apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Accent color for our bedroom?

http://flickr.com/photos/lilkidthings/2380032109/

Please ignore the lack of art...this is an old pic :-) Thanks!

I would like some bright yellow...or a granny smith apple -green. Any colour would go, since the rest is so neutral. Love the grey, btw!

And on to my question: is it just me or is the Method cleaning products site not working properly? If I try to use the product menu of the us site (http://www.methodhome.com/pad/), I get transferred to the UK site (http://methodproducts.co.uk/).

Weird, huh?

http://www.chiasso.com/shopping/modern-furniture/modern-chairs-ottomans/morph-stool.aspx
$278

79.00 at homegoods wayne nj

i've never been to homegoods, luv... maybe it's time for a trip, hmm? :)

about how much should i budget for my party? maybe 10 people. i was considering dinner at a restaurant and desert at my place.

is it okay to only serve wine? what do you do about mixed drinks if you've never made them before?

Lady J -

I would first contact restaurants where you would consider eating about the menu. (At least 4 restaurants). See what they offer by way of having such a larger party. They may give you a deal. As for dessert, they may include that in the contract. This way you could gauge how much you should budget. And it really is fine to serve just wine and something non-alcoholic. Don't worry about mixed drinks if you just inform everyone "I have wine!!!". Is it a b-day party???

Now for the stupid question of the day, I want to bake a cake, from a mix. It says use vegetable oil - can I use olive oil instead? If not, what alternatives could I consider? Thanks.

Hey Everyone,

I was wondering if I could get some coordination help.
I have a tiny studio apartment and am filling out the living room area -- I currently own a 55" Room and Board Zurich Media Console...

http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/product.do?method=get&id=995356&coll=378102&cat=55

I'd like some advice for a coffee table that would go with it. I'd like something that helps to give the apartment the illusion of space. Unfortunately glass top coffee tables are out of the question as my wife hates Windex! LOL. Any suggestions...?

a Small Portica Table with a walnut top? Any other stores to look at? Thanks in advance!

Any advice for an allergy sufferer who wants to purchase a large space carpet for a small living room? I've tried a few different wool carpets over the years, but I seem to be allergic to all of them. Ideally I would love one that has a fluffy or shag pile... thanks!

Aggie927, I wouldn't use olive oil, as it's too strong tasting. I usually use canola oil for baking (supposedly fairly healthy, and neutral flavored), but any plain old vegetable oil would work.

Hello everyone,

I need advice on a heat problem in my apartment. I live in a coop where I can't control my heat. It just blasts constantly, and it's always very hot, all winter long. We have to regulate the temperature by opening windows--and we usually keep every window in the house open all winter long. (It is horribly wasteful, but there's nothing we can do!)

We have a small room (8 x 10) that we use as an office, and the problem is particularly bad in there in the winter. When the heat is cranking, the room is as hot and dry as the Sahara, so we keep the windows wide open, but then if the heat gets cranked down a bit, the room becomes freezing almost instantly.

So, I was thinking that I would like to find a way to insulate the heater so that it can't blast so much hot air, and then find a happy medium by keeping the windows open just a crack. The question is, what do I insulate with? The heater looks like this (in the bottom right picture): http://brooklynproperties.com/coop360.htm
(this is not our apartment, but it's similar).

So, it's very visible, and it's right under the window. We want something that we could put over the top of the heater that wouldn't catch fire, and that would either be not hideous, or easy to cover up to make it look nice (again, with something that wouldn't catch fire). The insulating material would have to be secured to the top/sides of the heater somehow, because otherwise it will slide off.

And let me remind you, this heater gets HOTTTTTT.

Any suggestions? I was thinking some kind of foam sheet, but I don't know what would work or where to find it.

Thanks,
LGSB

luvdecor, I wish I could go right now! Hopefully they're still there tomorrow.

LGSB,

we've got similar issues in our apartment, and basically we keep the windows open all day (and for me, all night).

you CAN turn the radiator down by adjusting the valve (opens or closes the valve, so more/less steam comes into the room), which is what i did in my bedroom, but it hasn't made that much of a difference. really, i was tempted for a bit to turn it off completely. but between open windows and a fan, i'm happy enough.

as for what you were initially asking, i woudn't know about insulating it. sounds kinda sketchy!

Vertigo,
I only saw one but check the second HG on rt.23. The location is only 15 minutes away.

SMM,
If you suffer from allergies why would you purchase a long shaggy carpet. Why purchase carpet at all if you sneezing or itching? Im confused.

LGSB,

We had a really hot radiator the baked an apartment and I had to cover it so my daughter didnt burn her toddler fingers and I just placed a big piece of folded-up upholstery fabric (kind of like a corduroy) over it and it solved both problems...

Could you do something similar and tack it to the walls next to the heater? Something pretty?

LGSB,

There are magnetic covers for heating/ac duct vents at Home Depot and most hardware stores. A few of those across the top of the heater's vents should block a lot of the hot air coming out.

luvdecor, Because I love the feel of a shaggy carpet in other people's homes and sprawling out on a hardwood floor isn't exactly comfortable.
Hardwood floors are great, but I'm looking for a bit of a visual change.

Here's a magnetic vinyl version as an example.

http://www.homebrands.com/079-034248.html

AndreaU -

I like helping people decide things like accent wall color, but if that's not even your current bedspread and you now have some art, it would help to all that stuff first. From what I'm seeing in that pic, there is no pink that I could imagine, for instance.

Does anyone own any pieces from Gus Modern? I'm thinking about purchasing the Carter sofa and 2 chairs in Totem Storm, but I wanted your feedback first.

http://gusmodern.com/products1/sofas/carter-sofa/carter-sofa-e.shtml#carter-sofa

LGSB -- It is sort of surprising that so much heat is chugging out of one of those sort of radiators -- it is often the old school cast iron ones that give rise to these severe heat problems.

The heat works by taking advantage of the laws of physics. Cold air falls, hot air rises, and cool (denser) air moves in the direction of hotter (lighter) air. So, a natural convection is created by the heater, cool air entering underneath,passing over the coils, and out the top. As a result, anything that interferes with that circulation pattern will reduce the heat output.

You could try to make the whole thing look neater by building a box around it that limits the airflow underneath. Or, just put some wood underneath that blocks airflow. You also could do something more permanent (which I would not recommend if this is a rental) -- inside the radiator cover (which just lifts off) you will find the steam/hot water tube, which has a series of heat transfer "fins" along the pipe. These are soft tin/copper/aluminum, and clipped on. You could remove some (BUT NOT ALL) of the fins to reduce the heat transfer.

I can't post a picture cause I don;t have one, but I am looking for a particiular table or even the name of a type of table. It starts as a long narrow side table and then you can flip it open to make it a big dinning room table. What is it called- I think it is the dinging table I need. thanks,

They are called drop leaf tables. Do a search and 1000s of examples will appear.