apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

When I lived in SF Target was a frivolous run but here I have to make a list over time and set aside an afternoon to go. I use the N or Q train and go to the one in Brooklyn. Before that opened I used the E train and went out to the Queens Blvd. one (Grant Ave. stop). I liked it better when I can hop in a car and go. But every errand is better with a car. Living in NY you can only do what you can carry. Then you have to go home and start out again.

When I think of all the things I could stuff in the back seat and trunk! Oh, those were the days.

I usually save up my IKEA, Target and Home Depot runs to one Saturday every couple of months. I Pick-up a budget rental car for about $30 for the whole day (plus tax and gas) and get it all over with. I find that making a list of items and not being able to go on a whim really forces me to reevaluate what I think I need. What I thought I had to have a month ago, in many cases, does not seem that important anymore.

Slim fridge alert... last night I walked past P.C. Richard's on 23rd St. (across from Home Depot) and noticed they had a slim refrigerator in their window. No label to be seen except the words "twist air" in the center. Back at home I tried Google for more info but came up empty. It's not a street I'm on too often so if someone happens to stop in and can report back, that'd be swell!

Trisha, I like your blog. Can I ask - where did that "Caffeine" poster come from? I'd love to have one.

Oops, never mind. I just saw the link to the artist.

target tip! More for the non-nyc crowd (but maybe i'm wrong, do nyc'ers make frivolous jaunts to target?) i noticed *a lot* of the thomas obrien stuff on sale.

here are some of the things i saw at my target
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_3/601-9945187-8104140?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000AQG0NU
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_9/601-9945187-8104140?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000AQK2I4
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_13/601-9945187-8104140?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000AQK2IY
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_14/601-9945187-8104140?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000AQK2JI
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_8/601-9945187-8104140?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000AQK2IE

which were all 75% off.

surprisingly some of the furniture was also on sale. the coffee table lots of people liked was $75 at my target (which is 50% off)

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_1/601-9945187-8104140?%5Fencoding=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B000A3A0NO

good luck if you're looking for anything. my target had a lot of the obrien lamps, so i guess they didn't sell very well. i bought the cylinder leather stitched lamp and it's very nice for $10 :)

Ok. Trying to post from my crackberry for the first time...

We are downton Manhattaners that use zipcar to do target runs to the jersey city target (make the first right after u come out of holland tunnel and right again into linens and things car park then right again to go behind linens and things and you'll see target). If you go on a sat morning around 9am you can be back in the city in well under 2 hours having paid about r bucks for the zipcar. Highly recommended. Both zipcar and doing the JC target.

Cool. It worked.

I meant around 30 bucks for the zipcar and going at 9am on saturday is good cuz there's no traffic going out then or coming in a bit later.

I know that there are two Targets in NYC on the subway -- one in Queens and one in Brooklyn -- but I've just never bothered to get out and go over there. For some reason the 25 minutes on the train feels like a schelp to me, but walking 25 minutes to all of those big box stores in Chelsea is nothing...

the PC Richards fridge, may be the LG that is 24" wide. It's $799 at AJ Madison online.
http://www.ajmadison.com/cgi-bin/ajmadison/LRBP1031T.html?brand_store=1

Just walked by PC Richards. The small fridge is made by Summit. It's around $750 and is 13.1 cubic feet of space. It's just like the LG, fits in 24" depth (to fit cabinetry), is more energy efficient than the LG (which is a huge energy hog) and has better proportions of freezer to refrigerator space.

Just thought I'd share that I just took a trip to Ikea and they had this cool new sofa:
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15585&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&langId=-1&parentCats=null&news=1&categoryId=15585&productId=64826

Comes in red, green, and white...I never really liked Ikea sofas, but I thought that was new and different.

I personally didn't get any furniture. Picked up a brown bedspread (had seen it in someone's color contest...forget who), some euro sham size pillow covers in ivory velvet, and these sculptural birds that look a little Jonathan Adler, which were on sale for $5.

Nothing like a little Ikea therapy...

OK I have another question...our bathtub's finish is so worn it looks dirty even when clean. Has anyone has any experience with one of those tub refitters - a liner that goes over the existing tub?

I'm interested in purchasing below sofa, but wanted to find out if any one has the same model and can tell me about its comfort level and durability. Also, I'd love some ideas about places to get pillows for it.

Thx!

http://www.csnfutons.com/asp/show_detail.asp?sku=AE1066&refid=DT11%2DAE1066

spanishfish - hey thanks for checking out P.C. Richard! I'd prefer one with a more equal ratio (like 50% freezer & 50% fridge), but it's a pretty nice-looking model. I'll definitely try to swing by again for a closer look during daylight hours.

cfm -

Well, since there haven't been any takers, I'll give it a go.

I have not had experience with the liners. But I was doing some research recently on reglazing, and it seems to give a very good-looking result for a moderate amount of money. In my area, it was about $300. This sounds like you might as well replace the tub - but it's pointless to replace a tub unless you're also redoing the surrounding tile, since you'll damage it in removing the old tub. And that means you're spending a fair bit more.

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone's used the liners.

What subway stop on the N or Q do you get off to go to the Brooklyn Target?

The thing about removing old tubs is that, honestly, some of them are huge, and were probably installed before the doorways were even indicated with the studs, so you kinda have to break them apart to get them out of there, and I would think it might be a neat trick getting a new one in. Anyway... some of the old tubs are very huge and wonderful, and some of the new tubs are short and terrible, so it's probably worth it to re-glaze. That said, re-glazing is actually NOT a glaze, because it can't really be kiln-fired onsite -- it's actually a serious epoxy paint. But be very careful once you have it, because it can scratch even more easily than the original finish.

AND... if you're doing the "manicure" that I always like to do when I first move in, where I use some paint stripper to get the 50 years of bad paint job paint off the edges of the tiles (where each successive paint job has crept farther and farther over the edge of tiles, in order to cover the previous color) do NOT let it hit that tub finish! It WILL strip some of it off, and you'll wanted eviscerate yourself with a rusty fork.

Meanwhile, as soon I can afford it, I'm having my peach tub re-glazed, because it's kind of old and sad and needs to be re-freshed, too. And contrary to what others in my building have done, I'm going to (whenever I get a grant from Exxon, The Pew Charitable Trust or Viewers Like You) have it re-done in peach, instead of white.

A local will have to confirm this, but after consulting mta.info and target.com, I think the Target in Brooklyn is at Atlantic Ave on the BQ2345. The one in Queens looks like it's at the Grand Ave/Newton Station on the RV+G.

If you ever need to find something where you know the streets but not the subway stop, use the bus map for that borough... They always mark where the subways are, and they also have the major streets and avenues marked.

yeah, its the atlantic station, where the mta and the lirr meet
actually, if you ever need EXACT directions on how to get somewhere from somewhere else, use this AMAZING googlemaps mashup
http://www.brail.org/transit/nycgoogle.html
click your beginning point and your end point and it will spit out really detailed directions
enjoy!