apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

YES! I have to admit I'm getting excited about decluttering! I'm vacationing in Australia right now where the air is pure, the water therapeutic, and this house is spare and clean and heavenly! I can't wait to declutter big time when I get back to my Manhattan apartment!

I'm set. I have my list of projects that need completing for each room drawn up and I'm excited.

And the house has reached saturation point for schtuff.

Again.

One item a day?
Interesting idea.

It's not decluttering... it's de-guilting.

Goodbye to guilt that I'm not the kind of person who pops a healthful dinner make from the simplest low-cost ingredients into a crock-pot!

Goodbye to guilt that books recommended by a professor turned out to be too basic and a great waste of money!

Goodbye to guilt that the lavender-filled pillow, while pretty, has not "gone" with anything since 2005!

Goodbye to guilt that I loathe refilling a fancy liquid soap container and never do it!

Goodbye to guilt that no one realized the custom bookcases we had made in 1998 have a cornice that creates 2" of wasted space between them when they're side-by-side! (It was 2002 before we discovered this.)

The things worth hauling around are the things that reflect who you still might want to be.

I'm in!! I have to take before pics this weekend, and believe me I need a cure! It is funny how I can offer advice to others about their space, but have no idea what to do in my own dark cave of a living room. Plus with 4 kids, there is tons of clutter to get rid of (or contain somehow). Looking forward to it, especially since the timing is perfect, the first week of the first year all 4 children will be in school.

I will be joining in. Just got the book and almost done reading it. I have a couple of different thing going on in my house. We moved in and haven't fully unpacked. I need the motivation to finish! I also need to throw in a baby-proofing element for a couple of rooms now that my 7 month old is on the move. I will also be asking for help on a couple of storage issues we are having, I know there has got to be some help out there for us.

Oh, boy. I see trouble coming for me....
Truth is, I never really stopped decluttering (and cleaning! boy, have I been cleaning) since the LAST cure. And I swore then that I would try to put my home in the background (where it belongs, right?) and get back to the rest of my life. Which I did more or less. I just assumed that I would sit this next Cure out. My place is still clean! It's still perfectly arranged! No one can believe I ever had too much stuff! Ah... but there are some home improvements I never did get around to. And I could always find more things, too (my curtains need replacing, my bathroom ceiling is peeling,...). - Uh, oh. I think I'm starting to get geared up!

My apartment is eBay central since taking in many of my Uncle's "decorative strays."

So far, so good (six big pieces sold first round).

But yes, decluttering is once again a priority. Only small consolation that most of it is not *my* clutter, and that I am in some ways honoring this man for whom "stuff" was very much a part of his life. (He's now happily in assisted living).

The other (ongoing) issue is PAPER. Yikes, neverending.
And that I am now doing most of my work from home, which has changed my issues and storage needs.

I'm off now to set the timer for 2 hours to do some Labor Day Weekend eBay packing, cleaning and decluttering.

P(2):

I feel your pain. I have a similar situation myself. I'm tempted to head over to home depot and just get a blow torch.

JonathanB--one what page does Maxwell discuss the blowtorch method?

Love it.

JonathanB & Alana-

Some dear friends of mine recently went through a house fire. On some of their more positive days they've made comments about it being a wonderful de-cluttering technique. ;)

OK, if P2 is in, I'm in.

I know I'll get flak for this, but I have honestly found the last one or two Cures to be too non-urban, straight, familyish, and containing too many "LOL"s and "DH"s -- not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not been the NY-AT I know and love (really, I know you're not actually LOLing when you robotically type in that hyperfrequent mindless acronym). (OK, admittedly a general rant about these irritating, mindless acronyms. Please say something fresh.) It's like a completely different site. There, I said it. The last couple of Cures just didn't resonate with me and I couldn't relate most of the time, so I dropped out. But, this is my site too and I want to claim some space on this very valuable Cure real estate.

I would like to use this Cure as a general fall cleaning of my condo apartment and also to do something with one room - I think the bedroom, where one of the blinds falls down if I look at it wrong, under the bed is packed with misfit electronics, internet/wifi connections, and stuff I don't know where else to put, and the closet is overflowing with stuff that used to be in my downstairs storage when it was free. I've done massive decluttering and depapering in the past and things still look pretty good, but these are the problem areas. Also, I really want to pare down my repairs list - I have at least one or two dire problems on a list that is ever-expanding.

OK, I'm clicking Submit Comment now.

I am in. I also just moved and will be unpacking/renovating during the cure. Aside to Pixie, I am urban, non-straight, and live alone if that makes you feel better, but I don't see the need for the hating.

Non-straight. But also non-urban and aspiring family-ish.

The blow torch method would seem to have a lot going for it... perhaps a new appendix in the next edition?

Having discovered that I have space for 9 bankers' boxes of books in the new place (the husband gets 9, too)... I ran out of books I wanted to keep at the end of the fourth box.

The happiest moment here is being able to dump my MLA handbook. I'm not ever again writing an academic paper.

wende --

never owned an mla handbook and I wrote my fair share of academic papers. that's one of those books for which the university library is so useful

Yeah, well, I'm straight, non-urban (whatever that means. I live in a house in a city. Public transit is bad. We have and use a car), use LOL and dh. Mindless acronyms? I suppose. Come up with something fresh? I wish I could, Pixie. Perhaps you will inspire me.

I'm, personally glad you're adding your vioce even though you feel the "AT:cure" is not your sort of party. But without you--how could it ever be?

Ilove the cure simply because it is fun for me to encourage others to create the space they want to live in. It's more than fun, these days it feels as essential to me as breathing. Why don't I become an interior designer? Well, I took classes and courses but discovered that if I wanted more than retail I'd have to move to another city and take a real program of study. Can't do that to my family. So, I take my opportunities where I can--like this.

It would do us all good to focus on what we have in common: spaces we want to improve. No matter how big or how small, no matter the budget (or not), no matter whether we're straight, or not, green or purple, inventive with words or acronym dependent, we all care about where we live and how we live and all of us have an eye for the aesthetic. Most folks don't. (Have you seen the stuff on HGTV's rate this space?)

So, I'm happy to take a little time away from the family each evening for eight weeks to help create something for someone. 'Cause it is rare and, to me, special. (said in my best SNL "Church lady" voice.)

Lecture over.
Now I'm hitting "submit comment."

I bought the book a couple of months ago but really need the group's motivation and expertise to tackle the indoor landfill that I call home.

I'm a NYC transplant, living in LA in a small 2BR backhouse that I talked my boyfriend into renting because of all of it's "potential." Sure, the built in doors were hung so that they can't close, and half of the cupboards have no handles. We'll fix em! They're built ins for crying out loud!! Sure, the ceilings are low and sometimes peeling in the small awkward shaped rooms, but we are NYers, we know how to deal with small spaces - and there are NO shared walls!! And we have a little front yard with a tree, and a back porch that if we got all the crap off of it would be perfect for a grill and herb garden! So. Much. Potential.

Obviously, I have done nothing with all of the potential. It's like I can see how cute this place could be but I lack the confidence to do it right. We left most of our furniture in our NYC apt which we sublet and have been given furniture from assorted well meaning Los Angeles relatives. Every time I walk in and see the old, puffy 1980s couch that we inherited from my boyfriend's sister I feel a little sad. It's not even comfortable! I have been trying to figure out pull out couch options for guests that I can afford that will be easy to clean with two cats and a dog. I know there are better ways to live...

So I am setting up a flickr account and an apttherapy profile and with your help, I am going to make this house a home!!

Can't wait!!

Is it too late to start?! I just borrowed the book from a friend while I wait for mine to come from Amazon.

I'm a total Cure virgin, but something needs to get my butt in gear so I'm hoping some deadlines and group motivation helps.

The thing is, I don't really have much of a budget, especially since we're hoping to be out of this apartment in a few months. I've been house hunting for 9 months now, and we're getting desperate. All of Maxwell's talk of clearing energy for change -- I thought maybe if I make my current home more bearable, a new home will appear for us. From the first few chapters, I can tell I'm a Deep Treatment girl. I'll take pictures of the apartment first thing tomorrow and post them on Flickr.

Must admit I'm a little scared, but that's probably a good thing...

farkasmouse: "I thought maybe if I make my current home more bearable, a new home will appear for us."

I most definitely believe in that. I think it happened to me. Years ago, before I knew about AT, I was living in a 12x18 sq. ft. studio with windows facing a brick wall. Of course, the whole time I was living there, I tried to make it a nice place to be in. But then, after three years, I had had enough, and I decided I needed to upgrade to a place with light NOW. So.... I actually invested a whole lot in my little dark place. I fixed everything. It was the beginning of my serious de-cluttering phase. I rearranged everything. Bought pretty fabrics, cleaned everything. My landlord was amazed (he's still begging me to come back - ha!). And within two and a half months I had a 550 square foot studio with a separate kitchen and dressing area, and full river views and sunlight ALL DAY. (For the same rent - Manhattan's ridiculous.) Maybe it's just an accident, or coincidence. But, I'll tell, you, nothing can beat the single-minded focus and intention that I had when I was improving my place so that I could just get out of it.

Deep breath....

OK, I'm in. My apt is a disaster, I hate spending time in it. Getting me to clean is like pulling teeth, I'm avoiding the whole situation which just makes it worse.

I've made some improvements to the entry/desk area and I'm much happier with it now. Still have things to do with it but I have a vague idea which is a start. So, maybe I can make the whole space better.

I've started decluttering already!

the perfect blowtorch may be the kitchen-sized ones they use for creme brulee

I'm in - provided my 'good deed' of ordering the book through a local independent bookseller doesn't punish me by failing to arrive in a timely fashion. Should have just gone straight to the source.

JonathanB -- With that kind of blowtorch, one could inscribe designs, like "What was I thinking to bring that home?"

I've been rereading the book while waiting for paint to dry. It improves on repeated iterations. Back two Cures ago, when Maxwell was teasing me about lack of color in the then-new, now-soon-to-be-former apartment, I'd taken it as the usual "if you like beige, you're afraid of color" -- but the points in the color chapter about neutrals being all head and no heart were way more on target than I would have wanted to discuss back then.

Hmm. I've some re-reading to do.
My paint is drying (on a cabinet) too.

Wende

I was thinking precision burning, but I like your idea better.

Alana:

Now that's one of the better one-liners I've read around here.

Wende- but what if one finds neutral colors naturally appealing? It seems that every time I construct a style tray I'm always going to neutrals noncolor colors. My closet is the opposite: reds, greens, blues, pinks and yellows, black being the only neutral.

Francesca -- That's exactly where I, as the Princess of All Things Beige & Square, waffle, tap-dance, and quote John Dickinson, who said that color was a terribly silly thing to base a decorating scheme around. All of his signature rooms run white, golden-beige, and copper patina. Great stuff.

I'm thinking in terms of neutrals/color being a balance thing (which justifies the new place still being mostly neutrals, and p(too) might even say it's all neutrals, just not all beige). Doing an entire apartment in the color of sand turned out to be a bit much -- my five colored accessories looked nervous and awkward, as if they might be kicked out for rowdiness at any moment.

Wende--

Perhaps it wasn't just that the whole appartment was the colour of sand--but that your five coloured accessories needed company.

On p. 112, Maxwell writes, "In any room, I recommend 80 percent neutral and 20 percent strong colours."

Unless one of those five things is an armchair, those five things can't possibly add up to 20 percent. (And I'm thinking in terms of the volume of the room).

Of course, I'm coming from the kingdom at the opposite side of the decorating world with brown, red, yellow, yellow- green, and even pink walls.

"my five colored accessories looked nervous and awkward, as if they might be kicked out for rowdiness at any moment"

That painted such a good image in my head...i image a quivering red vase and a scowling beige couch...so good

I just posted before flikr pics:
http://flickr.com/photos/7585207@N08/sets/72157601814577211/

and blogged my to-do lists:
http://blackwhiteyellow.blogspot.com/

Yay!!!

Plus I found some goodies at Target today: new towels and a new bedskirt...still hunting for a new shower curtain if anybody has suggestions...

Hey and speaking of Ebay, just in time for our Cure decluttering Ebay has reduced/waived fees to posting auctions when you use a gallery pic for the whole month...

I definitely still have "Cure"ing to do. I've missed the last few rounds, and never really completed the first, but I have yet to paint my living room as I'd planned, and I feel like there are several areas of my home that need freshening (like my bedroom, which ends up always feeling like a dumping ground...can't be good).