apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Y'all think "chic urban space" good thoughts for me, please -- I'm going apartment-hunting in Phoenix today.

wende in sf, definitely the best of luck to you. You'll have to fill us in with the full tale of your move sometime. Will you need to change your online name? ;-)

Good luck Wende! Some good friends of mine recently made the move from downtown Philly to the suburbs of Phoenix. It's a much more relaxed life for them and they really like it there.

Sending good apartment-hunting vibes your way!

wende: Check out Chandler. Lots of nice options in that area and not as expensive as Scottsdale. And definitely try to find a place with a pool. Even if you aren't a "pool" person, you'll appreciate having one for an evening dip to cool off during the summers... Good luck! PS There's a BoConcept store over there.

sorry for the repeat, but i added this to an OT too late, i think, but still would love some suggestions:

i have a small rug (2'x3') that i bought in india a few years ago. i'd like to get it cleaned and restored back to its original vibrant colors. anyone have any nyc suggestions about where to bring it? can it just be dry cleaned? i'm afraid to ruin it. thanks!

Ali,
An old-fashioned trick for reviving colours in rugs is to sprinkle salt on it (I dunno about fine vs. coarse), let it sit for a while and then brush it out. The modern update would probably be to vacuum it out. I don't think this process could ruin a rug, but I'm never actually done it myself.

hello all
quick question- by signing up for my local newspaper, I am offered a free magazine subscription.

Does anyone have experience with Home, Elle Decor, or Metropolitan Home?

I figured a house and home mag would do me good, but I'm unfamiliar with the style of any of these. I love AT, so perhaps some where here could recommend one?

thanks

single girl,

Dwell is a very good magazine.

thanks Geraldine, unfortunately its not one of the choices!

Which of the above 3 is least evil / most worthy of a free subscription?

thanks!

single girl,
Of those 3, I like Met Home the best. I haven't looked at Home and Elle Decor recently, but I decided a while back that I liked Met Home better.

single girl,

I subscribe to Met Home. It has amazing drool factor. I used to subscribe to Elle Decor- I think I stopped subscribing to it because it had too much traditional stuff in it for my liking. No idea about home.

Metropolitan home all the way. dwell, has very nice covers and a few nice ideas, however, what we really want is pictures, pictures, pictures.

looks like Met Home in a landslide.

thanks for weighing in!

;-)

Good thoughts apparently helped -- a rental in a new condo complex right on Camelback (the main drag) at 9th St. came open just today. We *really* wanted to be on Camelback near Central, as that's the closest to an urban feel that Phoenix has. (New Yorkers choke on their coffee... weirdly, in Phoenix, the "urbanized" space with shopping, good mass transit, and shiny office towers is Midtown rather than downtown. You still wouldn't call it urban, but we gotta make do here.)

I'll do Flickr photos after we move in, for the curious -- right now, it's a nicely maintained, contemporary suburban box.

Two questions:

1) Does anyone know anything about "infrared Relay" devices? A great post from a guy, Max, I think, in Brooklyn talked about how he designed an awesome home theater and he talked about IRR as an option for better wireless control at home. I would love to get more wireless. I am obsessed with cord control and would love any new ideas as well.

2) In my new apartment I just found out that I have running water on the terrace. It was such a surprise. My husband and I were just speculating about what this means. The water spout is right under our bedroom window, do you think that means there is a water line there that could be used to add a en-suite master bath? We will consult with an architect soon, but does anyone have a thought about this? I am so excited that I might have this option I can't tell you.

Hi Colleen,

Google Xantech and Buffalo infrared repeaters. I use a Xantech system.

Most systems involve a few parts:

IR Receiver (the expensive bit) - This goes where you want to point the remote.

Connecting block - The "relay" portion

Power supply for connection block - Believe it or not these are usually sold separately

IR blinkers - The bits that actually flash the relayed IR to your DVD player and other devices.

I bought my stuff from www.worthdist.com which is a clunky website that sells mainly to the trade but will sell to consumers as well. My system cost about $120 and was a pretty big one. You could probably build one for less than $100 if you wanted.

Your water line means you could get water for a bath, but it would likely be cold water only. Of course, you could have installed a tankless water heater to take care of that, but it would take some space.

Thanks Max! Yeah, it was you! Cool, yes, I bet you're right about the cold water, I just looked up tankless waterheaters and there are ones that you can place under the bathroom sink, it looks like they run from the sink to the shower line. i think I've seen these in hotels in Dublin and London. Since you seem to know what you're talking about, do you mind if I ask, what about the toilet? I always heard that it was hard to retrofit bathrooms in apartment buildings because of the water lines, since I think that won't be the issue, I wonder about the waste drains, the graywater waste drains, you know? Any ideas about that? I'm going to ask an architect to take a look at the plans, but I am so anxious to start planning I just hope this can work!

Thanks too for the IRR info, though I think I am way too much of an AV novice to begin to understand this. I have to sit and read about it for a while.

Looking down a few posts to the maimi style small kitchen image, I love the open shelving look - but I have one cabinet that has an 'open' door on it now, and it seems like things get really dusty/dirty in there. Does anyone else have experience with these open shelves, how they look in their kitchen and whether dust is a problem? It could be that it's just very dusty here (it is, we're in the high desert) and we also have fur explosions from our dog and cat. So, maybe these open shelves just require someone who likes to dust all surfaces daily?

Anyone know where to get SQUARE frameless clip frames in NYC? I know Ikea has them, but one size is too small, the other too large. I am looking for about 15x15 or 12x12.

clip frames are pretty easy to make yourself, if you can't find the size you like. get two plexis cut to the size you want and drilled at each corner (if the people at canal plastics won't do this for you, it's pretty easy with your powerdrill at home). get four sets of bolts and nuts, whatever color and shape you like best at the hardware store. though keep in mind they need to be the same size as the holes in the plexi. while you're there, get the hanging hardware of your choice. assemble avec photo and art, et voila! your very own clip frame.

Lori2 :
try a.i friedman or Adorama they're on 18th between 5th and 6th (right next door to each other). And if they don't have them, they should be able to tell you who does, especially Adorama. Oh, they are not open on friday afternoon or saturdays, Adorama that is.

I just looked at Adorama's website and they have a 12x12 on-line, they probably have a 15x15 or 16x16 at the store.

http://www.adorama.com/FRDDCF1212.html?searchinfo=clip%20frames&item_no=15

rachel- open shelving looks cool but cupboard doors really do keep things cleaner and less dusty, especially in the kitchen where grease makes things stick. The guy in the article doesn't cook :)

Thanks the opoponax and Colleen!
Very helpful.

Okay, it's Saturday night and I've been sipping on cheap Bordeaux since I got home... So I'm going to hijack this thread for one waaaay off-topic comment related to music because I wanted to share my enthusiasm. Tonight I just discovered that iTunes has the latest album by Canadian electronica duo Junior Boys. Titled "So This is Goodbye", the album was just released in Canada on 8/22 but does not street internationally (including the US market) until Sept 11. But for some reason the US iTunes site made it available for download on the Canadian street date. If you're a fan of electronic music (and even if you're not), this is hands-down the best new album I've heard this year. As some of you many know I work in the music industry and am a maniacally ravenous contemporary music consumer. So I get to hear a lot of product, but rarely give rave reviews. Consider this album one of those rare instances. Rather than describe the album, I'll just urge those interested to go to iTunes to preview the tracks. According to Junior Boys' website, they will be doing a very short US tour in September. Because this is only their second album and they have a relatively small-but-passionate US cult following (including yours truly), most of the dates will be at smaller club venues. Unfortunately for me, no LA date--which means I'll be huffing it to either San Diego or San Francisco to catch them live... Okay, that's all.

Just found Pitchfork's review. Now I'm really done with my hijack! For those who are interested: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/37796/Junior_Boys_So_This_Is_Goodbye

great, thx Enrique, will look for it here in Canada! (iTunes is the one I don't have a subscription for) ..Love your reviews!

Thanks, Ksenia...I was afraid of that. I think the look is so very cool (and it inspires me to go out and buy a million kinds of white dishes just for that cool monochromatic look) - but yeah, I cook, I have a cat and dog, and the place gets super dusty with the windows open....so maybe doors are the way to go. Ah well.

Enrique, thanks for the tip on the band, I'll have to check them out....

i have a feeling i'll end up repeating this on tomorrow's open thread, but here's a quick question.

this weekend i found a cool old-style medical diagram (cheating, btw, it's repro and i don't care), and i'd like to frame it very cheaply. ideally i'd love to greek up something like the metal strips one would really find at the top and bottom of such a thing, with hanging hardware on the top strip. another option would be to spray mount it onto foamcore, possibly leaving an inch or so border so that it looks a bit more 'framed'. it's something like 16x20 inches, and i guess it's possible that i could just find a real frame for it. but i want something cool and old, not a clip frame or one of those junky poster frames from bed/bath/beyond.

any ideas? ideally i don't want this to be a massive quest for the perfect thrift/vintage/fleamarket frame find. because those tend to take ages and always end up costing more than you thought. i can get foamcore free from work.

opoponax: Is this what your looking for? http://posterhanger.com/ If not, how about a simple acrylic box frame? They're generally around 1"-1.5" thick and come with a white cardboard insert to hold artwork in place, creating the negative space you want around the diagram (depending on the size box frame you select, of course). This option might add more physical presence to your piece, as well as a kind of curatorial quality to its presentation. They're pretty inexpensive. The 16"x20" size is available here for under 12 bucks: http://www.jerrysartarama.com/art-supply-stores/online/1083

(you're... not your.)

thanks, enrique. i've been looking for those posterhanger thingies for a while. MoMA carried them for a while right before i worked there, and then they stopped and i could never find them again. i may see about getting one of those. i have a couple of the plexi box frames around the house -- i like them for more contemporary stuff and photos, but it's not really what i'm looking for here.

i'm feeling a frame hunt coming on.

opoponax: Have you tried Swiss Clips?
http://www.dickblick.com/zz189/12b/
or Uni-frame: http://www.dickblick.com/zz189/01/

Can someone let me know where in NYC or Brooklyn I can find interior doors that are frosted glass suitable for bedrooms. I would like a frosted glass interior door as opposed to the traditional wood door because I think it would allow light to filter throughout the apartment while still maintaining privacy. Please let me know if anyone has any info on this.

Thanks!

opoppo...
Sam Flax art supply place in NYC used to carry a variety of poster hanger thingees, as did the city bookstore on downtown - for subway maps they sold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX4ES3JhEyU

Just sharing this with you all, I came across this music video way back in the late 90s. Last week I started listening to the song again and dug up the music video so I could upload it.

The back wall looks pretty cool. Don't know how it would look for a regularly lit room with no breeze to make the photos flutter though.

oooh, Sam Flax. i always relish an opportunity to go digging around over there. though they close obscenely early -- might have to wait till next weekend...

i don't know how modern i want this to look, so i'm not sure about any of the clip options. the swiss clips look like more of an archival/conservation thing, which isn't too important here as it's seriously just an elaborate placeholder for the real art i can't afford to have framed. the uniframe, however, is a pretty cool idea as it might make my foamcore mounted placeholder art look a bit less undergrad than if i just velcroed it to the wall.

Anyone know how to get a dent out of a stainlees steel fridge (GE Profile)? Looking for some cool magnets to cover it up for now...

Just took the blue plastic wrapping off this new fridge too. Ugh.

dc,

If it's new, won't they replace the stainless panel for you? Or is it not the kind with replaceable panels. Maybe one of those car ding repair services that just pull the dent out?