apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

DC-ites:
Hollin Hills house tour today (Saturday):
http://www.hollinhills.org/NationalRegister/houseTour2006.php

guido,
I'm getting closer to understanding the charm of the metal toolboxes in bold colors. Max, thanks for mentioning the yellow rolling toolboxes, which I like better than the red.

If you're going to have an ugly metal toolbox, it might as well be a large rolling one as a piece of furniture.

Today's Wall Street Journal has an interesting (at first glance) article about decluttering. First couple of paragraphs:

Grandma, the Packrat:
New Approach Finds
Pearls Amid the Junk
Declutterers Reunite Hoarders
With Buried Possessions;
Diamonds in the Luggage
By KELLY GREENE
May 12, 2006; Page A1

When Kristin Bergfeld first walked into Helen Leaf's one-bedroom apartment on New York's Upper East Side last August, she was met by a familiar sight: junk. The place was filled with books, bills, take-out menus, pill bottles and cardboard boxes, some dating back to the 1960s. Ms. Bergfeld, a professional declutterer, had been hired to clean house.

Instead of taking a forklift approach, Ms. Bergfeld brought the eye and patience of an archaeologist -- and in subsequent visits uncovered treasure after treasure: strings of pearls, a century-old violin, eight place settings of delicate Limoges china and a 205-year-old choker passed down through Mrs. Leaf's family...

THAT'S why I can't throw stuff out easily... afriad I'll throw away my good pearls and chokers!!

P2, couldn't you get some sort of container for all of your S&M gear?

When did we agree to clean off our desks?

They look at me funny when I ask for that department at The Container Store.

Anne,

Off-topic here, but yes, I am formerly of EA . Now run the showroom at 51 Wooster Street. Opened as fossil Interior but we are actually part of the green river stone company. Glad you enjoyed the spot on hgtv. Wanna come by?

That's ok, P2 - the next time you come over I'll lend you my S&M storage containers. But sometimes the stuff just looks cooler hanging from, um I mean on the walls.

My mother once ended up throwing out a beautiful ruby pin with the Christmas wrappings and now won't throw anything out. When we ask her to declutter she always brings up that damn pin.

al - yes, I might do that the next time I'm in your 'hood.

P2, the container store doesn't have the right storage for that stuff. You don't want your leather and rubber smelling like plastic. They didn't take my suggestion of staging a nice fetish gear storage space with their Elfa units. I figured that was a shoe-in! Or at least a patent-leather-boot-on.

I keep all my S&M gear in nice red toolboxes. Except for the riding crops, I keep those hanging in the closet with my belts.

Oh, so that's what people are using those ugly red toolboxes for.

Max, I hope your canes are hanging with your riding crops. Kinda hard to get them into those toolboxes without breaking them.

I'm more of a crop guy than a cane guy. Though of course I'll make necessary accomodations.

On a somewhat related note, I've often wondered about kink-friendly contractors. My dear lady and I recently completed a major rennovation, and one of my love-to-have additions would have been a ceiling mounted electric winch for extra-curricular activites (we have one currently on a collapsible tripod support, it's rediculously fun). I got the feeling right away that the excellent contractor I had found would not be very ammenable to this task. Who do you go to when you want some obviously non-vanilla work done in your apartment?

Max,
Doesn't NYC have specialist contractors for that? ;D

Max, I just emailed someone who may have an answer to that. I'll get back to you if I hear anything. What's your email address?

Anne, ironborn99-at@yahoo.com

I'd think there would be a lot of contractors willing to do that, but maybe not as expert in the necessary supports.

this thread has really pepped up this cold-stricken girl. Thanks.

One question--does anyone know of a good site or book with suggestions on floor layouts? That, and I'd like some "proportion" advice on what kind of furniture sizes go with what other sizes. I'm afraid of buying a chair or coffee table that looks out of scale with my sofa. When I got my new mattress, my nightstand looked pathetically out of scale...

Max, I emailed you but it bounced back. Is your email working/are you having any problems with it today?

Christine (toidc)--

I think if you match seat heights and arm heights, you should do okay with any selection of upholstered furniture.

But even just by looking at pieces, and deciding if they are "apartment scale" or "overstuffed" will help determine if they'll play nice in the same room. I think you can trust your own eye.

That's going to be the final frontier. Multi-purpose furniture that whose DNA originates from its frolick-friendliness. Seriously. I think it needs to happen.

hello AT!
fascinating to think of the intersection of the home design crowd and the fetish/kink community - there's a chart for wende in here somewhere.
And I'd think the world of BDSM, with their pie social friendliness, would have contractor lists to share.
Contact your local Bears . . . or ask at Babes In Toyland, the friendly kink store.

Pixie!
those red tool boxes are totally cute. I'd like to use one of those big stand alone models for storage of something else, but I don't know what (or where.)

Anne, got your email, thanks!

Guido, I also think the red tool boxes are fun. I've got a big rolling yellow one for my non-playtime tools as well. It looks good enough that I used to have it just out in the apartment (before I built closets).

Speaking of IKEA - I'm going out there on Sunday. Anyone want to join me?