apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I am joining the party late. I have been out of the country for the past few weeks, so I am starting this week-end. Depending on how much deep-cleaning I get done, I will post pictures on Monday. Reading through your posts (and seeing pics) has been inspiring and motivating. Thanks to everyone who has shared!

I now have a landing strip! Yay! I asked myself four questions about it this morning... Is it as esthetically pleasing as I would like? Well, er, no. Is it within my budget? Yes. (The only purchase cost $3.97 plus tax) Is it neat and tidy? Definitely. Is it functional? You betcha. I figured 3 out of 4 is not bad, and as my budget allows, I can work on the esthetically pleasing part. Meantime, I have a functional landing strip. Yay.

Pics will be posted sometime this weekend, likely tomorrow (got to take them, then get them developed, first!)

Welcome, Avocado!

In my flikr pics, you'll see a cute ad I ran across today for someone looking for a new home for Dust Bunnies...very appropriate! (I was going to try and spell the french "appropo" but don't know how it's spelled!)

Want bright color combo inspirations? I found another ad just above the dust bunnies that has great combos in it, check out the pic on my flikr.

I've added the in-progress pics of my Cure for my cube at work. I need color...how can I get it in a cube??

I'm drooling like a teething toddler over that cornice landing strip pic Maxwell posted earlier. Maybe someday when I'm no longer a toddler and instead am a rich grown-up!!

Glad I have the weekend to catch up on the kitchen and landing strip. Am feeling inspired to go take some cool pictures of the skyline to put up in my place, but it's very grey out.

Continuing the discussion from the last thread, I too, am having trouble with the "squishier" assignments.

I think it's because I'm so unsure about my style. In fact I'm having such trouble describing my tendancies that I can't even figure out what magazines/books to look at for ideas to refine my design sense. None of the styles described in the AT book seemed quite right.

I like simple, clean lines and believe that form should follow function. I dislike ruffles, quaint placards and ducks-in-bonnets. All of which point towards modernism.

However, I also prefer curves and organic shapes to rectilinear ones. I like sofas and arm chairs to be comfy and amenable to sprawling. I prefer natural textures to machined ones and like my wood furniture unpainted. I want my home to feel relaxed and welcoming rather than sleek and polished.

Any suggestions for where I should look for inspiration, or what this style is called?

I have a book at home that talks about the things you say you like. I will post the name of it later; right now all I can remember is it's called "Zen something" and I bought it in 2003. It is a Japanese design book.

As I said, will post more later; I know where the book is at but it doesn't help when I'm at work! But yes, the things you like are discussed and highlighted there.

Anna in Santa Cruz: You need to pick up the book "Scandinavian Living" by Magnus Englund and Chrystina Schmidt. Tons of beautiful photos of exactly what you're describing.

Anna, your style sounds a lot like mine! i, too, had a hard time picking a style out of the book. i guess eclectic describes it, in that i have a mix of different eras and influences, both modern and traditional. most of my stuff is vintage from the early 60's and before (or from ikea/west elm/cheap land), and decidedly not minimalist.

as for influences, look to the first half of the 20th century, especially in sources that carry more pedestrian styles and lines. the Design Icons of that era were cold and minimalist, whereas most people had exactly what you describe in their homes. mid-century modern is another great source of inspiration, trendy and overpriced though it is (and you can find great deals on MCM furniture outside urban areas, especially for non-iconic pieces). the shakers were also unlikely proto-modernists -- their roots were NOT all country-cute or dormitory-severe.

in terms of books and magazines, i'm having trouble with that, too. i don't want my home to look like a magazine. i want it to look like a home. i take a lot of inspiration from films, global and period graphic design (not necessarily furniture or home related), and the homes of people i love.

Skywaykate, I would think you'd be able to add a little color to your cube without being too crazy about it. I think the easiest way to start (besides the jade and roses - yay!)would be with a nice piece of fabric or a pillow on that chair. I don't know how most graphic designers decorate but I don't see why you couldn't find a nice poster or print for that big empty cube wall and hang your lovely Colorado pic. There's got to be a way!

Hi all, sorry I've been so scarce this week, work has been INSANE, so I haven't gotten much done, cure-wise. Looks like eveyone else is making great strides, well done!

I have posted before photos of my landing strip (click name, as usual), and am hoping to get something better working this weekend. At the very least get the steps swept and the mat on the landing washed.

Suggestions are welcome, please.

I can't really figure out what week I'm supposed to be on, so I'm just going to keep going. Also, I am hosting a pre-wedding brunch for my neice on 11/12, so I have some incentive to get ahead of the book.

My "hot" Friday night consisted of cleaning a hall closet that I use for storage -- long in the back and aerobed and extra chairs in the front. Wasn't sure what room it fit with, but seeing as it was in the hall and I'd done most everything else... (my closet is also in hall, but I'm saving that for bedroom week)

I also decided to catch up on some of the other little tasks that have been slipping. I didn't touch every wall, but I've painted them, so I didn't feel as much need. I know every inch of my horrible plaster walls and truly appreciate all of the sheetrock walls that were added when the apt. was created from 2 smaller.

Have been sitting in my office for way more than 10 minutes contemplating why it is such a black hole in the apt. It is going to get 2 weekends worth of cure, it really needs it. I barely ever come in here because of the anxiety it causes. Too much crap and furniture etc....everything I can't let go of ends up in here. The productivity of the place is completely lost -- no wonder I've been in a job I don't like for years! I think I miht have to do 10 minutes every other day until week 5 to really come to terms.

My outbox is growing steadily again after I'd emptied it once.

I'm going to need an office cure as well Skywaykate as we are moving into a newly built space that is horrible. I was there for the first time today -- it lacks everything that I'm sure that experts recommend for a productive workplace -- good use natural light, personality etc. Saw a red desk lamp in living etc. tonight from Ikea -- hope they carry it in the states as it is going to be my first attempt to add color.

Off to get some more done.

ARGH. okay i'm calling in HELP. Namely -- all you guys! What color should i paint the wall? thoughts: pale yellow, pale turquoise (there's a blue in the rug that seems to pop up in small ways all over my apt.). i'll post better pictures by monday.

i've been dreading this part since before week one.

Umscotta, the kitchen's fab...the blue with the border really pops everything in a modern yet timeleas way.

Anne (in Reno) -- just wanted to let you know I've hit a couple of snags with the diy picture frame... Snag 1 (minor snag), I got the wrong size! I thought I needed two pieces 13" long and 2 pieces 14" long. I was right about the 14", but I really need 12". Sigh. Snag 2 (major snag), right size or wrong size, I can't figure out how to put the thing together so that it doesn't just fall apart again! I think I mentioned that there are no instructions with it. Well, there should be. Maybe it would be intuitive for others, but not for me, and I'm usually pretty good at figuring things out, or inventing a way to do things. I even googled, trying to find some sort of instructions (tricky since there's no brand name on any of the parts, just the words "Snap Hanger Kit" handwritten on the label of the hardware bag, which isn't a commercial label, it's a computer-produced label specific to the store, with a space for stock number, handwritten, and Qty -- this is where it says "Snap Hanger Kit".) Googling turned up the small bit of information that's linked to my name, but it didn't really help. I've taken pictures of the bits and pieces, but until I can figure out how to make them turn into a frame, there's not much point in posting. Sorry. (I am not admitting defeat, however, this just may take a while...)

I posted some pix of my clean kitchen. I cheated and have yet to replace the shelf contact paper and mop the floor, but I'm pretty proud of myself. I never knew that you had to clean all the knobs of the stove too...

Abby, where are you looking to paint?

New pictures for me, too! Link in my name, of course. The kitchen changes aren't that dramatic, but the dining nook looks pretty darn good.

Abby, I love your furniture. I wish I had enough innate glamour to pull off a room like that!

Migoodness, does Maxwell really read all these posts?

Beth, have you got room on that roll to take some pics of the frame before you go get it developed? Maybe if we saw what you were working with, we could help better. It looks pretty straighforward on the site--maybe the store put the wrong pieces together or something? Hey, that's a thought--can you take the thing back to the store and get them to help you?

Abby--Opponomax is on to something for sure. Warm colour, I think--but not too much colour, really. A warm neutral would be great--you don't really want the walls to upstage your fabulous chairs. The exact shade, though will depend on your sofas.

Skywaykate--here's a really dumb idea--but you know those gift bags you posted? What about picking up a bunch of them at a dollar store and just push pinning them into your walls?

Sort of like the FLOR concept for wallpaper.

Anna -- as Alana says, listen to the opoponax. She speaks the truth. The sentence "I don't want my home to look like a magazine. I want it to look like a home", really resonated with me.

Alana, I have various views of the frame-type-thing on my roll of film, and just took a couple that better illustrate my problem. I think part of the problem is I don't have the joining bit that's shown on the website. I have the v-shape with the hole in the middle, and the v-shape with the two little screws, but nothing to join them together. I set them together, slide the two sides of the frame onto them, and then, of course, it just slides back out. I will post the pics tomorrow, after I get after-shots of my kitchen to finish off the roll. I notice on the website that their kits include instructions. Nice touch. :) The site just says "three sections are joined" but doesn't give the necessary detail about HOW they are joined -- that's the part that's baffling me. Oh well, photos tomorrow.

Also, Alana, hope the visit with m-i-l and b-i-l is going well.

Smallcitybeth, those instructions didn't look super helpful but I think I've seen something similar before - Have you popped those spring clips in the sides between the frame and the picture backing? Those should hold the tension so everything doesn't slide apart. Maybe. That's my guess.

On the other hand, if I get some cheap frames that fit 8x10 pics I should be fine. It's just the mat size that is nonstandard and I can shop around for somebody to cut me some cheaply. Then I don't have to worry about frame-building. So tempting.

The discovery of the evening was that half the boxes in the entryway closet aren't full of important stuff as I assumed, but are in fact full of either trash or components from our nonfunctional homemade "home security system" (wacky prior owner, let me just say right now), or they're just plain empty. So suddenly we have this tidy coat closet with NOTHING on the floor and two tidy shelves above the coats. Craziness.

P.S. Cathy the new light looks great! I'm off to shop for a new dining room pendand light tomorrow and I wish I could get away with one of those but it's just too busy. Looks adorable in your kitchen though!

Well flickr is having hiccups, so I can't leave comments--but Cathy! What a difference a little rearranging makes! I agree those curtains in the kitchen aren't exactly right (the scale of the printlooks off with those floors)but do they ever brighten that tiny hole in the wall you call the kitchen.

And what a difference a little rearranging and fixing does to your table! Those chairs are great--perfect bright touch. Are they new?

Jacquelyn--I can hear the wheels turning in your head from here. Good stuff.

About the m-il and b-i-l....all I'm going to say is that I'm really glad I'll be able to return to "the cure" on Monday.

agh! my landing strip is in its final stages of decay before it hits bottom and i start work on it. prime dramatic photo op moment.

but my camera battery needs charging, and i lent the charger to a coworker i won't see till monday. agh!

i have some older pictures of the landing strip that look almost as bad, but not nearly as awful as it's looking right now.

Morning, Opo!

Does your roommate have a camera? That's too bad--it would porbably win in the "best before and after" category.
It's OK: get to work on it.

I think though that when Maxwell puts out his second edition he should include something about batteries in week one: as in, make sure you always have an extra for everything on hand. There seems to have been issues this cure with batteries and the like!

Just popping in before the frenzied day gets underway...

It's my son's birthday today.

Anna in SC -- Here's another vote for "listen to opoponax" -- she summed up what I was thinking, which is that your preferences sound very much like decorating advice around 1910 and/or the West Coast revival of that look in the 1970s. Some possible sources of inspiration:

(a) Old movies or television series. The BBC's first try at Lord Peter Wimsey (with Ian Carmichael) contains some fun interiors.

(b) San Francisco: A Certain Style (book -- and not the sequel, which is less down to earth). I thought of this book because it contains a couple John Dickinson designs that are iconic to 1970s Edwardian Revival, but you might like better the room with the beams done by Michael _something_ who originates from my scary hometown of Modesto.

Our landing strip does not fit into one photo. On work days, husband leaves by the front door and so puts his stuff on the desk by the door. I leave by the garage door and so keep my keys, plus all the coupon envelopes, in a basket by the garage door. Thus goeth suburban life.

A really good person would clean out a desk drawer so husband's stuff could go in the desk sometimes, but there are other household chores I'm holding out for this weekend that will make a bigger difference.

On the "difficulty getting to non-decluttering tasks" -- heck, yes. Ironically, it was those tasks I came to AT *for* (we'd already mostly decluttered, first as a result of an HGTV addiction, then with Flylady.net)... but I have to work at doing the heart-related stuff because that's really not where my personality *is.*

Here, too, Wende.

I come in the front door (usually with kids). I have an upper hanginw wall cabinet from ages ago, upside down on legs in the front hall. A bowl on top catches my keys: two open shelves catch library books on their way back and a basket of gloves, hats, etc.

The kids and I keep our outdoor boots/shoes here too.

Back door: A key rack, (though dh doesn't use it) hooks for coats and dh's lunch. The kids' put there coats here: I hang mine up in the closet and dh puts his on a hook by the back door.

Mail gets corralled on a dresser in what I call the back hallway.

It's all over the place: but it seems to work for us.

I actually made my landing strip last winter, but it tends to get silted over with crap regularly. Recycling and purged stuff to go out, shoes and bags and the detritus of pockets coming in. So I posted a not-very-skillful photo of it the other day, after I cleaned it up.

I knew it wanted a bright, bright color, but I couldn't figure out what. I had a can of vermilion paint left over from a time when someone really hurt me badly and I needed to paint something RED (in my old house). A dance teacher of mine turned on me and really backstabbed me horribly; I spent a night - no joke, though this may sound cheesy in retrospect - painting one bedroom wall red while reciting the loving kindness meditation ever and over again.

Anyway, I still had this paint, and one night we rented "Head-On" (the German one, not the other one). If you haven't seen this movie, I recommend it. It's amazing. Red is the dominant emotional color - blood, love, intense feelings all around. Kind of like a Turco-Teutonic Almodovar, if you can imagine that. So after we watched it I knew that the wall had to be that saturated red. The cloth on top of the dresser was woven by my mother, and the Hotei is something my husband found years ago, before we met. The coins all came from our travels, and the painting was done by a friend of my grandparents' in the 50's. It looks gloomy anywhere else, but by the door it looks right for some reason.

I love the other landing strips I've seen! It's essential to see something lovely when you return home.

I'm taking my first iteration of the outbox to Sal's today, and later in the weekend I'm going to go through sketchbooks (if I have the guts) and toss most of 'em. Eleven years of sketchbooks takes up WAY too much space!

Happy curing, everyone!

yeah, i too am having a hard time limiting the landing strip to one easily photographable micro-niche-thing. it's sort of a long slide down the hallway from front door to butler's pantry, and sometimes drifting a bit into the living room.

basically, it mimcs exactly the arrival flow of this home's inhabitants. first you hit the wall-mounted coat rack, where you can un-bundle (important in winter as our place is an absolute sauna). next are various shelves and surfaces to which mail, wallets, keys, sunglasses, iPods, pocket change, etc. may be applied. a step away from that is the butler's pantry, a temporary home for any shopping bags, groceries, videos, street finds, bodega flowers in need of water (stat!)... then you head into the living room where there's a comfy reading chair perfect for taking off your shoes and getting comfy for a minute before attending to the groceries, flowers, etc. needing attention over in the butler's pantry. and when that surface is clear, you discover, oh, hey, the bar! and grab a bourbon, glass of wine, or whatever you need to recover from the world outside.

the problems at this point are few. all i really need is some way to organize the mail, change, etc. and a place for the shoes to go so that they don't gradually take over the living room as they are wont to do when you just leave them over by the chair where you took them off. and we all know that neither inhabitant is really going to go put them in the closets where they belong.

which means i'm off to Target, as i didn't see much that really spoke to me at the container store and i really don't want to have to trek out to ikea just for a couple of baskets.

Oh my goodness!! I just came here to post about my landing strip, and there's a picture of my kitchen at the top of the page!! *blush*

Everyone seems to really like the colours, which has made me think twice about painting right away. I'm going to try living with it for awhile, now that the kitchen is clean and organized. I'm wondering if my dissatisfaction with the colour was more dissatsfaction with the state of chaos the kitchen was in.

I finally made it to the flower shop. I've decided that my fresh flower purchase each week will go in the room that I've just finished curing - like a reward for being clean.

I finished my front entrance - it looks so much better! I forgot my camera today but I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I've discovered that while I'm really good about following the "bones" and "breath" assignments, I tend to let the "head" and "heart" assignments slide. I think it's because I tend to think that no one except me will know if I don't run my hands over every wall in my house, but everyone will notice if piles of crap are still all over my kitchen, so if I only have time for one thing the de-cluttering is going to take priority. I know these assigments are just as important though, so I'm trying to be more disciplined (hence the trip to the flower shop).

I'm going to be away all next week and weekend, so I'm going to get behind :( I'll be keeping up with the blog reading though!

back from le target, and let me tell you, i really racked up.

i got everything i wanted for the landing strip, and more. little cups for change! organizers for letters and papers! a big shoe basket!

i also got a few vases, which i'd been lamenting my lack of in the dahlia thread yesterday (i was shocked to find that target has almost the exact same stock of vases and picture frames and candleholders and such as West Elm does right now, and cheaper). organizers for little odds and ends which will ultimately go on my desk. a picture frame in a hard-to-find size i'd been looking for. a step stool for the kitchen. an amaryllis bud kit. rope lights for, well, somewhere.

except for the rope lights i didn't find any lighting i liked at all. there were a few desk lamp options, but as i don't have anywhere to put a desk lamp yet i passed that up.

I've just posted a couple more sets of pics. I was just about out of space on Flickr for the month, so didn't get the wanna-be picture frame pics posted. Oh well...

My "after" pics of the landing strip are now viewable (click m' name). As I said in the beginning of this thread, it ain't really beautiful, but it's definitely functional. My "after" pics of the kitchen are also now viewable. Yesterday evening, at about 9 p.m., I decided I wanted to reorganize the top shelves of all the kitchen cabinets, where I have display-type things. (No point having things I need to use regularly up there, as I'd have to climb on something all the time to get at them.) I'm quite pleased with the kitchen now, although it could use a bit more red! (I have trouble figuring out 80% and 20% when it comes to color, but I think it could use a bit more red, maybe on the chairs, maybe over the stove.)

After I finished doing that last night I looked to see if there were any new comments on my "before" pics, and there were. (I waited until this morning to climb up on the ladder and get the china down from on top of the cabinets. I washed as much of the top of the cabinets as I could reach, but I couldn't reach the corners.)

Jessi in Oregon, thanks for the comments about the pictures in the living room. After I read your comment, and responded to it on the Flickr page, I started taking pictures down, and am thinking about what to put back up and where. You also mentioned that the green lamp was rather high, and suggested a lower table. I responded that there wasn't a lower table, but then the wheels in my head started going round and round, and I decided that since I don't use my fax machine very often, it doesn't need to be out all the time, and the table it was on is a bit lower. So at 10:30 or 11 last night, I was dusting that little side table, getting it ready for its new role as a sofa table. It is now behind the loveseat, with the lamp on it. This makes the lamp look better, and also makes the pictures of Dad and my Uncle in their Air Force uniforms look at the right height again. Good thing it's living room week next, because I have some work to do! I'm going to let the picture placement percolate for a while before I make any decisions. Anyway, Jessi in Oregon, thanks so much for your suggestions!

As for the Picture Frame that Wouldn't Be, I'm going to set it aside until next weekend, when I go to the craft store to buy 12" pieces (instead of the 13" ones that were the wrong length). I will take my little bag of hardware bits with me, and see if I've got all the correct bits, and see if they can explain how to put the thing together. Progress report to follow, when there's any progress to report.

Now on to Mount ShredMore...

Anna in Santa Cruz, I found the book. It is called "Simply Zen" with consultant editor David Scott. I'd look at that one as well as looking into Peter and Opoponax's suggestions.

Sorry it took so long to post back; I had to reformat my hard drive. Done now, computer runs MUCH better!

Note to The Opoponax: Thank you! I read your comments on my "Kitchen After" pictures. On one you said, "I'm seeing beige." I looked at the picture again and thought, "You certainly are." I went and stood in my kitchen, and looked around and thought, "You're seeing about 95% beige, 5% red." So I started thinking about ways to ramp up the red. I've found a red mat on Linen 'n' Things website that would work well, although I'm really not a mat-under-the-feet-in-the-kitchen kind of person. I thought and thought, and I may have come up with a scathingly brilliant idea (props to Hayley Mills in "The Trouble with Angels"), but, thinking about how well my d-i-y picture frame turned out, and thinking about how well Hayley Mills' scathingly brilliant ideas turned out, I am going to test this idea in real life before blurting it out and then having to come back and say it didn't work. But if it works, it'll be kinda cool.

After saying in one of the notes on the pic of my table that I didn't intend to replace the chair cushions just now, because I want to replace the chairs eventually, I got thinking about the chairs. I don't know when I'll be able to replace the chairs, but this afternoon I decided that when I do, I'll only buy 2 instead of 4. There's pretty much never more than 2 people sitting at my table, and I have always had trouble finding someplace in this apartment to put the other 2 chairs. Then I thought, why not pare down to 2 chairs now? So there are now two kitchen chairs in my Outbox. Why couldn't I have decided that earlier in the week, before Donation Wednesday?? Now I'll have to wait until the third Wednesday of November. Oh, well. And for the two chairs remaining, I am going to get red cushions after all. So there will also be 4 chair cushions in the donation next month. Should be easy to find red things just now... 'Tis the season... ... ...

So, bottom line is, turns out those aren't quite my kitchen "after" pics, they're more like an interim report!

Now I gotta quit hogging the thread.

You're not hogging, smallcitybeth. We like hearing from you, and your kitchen looks great. I did post one comment on your fridge; still thinking about the area around the sink.

My update - I rearranged the living room last night. Much better flow now. I can see the TV from the computer (I do both all the time), and I have a lot more workout/lay around space. It also looks much more welcoming and I now have somewhere to put a mini-landing pad.

Kitchen is mid-disaster at the moment; will work on that in a few. Pantry has been re-organized and will eventually get another shelf at the top.

The outbox is huge - pillows, tapes, etc. all in the process of being dealt with. Overall the house doesn't look bad right now.

Off to deal with the flowers I just bought!

Thanks for the encouragement, Tara, and for your suggestions. I'm working on a solution for the kitchen wall between the counter and the cabinets that will give something the same effect as painting, without the painting. Thing is, even if the building managers would okay painting, I can't paint because of allergies. So I'm working on an allergen-free solution. A strip of red all along the counter/cabinet wall is now definitely in the plan, after reading Opo's and your suggestions. I'm wondering about some sort of tile that I could just set on the edge of the back-of-the-counter/not-quite-a-backsplash area. Not permanent, no glue involved (another allergy), but a punch of color. I will see what I can find, and see if it will work.

Thanks again.

smallcitybeth,

I think your tile idea is great. I have seen tiles that are sort of "framed" in cast iron with little decorative scrolls at the top for hanging. I think that could be the way you want to go here! Or, a picture rail, if you think that it'd be sturdy enough to hold 'em up!

oh no, smallcitybeth!

i meant i was seeing the floor as beige. you had a little note on the floor saying something like, "this floor is a nice beige, not sickly green as it looks on my monitor". i just wanted to let you know that the floor was, in fact, coming off right!

i didn't mean the whole kitchen was too beige at all! oh i'm so sorry!

though i do think adding more color is great. i just really didn't mean to sound all snarky like that... however i don't think you should add a mat if you're not a mat type.

as far as your backsplash area, what about some kind of paper? i have 3 ideas here:

a thick wrapping or drawer paper with red in it. secured very well to the wall with double sided tape. very easy to replace when things get grimy.

i've seen cork drawer liner before at places like the container store and bed bath and beyond. is that something you have access to? you could make your whole backsplash one big corkboard!

the starch trick. apparently there's a way to adhere papers and fabrics to a wall a la wallpaper with laundry starch. and it's really easy to remove and doesn't mess up paint jobs. this might not be easy to deal with though if your kitchen gets really dirty or steamy, as i think water breaks down the starch adhesive.

admittedly these are not as practical or kitchen friendly as tile. but depending on your kitchen habits, they just might work. and they're all cheap and low-intensity so if you do finding yourself changing out that backsplash paper once a week, well, no biggie.

Opo -- Oh! Thanks for your clarification. I did wonder at one point yesterday if that's what you had meant, but by then my mind was churning on exciting ideas about how to add more red to the kitchen (other than the raspberry bits I spilled on the floor this morning). I, too, wondered about paper, or oil cloth (like the red/white/strawberry check we had on the kitchen table when I was a kid), or somesuch, but I'm leery about sticking something to the wall, having had a bit pf paint come off leaving the paper beneath showing when something accidentally stuck to the wall in the bathroom. So I'm going to see what sort of tiles might be available, and what kind of price they might be (i.e. is this at all feasible right now???)

I like your idea about having art above the stove. When I visited England several years ago, I saw a gorgeous field of poppies in bloom, and that's the sort of thing that immediately popped into my mind when you said "art above the stove". I will ponder this.

(I'm glad you see the proper beige of the floor in the picture...on my monitor it has a greenish cast that is not particularly attractive. It's really quite a light beige with darker beige flecks.)

Alana in Canada -- you suggested using my pottery tray above the stove. I used to have those pottery things out on display, but their shade of red just doesn't work with the bright red I've since adopted. But thanks for admiring it -- my friend is a talented potter.

Amy in Richmond -- I figured out you're Epheme on Flickr. I got the magnetic curtain rods at the exclusive and pricy curtain rod store otherwise known as Wal-mart! They're great as long as you don't pull on the towel too hard, as then the magnet lets go and the curtain rod lands on the counter.

...break time over, back to the paper-sorting, Beth...

Thanks to those who posted encouraging comments on my very cluttered pictures. I've got some momentum going. My TV is skipping the outbox and my tall friend is about to pick it up (I've got to remember to ask him to change the light bulb in the kitchen! :) ). I don't love it and I don't use it -- I haven't watched it for over 3 years. He's here.

Just wanted raise my head from the wonderful world of the art closet...I'm doing it! I'm going through old art stuff! It's amazing how much of it can be thrown away. There's got to be a word for the process one's belongings undergo as they transform from Stuff to Crap.

Here's one thing the Cure's not good for: getting work done! I keep saying I'll go to my desk after just one more box, just ten more minutes in the closet over here...

smallcitybeth in canada, the starch trick is to simply starch the fabric and apply to the wall. I believe it comes off with water. I would just check to make sure the fabric doesn't bleed before applying. You might also use a wide red ribbon rather than regular fabric - that way all you have to do is cut to length. It will already be the right width & will have fewer seams.

Leela - enjoy going through your art! And enjoy the space you reclaim because you did dive into the art closet!

Like Avocado, I am joining pretty late. We moved yesterday to this new apartment, I couldn't start this earlier. However, I have been following the cure threads pretty diligently, and I hope some kind of color cordination will finally happen in our home.

Welcome, Cecilia!

Smallcity Beth- I think chairs like CathyinMN's would look smashing in your kitchen, and a way to bring in more color.

I'm checking in to get some inspiration to keep plugging on the kitchen because there's a load to do there, and keep up my motivation until I get run to Ikea tonight or tomorrow to get my expedit bookcase and a few baskets for the landing area.

I almost let myself be distracted by rearranging the living room today, but I'm forcing myself to finish what I've started elsewhere, and follow along with the order so I don't get discouraged down the line.

I'll post in progress pics of the kitchen in a few hours.

I've also figured out that I want to take some photographs to blow up and put above my landing area, just have to wait for the clouds to lift to get better lighting.

The progress is so fun to see! Keep it up everyone!!!

(I had attempted to post my previous comment about 2.5 hours ago, but had to restore my internet connection before that could happen!)

I'm just excited, confirmed I don't have to baby-sit tonight, so I'm going to push hard on the kitchen until 8 and then go hit Ikea!!

so i just spent some time honing my style tray. which, for my bedroom at least, is really a lot more abstract than i'd like. i have a vague notion of what kinds of feelings i want the room to evoke and a very general color palette (lots of turquoise and seaglass, probably with white as a neutral, and with some shots of bright red and buttery yellow). i also, oddly enough, am using Van Gogh's painting of his room at Arles as inspiration, in both a color sense and a design sense. i like that sense of simple and utilitarian beauty, and the room itself is laid out similarly.

but in terms of, like, what specific colors of specific things i'm looking for, specific furniture items i'm considering purchasing, etc. my style tray is really not concrete enough. which is making it difficult to make decisions about my major purchases. this is how the kitchen and bathroom both went in the beginning, too. i had these extremely abstract notions about what i wanted to acheive, but yet in the end it all worked out. that said, in those rooms i had virtually no budget and it was ok if i made a mistake or decided i didn't want something. now i'm making decisions about furniture and rugs, and i could potentially waste a lot of money if i buy something and it doesn't work in the room.

i feel like everything will settle down once i make a decision about my desk. which ultimately brings my cure into the living room, as the desk i already own is currently the TV stand. if i use the desk i have, i have to find something new for the TV. i have a potential choice for that, but i'm just not sure it'll be right and the whole thing seems so complicated. i'm open to just buying a different desk, but i don't know... what i do know is that it's really hard to design a space where both space and budget are tight.

but in better and more concrete news, i just spent the afternoon editing clothes! i've started by purging anything that is damaged, ill-fitting, or unpresentably ratty. and i'm really tempted to take Dan Ho's cue and choose an arbitrary number and just say, "ok, you can keep 20 pairs of socks..." i have this habit of acquiring a lot of clothes (especially underwear, socks, t-shirts) because laundry is such an ordeal in the city. but recently i've been sending it out to the wash & fold, which means it's not as big a problem anymore. which means i do not need 50 pairs of underwear.

Opoponax, I love your pinup-in-a-box!

I've skipped the style tray step, as I made most of those decisions already and carried them out - bought the paint, put in the furniture and rugs. My task is more to get rid of even more things, and create more space for life in here, which translates into calm and productivity. So, today I threw away half of my old sketchbooks and unearthed many items from the art closet that don't need to be here: old picture frames, a big bag of contact paper rolls that my mom gave me and I will not use, countless other little things...baskets, books, unused cosmetic and art cases, a heavy cast-iron antique floorlamp...someone's gonna be real happy at the Flatbush Ave. Salvation Army this week. I also moved an entire bookcase across the room, purged some of the books, and moved the couch, all while trying to avoid my fractured foot. I'll post new pics soon.

I think all this stuff was/is getting in the way of my painting - I already have great colors just waiting to go up.

Everyone's hard work is very inspiring.

leela, omigod!

i just clicked through to your website and realized you wrote my favorite comic in that Scherazade anthology! and you did the logo illustration for one of my favorite blogs! wow!

this is almost as good as the time i realized i'd made collages in high school with illustrations done for various magazines by the girlfriend of a friend of mine...

just back from more editing, this time books and media. i outboxed a smallish stack of books, as well as a pile of DVDs.

at this point i have two stages of outbox. one stage is a staging area for really getting rid of stuff, and one of which is sort of a limbo for things i want, but don't use very often and don't have any particularly good space for.

i've also just cleared two and a half shelves of the ugly carb bookshelf that doesn't 'go' in my living room. most of them went into the space vacated by the outboxed books, and unfortunately there are some occupying floor space in my bedroom. i have these cool Umbra wall shelves to install which should take care of the rest. emptying and getting rid of that shelf should make it easier to rearrange the living room such that a desk decision can be made for the bedroom.

I'm really enjoying and appreciating both people's comments on my Flickr pics, and their suggestions in the thread -- thanks, everybody! It's great to be part of this community. I was just thinking today that people's comments and suggestions are opening my eyes and my mind to different possibilities in my home, widening my horizons, and nudging me out of my comfort zone into all kinds of new and interesting decorating ideas. This is good!

A few replies, and then a progress report. This is in no particular order...

Leela -- good for you! It's hard sometimes to part with things that you have worked on. Keep up the good work! (And watch that foot!)

Marm -- a couple of comments about your comments on my Flickr pics -- the family pictures above the sink are framed in those glass and clip frames (there's just glass on the front, no surrounding "frame"). They're easily wipedownable. The book I have on display in my grandfather's book case actually belonged to my great-great-grandfather. I started working on some genealogy stuff last year, and a cousin who's working on genealogy with me (via email, we're in different parts of the country) sent me an informal memoir written by our grandmother's grandfather. It was fascinating to read, and to see him referring to my grandmother as "wee Jeanie" (they were Scottish). Then, while I was decluttering books this summer, I discovered that I had a book belonging to him (among my grandmother's books). So it has extra meaning to me now.

skywaykate -- Yes, I love CathyinMN's chairs! If you look at my comment on her dining area pic, I asked her if I could have them. I even said please! :-) So I'm with you in thinking they'd be perfect in my kitchen. When I'm able to think about chair-shopping, I'll keep them in mind, and maybe I'll find something similar (no IKEA closer than a 9 hour drive).

Tara -- Thanks for the ribbon idea. If I can't find red tiles, that's likely the way I'll go.

Alana in Canada -- I looked at the peel-and-stick tiles in Home Depot, but the only red that was the right shade had tone-on-tone embossed Mickey Mouse heads on them! Fun, playful, but not quite the effect I'm going for in my kitchen. Oh well, thanks for the suggestion. I'm feeling pretty committed to ceramic tile (or something like that), I like the look, the feel, even the sound of them.

The Opoponax -- way to go, purging your clothes. Not an easy task. I did Closet Therapy in the summer, following a book called "Nothing to Wear?" I found their suggestions really helpful, and kept them in mind when shopping for clothes this fall -- getting dressed in the morning is so easy now!

Hope I haven't missed anybody -- all your comments are great!

Progress report: I looked in Home Depot and Rona (Canadian version of Home Depot) today, for red ceramic tiles. No red. Actually, not much choice in color unless you like white, white, beige, or white. There were a few blue, and green, and fruit pictures, but no red. (Why does this happen so often -- I think up an idea, and then go into the store expecting to just be able to find exactly what I've dreamed up, buy it, and be on my way. I do that repeatedly, even though I know it rarely happens that way... ...) Anyway, I'm hoping to find red tiles somewhere in this city (one of the disadvantages of the "smallcity" part of my name -- not as much selection). I did buy a few inexpensive greenish/goldish tiles to try out the concept in my bathroom. I've put them up, it works, I like it...now to find some red ones. (The green ones are begging to have leaf shapes stenciled on them, we'll see if that happens.)

In other news, there is visible progress in the storage room, I spent some time doing a rough sort of letters, and they're now in binders (in plastic sheet protectors). Sorting chronologically sounds like a long-winter-evening sort of project. And I bought a new blanket/throw, the first contribution to the new color scheme for my bedroom.

Sorry for being so long-winded (as usual).

Me again. I just tried clicking on Marilyn's name to get to her pictures, and got a message to the effect that "there are no pictures taken by MarilynGiantPanda visible to you in the Apartment Therapy Cure (Unofficial) Group". What does that message mean? When I click on the link to the Group, I can see the pictures (with mine right at the top, yoips, must be the most recent ones loaded...)

???

Thanks, everyone for your suggestions for style resources. I guess it's time to dust off the old library card!

This weekend's project was actually to dismantle our mostly functional landing strip as part of the grand living room re-arrangement.

Since I took all last week to contemplate this re-arrangement it worked ... eh. not so well. We've managed to transmogrify our bowling alley into a bowl-in movie theater with no place for a landing strip. hmmm. I just can't visualize the feel of a space from floor plans. not enough practice I suppose.

Wow, sounds like everyone has been working hard.
Most inspiring.
Small city beth--there are red toasters out there...have you seen them? And I'm sorry that Mickey isn't going to make the cut. (grin)

Opo--looking forward to seeing pics of the transformation underway.

oh there's too many of us to make individual comments....I'll go look at your pics and do that there!

Well, the company has left and DH and I decided to finish re-covering the piano bench. Just as he goes to screw the top back on--the wood splits! That's carbohydrate furniture for you. (sigh)

So, now we're going to glue and clamp, move the hinges and try again. The other side isn't an option. It's already split, obviously, its previous owners had already switched sides.

Off to peruse pics. I have new ones up. Mostly of the kitchen and a few before and after of small projects.

Wow! I'm glad I could provide so many people with chair-related inspiration! Those chairs really are one of the best purchases I've made in a while. I was a little apprehensive when I first picked them out, but now I know that they were definitely the right choice. Gems *do* exist in Ikea - you just have to look for them. :)

I've had a lot of non-Cure related stuff to deal with this week, so the landing strip has been horribly neglected. I did manage to clear my Outbox and get a little bit of organizing done in the big closet, but I'm no closer to figuring out what will go in the landing strip than I was at the start of the week. And I haven't even touched on the 80/20 idea. Eek! Guess I'll have to get my butt in gear tomorrow so that I don't fall too far behind.

Breakthrough day! We did a trip to visit relatives and a quickie IKEA stop on the way (no success with light fixtures, curtains and a light were successes though). However, on the way home the mister enjoyed 90% of my CD selections and commented on a couple, "Hey, these suck". Having selected them at random from the massive stacks and therefore not being attached to them, I said, "Well why don't we go trade them in for some good ones and make some space?" and he said "Yeah, that's a good idea". Seeing as there are several stacks of CDs sitting on the living room floor for lack of a place for them, this could be a real breakthrough. So yay!

More pics once curtains are put up. I promise. And feedback to other people. Soon.

Hey gang, it's been great looking through the flickr group and seeing everyone plugging along. Kudos!

I've finally posted the third Cure installment to my journal, although I'm really behind (still in the kitchen) at this point. I've been assured that the painters will be in this apartment on Tuesday. So I'm now like what? 3 weeks behind? Feh.

Please, smallcitybeth and other garrulous people, stay long-winded! The stories are so inspiring to read, especially for those of us who got NOTHING done this weekend. It was math, math, and more math in Phoenix, just as we're getting to a room I need to tackle because of where moving un-put-away stuff washed up.

Ack! In an obvious moment of insanity, I decided to start the cure by going straight to my black hole of clutter (read: shame)- the one closet in my studio apartment.

Needless to say, it is frustrating being surrounded by years of clutter (have I ever thrown away a piece of paper?), but I think that my cure will be more successful if I do it right instead of half-assed. So, I have modified my expectations. Instead of a week-end whirlwind of decluttering only the visible clutter (minimal), I now envision myself as Andy DuFrane (sp?), slowly depositing my cell wall in the prison yard through my pant leg.

So, this morning I was psyched to take my first bag of clothing to the donation bin on my way to work. Unfortunately, after lugging it on the train and the 1/2 mile walk to work, I realized they had taken away the donation center while I was out of the country! Ack! There are others around, but this is a definate kink in my plan.

This is a long story to demonstrate that there will be no pictures this week, maybe next week.

As always, your stories and pictures are so motivating. Thanks to all.

Marm--there is no such thing as "behind." OK? Think of the cure schedules as an ideal. Whatever you do--it's more than you had done when we started! Everything counts, OK? OK.

Avocado--good for you--it's too bad they've moved the donation centre: but you are ahead of me. I'm too lazy to even get my stuff up the stairs in my house, let alone lug it all over town. Sometimes I can't imagine what it's like to live in an uber-urban city without personal transportation. At least you aren't polluting the planet. Good for you.

I made up my to do list for the "living room" week and as usual it is overly ambitious. The kids and I do have to go "back" to school! I'm goinf to have to take my own advice and be happy with what I do accomplish.

Wanna see the list?

1. Weed out CD's, videos (these are mostly kid items so it may be more difficult than I'd like) toys, puzzles, games, etc.

2. Paint the backs of the bookshelves a pleasant green.

3. Repair new scratch on floor left by m-i-l.

4. Paint cornice

5. measure curtain rod and cut down. Paint?

6. Buy and install more picture rail molding

7. Measure and buy wood for corner shelving above T.V.

8. Touch up fake rock on fire place surround. Make a screen?

You can all laugh now.

smallcity beth, I second the cork option in the kitchen! Cork is an excellent natural fiber with lots of great variation in texture and color. Plus it's naturally anti-allergenic, holds warmth well and absorbs sound too.

I don't have any photos up yet...my keyboard needed batteries and I didn't replace them until last night! Hopefully this evening I can get some photos uploaded.

We've been doing a TON of work! The kitchen is really clean and much more organized, and over the weekend we replaced the old range hood with the new one that's been sitting in the basement for a year. We've got two shelves for cookbooks left to put up, and then we'll be done with the kitchen for a while. I don't have it in me to repaint in there (I just painted last winter) for a few more months, at least.

We've gotten rid of so much clutter, including old audio equipment, TVs, a dinette set, an ugly overstuffed couch, a bad TV stand, clothing, and on and on and on.

We also made a massive IKEA trip this weekend, and came home with a lot of magazine folders and some new furniture.

Next on the list: a gate-leg dining table that we can fold up and use as a sideboard (possibly part of the landing strip?)} when we don't have company. Otherwise we will eat in the kitchen.

The landing strip is still just an idea as yet, but I'm planning to work on it more tonight. Everything is really starting to come together, and it's very exciting. Oh, how I am dreading the office, though...

I second the 8-week schedule is an ideal schedule. I just started my kitchen last night after being out of town this weekend, and hey, found out I will be out of town this weekend too. On top of that, we're throwing a halloween party, so I can almost gaurantee that I will still be feeling walls into november.

I havn't actually posted a layout of my apartment yet, so I think the wall excercise will allow me the time to measure walls and furniture at the same time. When, I get done, I'll include the way the walls feel on my layouts.

Saturday morning, I went down to the local farmers market for flowers, ended up picking up some green beans, onions, fresh pressed cider and fresh figs too. I love the sounds at the market like the guy crushing the filberts, all the people walking thier dogs, and all the smells, fresh produce, flowers, bubling cider and fresh bread. I always feel like I get to bring a little piece of that home with me when I go, it's so refreshing.

Hi All --

Sounds like everyone was hard at work all weekend. Congrats!! I am amazed at some of the projects that you have all taken on and completed.

I vowed not to post again until I had some photos. I have spent the whole morning doing battle with my own technophobia and flickr and I hope that the url I just pasted into this post will lead anyone who is interested to photos -- let me know if it doesn't work.

So in the "from the mouth of babes" catagory. My 7 year old nephew walked into the apt. yesterday and commented that everything seemed different...the same, but different. I love that kid. :-)

I had hoped to get the living room done this weekend, but it didn't happen -- went to a halloween party instead which was fun. I did cook a meal at home for the first time in forever (SO does the cooking). It was really nice and although the SO will continue to do bulk of cooking, I might make Sunday "my night" to cook.

I also cleaned the top of my dresser as the 1 surface I needed to catch-up on. Am so happy as it was dusty mess. Much nicer getting ready for work this a.m.

I bought but have not installed new smoke/CO2 monitors. Otherwise it was a lot of maintaining the progress I have already made.

OK, must get to work as I spent 2 hours on flickr!!

Opoponax, thank you! What blog are you referring to?

I went crazy on the art/cat closet yesterday, like I said, fractured foot and all, and now my outbox is teeming again, as is the recycle and the garbage. It's amazing - I've been a devoted fan of Karen Kingston's for years, even took a workshop with her, and have been constantly decluttering for a long time, but there was and is a deeper level of *stuff*. I guess it's like rolfing for the home! I'm also in the process of actual rolfing right now, so this is much on my mind.

I just posted some new pics, and what strikes me is how freakin' crowded everything looks - stuff taped, nailed, hanging, everywhere!

Alana in Canada (Alanada?), thanks for the pep talk! I'm not really sweating that I'm "behind." There are a few other things going on in my life that extended my time frame from the start. I work pretty slowly at the best of times, anyway.

Also, isn't the 8-wk cure based on a one-bedroom dwelling? If so, then I'm automatically adding at least two weeks for additional rooms. I'm shooting more for a Christmas deadline than end of November/US Thanksgiving. I want this place looking stellar for New Year's. Maybe that's when I'll have my housewarming.

I am amazed at the energy some of you people have! I often have the idea to go home from work and accomplish X, Y, and Z, then end up just feeling too exhausted to do much more than wash up after dinner. Never mind cleaning out a cupboard or scrubbing grout.

Accomplishments over the weekend:

•Station wagon *packed* with stuff taken to Salvation Army
•Most of my CDs sorted and prepared for sale. All of them are going.
•Cleared out old landing strip
•Prepped new landing strip. Still needs more work and I have to find some stuff to make it functional, but it's close.
•Obtained new dining set from Craigslist (pic soon). No more wobbly chairs and table, no more mismatched chairs.
•My lovely boyfriend made me a new bed to replace the icky, wiggly box spring I've had forever
•Cooked several meals at home
•Purged much furniture
•Purged a bunch of files that I didn't even remember I had
•bought and installed water filter for my faucet

It was a busy weekend!

I live in a smallish place (750 sq ft) *but* I have an attached garage. It's great for many reasons, but also bad because it's been serving as a giant outbox for the past 6 months, so the stuff is out of sight out of mind and not out of the house. I jettisoned most of the stuff this weekend, and promptly filled it with more stuff to get rid of. Next week, I will get it empty again and make space in my cure outbox. My goal is to park in the garage this winter. Crazy, I know.

By the way, I think the most revolutionary thing for me has been the concept of the outbox as a no commitment way to try out a purge. If I don't like something where it is, I just toss it in the outbox and know that I'll think about it later. I've pulled a few things back out, but for the most part, things that went in didn't have a place to be because they don't fit with me at all. So seeya!

Shanabanana - I totally agree. That's such a great idea. I'm finding that once I remove things from where they were moldering, and put them in the pile, it quickly becomes clear that I don't need or want it.

I'm having a tough time putting things we got for our wedding a year ago into the outbox, even if we don't use them.

Jessi (and everyone, really): go get yourself both Karen Kingston books: "Creating Sacred Space With Feng Shui" and "Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui". I swear, these books will change your life.

bookslut.

i'm going crazy because every time i clear a surface of clutter, two hours later i move on to something else and it gets recluttered with the crap i decluttered from another surface. i also suddenly feel like i have more random homeless stuff around the house, especially in the bedroom. i'm aware this is because i'm trying to jumpstart a major rearranging of the living room, and i'm also pre-emptively shopping for a work area which doesn't yet exist.

major lighting changes are afoot in the bedroom, as well. yesterday i set up the chinese lantern i bought last week, and i've also set up some temporary rope lights in one of the windows. i'm thinking of putting fairy lights in the windows permanently, but then that seems really juvenile. i might pick some up now that it's getting to be christmas display time and not feel too guilty if i don't stick with them.

Does anyone know a good online source for vinyl upholstery? I'm going to make a headboard and want to find some leathery looking white vinyl of the knit-backed variety. This is new to me and I have no idea where to start looking.

Shanabanana--I get mine at the fabric store. At the store where I got it they called it "marine vinyl" which is more expensive than "lesser" stuff--but tougher. You must have a fabric store near you.

It comes off the bolt at 54" wide--if you need something wider, call.

I'm just popping in to say--I had to go into the dungeon--er basement--today to see (yet again) if I really can't find a savings bond certificate. I really can't. dh says "You didn't get a safety deposit box?"

So, everyone, if you have anything you absolutely MUST not lose....get a safety deposit box. I'm not sure what the process to replace it is going to cost me.....

Jessi - I hear ya about the wedding stuff. It's hard to part with stuff that was given out of love. But if you don't love it I'd let it sit in the Outbox for a while and see if you miss it. Then decide. Don't keep it just because it was a gift.

However I'm not really one to talk, having hung onto that chocolate fondue set without ever having opened the box. We got some great wedding stuff, and it's still too soon to decide what was superfluous and what will eventually be used. Maybe next Cure.

Shanabanana, I sometimes order marine vinyl from www.fabric.com or www.hancockfabrics.com Both places have a good selection and reasonable prices. I like your place, by the way!

I didn't get very far last week. I had many social obligations. I also work 12 hour shifts...string a few of those together and nothing gets done.

I find that when I go into my office/craft room in order to work on it, that I become very overwhelmed. Then I kinda just shift mindlessly through things, moving them from one place to another, without making much progress. This pattern is what led to the colossal mess in the first place. I guess I just have to hang in there and keep working...

In other news, the good thing is that my kitchen has stayed pretty clean. I have gotten into the habit of washing the dishes and cleaning up every night, instead of saving all of that until it piles up. I cook at home often, so I already have this part of the Cure down. I am going to try to set up a compost pile in my yard this week, in a continuing effort to be more "green".

I am really enjoying looking at everyone's pictures as well as receiving feedback on my pics. Thanks, Anne in Reno, for your suggestion of reds and warm colors for my living room. I had never thought of that room in those terms before and am now seeing it much differently.