apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I wound up envious of those people who had the time to participate in all four!

I agree, having people over is a great motivator. We had a small gathering over the weekend and I cleared things away that had been sitting out for months on end. Not only did it feel great to hear our guests compliment us on our place, it was great to start the week off in a clutter free apartment. Ahhhh.

Hm, how about a central internet destination along with regional meetups? Although I liked the intimacy of the SF hub, it felt a little lonely over there at times. With a bit more traffic, I'd love it.

finally having a decent picture of mine on this site was worth all the hard work on that bathroom! we are really enjoying it.

my biggest projects still to do are: paint the dining room, empty the outbox(s), and hang the art work.

we are having a party on the 9th, i think i will make it...

http://missmacmac.blogspot.com/

I do like having a smaller group for cure conversations, so that you can be more involved and more easily give advice...but I noticed some other cities were a bit lonely at times...which is why I stuck with NY even though I live closer to Chicago...

This was a fun cure...I really enjoyed being part of the group, it was very motivating...

I missed the participation of people in other regions and couldn't always find the other groups. I stayed with the New York group since I do live in the state of New York, although this upstate area is culturally much more like the Middle West than like NYC.

You New Yorkers got a manageable group... those of us in the Southwest started with a group that wasn't large enough to support the process and then lost participants to rain-related flooding. Our Cure threads remained pretty much empty the entire time, though there was more conversation on the Flickr group.

My big regret of this Cure was that I was a good sport and tried to participate in Los Angeles rather than sticking to San Francisco. The Los Angelenos are lovely people with lovely homes, but the proximity of our cities on the map does not give us much in common.

I'm sorry.. I bailed!

As Wende said, I had to drop out due to unexpected rain related flooding and subsequent move out. I'm now in a new apartment that has a totally new set of problems to address. Next time, I promise!

I could use a little encouragement though. I am allowed to paint (here's the catch.. if I paint it back) so I am still debating whether I paint or not. I may only be in this apartment for a year but the off white walls are depressing me. I miss my smallest coolest apartment. :(

So.. should I paint or shouldn't I?

go for the paint. you need some pampering.

sarah mac - the bathroom looks amazing!

sarah mac, beautiful bathroom! can you tell me where you bought the cabinet/shelf? love it.

As is no news to anyone, I participated on the NY thread and the SF thread. And I tried to keep up with all the blogs--which unfortunately wasn't hard to do as people seemed to slow down in the blogging about two weeks ago.

I didn't have the sense of participation and "group effort" though. I didn't get to re-draw anyone's floor plan. I didn't go shopping for anyone (ie looking on-line for light fixtures and drapes and so on). But that's OK: I bit off a huge chunk re-doing the dining room and probably didn't have the time.

The cure was quite fragmented with local threads, the NY thread (which, really, is "home" no matter where I live) and the blogs--and flickr. Too much navigation from place to place...and no sense of belonging anywhere which is not what you intended.

I did, however, comment when requested, gave my 2cents and so on when requested on the SF thread--I hope that was helpful--but when independent discussions started to happen on flickr I had to draw the line. That was just too much to keep up with.

I have to say I love the little AT Cure blog community, though. The folks who made the rounds on the blogs kept me encouraged and motivated and inspired--and I thank you.

Thanks to you too Maxwell and crew. There's so much that would not have got done without the support of your book, ideas and web-site.

I tried "curing" a bit on my own over the summer and just spun my wheels. Without being able to really go for advice and especially--encouragement--it was just a frustration.

I'm really glad I stumbled into this world.

:)

(That's for Pixie).

it was a bit hairy keeping up with people in all 4 cities. given how i'm not from any of them, technically belong to chicago (since i'm in toronto), the NY is the most active, i tried to keep track of all 4.

then again, i didn't do the cure :P just read and cheered.

olya
I kept wondering how you did it!

I enjoyed the cure, though family issues and some major deadlines blocked me about halfway. I have to agree with Alana that the cure -- even in a particular city -- felt really fragmented. I think it would be better to keep the discussion to either AT or Flickr, not both, and I never found the time to go to individuals' blogs. Personally, I think it would be easier to keep track of a single destination for conversation (and for me, that would probably be AT).

i participated in both the NYC and Green cures, and found the Green group to be smaller but more cohesive somehow. That said, I really appreciated both communities and thank you all for your advice!

By the way, I have decided *not* to build the loft, but I will be painting my floors next weekend and have settled on Benjamin Moore's "Santa Monica Blue," although I am still trying to figure out the most eco-sensitive way to paint a floor. (Hint, hint).

Thanks AT!

I, too, found the Cure really fragmented this time, and not as much fun, nor as much of a community -- I really missed the sense of community that we got in the last Fall Cure. As wig3000 said, it got really lonely over in the Chicago Cure. I wish there had been more participation on the AT site, in whichever city one had to ally oneself -- I just couldn't even try to keep up with conversations behind the scenes on Flickr.

I really appreciated our little blog community over on blogger. That was where I found the most support, and encouragement, and ideas, this time.

I strongly preferred the One Big Cure approach that we had last fall. Sure the threads got long and a bit unwieldy at times, but people were participating, and there was a connection between those people. There was connection this time, too, but it wasn't as easy to achieve.

All that being said, I still want to underline that I *so* appreciate being able to participate in an online cure. Working at the same tasks with so many different people, who have different tastes and different ideas, is stimulating and inspiring. I've cured on my own, and I've cured with a group -- and the Group Cure wins, hands down.

Thanks, Maxwell, for giving us this opportunity. Thanks, everyone, for sharing.

I agree with wig3000, the SF Cure was a little empty sometimes, so I did a little of both, SF and NY. Although I'm the closest to San Fransisco, I don't consider SF to be part of the "Northwest". But I guess if there was a Northwest thread, it would have been even emptier! :)

I agree with others that having to go back and forth from Flickr to here makes things difficult and hard to keep track of. I wish there was one central location that was more like a forum -- everyone could post their own threads and put pictures right in the posts, and other people could comment with replies in others threads in addition to a central thread or several central threads. I do agree that the opportunity to have this online community to connect with has been invaluable, thank you!

Well, back to curing: I've photos up at flickr of our new faucet set.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/46773919@N00/1802502774/

This project was SO gratifying. The husband and I did it together...and that was really nice. Usually, I just charge ahead and do things on my own. But plumbing--well now, that's a guy thing, I guess.

If you want, you can read about it all here:

http://prairiehometherapy.blogspot.com/

i am wondering how did you do it!




http://www.modern-sofa.net/products.php?id=00000001

Re the survey - I've found it a bit too fragmented this cure. I haven't been too hot on posting here, partly through exhaustion, but also because the time difference means that I invariably pitch up at the end of interesting conversations and have nothing useful to add. I have found it easiest to comment on blogs and got so behind on the flickr pool that I gave up a few weeks ago. I have missed the input of a few cure 'stars' who wre siphoned off to other regional groups.

All in all, I think this cure could be a warning of things to come. As Alana and SCBeth have pointed out, conversations are starting on flickr and blogs in addition to all the cure groups. I for one vote to bring it all back to a central pool for the spring cure.

Thats great. Good job everyone. Chocovanillakiwi...thats me and my master bedroom. Everyone's house looks wonderful. I can't wait to see more pictures

This week-end I bought new lamps for my bedroom, painted the hall, kitchen, living room and bathroom and installed a new lighting fixture in the hall. Phew! I also ordered lampshades for my new lamps and pretty door knobs for my 3 walk-in closets, all on sale from Restauration Hardware. My mom is giving me a new stainless steel oven hood (yay!) as a houseewarming present, so I need to choose it and then install it instead of the cheap, white eyesore that came with my loft when I bought it. This means I’ll be able to have the backsplash installed, when I get the cash to do it. PLUS my granny told me she’s going to give me the money to buy new curtains as a housewarming present. I’m so lucky!

I can’t believe it’s already week 8. I didn’t do enough in the office and bedroom areas (I need a bigger budget for that) since what’s needed there is more furniture), but my kitchen, living room, landing strip area and bathroom are looking fantastic.

I’m not having a party (there’s just no time, I’ll do it in December) but I’ll make sure to do a « before and after » album on Flickr. Now I may do a one room remedy of each room, at my own pace, until the next cure.

This cure has done wonders for my home and for my spirits. Thanks for the ride, y’all.

I was technically over in the Green Cure. But sometimes it seemed like I was all alone over there. It was great that photos of my place were posted all the time, but definitely lonely in that I would have liked to get more ideas from seeing additional photos from others. Midway through I started looking at some of the other Flickr pools so I could get more inspiration... I think it would have been less fragmented to just have one big group.

Laura, I would paint but go with very light colors, like icy blue or dried grass green and trim it in brilliant white--you may just change your landlord's mind about having to paint it back if it turns out non-threateningly beautiful.

Laura -- Paint, but start with whatever part of the apartment bugs you most in white. That way, if painting seems too onerous to continue (much less do again in a year!), you've already solved the biggest problem and can stop happily.

I got a lot done during this cure, even though I didn't keep to the same chronological steps mentioned in the AT book. Last night I picked up a gallon of BM's cloud nine for the LR which I will do this week. I do plan on having a small dinner by week's end.

I haven't had as much time to put up stuff on flckr, but will do so once later this week.

The cure has been really good for me!

I like having the individual communities, it keeps the threads from being super long so it's easy to browse other cities cures, and also I think makes for a more close knit bunch.

I still have much to do in the office (decluttering and editing) and bathroom areas (decorating and painting) but overall I'm really happy with my cure. I've gotten more done in the past few weeks than I have in the 2 yrs I've lived in my apt. I've fallen off on posting pictures for some reason, but I've really made so much progress and have enjoyed seeing everyone else's spaces and accomplishments. I especially love how in the before and afters you can see how alot of spaces have retained their essential essence but in a nicer more styled up way. Good job everyone!

I too have slacked off with posting pictures on flickr. I found the seperate city-cure to be a little confusing at first, especially in trying to learn and remember everyone's names (since I'm a newbie and this is my first cure). I would forget to check the other cities cure posts and then found it confusing when a new person (from another city) posted here. I found myself asking "wait, was this person here before?" a lot. Not sure if its just me but I found conversation easier on flickr because you can post specific questions and have people answer. I find it a little trickier to ask questions and get answers on this thread. I also didn't get to check many blogs because I kept forgetting who was blogging and who wasn't! I have enjoyed watching other's progress however, even when I was frustrated or at a standstill with some of my own projects.

I will not be finishing on time. There is still a lot of work I want to do to the bedroom and even rooms that I thought I would finish (living room, office) still need odds and ends. I ordered a few things online that I have been waiting for (a chair from ebay that I want to match carpet to- purchased 3 weeks ago, still waiting for it to come. also my curtains that got lost in the mail 2 weeks ago) and that has definitely held me up. As I said before, I have an out-of-town friend coming in November so I'm working to be finished by then. This has been really fun to do and I'm glad I could work on things in my new apartment alongside everyone! Congrats to everyone finishing on time :)

I, too, found it difficult to navigate between discussions on flickr and AT. A centralized forum might be easier to follow.

My music room cure is on the upswing, finally. We painted last weekend- -a cinnamon-y brown on the main wall and "bagel," a buttery yellow, on the others. Nobody mentioned how much physical labor is involved in painting-- I'm still sore! But the walls look great.

Clearing out the furniture for painting made us realize that we have way too much stuff crammed in that space. We're going to try getting rid of my computer and the giant plywood table to open things up. This is a big step, and strikes me as what the cure is all about.

What's really exciting is stopping the "taking things apart" phase and starting the "putting things together" phase. New shelves go up tonight; then we can repatriate all the stuff that's been camped in the living room all week.

We're a little behind on the cure schedule, but will post pix soon, and plan to have a music party on the 17th to celebrate.

Congratulations to everyone for your curing achievements! Even though I haven't been super involved with the online group, it is definitely helpful to know that you all are out there, and I love seeing the progress on everyone's homes.

OOps I misunderstood the poll. It was a GREAT experience for me overall but I wouldn't mind having all the cities together. I'm in NYC and have a friend who did it in LA and would have been nice to have her stuff in the same pool as mine.

Please don't laugh, but now that we are almost at the end, I finally found my copy of The Book. Apartment Therapy, I mean.

I've felt overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that needs to be done, but this afternoon I realized that a lot of it has nothing to do with the cure and I am getting close to finishing the things that are part of the cure. Still remaining: rearrange a few things in my bedroom; assemble a console table for the living room; hang pictures (very large and heavy) in the dining room; install GFI receptacle in the bathroom.

Some accessories, such as the pillows we discussed, may not be here by the end of the week, but will arrive soon after. Cabinet doors that need to be painted may or may not get done this week. Three of them can be painted with brush and roller, but two are louvered and need to be sprayed. The weather will be perfect for that tomorrow, while I'll be at work, so I'm hoping for decent weather on Friday.

I'm almost done with my cure and helped a friend tonight do some work on her bedroom. When I left she got all teary and said she just needed some help and couldn't believe how much we accomplished in one night - we put up a shelf, fixed a dresser, cleaned out all the boxes under her bed and put everything into boxes so she could find them in her closet. Amazing how your space can affect you!

Okay. Finally I have progress AND pictures!

The living room:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mteson/1806612395/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mteson/1806610031/

Painted red, reorganized, books and DVD's severely cut down and put away, new coffee table, new TV and technology. There's more to do still - adding a blik graphic to the big red space in the wall, mounting the big speakers on the wall, etc. But I'm already really happy with it.

The alcove, FINISHED:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mteson/1806602571/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mteson/1806606641/

We finally added shelves (2 dollars each! In the IKEA kids section!) and placemats and a dining area. I can't tell you how great it feels to be able to have a place to eat. And we replaced the old overhead light with a chandelier and added a dimmer switch to create mood. MAJOR props to Maxwell and the book for that tip. I especially love how the chalk and eraser stay on the table for anyone to draw.

Finally, the bedroom:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mteson/1807457630/

Painted it a lovely blue that matched the painting. While I like how the red sheets go, we're going to replace them with blue or black or a pattern that compliments the painting, and then keep the green. Orange and wrought-iron accents, shelves, and sconces to follow. Lots of candles. Very Moulin Rouge.

I'm so excited about where we are. And I love how it's different than what I expected. I thought this would be a sleek modern design, but it's turned into a colorful explosion that soothes, relaxes, and impresses. I love it. Love it love it love it. And since we pushed our housewarming a week, we have time to spruce up the bathroom!

We finally added shelves (2 dollars each! In the IKEA kids section!) and placemats and a dining area.

I have the same placemats on my breakfast table. My table is the Mella table from Ikea, with Balser chairs.

Wow Marcelo - amazing work and inspiring!
Where'd you get the dining table and chairs? I have no real space for such, but something like that could work esp since the table and chairs are tall and I might put it next to my windows, where I could watch the dogs watching the Starbucks for their humans to reappear across the street.

Marcelo - Congrats! Everything looks so great and I can't believe how much you have accomplished :)

I cleaned off my desk the other night (again) and found a bunch of to-do lists. I brought them all with me to work today to cross off things that are finished and combine into a big "still to-do" list. One of the lists was the one boyfriend and I made the first night we started the cure! I didn't realize I had done so much but I was able to cross off 75% of the things on my list. I feel really good right now :)

Chairs and table were from IKEA. We live 2 blocks away from one and our friend works there and occasionally gives us his discount on big items, so our stuff is disproportionately from there.

It seemed at first that we were behind. Painting seemed a long ways away, until we just up and made time for it. It's like the place transformed overnight.

Congratulations Marcelo!
Everything looks great.

Teatronynj--it is amazing how much your space affects you. I'm so glad your friend got your help.

I have finally, finally reassembled the computer and the desk in the dining room. No more browsing in the basement beneath the bathroom pipes!

I still want to paint my long pine shelves, then I'll take some photos and post the Big Transformation.

It'll be interesting to hang out in this room and see if I like it so wan and pale.

Well, since this was my first cure I thought it was absolutely fantastic! I do like that there were separate regions of the cure, though I was a little uncertain of if I should have participated in all of them or just my region.
But I agree with others in that it got to be a bit much keeping with AT, Flickr, and individual blogs. And then of course actually DOING the cure, haha!

I feel like I spent a lot of time thinking and planning and budgeting and detailing and reaching out online than I did actually curing. I feel accomplished with what I got done, but I also feel that I'm nowhere near finished.
I think I may just go ahead and wrap up loose ends for now and everything else that I wanted to do can be incorporated in the next cure. And things like "making curtains" can be moved into my "start sewing more" project. :)

i'm chiming in with the group that says let's all be one big cure happy family. i only participated in the la cure this time and it was sweet but i missed the vaguely combative, opinionated, loud, dysFUNctionality of having everyone participate together (what can i say? you can take the girl out of ny but not the ny out of the girl). i'm very happy with what i got done (thanks for the thumbs up laure!) and with the fact that there's only the hallway and closets left to do (not sure if i can wait til spring though). from the pix i saw, everyone got a lot accomplished.

hey maxwell, thanks as always for being the pied piper!

I have a before and after posted, if anyone wants to see.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/46773919@N00/1810609663/

And there's more on the blog, too. Just click my name and follow the link.

I am a 90% sort of person. I'll get a job about 90% complete, tire of it, and then just quit. As I mentioned, I have three shelves left to paint and that's IT, the dining room will be as "done" as I'd planned to make it.

But the mere thought of putting on my painting shirt again makes me want to scream and start throwing paint brushes at the wall.

Help.

I would love to see more pictures next time. Maybe a tour with ten before and ten after pictures.

even though I was a bad cure-er (i.e. didn't really follow the process or keep up), I liked the one big cure better too--cure-ing has no bounds!

That said, I am going to plan a party...a small get together which should encourage me to finally go through my outbox and do something with the stuff.

I didn't have weekend plans--and now I do--to finally do some of those projects I didn't have time for in October!

I finally added a few pictures. Still needs a lot of work, but you can see the temporary shades, the new table, and a different layout. Also pictures from Home Depot of the rug I'm thinking of getting -- opinions please!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12591722@N08/sets/72157601943712572/
(last 3 rows are new)

Michelle--I left you a comment on flickr about the rug. I don't like the couch facing the kitchen. It looks sort of lost.

I missed the boat on this Cure. When does the next one start?

Thanks!

Last year, Maxwell (or another AT writer) posted some tips about how to take good photos of interiors. I've been searching the site for this, but can't find it. Can anyone help?

Alana -- I completely agree about the couch facing the kitchen, the focal point ends up being the front door which is just so boring. That's what made me realize that facing the fireplace was so important -- it really is the focal point of the room.

Thanks for the comment!

Does anyone know why my 4 pictures I tagged with apartmenttherapycure aren't showing up in the pool? I only have 31 pics tagged to it total, so I don't think that's the problem...

Michelle - I think you need to click "send to group" to get them showing up in the pool.

I'm answering my own question here, but thought it might be useful to everyone. The post on how to take good photos of your apartment is here:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/how-to/how-to-take-a-good-photo-of-your-apartment-020308

Zooza, thank you! I was wondering the same thing :)

Thanks for that link, Zooza.
I'll have the car this weekend, so that's when I'm planning to finally clear out as much of the Outbox as I can and generally tidy things up for a photoshoot. (I hope).

Hi there, I'm calling out for a little help. This cure has helped me finally inject some color into my space and my few baby steps have been exciting! I was gifted a larger bright item (a curtain) from a co-cureist (how cool is that??) and am starting to feel overwhelmed. It reminded me so much of some of the case studies discussed in the cure book! When I read about people panicking over what seemed like small obvious changes I felt so superior but am now freaking out. Anyone want to have a look and give your opinion on scary pinkness?
http://flickr.com/photos/69856129@N00/1827956332/

I also just want to say that I had never heard of the book or cure until one week before this fall one from a friend and have found it incredibly life-changing. I am lucky to be part of this supportive and creative community and have found you all so inspiring. Before this I felt kind of fine with my all-white apartment with a few neutral accents here and there. I never really thought about the fact that I never had friends over and actually felt uncomfortable when others were in my space. I have started to look at my home environment in a different way. Thanks to all of you!

Dorge

The pink is fabulous DangerDorge.
That mirror over the sofa? Paint that deep dark brown. And bring the sconces in to flank it better. They'll be more related that way--and the pink curtains reflected in that mirror will be wonderful.

ok, in light of the impending end of the Cure which has unfortunately coincided with a rediculously busy last couple of weeks for me...I have decided that my cure was on for 6 weeks and now will be off for 6 weeks, until the end of the month, when I will resume to "finish"/be aided monetarilly by asking for furniture for Christmas...how does that sound?

Congrats again to everyone and all we accomplished. It was really great to participate this year...I'm looking forward to the Spring Cure already...

i need to paint my room - maybe i'll paint it green - looks like a great color.