apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

How about another 9 month cure post?

i really love the patterns on these paper lanterns: http://www.partylights.com/paper/Lanterns-shapes-all.html

does anyone know where i can find similar patterns in cloth lampshades? thanks.

also, i went by gracious homes yesterday, and they are having a door/cabinet hardware sale.

thanks to NADINE'S (are you out there?) post about her contractor, nestor kalogrias, i am about to enter the renovation phase of my new place, as soon as the management company approves my alteration application...i have made a decision about flooring, ceiling, paint, etc...but have yet to make decisions on the small kitchen space (essentially one 12' section of the wall with 9' ceilings of my true studio apt)...

the contractor and i plan to sit down in a couple of weeks once the other gut renovations get started to design a high impact and maximum efficiency kitchen. given the lack of space, i'm not going to go too crazy, but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to nice kitchen cabinetry?

the contractor originally looked horrified at my suggestion to keep it simple and go with a nice white laminate ikea cabinet set that he could install...ultimately, the estimate for work includes a CUSTOM KITCHEN and the installation of appliances so i want to make it worth my while...i don't even know where to begin with this...by custom kitchen, i am pretty sure my contractor intends to build the cabinets himself as he is an excellent carpenter...any suggestions with respect to alternative materials (not standard wood) or how to treat the wood so that it doesn't look like grainy wood?

obviously i have no idea what i am talking about, but would love to get my act together before i sit down with him to plan this out, rather than let his vision drive this...

That christa shelf reminded me of this 60 minute, $10 bookshelf:

http://www.instructables.com/id/EPUP3KQP6WEP286FKQ/

There's a cool exhibit inside the Shop at the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum featuring the latest work of Ron Gilad of Designfenzider. His stuff reminds me a little bit of Citizen, very tongue-in-cheek. I couldn't resist and bought myself a salt and pepper holder shaped as a cross.
Anyway, check it out. The exhibit is free since it's inside their gift shop. I was told that it will run till the end of August.

i'm thinking about painting my desktop and covering it with fabric, similar to what jennifer did in d*s's spring spruce up contest:

http://designsponge.blogspot.com/2006/04/spring-spruce-up-winners.html

but instead of oilcloth, i wanted to use a thin cotton print, and do something like shellac or polyurethane it to make it shiny and smooth. i'm trying to google on how to diy this, but i must not be searching for the right thing. does anyone have any ideas about materials/how to's so i don't mess up the fabric (i'm worrying that most shellacs/polyurethanes will bleed into the fabric and change the color, making it look permanently "wet")?? thanks!

Megan -- How about laminating the fabric before you apply it?
http://tinyurl.com/f7gh2

I guess this is related to the simple living thread. New York mag's cover story is about the psychology of happiness and, although I have not read it yet, I thought others may be interested especially after I did read the happiness manual that has some practical and simple steps to attaining or maintaining happiness.

Full article:
http://newyorkmetro.com/news/features/17573/index.html

Manual:
http://www.nymag.com/news/features/17574/

I find the excessive number of options leading to second guessing choices made or preventing choices being made a pretty persuasive argument and this was dicsussed in the Mania thread that I linked to.

I think there is a parallel in design and decor choices also. Maybe we would be better off simply taking the first option that appealed to us on some level rather than endlessly searching for the perfect couch or whatever. I dunno really.

Jamie Pup, good link. I am particularly guilty of trying for "perfect" instead of "perfectly acceptable"

Also, YCH, love the instructables link...bookmarked that site...thanks.

thanks wende, that looks like a great option!

Since for some reason we couldn't post comments on yesterday's house tour, shall we discuss here?
I've never said anything like this on AT, but was anyone else extremely less than impressed?

Sharon,

No, not really. I don't think it was trying to be anything other than it was--a place for people to live and paint. At least it wasn't dirty!

I don't think every home tour is going to be (or should be) a tour of a perfect home. I think it's nice that they did what they could with a (probably) limited budget, and I really enjoyed their artwork.

I would have liked to see captions that said more about what features in that apartment were especially clever, meaningful, or functional for the residents. While I'm very, very open to tours that are not quite the style of a feature in Dwell or Architectural Digest, I'd value some guidance on how to appreciate what I'm seeing.

help! our tv is busted. our tv was making weird streaks on the cable component, but working ok on the DVD compenent. now it's messed up on all the componenents. it's a samsung DLP tv. i don't have the exact model number on me...

does anyone have a recommendation for a good tv repair person? it's a big DLP, so we'd need someone to come by and look at it...

Recent house tour: Agree, Fiona, as in "it is what it is it," the fact that there wasn't a lot of pretense, staging made it a true, working artists' studio to me -- a place that served a purpose of living/working. I liked the extremely large entrance door and I also enjoy seeing unusual places rather than the norm apartment. It felt comfortable, artsy to me.

I've given up looking at the house tours due to the large number of photos, the lack of clarification on why something warranted a photo and why the apartment is thought to be admirable in the first place.

i'd have appreciated it if they had tried to minimize clutter/clean up a bit before the house tour. even though i thought the space was pretty ok, the one thing that stuck out more than any actual 'design' aspect was that there was clutter and crap everywhere. and not of the 'i have too many puppets' style, but like 'i need to straighten the living room'. if they'd cleaned up, i think it would have made the space seem a bit more than just your garden variety live/work.

i'm also sick, sick, sick of the hyperbole in the pre-slideshow text/article/essay/thingie. tends to make the space seem overrated. when i see "they've invested so much in coming up with great space saving solutions!" i want to see more than just the same ole-same ole.

Cross-posted from the LA AT because many folks here helped out too and thought I'd share:

I'm sorry, I have no pets. :-(

But I DID want to share the final wall treatment i went with based off recommendations by folks here on AT. Also, thanks for the advice.

I found this fantastic fabric on ebay through http://stores.ebay.com/TONIC-LIVING.

Original living room image:
http://static.flickr.com/44/113163848_dc185aff11.jpg

Final wall treatment:
http://static.flickr.com/48/132724059_db0c101b73.jpg

Unfortunately, the picture doesn't do it as much justice as it looks pretty great in real life.

jamie pup
*the great is the enemy of the good*
is that what the expression is?

Anyway, I'm VERY over the idea of looking for the ultimate Best anything. As if there IS a Best anything!
To me it is now as annoying a construct as people Discovering consumer items as if they were a new land mass.
Like the land mass, the Objet Discovered was there before you and will likely be there after you are gone.
There's some kind of shopping stand-in for creative thought going on...

But I digress.

guido: Marry me.

Hey all - I've never been able to find a block of corrugated cardboard. Does anyone know where I can find it in order to make stuff for my house and or my pets? It seems like it would be cost effective and i love the idea of being able to sculpt my own shapes.

Open to any ideas.

Best,
Dana

Adam - thanks for the Tonic Living tip. *Fabu* fabrics. You might also like Repro Depot; similar visual ethos, similar prices, great quality, great customer service. Go to http://www.reprodepot.com.

-- Zachmami

(P.S. I have no affiliation with them -- just like what I've found from 'em.)

Enrique - of course!
But it must remain a secret...

or maybe my girlfriend wouldn't mind, who knows
anyway
YES!

Dana,
you might have to glue a bunch of cut up boxes together
use a box cutter with a new blade in it . . .

There are at least two people here who seem to be very unhappy people as evidenced by their recurrent posts that, basically, spew their unhappiness on the rest of us. Seems some can only feel good about themselves when they are bringing others down.

The constant, useless, mean-spirited critical comment of others is unwanted, unnecessary.

AND, in one case, seen from photos of their space, shown at this site, this person is guilty of the very same thing they are now finding fault with in others in their posting at this Open Thread #237!

Suggest if you don't like this site and its offerings, style, and, more particulary, it makes you "sick, sick, sick," PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SPEND YOUR TIME SOMEPLACE ELSE or, better yet, open your own site and see how well you do!

I think I would like house tours more if they had less intro (or if the people who live there wrote the intro) and photos either with just titles (like, bedroom) or pointing out things you might not notice. I personally, though, LOVE seeing spaces that aren't hyper styled--guess it's the voyeur in me...I just like seeing how other people live in their homes!

House Tours are my favorite part of this site. I don't read the comments anymore because people have gotten so nasty. And I think that there would be more people open to sharing their spaces if the comments were more on the "constructive" side then just the "criticism" side. Which is unfortunate.

I think that perhaps some folks HAVE asked for suggestions, and that let open a floodgate that made everyone kind of assume that anyone who posts anything is also asking for suggestions.

There's kind of a difference between cries for help and "ain't my place purty?" and they're both legitimate, but the difference sometimes gets lost, and people get carried away with their suggestions. But nasticity is never nice.

I too LOVE LOVE LOVE the house tours and would even consider sending in my own photos of my progress in my condo-decorating scheme, but the pointlessly rude comments (e.g. consisting only of "Yuck." or "I could never live here." and that's it) are.....pointless and rude. And stupid.

Maybe I'll just look at the pictures and stop reading the comments. No, who am I kidding, I'm not that strong! If they are there, I WILL read them!

I'm fine with suggestions and criticism as long as they're positive and constructive. "I think a light-colored shower curtain would really brighten up that dark bathroom," is fine, but "Oh my god, I could never live in such a depressing cave!" Not good, not helpful, not useful to anyone.