storage containers to store bills. However, two of the storage containers are full.

I'm also having a time figuring out where or how to store my magazines. Currently I only have one shelf and that's filling up with books. I have a stack of magazines stored on a shelf on one of my end tables, magazines stacked on the floor underneath the coffee table, where I moved at the foot of the bed.

Another thing is, I would like to rearrange the furniture in the living area of my studio apartment, but everytime I get an idea somehow I feel like it's not going to work out.

I guess the furniture rearrangement would have to wait until I finish cleaning up. Thanks for letting me vent!!

Martine, it may be time for the Flylady treatment -- set a timer for 15 minutes and do whatever you can of a cleaning/trashing task in that time. If 15 minutes seems depressing, try 5. The time is less important than keeping the task really brief and moving fast.

Rearranging your furniture has a much better chance of working once you've removed stuff you know you don't want and put away stuff that already has a place. At that point, you can see the structure of the room and think more clearly.

I speak as someone who's always surprised at how much I like my apartment when I've just finished a big project and put things away.

Thank you Wende for the suggestions.

And if you really want to feel better, contemplate how much I'm not getting done because I'm hanging out here.

I could have descaled the coffeemaker in these valuable minutes. And I feel like a lesser person for not doing so.

Pignola, can you re-post the link to the junk mail opt-out? It seems to have disappeared when the comments system switched over to the new system (at least, that's my theory). Thanks!

At long last, Marva and Brian have finished their Cure and have a house tour.

wende! did you have to bring up the coffee maker? now i have to add it to my list of kitchen things i didn't do two weeks ago!

my closet is slammin though.

Martine,

You don't need a boost. You need a kick in the pants. Get in the game! It is the start of Week 4, but once you start you'll see that the weeks overlap anyway. I started the entrance without completely finishing the kitchen. Sometimes you gotta mix it up. Especially if you have a lot to do.

I went back to the kitchen last night and emptied all the spoiled food jars into the trash and rinsed them out to recycle. (Not fair to just dump them for the super to handle.) Quite a triumphant feeling. And I'm no longer annoyed that applebutter comes in such huge jars instead of something small for newcomers.

Forget about the papers I sorted through. Found all these old book reviews from a website I used to write for. And the reader feedback emails praising me. That was upsetting. I came to NYC to be a writer and lost my nerve. But I really could have (can still) do it. Those papers are at the top of the Keep pile.

Eleven - I saw this wallpapering a fridge idea done a few times and I love it! I didn't know that the rubber cement comes off - as a renter, this makes me so happy! I think I'm going to do pages of a book instead of wallpaper to save money. The tape on the cabinets is friggin genious - and electric tape comes in other colors. I live for DIY!!

Kendra - I love your new chairs - I've been scouting for some a lot like yours ever since seeing these in Nate Berkus' portfolio. They're gorgeous!

http://www.nateberkus.com/portimages/86.jpg

Great score, Kendra!

Holly

Grr. The toilet is in and I went and got the longest supply hose I could find, this one is the right diameter to connect but the wall gasket is weirdly far way so I have to see if I can find one longer than 20", which I did not even see in the store. But at least I got the diameter right this time, it is awesome picking through all the 3/8", 1/2", 5"8, ones when I really need a 7/8" one that's like 2 1/2 feet long. Stupid things to get annoyed at but I really hate Home Depot. At least it's only 4 minutes away, I'd hate to have to find an actual plumbing supply place in this town.

Wow, everyone's been so busy!

Wende, I was delighted to see that Marva and Brian have finished their Cure! I've been wondering about them. The twins look so cute peeking over the ends of their cribs! Yay, you!

I wanted to comment earlier, but I had forgotten the password that I chose (just this morning, in a headache fog). I think I'm reaching the password-memory saturation point. Oh, well...

I didn't accomplish much of anything this weekend, either Cure-wise or Unpacking-wise. Again I say "oh well..." I got the books unpacked and onto the shelves (not completely in order, but they're on the shelves, and I'm really liking the study/office). Haven't finished the kitchen yet -- just not enough energy after the big push to get everything moved out of the old place. The kitchen cupboards were cleaned before I moved in, technically, but I prefer to clean 'em myself, to my own standards (and with my own cleaning products), and i haven't quite got that done yet. Soon. I've got the plates into their place, and the rest will follow.

I *have* done my landing strip, and it's a step up from my last landing strip, though still technically a carb. I think my last landing strip was, in carb terms, kind of a Twinkie, (mass produced, no nutrition), and in comparison my new landing strip is more like pasta. Still mass produced, but more nutrition. I'll take pics soon, not just of the landing strip but of the whole place with its furniture, and its continuing disarray, just so you know where I'm going with my "Cure". (I'm finding that Curing is perhaps not exactly what I'm doing in this move-in stage, but I'm definitely using things I've learned through the AT Cure process, so maybe I still fit somewhere in the group.)

Y'all are making great progress! Even those of you who feel kind of stuck, at least you're thinking about it, and figuring out how to get unstuck. Now, if we could all just get an infusion of energy some how...

I've added three new pics to my office cure set. I've moved the cabinet where the desk used to be, and the monitors are now side by side. I actually have room now under the desk to move my legs.

Now, time to tackle the rest of the mess....

Wende - Marva and Brian have certainly set the standard this Cure. I'm so glad you (oops, I mean they) had the time to share it with us.

So I've got a couple new pics up and I need help deciding what to do shelving-wise. Any tips would be welcome!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajftuba/436000486/in/set-72157594319201538/

fugly chairs - sorry