apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Congrats Anna -- I'm sure that your housewarming will be a big it with your friends. We host a holiday tea party every year and I'm excited for our friends to come see our "new" place. We are having it 12/10, so a little bit beyond the end of the cure, but still close. Maybe we should all take photos of our parties/housewarmings and post them in addition to just the after shots so that we can see people enjoying all of our new spaces -- just a thought.

Anne (in Reno), I don't worry about it in the Cure threads. The Cure-ites seem to be the only ones posting, and we've proven to be a pretty civil bunch. I posted a question to one of the main sites awhile ago about my bathroom, and people were very nice and helpful. But the picture I sent showed nothing of the bathroom beyond the linoleum floor, and, judging from the way the comments threads have looked lately, I'm really, really glad that I didn't show anything beyond the floor. Wende actually took leave of the site a few days ago, citing the constant comment snarkfests. It's a problem that plagues any medium of communication where people feel they're anonymous. Don't know why; it's just what happens. Ignore it as best you can!

Anne (in Reno) - glad you have a stove!

I don't know if my dd & her room are that complicated, or if I'm just frustrated & stressed. Seemed like I was stressed as soon as I got up this morning. The day has gotten better as it's gone on, though. I came home, got a good last-minute dinner put together, the biggest cordopus in the house tamed, computer worked on, and have to mop in a couple more minutes.

The bookshelf is at the sempstress, the contents are mostly on the bench, and hopefully the bookshelf will be back tomorrow with it's slipcover. The next Cure goal is the fabric panels for the MBR. I'll look again for the fabric over the weekend.

As for the trolls/snarky people - just ignore them would be my advice. I'm not sure what else to do, honestly. And I believe the idea is they'll leave if you don't feed them (at least for awhile!)

Ok, I'm clearly the thread hog for today, but I have another question. Is anyone else starting to get leery of posting their pics? AT:SF posted a pic of my living room when I asked a "Good Question" about slipcovering that ottoman, and I was hoping for some useful responses. I got a couple, and then just somebody ragging on the living room rug. Seriously, that wasn't what I was looking for opinions on. I don't get the people on this site sometimes. Maybe it's not mid-century modern but it's our house. Sheesh. I just wanted to respond to the person with a big bleepety bleep but I'm venting here instead. Grr. I may not hang out on this site so much post-Cure, this thread seems to be the only place where one gets productive advice instead of just random criticism.

Maxwell--hooray for you joining us in the cure!
Great work.

I was over come by fumes yesterday evening--not only was the bathroom intolerable--but I decided to stain a board for a shelf. I opened an old old can of Ikea stain--part sour milk, part rancid oil and part rotting vegetables. I was stupid enough to do a coat anyway.

That was in the dining room/office. So, hopefully, you will understand my absence on the computer last night.

Smallcitybeth--I've been thinking about your pillows, etc., so I'm going over to the old thread to comment.

I've seen that picture that the opoponax is using for inspiration! It's great. It's the sort of vibe I'm going for too, in my office/hideaway.

I've always been so meh about bathrooms (and kitchens). Like, I'm not interested in putting up pretty things, or color co-ordinating towels and curtains and fixtures, even though I applaud other people's nicely laid-out bathrooms. My goal for the bathroom is a deep clean, and then attempt to find some kind of storage solution. The bathroom is TEENY, and there's no storage except the med. cabinet and the small vanity cupboard, which is dank and gross. There's not really space to put any more storage. :(

I have a big deep bathtub, and I haven't taken a single bath since moving in three years ago. My other goal is to nice it up enough to take a soak.

As far as the full Cure goes, I know I've been doing a half-assed job as far as participating with the whole group thing, and I apologize. I feel guilty for not putting up new pics regularly, but I just find the process really time-consuming and tedious. Taking photos, futzing around with them in photoshop, uploading, writing descriptions, etc. Yawn.

Still, I am encouraged by all of you, and the way you've thrown yourselves into this process, even if I'm not religiously following the threads and commenting all the time.

I have recently become addicted to apartmentherapy. I've known about you for a long time, but never had time to follow your blog. Now I have a baby and find myself at the computer a lot. I just discoverd the thread of your 9 month cure, and I can't tell you how encouraging I find it. My baby was born 9/7, just a month before Ursala, and for all the same reasons you sited we stayed in our 400 sq ft 5th floor walk-up, a feat which many people I know were dubious of.
I am an interior designer, and have always specialized in working on inexpensive, small residential projects, so I set out to follow my own advice, and completely re-do the space, on a very tiny budget. It's not finished yet (an untimely and sad death in the family delayed both the time and our funds) but it is livable. When I look at my friends homes in Kentucky where I am from I wonder if I am depriving my son of something, but then I found your thread, and realized there are other people making the decisions we are, and I don't feel crazy.

I look around my tiny, sunny, (gray today with the weather) apartment; at my baby, who seems perfectly content, without all the gear, without a family room and a chef's kitchen, and I am happy in my home.

Thank you for the reminders of what home really is, not a collection of square footage, but a space to live in.

Hi Marm! it's OK. Glad you checked in. I think about our not-quite-so verbal participants and wonder how you are all doing.

I don't take baths in my bathroom the way I used too, either. The peeling ceiling and mold in the grout is a lot easier to ignore when you're taking a shower.

But to enjoy a bath again--now that's a worthy goal.

Amy-in-Richmond--that thing you found for the foot of the bed: how high is that? Won't it visually drown out the bed? And I'm worried stuff will fall out the sides.

Bathroom is at a standstill until dh gets the "skim-coat" up.

Thanks, Maxwell! And wow, what a task you had this weekend!

Alana -- first of all, I hope you're feeling better. I was concerned that your silence last night meant the fumes had gotten to you.

second, thanks for your comments on the pillows, table, and chairs. First -- pillows. Good you mentioned "too square". To tell you the truth, what I had imagined in my head was a round flattish cushion, in a darker pink. So when you said "round", it was good to have my original thought validated. Didn't see any round pillows on my reconnaissance shopping trip, though. I may have to beg the use of a friend's sewing machine, and make my own pillows. That would likely be more satisfying in the long run, anyway, because I saw very little in the stores that fit what I wanted. And thanks for the advice about softening up the hard edges, and keeping the place from being boring. Gotta watch that. Even before I read your comments, I had decided to stretch the budget just enough to get the flowered pillow. This afternoon or tomorrow, so it should be in the final round of living room pictures.

About the table, (she says, clonking herself on the forehead,) you're right, of course it would be too hard edged for the kitchen. We had a long discussion about that, didn't we? After measuring, it would also be too large for the kitchen. The walls of the table corner are about 46". The table is a 45" square. No way. They do have round ones, but the glass is hard looking. No way around that. I'll link to a couple of the round ones after this paragraph. I don't like the style of the chairs that go with their "apartment/condo" tables, though, anyway. Anyway, that was just Reconnaissance #1, so I'll be looking at a lot more tables before I can actually buy one. I still like the chairs, and they were comfortable. (The same manufacturer makes swivel chairs, with arms, and although they look upholstered, it's like sitting on a brick!) I'd probably be happy with the table I've got, if I'd got a darker stain when I bought it. Not happy with my chairs, though, speaking of sitting on bricks. Even with a cushion on the chairs, they're not comfortable. The curve of the chair back is too small, and the spindles on the chair backs are too uncomfortable. So the relative cushiness of the black chairs, and the smooth, non-rounded backs, really appeals to me. I also have to watch that the chair is high enough in comparison to the height of the table. I'm 5'1", and with the old dinette set I had, the chairs were way too low, and I looked and felt like a kid sitting at the table. Anyway, can't afford 'em yet anyway, but I appreciate your comments. I'd forgotten the hard/soft thing when I was looking at the table. So much new stuff to keep in my head! I think I'd better write a cheat-sheet to take with me on my shopping trips!

Here's a couple of the other tables the company does. These are both glass. They do laminate tables, but I don't like those. Wood's probably best, at least it's organic.

This one doesn't have the "corset" effect, but I don't like the chairs...

http://www.reflectionsfurniture.net/images/W462Blg.jpg

I was going to show their "drop leaf" glass one, but when I looked at it more closely, I didn't like it.

So the search continues.

The loveseat I saw on Friday has curvy-outy arms, which might help with the hard lines in the living room. This isn't the exact one, but it's the same idea. I searched again, trying to find a better example, but couldn't. It is softer looking than my current one.

http://www.castlefurniture.ca/item.php?selected_item=42796

Well, anyway, that was a really long-winded way to say thanks for your help!

I'm washing the duvet covers that will become the interim slip cover for the current loveseat. The floral, which I'm not totally in love with, turns out to have plain light green on the other side, but if I used it, all the furniture in the room would be plain light green. So I guess I'll go with the floral. Pictures in a couple of days.

Must go stick red things onto white tiles.

Talk to y'all later!

omigoodness, those chairs are hideous! And they seem to be totally unrelated to the table! At least if they had put polka dots on the "upholstery" that might have been witty...but as it is, what a mis-mash.

No, the base doesn't look like a corset--but a spider.

Curvey arms take up a lot of space. They can also be difficult to reach over to a side table to put down a drink.
And at 5'1" furniture out there is going to give you that "Ruth Buzzy" effect of a little girl sitting in a really large chair. (Caution all age guessers out there: I was very very young when I saw laugh-in. In fact, I don't even know why I can even remember "Laugh-in.")

Your loveseat has served you well. It has a classic shape. It fits you, right?

Instead of saving to get a new one: why don't you save to have it restored or slip covered with protein slipcovers?

dh and I spent the morning discussing how to mount the shelf for the living room.

Good day.

Maxwell - can't WAIT to see it!

Alana -

It's perfect!! my bed is sort of high, anyway, and the top of it comes to just about an inch over the mattress. It's on it's side, FYI, so it's 40" long, and about 28" tall the way I have it. I keep my ikea boxes on the bottom shelves and then put two pairs of shoes in each cubby hole on top of the boxes.

I'll try to post a pic tonight!

I also emptied my outbox today despite the rain and wind, and it's feeling like I really turned a corner in here. I'm trying to freecycle or give away the remaining 2 pieces of furniture instead of thrift them.

Oh, also we woke up to a big saggy place in the LR ceiling where the roof has leaked (again) and the plaster is falling. This is the 3rd time it's happened, so obviously it didn't get fixed the first 2 times. If I knew how to get up on the roof, I'd fix 'er myself!

Well, I'm really happy it's working out for you. Love to see a pic!

The roof: is this an apartment or a house? That's just terrible. Was the work under warrenty? My dh says it'd be a good idea to get an engineer in there to have a look at it. You can probably find one through a real estate agent.

He's sanded the ceiling and wiping it down as I type.....so I may be priming in a few minutes. (Yay!)

Meanwhile, I'll be scanning and uploading some pics to flickr. Just "befores" of my bathroom.

Good Cure weekend. I did the office area and the bathroom, plus assorted other things, like getting rid of stuff. Feeling good.

In the book "Organizing from the Inside Out," by Julie Morgenstern (which I mentioned on the last Cure thread, I think), she asks you to answer the question why do you want to get organized? My list includes that I don't want to think about getting organized anymore, I want to be organized (I'm pretty close). I don't want to have to have big catch ups in cleaning, decluttering, etc. I want to have regular, for real systems for cleaning, REPAIRS (the lists that never budge), deskwork, home improvements, regular stocktaking of unnecessary possessions, and regularly assessing the need for and obtaining furnishings.

Maxwell has some nice maintenance lists towards the back of his book that I've been using towards this end.

So, my cure isn't only about beautifying and cleaning up, it's making a home that really works for me.

Congratulations Maxwell and Sara! Please post the link to the NY Times pictures of your place.

I've posted a picture of my dining table (finally cleared). It's almost time to cook dinner!

Flylady also has a "Maintenance Control Journal" if anyone is interested (Yes I use FlyLady as well. Works well with the Cure, for me).

Smallcitybeth - I agree, if the couch you have fits you, check into recovering it first.

Alana - glad your bathroom is coming along!

Maxwell - no problem with the late posts, esp. with a reason like that! Enjoy your new space, & I will be looking forward to seeing it also.

I looked for curtains today - no luck. I'll check Linens n' Things this coming weekend as I have to go then anyway. The Ikea bench is here, and I will put it together in a couple of minutes. I got a couple things out of the house by storing them at Mom's until I can find a better place.

I know for week 7 we should be cleaning our MBR closets - for me, that will wait until 'Black Friday.' All of the Christmas decorations are in there, so this will combine 2 items in one, and I only have to deal with it once! Plus, it will keep me from shopping - I'm just about ready, need just a couple small things, so not trying to be out that day.

Here you go:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/93214115@N00/267434992/in/set-72157594324363398/

Yep, it's a rental. Fortunately, I have renter's insurance so if anything too terrible happens, we're covered. I'd hate for a calamity to undo my curing, though! :P

Marilyn, I'm SO proud of you. Looks great! I also love that no matter what, a cat seems to sneak into all your pictures!

I'll chime in with some small pride. Since I opted to begin again from the top, yesterday went to get somethings OUT of the apartment. First went ye olde dining table, the little teal one that has been squatting in the studio since the new dining table arrived last month. It was gone from the curb in two hours.

Next I carted the very full OUT CART around the corner to Goodwill and emptied it. The girl looked shocked. Don't know why. It was a couple bags of clothes, plastic dishes and pillows. Got home and put what wouldn't fit in the first cart load in th e cart for a later trip.

Re-read the chapter on flow. Not sure I get it. I thought it was about making sure that one can move through the space along multiple paths and arrive at a "destination" in each area (compute, read, sit, sleep). It's just so small here that it is hard to see how to achieve that. Maybe more purging will allow the possibilities to reveal themselves...

Hey Tara--too bad about the curtains. What about just getting some fabric and sewing some yourself? They've got to be the easiest things in the world to sew!

Amy--It's too bad you rent.

Pixie--reading your list it sounds as if what you really have are TIME -organizational issues.

I liked Morgan's suggestion to review whether the kid's room is working on their birthday's for example: just when they do get a huge "in-flux" of stuff. We set my son up in his own room in January--and already it has exploded. Same with my daughter's.

I'll be focussing intensely on both their rooms in January...if not before!

Dh asked me what I want for Christmas--I said "someone to remove the old tub surround" and he said, "that's a summer job."

That and re-tiling the kitchen floor....

The pics of my bathroom are up.

What do you think of going for white and navy blue tile in the bath area....rather than the white and black I was originally thinking of. Classic enough, do you think? Or should I just call the tile by the sink a "mistake" rip it out and go with black and white through and through?

Opinions welcomed.

Hey Alex--has your apartment been de-sanctified yet? (You know, not so "holey?")

Just checking in for a minute, before I tackle slipcovering the loveseat (in its interim cover) -- would you believe I've been procrastinating about this since June??? That's when I bought the duvet covers that will become the loveseat cover. Tonight I'm actually gonna do it (pictures in a couple of days).

Well, I went to Linen 'N' Things this afternoon, fully intending to buy the pillow with the pink flower on it, but didn't. While I really like the flower, I didn't like the background fabric, neither the color (an odd shade of beige) or the texture. So I'm still accent-color-less. That's okay, I'll find the right thing some day. Or sew it myself. I did see a pink, round, pillow there, but Alana, if you thought the pillow at Pier 1 was girly, you shoulda seen this. I was going to link to it, but neither the Canadian site or the US site saw fit to illustrate the pink version. Guess they realize it was a mistake, too. It's supposed to look like a flower (sort of like a very many petalled rose, just starting to open), and the pink is very cotton-candy, too sweet for words, girly pink. It's definitely not for me. Sewing my own toss pillows is looking more and more like a good idea.

Marilyn and Amy, I left little comments on your Flickrs! Way to go!

Well, I'd better get at the slipcover or whatever one might call it. Wish me luck...

Alana - one of the places I stopped was a fabric store. I talked to a lady there, and she estimated I will need 50 yards of fabric for what I want: total of 7 3x8ft panels, 4 for the window, and 3 for the 'headboard' in lieu of painting the wall. For comparison, Big Lots did have curtains that would work (if they were the right color) - I could have purchased enough for $10. I will be paying the sempstress to do this as it will get done better and *much* faster. But yes, it's easy - all they will need is hemming.

Since I'm trying to match the always-out pillowcases I have, I'll check LNT where I bought them for matching twin flat sheets. I've got 20% off coupons, if I'm lucky this will be an affordable way to get all that fabric! I've used twin sheets successfully for curtains before, and they are really the only way I know to get 8ft long panels.

Um, boy, that was long....

Alana, maybe he will do a kid's room Cure? I've got to get DD's room under control, and so many times I despair of it. She has to keep *everything* - I swear the stuffed animals breed in there!

My vote on tile - I like the "nutty design" you did. I'd consider using the blue & white throughout, and use the interesting tiles where you want a focal point.

Lady J - congrats on getting your Outbox nearly empty!

Good for you LadyJ!

Do you have a floor plan up? That might help us help you with "flow." (Though I'm not sure I really understand it myself.)

And good luck, Beth. I'm off to (finally) do the first coat of primer. The ceiling is as smooth as dh can get it.

Anne, if I tell DD "I'm redoing this room, you can either have some say and help or not be involved and see what I decide on" to her that *is* Mom pulling rank. She got spoiled (not by me, by grands & her dad, none of whom seem to hear my screams on the subject. BTW her dad is not my DH).

But, as I'm pulling paint samples & creating a style tray, I got her involved so she is doing the same. I redid the LR floor plan, then set up her room as it is now and said "here, rearrange this." She had a *blast* with that - and we will be using that floor plan.

I've done my best to give her storage. I can't really tell, but I have tried. If I can find the file I can post a pic later - feedback, help, sympathy, etc welcomed.

Maybe I'm just overwhelmed because I live with it?

And thank you for the reminder of other versions of reasonable options (this way or else, etc.). I'd forgotten. Those were my options, too!

Why yes I do have a link. I did one of my hallway where I've situated my desk and one of the main living area. With the studio one, marilyn has linked in some alternate floor plan ideas she worked on for me.

I don't mind the bay window being filled with the sofa because it's a limiting view to face it. A desk would fit well there, BUT the heater is under the middle window. I can't put my computer over a heat vent.

Whew! The slipcover is finished! I so wish I had a digital camera so I could share my triumph over procrastination with you right now! But I'll just have to wait. I've heard that patience is a virtue. I've also heard that patience is a flower that doesn't grown in everyone's garden. I'm better at growing impatiens. Pun intended.

It doesn't look half bad, actually. Turned out way better than the last slipcover-from-a-duvet-cover I did, and it's nice to have the loveseat toning in with the chairs. I can live with this. Not sure about putting pink on it, though. I'll have to get your opinions when I post the pics. I'm aiming for Tuesday night for the pics.

Now I've got to have my snack before my bloodsugar hits the basement.

Although I was disappointed early this morning that we weren't doing the walk, I was a bit happy as well, since I had the whole day to work on my apartment.

I'm not doing the cure, but I had quite a successful day! It started last night with organizing my office area. Today I finished (for now) organizing my papers, put up my kitchen shades, finished putting up the wallpaper on my cupboard doors, sewed my new duvet cover, pulled out my winter sweaters, and made my bed with my new (yummy) sheets and duvet cover (happy)!.

Still looking forward to the walk...hope it won't be too cold!

I posted pictures of the dinner I made for the first time since I can't remember when. It turned out OK. My tall friend had enough to eat and didn't complain (that saying something! :) ).

Wow,Lori 2, you did have a successful day! Good for you!

Marilyn, that looks good enough to eat. Glad your tall friend enjoyed it! Good for you! And the table looks great.

Sheesh! I get back from a dance retreat to find my badly-taken photo front & center! Looks like everyone's been really busy. Congrats to everyone who emptied the outbox - there's nothing like getting rid of stuff.

When I recover from 3 days of Arabic folkdance and punishing Egyptian technique classes, I'll...um...paint my living room pale tangerine.

Tara...I've been sleuthing greens for you. Why? Check comments on your "new floor plan."

Here's one: It's sort of what I had in mind when I said "medium value."

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/fall-colors-2006-east/42-staceys-simple-aussie-green-013869

Maybe something like this one might work in the kitchen? Note the dark tone of the table: looks like it might be similiar to your kitchen cabinets?

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/fall-colors-2006-east/41-david-and-allis-dill-pickle-013815

This is quite different in intensity (quite greyed in comparison to the others) but might be better for your living room? Is this even close to the greens in your chinese picture?

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/fall-colors-2006-east/40-turtle-poodles-8800-instant-retro-replay-013813

This one is an example of what the "choppiness" you get when you colour one wall differently from the rest. (The top photo):
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/fall-colors-2006-east/18-heathers-rich-rental-013389

A Good example of colour blocking:
(She's used two different hues: green and yellow but they are close enough to harmonize).: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/fall-colors-2006-east/17-elizabeth-ingrids-sparkly-splendor-013386

NOT this (for your kitchen):
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/fall-colors-2006-east/15-beccas-they-doubted-me-but-color-made-them-see-the-light-013360

OK: here's the one I love as an example of successful colour blocking. Notice how the edges of the walls are left "white" --like a frame. This would be awesome, I think, on your media wall. What do you think of the green in the first photo?

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/fall-colors-2006-east/59-fernandas-florida-home-014136

Try not to be distracted by everything else and just stare at this green and wonder what it would look like with your darpes:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/fall-colors-2006-east/48-alisons-vivid-accents-013958

Is that enough?

What a wealth of information these entries are. I'm so glad the colour contest ran concomitant with the cure.

Small city Beth: take a look at the credenza/dresser, the lamps and the mirror in this colour contest entry. At first I thought it was one piece. But it's three disticnt pieces married together byt he height and lines of the pieces involved.

It reminded me of your lamps on the jelly cuboards dilemna.

Can you see how this was done?

Can you see why you really do need bigger lamps and bigger art. Not necessarily THIS big, of course!

http://chicago.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/fall-colors-2006-midwest/46-jds-lease-compliant-color--013818

Hi, I have a question for Opoponax,

Regarding "Opo's got new pics and is working on the bedroom." Loved your print from the works on paper collection at MOMA- do you know the actual artist? I saw this print in a magazine once and have been looking for it ever since...

Thanks,
Jen

Amici cari: I was happily deep curing along with all of you until I reached the living room. In a moment of insanity ( labor-wise), I decided to remove a wall of dark paneling. Being happy with the results, I decided to remove a built-in eyesore of a bookcase. The results also made me happy enough that I decided to remove a half-wall between the living room and the dining nook off the kitchen, to enlarge it enough so people could sit around the table. That slowed work down, so my party date is the week before Christmas. I have symphatized with all of your problems, especially with the Opoponax window wells ( a new word for me-very descriptive)since this weekend I finished painting the remaining half wall paneling for the fourth time. I'm finally satisfied with the results and ready to move on to the kitchen painting. I really like working along with other people in improving my home.

wow! a link and a pic, and i've been off gallivanting around with family all weekend.

no curing got done, at all. which is ok, because i was about a week ahead and now the cure has caught up with me. also i need a financial recharge before i get into the more-expensive-than-they-ought-to-be details like window treatments, lighting, and bedding.

i'm also thinking about painting my window frames and sashes -- they have about 4 shades of paint drips on them after decades of lazy painting, which really detracts from the look of my cool new window wells (photos of which will go up as soon as i have time to do some flickring).

is this something people do? i'm allowed to make just about any modification to my place, as long as it's either reversible or a serious improvement. i feel like this would definitely be an improvement. but it's not reversible. any input there? is this a tacky thing to do?

ideally i'd paint them the same turquoise as my desk chair (again, you'll see it when i have time to upload the photos!), but dark brown would do.

opinions from the committee?

Maxwell -- I'm definitely all for your suggestion of having a final photo shoot to finish off my Cure. Can we have a week-after-the-Cure post, like the Spring Cure folks did, to celebrate and to post our final "house tours" (for those of us who enjoy posting pics)? I have a bit of bandwidth left to post stuff this month, but would like to do a better final photo shoot, and that will have to wait until December 1. Is that a possibility?

Alana: Thanks for that link. I like what they've done, but they're working with a bigger piece of furniture than I am, deeper and longer, and the larger lamps look great on it. I've linked to a good(ish) picture of the jelly cupboard that currently has lamps on it. The jelly cupboard is just 11 1/4 inches deep and 37 inches long. (Hmm... not sure how they came up with such odd dimensions, but I just measured, and that's what it is.) I don't think such a small thing could handle much bigger lamps (see jessi's comment on my pic that had the green lamp on the other jelly cupboard, it just looked too high.) I'm thinking floor lamps by/behind each chair for the living room. The table lamps I'm searching for are for the bedroom. The little lamps on the jelly cupboard are just an interim thing. They're really too small to be useful.

I found lamps yesterday in Linen 'n' Things that would work nicely in the bedroom. (I have reluctantly realized that clear glass lamps by beige walls just won't work -- thanks for everyone's help in finding various sorts of clear glass lamps, though.) I searched both the Canadian and the US LNT site last night, and couldn't find the lamps I saw. I'm sure I didn't hallucinate them. They were dark brown painted-not-clear glass, classic shape, really nice. Not as dark as the chocolate brown I'm using for the bedroom, but they'd go nicely. Don't know why they're not on the website.

Larger art in the living room might be a good idea, but for the moment I'm happy with my newly framed wildflowers. People probably won't agree with the sizing and the arrangement, but I like it.

Once the stores open, I'll make a run for film -- forgot to get some yesterday.

Speaking of large art, I was just realizing that when my parents no longer have need of their furniture, etc., I will have a large oil painting by the same artist who painted the winter scene on the other side of my living room. I don't want that to happen any time soon, I'm happy with my wildflowers.

Ok fellow curers, I have two confessions, neither of which I feel guilty about.

1. I skipped the bathroom completely. It definitely needs work, but it gets worked on fairly often, so it's not out of control. I just redid the closet, so it's fine too. Instead, I finished my landing strip and media purge, both of which took 3ish weeks to finish and were major problems.

2. I'm not having a party. I do have a goal though: ski season. Conveniently, it starts about Thanksgiving time. From late Nov to mid-April, I do only 4 things in my home: pack to go to the mountains, unpack from the mountains, cook, and sleep. The reason I wanted to do the cure was to make sure that my home happily runs itself for a while.

The last big demon is the MBR closet. Doing the landing strip helped with part of it because my shoes now live there instead of the closet. But there's stuff in there that I haven't touched since I moved in 4 years ago. Definitely time to purge it.

Things I also did this weekend: bought 3 light fixtures to make a modernish chandelier for my bedroom (to replace the icky ceiling lamp), bought a new desk chair (vintage eames shell chair! yay!), got the supplies for my dear handy man (aka bf) to replace my dining table light fixture, and the usual cleaning maintenance of the rest of the place. My home looks and feels so much better, even in the chaos of upheaval. This last push to purge and put back together will be exciting, if not a little daunting. I'll be happy to be done, but so so glad I did it.

I think I'll probably do the one room cure in the spring during the next cure round. I need some time to concentrate on other things, but my living room must have change. I could probably also spend an entire 8 week cure cleaning out the garage, but that's a whole different can of worms...

Oh, and I have two more after photos on flickr. Link in my name.

Alana, time and organization are what it's all about.

Oh, yeah, maybe money would fix the other two.

Pixie--Suze Orman says something interesting, she says, "If money will fix the problem, there is no problem."

Yeah, well, OK. Not sure how I feel about that sometimes!

Smallcitybeth--did I upset you? I'm sorry if I did. I probably overstepped the bounds of "advice-giving" by talking about the jelly cupboards and lamps and so on.

I'm glad you found something for your room. Good sleuthing!

opoponax--don't people paint their window trim and sashes all the time? I'm not sure why it is a concern. It's tricky and time consuming. Can you check with someone from your condo association?

lindycircle: good job. Impressive.

leela: tangerine sounds wonderful! You'll have to enter the colour contest next year for sure!

Francesca: I've never demolished anything, myself. I've heard it is extremely satisfying!

Leela: I'm afraid I haven't a clue about the "flow" of your place. That's a tough space.

I'm staining everything and anything necessary today. Might as well while I have the mineral spirits out. Let's just hope I don't fume out the family!

OK: That comment about flow wasn't meant for Leela but LadyJ. Sorry!

Oh--and I forgot--I wanted to mention that cream of tarttar mixed into a paste worked wonders on the hard water deposits on my taps. I put it on Friday and forgot about it 'til last night when I took a thin washcloth and wiped them down. They shined up beautifully! Thanks for that tip.

Popping in quick to say that it was a productive Curing weekend for me! Of course, none of the Curing was bathroom related but that's okay.

My endtable from Target arrived on Friday and looks great with the new silver lamp. Now I just need one more lamp in the living room, and I'll be set. Oh, and the slipcover will hopefully arrive in the next week. The landing strip is finally up (but not quite complete)!! At the moment, it's a little shelf for my wallet/cellphone/library books, a hook for the keys that I always lose, and a magnetic whiteboard for mail and reminders. All that's left is the piggybank (arrives tomorrow), a hook for my bag (would've been up yesterday, but we didn't have the correct anchors), and art over the shelf! I'll have pictures later tonight!

I'm definitely doing a post-Cure photo shoot, but my official "End of Cure" celebration will come a little bit later. A good friend visited back in early August and saw my place in it's very sad pre-Cure state, much to my embarassment. He's visiting again in mid-December, and I can't wait to show off all the improvements!

Alana - Thanks so much for your help! Painting the walls has had me completely stumped.

I like the color in Stacy's Aussie Green. The "Dill Pickle" entry, not really. The table there looks darker than my cabinets, but I'll check when I get home.

For color blocking - I like the second one. The blockiness you mentioned with the first one is what I was worried about, esp. with the dining table in the front corner.

The white edges at the edge of the wall in the entry from Fernanda's entry looks great at her place, but I think it would feel too 'busy' for me.

The last one you linked - Allison's Vivid Accents - I'll look at that one when I get home also.

I'm keeping some of these links. Thanks for finding them for me!

I left you notes at the 'New Layout' as well. The link in my name goes to that set.

Also, the film is being developed today so I should have new pictures up tonight, including one of just the Chinese painting in the LR for you.

The Ikea bench that I got went together very easily, looks sturdily made, looks great & does everything I want it to. I'm very happy with it!

opoponax,

I love the gypsy caravan pic! Anyway, you were asking about painting window frames? I painted the frames in our bedroom and there still needs to be some touch-up, but I think it really pulls the room together.

Incidentally, I left the sills and the bits around the glass alone. There's a lot of wood in the room and I thought living some wood in the window looked good. But another option could have been a contrasting color, I've seen that done very nicely as well.

Kristen - thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! I'm totally with you and Maxwell on raising kids in a smaller space in the city...as easy as it can be to compare square footage and amenities (and subsequently feel inadequate), realize that you're building a life for you and your family that is going to really represent what you want your life to be, not just because everyone else is doing it.

Leela - your kitchen is gorgeous, so of course Maxwell's going to post it!

I need everyone's help...although I'm not alone literally or figuratively, I feel very alone. I'm trying to be as open as possible and be real with people because that's how we get to know each other, the real us. I'm reaching out to wherever I feel I have connections, including here, because I do feel connected to you!

If you want to read more about what I'm talking about, I've linked to my blog in my name. If not, that's cool too, totally understand.

Basically, though, I really could use some extra encouragement to keep going with this (and in general). Not that I'm giving up, but I feel like I still have so far to go. And I'm trying to balance between giving my body and mind some rest and actually accomplishing something around the apartment--and having realistic expectations.

I feel like I really haven't accomplished all that much, most of this stuff is stuff I've been dreaming about for the past 3 years, since we moved in, I've bored my friends to death telling them about all of the details of my plans because I can talk with them in the car between jobs or over email at work.

I did get my landing strip assembled (the expedit) and started going, and added my updated style tray for the living room (or swatches, more accurately)...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36969466@N00/

Maybe part of the discouragement is that a lot of it's still in progress, and I haven't been able to wrap up an area or a room yet. I'm hoping to finish the kitchen by tomorrow night. Then I can tackle the bedroom this weekend (that's mostly just cleaning) and the bathroom, which doesn't need much.

Plus there's the areas I've never touched, like my office and my closet, which are huge tasks in and of themselves.

I guess I wonder if I've been able to contribute anything to any of you, and helped you in your cure. Sorry if this is too personal for this blog, thanks for understanding.

Tara, I was such a pack rat as a kid too - I think by helping your daughter deal with those tendencies now, you're helping her avoid having excessive attachment to things when she gets older, which would be a very good thing. It's stressful trying to change the habits of 30 years!

I just posted new before/after pics of my bathroom and living room - I love looking at them. It helps me see that I *am* making progress.

I feel like I've been cheating - I keep reading everyone's comments and following along, but I'm being oddly selective about the things that we're actually doing around the house (the book didn't ship until three weeks in, either, which didn't help). We already had a number of partially completed projects going on around the house, so I've kind of latched on to the motivating force that is the cure to get a few of those completed.

So, really, thanks to all of you for all your work, and for the community that you've built together and been kind enough to let others watch happen, including you, skywaykate (and I would presume that all those floor plans MUST have helped some folks!!!!). It's been so much fun to watch all of you work through ideas and try to come up with creative solutions.

In my un-cure so far:
- the kitchen walls have been painted orange.
- the kichen cupboards have been painted white and new hardware has been put on.
- all the trim on the windows in the "public space" has been painted.
- the j-me hooks that had been hanging around in the clutter collection station in the house have been provided with their goofy pictures and hung as our faux landing strip.
- we've started looking for a rug for our oddly sized living room area (8x8 to 9x9 - the samples from Flor really were not as great as I was anticipating).
- new fixtures for the hallway/entry areas have been ordered.
- the bathroom has been cleaned to its cleanest end.
- the idling, almost reupholstered chair has been finished - my favorite completed project!
- I've started actively exploring recipes for home-made, green cleaning products and invested in a big ol' jug of white vinegar and a few boxes of baking soda.

There are plenty of big projects left, though, and we have a deadline - we'll be having at least 25 people over for New Year's Eve, many of whom will need clean, padded bits of floor to sleep on.

I keep waiting for a sunny day here in Michigan to take pics of the house - maybe I'll just give in, turn on all the lights and post 'em on flickr. But thanks again, y'all, and I'm sure there are plenty of people watching who appreciate it.

oh skywaykate--I've been wondering where you were! So, yes, you are noticed! (And missed.) Is that a contribution? Definitely!

I totally understand where you are coming from. Totally. The reason I'm not having a party is because I don't have anyone to invite. Dh and I have allowed ourselves to become pretty insular. I am taking a women's Bible study at Church and have been rolling the idea of having a few of those ladies over....but we'll see. It's a huge scary step for me.

you know, I've been feeling like I haven't done that much either--but that's just me focussing on what still needs to be done (the glass half empty). Write up for yourself what you have managed to do...and be kind. Law school is no fun. Not one bit.

Skywaykate, I think a lot of us feel the same way sometimes. I like what Laura2 has done and I think as we wind up we should all post lists of what we've accomplished so we can go back and look at "before" pictures and be wowed by the stuff we have accomplished, be it large or small. That and your landing strip looks awesome and so does your style tray and all the photoshop living rooms of mine on your flickr site are such inspirations!

And I really do agree, by week six or so this gets a little bit overwhelming (ask the mister). We need to look at what we've done and be proud of ourselves. I'm proud every time I go in my cool blue bedroom even though I still need to get new covers for wall sockets and switches and find new curtains and all the little stuff. I have a shopping list and it travels with me everywhere, but my budget doesn't allow this stuff to all happen at once. So be proud of yourselves! And we can all get back together and cure whatever we didn't finish in the springtime...

oh man.

I took down one of the metal brackets holding the shelves in the bathroom and took my magic sponge to get the rust off. No go. I tried the sander. No go.

Anyone have a recipe for rust removal?

I am also really upset at the damage I did to the plastic tub surround. I mean, I wanted a nice serene space to take a bath: now I will likely have a lovely ceiling but scuzzy "walls" that will foevermore accuse me of being sloppy and impatient.

I need to paint the bathroom walls, too. But for THAT to happen I need to sand them AND repair the big crack under the window (oh and I need to strip the window frame, too) and do some repairs along the baseboards and an area by the tub. Did I mention the horrible grout between the tub and the floor (which also needs to be replaced?)

I didn't want to get into all of this. Honest.

What do you think I should do at this point? Just finish the ceiling, hang up the tattered curtains, put up my new (wood) shelf supports (but leave the rust?) and go on?

What would you do?

Alana, I went and looked at your pics, and do you want my real opinion? Ok then, here goes.

Suck it up and fix the walls so you can paint them. Ignore the grout and the window frame for now. Maybe if you do some of the stuff the room needs then dh will do the grout later on. Window frame? I say cover it with some nice new curtains. And I love your wacky tile job, I'd like to see some of the color from that in your walls. It's a tiny room so I think it's worth doing the walls. You don't have to do it all at once. You'll be really happy with it once it's done, though. It will be worth it. And I'd just prime that rust spot really good and paint over it, then hang the shelves.

And if I haven't been convincing enough, click the link in my name. My bathroom had gross white patterned wallpaper made of vinyl or something. It was disgusting. Everything I did in there took way too much time (had to patch and retexture all the walls after removing wallpaper, it took forever) and every time I take a shower or bath I am so glad that I took the time to do it all. It was a project because we had the tile done by a friend, but I'm happy that we did it all the way instead of just bits.

oops, was I whining?

Sorry about that!

Anne, your bathroom is absolutely lovely. So calm. And thanks for "telling it to me straight." I appreciate it a LOT!

When I told dh about your advice, though, he frowned and said, "but that'll cost money." I said, "no, no, we're just talking about the walls. I agree, we should wait to do the tiling in the bath in the Spring."

However, will it be done in the Spring?

I asked dh last week if we could recut the curtain pole and rehang the supports. Last week he said "sure." He's been off four days. Did it get done? When I suggested he could tackle it, this afternoon, he said, "that's a lot of work." And perhaps unwisely, I reminded him that last week he'd said, "It's only six screws."

So, who knows?

Oh--and the grout? That was dh's second attempt. I'm not sure I'm letting him do it a third time.

I hope others are having a much better day!

Urgent memo to Anna in Saskatchewan:

What paint did you use in your kitchen--the tangerine and blue? Do you remember the name and mfr?

I think that's an awesome combination for my bathroom, as per Anne (in Reno)'s advice.

Anne (in Reno) --How do I deal with peeling walls?

Is it OK just to sand them?

There's one spot by the side of the toilet that may be impossible to reach with the sander.

Hi all, I'm just doing a quick drive-by and checking in. I'm still Cure-ing away, but going much slower than I had planned, due to a mild flu-bug last week.

I so want to cure my whole house, but the reality is that I just can't do it all right now. The good news is that I'll definitely be around for the next cure :o) So I'm sticking to my guest house, and I've gotten a lot more junk cleared out and just need to pick up a few random bits and pieces that are still laying around and then finally PAINT!

What's been so great is that even though I detest the random paint colors on the walls now, just clearing things out has made it so much better. Instead of working on it as much as I should have this weekend I just spent time being creative. It was so nice to be able to see all my stuff, and to not be so overwhelmed because there was just too much. It was so easy to work on a project and then put away all the scraps and bits that used to just end up in a pile in the corner or a bag, never to be seen again. This whole process is fueling my creativity in a way that I really needed. I actually managed to whip up some fun little goodies for my etsy shop, so this may even have a financial benefit :o)

Leela - Your kitchen is beautiful, love the sunny colors!

Alana - I would just like to ditto what Anne said. I think those improvements are do-able now, and I bet the result will make a huge difference even though you want more done in the space.

Skywaykate - I left you a comment on your blog, I so understand how you're feeling. Take it easy on yourself, you've done some great work here!

Once my paint is up I'm going to need some window treatment advice! I'll be back again soon :o)

I just sanded whatever was peeling (well in some parts I actually peeled it off as it was primarily the wallpaper backing stuff and glue). And if you can't reach it with a sander, do you have one of those little sanding blocks? You can just wrap a piece of sandpaper around it and it makes sanding by hand way easier (I am currently without an actual sander). And honestly, in my world, if it's that hard to reach with a sander it just gets an extra coat of primer and I move on. My bathroom walls were my first try and definitely not perfect, but my entryway walls were way better after I had a little experience. I would just say "Is what I'm doing now going to be better than it was before?" and move on. But I'm not super picky about some of that stuff. It will have shelves and eye-catching color to distract from any minor imperfections, so I would just go for it!

That said, it took me about four tries to get a decent wall color in there. I hate semi-gloss paint, even when it's supposed to be the right thing for bathrooms. I say, if you've got decent ventilation, go for eggshell. It looks much classier but I don't think it's any harder to clean. Pardon the random detour. Got my fingers crossed for ya, Alana!

You may now return to your regularly scheduled curing. Pardon my recurring bathroom diatribes. I am still contemplating what will happen to that otehr heinous bathroom...

Alana- if it is too hard to reach for sanding, use a long handle scraper and wack off most of the loose paint. Then, with some patching compound and a putty knife, smooth the wall, feathering the edges. Prime and paint. Is the rust on your wooden shelves?

Put up pictures of the new endtable and the almost finished landing strip on flickr. Link's in my name!

skywaykate, Yay! You're back! Your enthusiasm has been a great addition. Making progress on things that you've been talking about for several years definitely counts as accomplishment. It's a big step to go from talking to actually making strides, no matter how small those strides may feel. :)

Hi All -- I have not posted in so long that I feel like I might have dropped to lurker status. lol. But I have been reading th thread and continuing with my cure. Since I last posted...

1 -- We finished the office. I'm completely in love with it! It is so much more functional and it doesn't give off the stay out of here vibe any more. I'm hoping that this will signal the beginning of many projects being finished, careers beng developed etc.

2 -- We cleaned the bathrooms. There was not much curing to be done in them -- they are small and we rent. The S.O. bleached the floors etc. -- nothing as serious as Maxwell's efforts, but still a good result.

3 -- We skipped to week 8. Our neice got married today at the justice of the peace -- no reception etc. So we decided to host a brunch for the happy couple yesterday to send them off etc. It was great. we had about 30 people over. Lots of champagne and food.

We were already planning a one-room cure for the bedroom, so I was just planning to clean it. Due to allergy suffers and the "pet-free" living room, the cats were put in there to hang out, so it didn't matter that it hadn't been cured. We are going to double back and give it a super clean this coming weekend and our plans for the one-room cure are well underway.

There are new photos on my flickr page -- link in my name.

As this process starts to wind down I just want to say thank you to all of you for sharing your homes and ideas and for your encouagement and kind words. I've never read or participated in an on-line group and you have all made my first go round really amazing. Thanks.

Well, from 2:30 'til 7:30 I was out shopping. Bought oodles of stuff--but none of it related to the bathroom!

The Ikea curtain is even nicer in person: it's just that the blue paint I chose is too bright. Bah, I should have just brought it home to look at it by the ceiling instead of the paint chip I brought with me. I'm also worried it may be a tad busy.

I've decided I will wrap this blue paint all around the bathroom. (Unless I'm "forced" to pick a different colour and I just may be. We'll see.)

And I'll have orange on every wall, the ceiling and floor. That will be quite busy, I think. Maybe busier than going with orange walls and orange accessories. Hmmm...hadn't thought of that 'till just now.

The shelves and supports: pine=orange.
1/2 ceiling: pine=orange
Curtains: entire south wall: orange
shower curtain: orange
Towels: back of door and beside the sink: orange.
Bath mat: (almost the entire floor at 24"x 39" (max dimensions) orange.

And Tara, it sounds like you've done a great job with dd. She is the same age as my son who is also a packrat. Ugh. He refuses to even give up the boxes his playmobile came in because "They help me remember the order I got them in." Eh? Meanwhile, you can't move in his room.

Can you promise all new bedding/curtains/etc as a "reward" for setting things up and keeping it that way, for, say a month?

Does she live part-time with others? Can you have some of the stuff she'd like to keep--but doesn't NEED everyday at the other place?

And what is a sempstress? I've never heard that term before.

Next ceiling coat isn't 'til 2am....so I'm off to look at flickr photos.....

Thanks for the encouragement everyone! I will definitely see what I can do to rig up a "long-handled" scraper. The way things are going, it really isn't going to be as difficult as I'd feared.

Not shown in the photos but I had two "stick-on" hooks underneath the towel rack for the kids to hang their pj's. I was ripping one of them off with the scraper and lo and behold, it brought such a huge piece of "wall" with it, 15 minutes later I had half the wall scraped--right down to the plaster. I swear the build-up of paint was/is a full 1/16th of an inch. It came off in great huge chunks. I wrestled with the towel bar and its supports--and they're soaking in paint remover as I type.

So, I'm committed now.

Jacquelyn--what a lot of work you got done. Your apartment looked lovely for your party. What an inspiration you are!

You too Anne (in Reno). Feel free to share stories from the bathroom trenches anytime this week! It will encourage me.

CathyinMN, I left you some comments at flickr. Good job.

Ok, I've got the new pictures up. I've included photoshopped images to give an idea of what I'm looking forward to doing in the bedroom.

Alana - Glad the paint decided to help you! Enjoy destroying the ugly & making it so much better. Also, I picked up paint swatches to match to the painting (now at Flickr also). When I have matches, I'll post them at Flickr. I left you another reply there also.

Lucy - I'm glad the space is working so much better for you now, even just partway through.

skywaykate, I'm glad you are here. I like your home & always enjoy seeing your posts.

Ok, I have to go. worn out, and chores that I can't delay are still waiting. See you all tomorrow!

Good morning!

Left some comments at flickr Tara. This is fun.

Anne in Reno talked me into a quick one room treatment in the bathroom. Here are my backsplash tiles:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46773919@N00/295861990/

For the ceiling I've already picked and purchased Benjamin Moore "Northern Air." I was thinking of pairing it with something like the orange in this pic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46773919@N00/297132090/

I have pine shelving and those dark yellow/light orange tiles to contend with. The exact shade of orange, though depends upon the shower curtain.

Which option do you think goes best with the tiles (and the blue paint):

Option 1: Fresh Stripe
http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1958476&cp=&view=all&parentPage=recentlyVisitedItem

or, option 2: Central Park

http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2142513&cp=&view=all&parentPage=recentlyVisitedItem

or, option 3: "Sets"

http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1983037&cp=&view=all&parentPage=recentlyVisitedItem

The last is actually my favourite.

Thanks for your imput!

Alana,

I like the last one too, with the 2nd my 2nd favorite. Don't much care for the first one, it's too beachy for my tastes. But I think you're going in the right direction to work with what you have. That old pine is a hard color to work with, sometimes.

Wow, Tara, that sounds complicated. I'm glad that you could get her involved, if she's having fun and then living in a room she loves maybe she'll be more inclined to keep it nice (you can always hope).

And the oven is in the wall, and it has been determined that now the bottom door is broken too. It slides right off of the hinges like it's missing some screws inside or something. So at this point, if everything goes ok with the electrician tomorrow, I will be cooking Thanksgiving pies with one of my ovens and the Maytag man will be here in December.

Hmm, is that 3rd one a little green or is it just my monitor? And is it possible to paint your shelving to match? I figure if you're painting everything else anyways then it's an option, and remember how good the matching shelves looked in that very first cure post (link in my name)? Just thinking here...

Thank you amy.

It occurred to me as I was dozing off last night that two paint coloursa will be too busy (as much as I love what Anna in Saskatchewan did there's a lot of white setting things off)--but that if the walls are blue and the shower curtain and window curtains are orangish, then I will have my two tone effect. (Though I'm beginning to think THAT's too much colour for this tiny bath!)
input still welcome.

yes, Anne you may be right.

About painting? Well, the shelf supports I stained last night are pine. Close, not a match. So we'll see. I've decided that I will be using oil based paint in that bathroom from now on.

Alana - the lady I keep calling the sempstress is officially a Master Tailor. She fixes & tailors my clothes - that's how I found her. She has also been very willing to do other things for me (like the bookcase). I think I'm just using an archaic term.

DD goes to her dad periodically but lives primarily with me. I have already sent a twin day bed and a few bags of stuffed animals up there; I also stored some in a large storage bad under the couch in her room (big room). I can hide them, except for the beanies, but I can't give them away. I added a 6ft bookshelf for storage, re-did her closet to double what it stores, and still it makes no difference. I'm currently working on teaching her to do a 'hotspot patrol' every night.

She has a good bedspread and recent curtains - now, if they just matched better! She has ok'd getting new curtains, but again I need to keep the ones coming down.

I think - now, when I'm calmer - that I can get her room under control with design & improving her habits. 3 busy *different* patterns is not calming. It's not coordinated at all. Pink/blue/green - ok. But it's hot pink/orange here, and pale pink/apple green there, and navy blue/royal purple/dark pink somewhere else.

Ditto what Amy in Richmond said.

And Alana, I responded to your comments at Flickr. I'll try and match paint swatches tonight.

About paint swatches and computer moniters. I'll be happy to take a look: but the chances are slim I'll be able to identify a "match." In fact, probably impossible. We can talk about the tonal range (light medium or dark) but the exact pigmentation of the colour--how much gray it has, how complex it looks depends more on my computer moniter settings than the paint swatch!

But I am looking forward to it.

I've finally got the first coat of the blue up on the ceiling. A-hem. Not sure of it at all. I think that for 1/2 a ceiling it looks great--reminds me of what I imagine old southern porches were painted--but for the whole colour to wrap the bathroom? ooooh, chilly. (And there is no heat register in this room, just a cold air return. It does get cold. Physically cold. New ceiling to sill length curtains will help though.)

Oh, and I just remembered, the other 1/2 of the ceiling is varnished pine. So the colour must be worked around, no matter what.

Paprika is looking good to me....but oddly, so is a red-violet. That might make an island of the wood. Hmmmm.

Ooh, paprika sounds nice to me, I think keeping it warm is sounding like a good idea. However, I would worry about it feeling small with a dark color and pine, I only risked it because we have a lot of white in our b.r. Would you consider a lighter/milder patterned shower curtain and light towels to keep it from getting too closety? I like the idea of the warm color to counteract the coolness though, I think that will be nice.

Haha, p.s. there is a guy here cutting a hole in the wall for my oven as we speak. Well, as I type. It is loud but I am SO EXCITED! Electrician comes to hook it all up and make sure it's safe tomorrow and then I can cook again!

Yea, Anne!! =)

Anne, that's wonderful.

Hmmm, then I guess you'd say "no" to this shower curtain option:

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15553&catalogId=10103&storeId=3&productId=74378&langId=-15&categoryId=15604&chosenPartNumber=70104805

I thought it might be a bit busy in such a small space!

See--I love orange, but I can't stand peach.

However, finding orange shower curtains (and bath mats) is surprisingly difficult (on-line, at least). You'd think that such a trendy colour should be available--espescially for bath stuff as it isn't expensive and easily switched out as "fashion" changes.

Alana - I think i like that one best....

when I post paint colors, I was going to include name & co, thought that would be easier?

my dd is thinking about how to do her room while I do the house, so this is having unexpected side benefits!

Tara, that's wonderful. How old is your dd?

Speaking of dd's:

Q: How do you know when you've been living in cure chaos too long?


A: When you've spent 1/2 hour washing every last dish (for the first time in weeks) and wiped down the counters (and thrown out the moldy bread) and swept the floor and bagged up all the "hazardous waste" to go to the depot, and your dd comes in and says in an indignant tone: "What happened? Everything's changed."

Yes, indeed my dear. Yes, indeed.

Tara--sorry, what what?

what one?

Wow! I go away for 24 hours, and everyone's done so much! It's good to hear from everyone -- when you're not here, you're definitely missed.

Alana, no, you didn't upset me, I just felt I needed to explain where I was coming from. That comment I made about the large painting was probably too much, and I wanted to erase it as soon as I posted it, but I don't see an erase button anywhere.

Anyway, I'm just checking in for a very quick moment. I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening at the Emergency Room with my Dad, they kept him overnight, then sent him home this morning. He's okay, but not really up to par. I'll be over at Mum & Dad's for the next couple of days, and will be doing grocery and errand detail, I expect, so won't be doing any curing for a few days. Hopefully I'll get back to it on Friday.

Alana, sorry again if I responded too strongly.

Everybody, you're doing great work, hang in there! (I'm getting some week 7 tired vibes coming through the computer) We can do it! We're nearly there! (Then we can take a rest, and all get together in the spring for another go at it.)

I'll check back tomorrow, and hopefully will be able to post some pics.

Oh, Beth, I hope your Dad's comfortable, at least. It's got to be tough looking after aged parents.

About the painting--well, I understand. You can enjoy your prints in that spot with an extra private joy, then!

Hey all. I too have dropped out of the Cure for awhile, though I have not stopped curing. I just can't seem to keep up with all the comments and the to-do list has been growing. Oy. But I'm glad you all are hanging in there! I've basically been haphazardly curing around the house, and while I'm definitely happier with the results, I still don't feel settled. Oh well. I think the one thing I will take away from the Cure is the suggestion to wash your dishes every night. This has revolutionized my life! A bit. =)

Anyway, I posted a few more pix, and some more are on the way. Happy Curing!

By the way, I can totally identify with MGR's discomfort of turning an apt upside down as my room still has random piles of junk lying about. I constantly stub my toe in the morning in my daily stumble to the alarm clock in the dark.

Hi everyone -

The husband and I are working on making a set of three fabric panels to hang above our bed. The outer two are 18x22" and have the same fabric. We're planning on buying a complementary fabric for the middle one. We can't decide whether that panel should be the same size as the other two or slightly bigger. What do you think?

Anna -- I vote same size -- let the different fabric provide the contrast.

Alana - I like this shower curtain the best:
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15553&catalogId=10103&storeId=3&productId=74378&langId=-15&categoryId=15604&chosenPartNumber=70104805
the Toftbo one from Ikea.

DD is 9. And a packrat (slightly, anyway). I keep her door closed if she's not there, & I'm ready to 'pull rank' & redo her room myself. Arguments not allowed. I think, after this Cure, she might *let me* do that. 8O Or at least, I keep hoping she will...

Wow, I never realized parents nowadays were so sensitive about their kids' personal space. My room was how I was told it was supposed to be until I was about 14 I think. I had say in art on the walls and I think that was about it. If I had junk everywhere I got to stay in my room until it was clean to my dad's satisfaction. When my sisters rooms turned into disaster areas they got to move into the basement (they were older, also more belligerent).

I'd say don't pull rank to redo your kid's room, I would just walk in and say "I'm redoing this room, you can either have some say and help or not be involved and see what I decide on". I would have jumped at the chance to do stuff like that. Also, as a thought, we had a huge wallpaper mural on one wall of our room and I always remember thinking how cool it was. Also means no repainting dirty walls etc. And packrats always look neater when they have storage for all their treasures - my room got 100 times better as soon as we got bookshelves.

Oh, and Alana, I love the polka-dot Ikea shower curtain, can you pick up some orange from that as your wall color?

I just sent out my housewarming invites!! Very late, and they're not fancy at all (just an email to friends) but at least I did it!

I'm behind on the bathroom - I have one disaster of a closet that needs cleaning out. I have a couple of friends who're coming to stay tonight, so I had to clean out the guest room first! I forgot to take before pictures, that was really a mess. There's still a wall of banker boxes that need going through, but at least people can sleep there now.

I see, Tara, I see. After you've tamed the colours, what about a shelf running around the room at upper door trim height? Good out-of-the-way display space. I'd say put the animals up there BUT if they are "out of sight" then she may be able to part with them slowly. My dd has a thing for small stuffed puppies--and they are breeding.

Does she have anyone she can give one or two away too? I read somewhere that if kids can *see* the lives of other kids, who may not have as much, they feel better about giving their stuff away. Is there an opportunity like that near you? (I'm not sure kids' hospitals take stuffed toys. I think animal shelters do, though. You could try that, maybe?

Good clean-up habits are definitely useful--and life-long necessities!

I made my son start picking up the living room when he was four (it's where the toys lived) and I put he and his sister to the test tonight. They had an elaborate fort built with all the blankets I usually keep in the trunk/coffee table and the place was a wreck. Has been since Saturday when they set it up!

They got the room "done" in the amount of time it took me to bag our recycling--about 25 minutes.

And then my daughter and I fought over where to put the new lamp I bought today. I caved. Insted of taking it back--it's going to her room!

(Actually, she doesn't know it yet, but I took the lampshade off of it and put it on a (very) old lamp base I have and set up the "task" light I need by the computer.

Does anyone know a good way to "darken" the lampshade? It's white--and a forty watt bulb feels too bright! I'm willing to paint it--but not make another mistake. Here's a link to the shade purchased today: It is square, though the pic makes it look rectangular.

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15579&catalogId=10103&storeId=3&productId=46942&langId=-15&categoryId=16078&chosenPartNumber=60072329

(I will take a pic of my "new" lamp, eventually.)

This whole cure thing--except for painting the coving--has felt like two steps forward, one step back.

So, what do you think? Keep the blue on the ceiling and paint the rest of the room orange--with all those orange accents (in various shades, of course. I'm not buying everything from one place!)

or go with the blue with orange accents. Remember, orange and blue are opposites and will provide lots of energy. (Not always a good thing in a bathroom!)

Why am I always writing novels when I get on this thing?

Alana, I enjoy the novels so don't worry about it.

Thanks for the reminder about the trim-height shelf. I'd forgotten that was an option, and she does have a lot of pretties - they'll be safer there (and less clutter-y).

For your lamp, you can cover it with fabric. Find something you like, lay it over the shade & turn it on to make sure you get the desired results. If the shade has a pattern, does it look nice through the new fabric?

If you're happy with it just glue it on. I did this once, using a black fabric with a lot of butterflies. I trimmed one edge of the fabric as close as I could to the butterflies, then glued it in & made sure that edge went on top. You couldn't see the seam. It worked well, and I had the lamp for several more years before I got rid of it with no signs of wear.

Thanks Tara.
Will you be posting the paint ships?

Well, I am back from the long weekend of painting.
They finished filling in the holes on Monday. (yay!) and I managed to get a lot sanded, primed and painted - doors, trim, front hall, medicine cabinet, vents and one wall of the living room - but I have a lot left to do. I am painting with intent for it to last - so the sanding, priming and dry time are critical IMHO. This apartment has been painted many times in the past 40++ years - often with little skill or care. I may live here for 30 years - therefor I really want it done right.

I didn't start skim coating until yesterday - but I got the first two coats on - so hopefully I will have a least one coat of paint by the end of next weekend. The plan is to finish by the end of the Thanksgiving holiday - I hope I can make it.

One piece of back news is that I still have not find a good piece of architectural salvage for the landing strip. I've decided that I don't want to wait 1-2 years to find the perfect piece. My current thought is to a) focus on finding a great mirror for that wall to reflect the view of the monument and b) re-organize the first bookcase in the living room so that it will function as the landing strip.

Skimming over all the comments - everyone has been busy!! Whether we are done or not - we will have finally gotten some of the items off our To Do list ... and that is something to be proud of. I know that everything I wanted to do will not be done ... but I'll clean up for the holidays and tackle some more in the spring.

Alana, regarding the lamp shade -- if you are planning on your daughter using the lamp for reading or homework, I would leave the shade alone. 40 watts is not all that strong for such a task.
However, if it is for general ambient light Martha Stewart has tons of crafty ideas for covering a lamp shade.
Here are a couple:
the general directions here would work with any paper:
a slipcover in fabric for a more traditional cottagey look:

this would be a fun way to work some of the colors in the room together

and finally, for your husband

Hey Alana - what if you get a piece of acetate and decorate it, then wrap it around the lamp? You could measure the shade, determine the size of acetate you need, and then take an image or design you like and have it printed on the acetate at any copy shop.

This is the sort of crafty thing I never actually do myself!

Whew - painted one big long living room wall last night...the color ended up being not what we expected, more sand than light orange, but I think I like it anyway. And I'm not doing it over again! Pics as soon as I charge the camera batteries.

alana -- what about going blue on the ceiling and orange in the accents, but staying white on the walls?

or is it too late for that?

well, i'm confused and needing advice again. thanks all for your help with the window trim. for some reason every new york apartment i've lived in has had metal window frames i've never seen painted any color but white or black/dark brown before, that i've noticed. then i remembered old wooden window frames and duh, they are definitely painted. thus it can't be wrong to paint my metal ones. right?

so i'm going to do that this weekend. whilst contemplating window treatments. which is what i need advice on.

it turns out that my windows are a non-standard size. which is annoying, as it puts blinds outside my price range. especially weird is that A) i already had blinds which i guess could have been custom but really don't look it, and B) my building is relatively modern construction with metal window frames and sills -- it's not like somebody just randomly cut a hole in the wall. but 63" they remain, for reasons i just don't understand.

so curtains it must be. i'm really divided between whether to do simple cotton panels or something more lush and exciting. i like the idea of the casbah/gypsy caravan look, but i haven't seen anything so far that looks like that but also will go in the room. most of what i've found seems way too formal. i wanted to post links to some heavy silk embroidered ones from bed/bath/beyond, but they're not on their site. suffice it to say they're lovely and perfect for a maximalist space, but will look weird in my sort of homespun little room.

i also like this, from umbra, which is sort of a roman blind, but is adjustable up to 80 inches in width and has kind of an interesting thing going on. i may dye, block print, or otherwise make it a wee bit more interesting.
http://tinyurl.com/yxqrsm

i also like those because they will differentiate easily from the curtain hung across the doorway (finally found a long enough extension rod!) and avert the 'sleeper car' look.

a good backup would be just about any of the panels from west elm, especially the linen or embroidered cotton ones. the white cotton panels embroidered with paisley might be a good compromise between lush victoriana and simplicity.
http://tinyurl.com/ya76oo

any advice? should i go lush with a colorful, embroidered look, or simple with a cotton panel? what do yall think of those umbra roman blinds? keeping in mind that i like a lot of light in my room and very rarely close the blinds i currently have.

Opo, there's a company called Shalan who make GORGEOUS curtains here in NY - they sell at the Union Sq. holiday market, but they also sell online all year:

http://shalant.com/

go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46963079@N00/277368330/
and there's a bad pic of one of them. It's two layers of fabric, one satin and one iridescent gossamer diaphonous stuff. They come in really saturated colors.

Pearl River also has a lot of shade sizes. I also have non-standard metal frame windows. They're a pain! Maybe you live int he same kind of building I do.

sorry, Shalant! Typo.

Opo, I'd be inclined to go for the Umbra ones since there is/will be so much else going on in your space. Looking at your inspiration pic above the action seems like it should all be going on in the other textiles and accessories in the room and the shades should just allow for a wash of light. Especially if they're usually going to be open anyways. But that's just me, I'm not a big fan of busy window treatments when there's already lots going on.

oooh, the shalant ones look so cool! but on their site they don't seem to have any colors besides white that particularly go with my palette. and because of the satin and organza, the white ones look a little too bridal for this space.

but almost any of the choices would look so good in my living room... i especially like the sort of saffron colorway. i think i will have to check them out at the christmas fair, because the living room needs window treatment help, too. in fact the living room is my next project after the cure.

The darn umbra link isn't working for me. (Wants to know my country!)

Metal window frames: that's going to take paint formulated for metal, isn't it?

Opo--I know it's difficult, but can we get pics, somehow? Maybe bring in every protable lamp you have and take off the lampshades, etc, to "light up" the scene--and then prop the camera up (in lieu of a tripod) and try taking them that way? It's hard to visualize what you've done.

It's not too late to go white. Hate white.

Alex, so happy to hear you are finally getting to the things you wanted to do! I've figured out a way around the "names" problem and Benjamin Moore if you want to chat colour chips.

Hey Leela, good job!

Not sure WHAT I'm going to do with this lamp shade. It's on beside me right now--and it still glares. I like the colour (white) and the subtle fabirc design on the fabric....IKEA says it is painted inside. Maybe I can find a standard light bulb less than 40 watts (for me) but I doubt it. I've looked before.

Time to do my second and final coat of blue on that ceiling. I cam up with (yet another) blue and orange combo. Pic link in my name.

It's the "paprika" colour I had in mind yesterday. Still final determination to be made once I have my shower curtain, bath mat, etc.

Opo,
Standard sized blinds are made for only some of the standard sizes in the residential window market.