apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

BREAKING NEWS:
AT, SmallestCoolest, Maxwell, and Patrick (the other one) are featured in the week's Newsweek (3/13).

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11675835/site/newsweek/

(Does this mean our beloved AT is mainstream now?)

Gentlemen, congratulations!! This is The Little Site That Could.

...except it's not quite so little these days. ;)

*Posted at the tail end of Open Thread 153 earlier this morning, but reposting so everyone will see it.

New York Magazine - - BEST OF NEW YORK, TOO!!!

Best Low-Commitment Interior Designer
Apartment Therapy
212-966-7174
A regular on HGTV’s Mission: Organization, proprietor of apartmenttherapy.com, and author of the new Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan specializes in transforming cluttered apartments at low cost. For a base consultation of $550, Gillingham-Ryan interviews clients at home, then draws up what he calls a “prescription.” “He’s very clever and efficient,” says Mary Hayes, an aesthetician who’s installing a mini-salon in her Soho one-bedroom. “He used what was in the apartment just by rearranging and adding some items. It wasn’t an entirely new makeover—my place was just in need of something that I couldn’t figure out myself. For the first time, I really feel like my apartment is set.” And her bank account remains intact.

Congratulations, Maxwell! I guess the traffic in here is going to be a little heavier now, hunh?

P2 - Is it true? According to the MSNBC article, you didn't start transforming your apt. until you heard about last year's contest? I missed that. It makes it even more amazing.

I have kind of a Yay!/Boo! story:

More than once on here, I've mentioned how I have used the carpentry services of the folks at AJO Hardware & Lumber, and how happy I was with them. They built the little bar in my kitchen, creating brackets that I designed to match the brackets of a smaller above-sink shelf that was original to my apartment, and they've done a couple of other projects in the past very well.

Well, they had expanded from their original Amsterdam and 100th Street to having opened a second store on Columbus and 90th Street or so, but NOW they have closed their original Amsterdam store, because they lost their lease, and now that entire block where they were, including an adorable old bakery and carpet store, is being torn down, and some condos will be built there. Let's face it, since that last place was only one story tall, its days were numbered.

So now they've moved their entire operation to what had been meant to be a sattelite branch -- Columbus and 90th Street. They can probably do projects and stuff, but it's really the pits that their quarters are so much more cramped.

By the way, on Saturday I was in there, and Yzaak, the guy who deal with when you're having something built, said that a girl in their office saw what I said here, on AT, calling him a "cranky genius". We both had quite a laugh, when I said, "Do think it's not true? Do you think you're not a genius?"

Anyway... always remember that there is no telling who will see what you put up on here, so always be careful what you say! If it's not flattering, then make sure it's something you really feel to be true.

In the meantime, I hope they do well there, and that their lease runs long into the future. Since it's already in a building that's several stories high, hopefully this one won't get torn down.

Hi all,

I don't know if this is the right forum, but I was wondering if by any chance anyone here could id the manufacturer of this wine rack for me? (http://www.hammacher.com/publish/71648.asp) I want it in silver, which is sold out, but Hammacher refuses to tell me who makes it so I could buy it elsewhere (which is really really annoying and frustrating).

Thanks for any help!!

janet,

that design is not unique, i can't think of an exact copy but i've seen similiar ones in the last few weeks. i'll take a look around and see if i can find them.

thanks, minh!!!

Janet -
When I clicked on it, I was redirected to the search thing on Hammacher Schlemmer, and I ended up seeig 4 wine racks.

But having worked in retail 20 years ago, I can tell you that my bosses would have killed me if I had told someone where else they could get anything close to what we sold, so I'm not shocked they wouldn't cough up a manufacturer for you.

I don't know curtis - I think companies should give you the name of a product's manufacturer. She wasn't asking for the names of other places she could buy it, but knowing who manufactures a product you buy is just being an educated consumer. I'm not impressed with a company that won't give out that basic information about its products.

If anyone wants to see the wine rack in question, type in 71648 in the search box.
Sorry can't help you. I did a google web and image search on "space saving wine rack" and the Hammacher site kept coming up, even on yahoo amd msn shopping sites

Curtis, I actually thought it didn't make sense for them business-wise, even... they don't have any left in stock, so why not give me some guidance to find it elsewhere (while generating customer goodwill and loyalty in the process)?

Anyway, looks like I missed the boat. sigh.

Janet, I know this is not ideal but try doing a google image search for metal wine rack and see if you can find something similar.
I found this which looks kinda similar. Can't vouch for the website because I only just found it
http://www.ex-cell.com/Online-Catalog/wine-racks.html

Thanks, Jamie! This one isn't the same but might work.

oops, i guess i can't use html. http://www.winecabinets.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=AMWE&Product_Code=NE-3308BC&Category_Code=METAL

Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations regarding wall or ceiling air vent covers? I'd like some bit more modern then the utilitarian options at the local home center. Thanks!


PS - I'm not in NY, so online references would be great...

CORRECTION: I'd like +something a+ bit more modern...

Jonathan, I changed the standard white cheese grater outlets with sleek stainless steel jobs. The term you need to google with is linear slot diffuser.
Good luck and I hope this is the style you were looking for.

Another correction: modern than not modern then (oh the perils of not proof-reading your posts).

Also, thanks Jamie! I've found exactly what I was looking for.

Best,

Has anyone seen the Halsted High Dining table from CB2 in person? Is there "espresso" more of a brown or a black?

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=115&f=69

Thanks!

Maxwell and P2,
Congrats on the national coverage!

You know what I love about this site? Even though we have thousands (tens of thousands?) of ATers coast to coast and around the world, the community has such a friendly neighborhood feel to it. It's such an amazing resource for design information, and the tips and suggestions and links always feel as if a neighbor down the street offered them.

So even though some people fear AT is getting too big (with all this recent national PR)and risk becoming mainstream or commercialized, I feel very confident that AT will remain the cozy, friendly little community it has always been.

avocado,

i think that table is what heather uses for her desk in the house tour i wrote up recently -- see "heather's hip hideaway." it was very dark brown. i normally prefer black, but i liked the espresso very much.

leslie

Thanks, Leslie.

I love that the AT site gives me a better idea of what the table actual looks like than the CB2 site.

I am trying to get a high dining table, armoire for my tv and new bookshelves in similar finishes and this dark brown/espresso/black thing is killing me. I have different pieces from different stores that I like - all with different finishes and it is so hard to figure out whether they would look stupid in the same room.

Thanks again.

avocado-
I think that sounds like a lovely combination, but it's kind of hard to say, exactly, what works without actually seeing it.

I think that it's nice when everything in the room can sort of relate to at least a couple of other things, and preferably in different ways, like (and I've said this before on here) how I think it's nice if everyone at party knows a couple of people, but it's more like everyone having various things in common with a couple of other people.

Color is just one thing that things can relate to each other with -- shape, texture, "line weight" (so to speak), and things like the degree of acuteness or obtuseness of a series of angles, for instance. For instance in that angular apartment, they made all those dramatic angles similar enough to give it some cohesion, so the variety of materials had something to bring them all together.

Some cohesion, some variety and a little oomph is what really makes things work, I think.

Hey Curtis,

That is an excellent point about different aspects of the pieces that can draw them together without necessarily "matching" the wood. I guess my problem with that is that it definately takes a certain amount of confidence in your own "eye" (design sensibility), which is not something I have much of (yet).

I'll try to expand my horizons a bit as I look for my new pieces. Oh, and just to clarify, I live in a studio, so the pieces would all be in different "functional" areas, but I would like them to, again, tie together somehow.

Thanks again.

Just pulling from Curtis and Avocado's conversation:

In the condo I've been furnishing I've ended up mixing quite a few different woods and colors. The place came with maple kitchen cabs and a black counter, and the whole first floor adjoins this space, so I've been working the black and blond themes. What's been exciting, though, is the way I've been able to tie some antique pieces in a warm brown into the scheme by tying them to either the black or the blond: a curvy sideboard cabinet with a black top, for example, or a big, decidedly not modern sofa in a wheaty tone.

Lisa -
That really kind of sounds like what I'm talking about.