apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Help- Just bought a mid-century-modern-esque desk with 3 small drawers on one side(not sure what kind of wood--Maple? Walnut? Oak?) And now I'm stuck... What kind of (comfortable)desk chair would go with this? Most of our furniture is wood, and the sofa, etc. are neutral colors. We really don't have anything black in the apt., so, I'm thinking most of the black desk chairs wouldn't work. I'm going to try to link a photo. Thanks!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53628443@N00/tags/desk/

Oh- Another related question: Any suggestion for attractive file box storage for above pictured desk?

if i were you, i'd go with something slim and vaguely retro (though not necessarily midcentury). something like this would be lovely:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190013704236

they're pretty easy to find, too.

as far as filing stuff, if you're planning on getting some kind of cabinet, i'd keep it seperate from your desk. part of what makes it so nice is the negative space and lines of the legs. you'll lose that if you crowd it with a ton of other furniture under and around the legs.

My new sonna prima mattress arrived friday.

so far so good. I've heard it takes about a week to get used to.

For those who have it, how long did it take to get used it and since you're not supposed to use a mattress pad what would you suggest I put on the mattress to protect it from stains, a sheet?

Is anyone here good at bidding on Ebay? There is an artist that has several paintings on Ebay and I've been trying to get one. But no matter what bidding tactics I use I can't beat out this other woman who seems to win each one of them at the last minute. Is there a secret to getting in the last, highest bid at the last minute?

anne, google for ebay auto bidding or ebay sniper

Anne -- There is "sniping software" that will bid in the last instants of the auction, but I wouldn't necessarily bother with it. Snipers win because earlier bidders don't bid their real maximum bid, but instead bid one increment over the existing bid, then come back and bid some more.

Use the proxy bidding system to your advantage. Bid your real maximum price. If you win, you'll actually pay one increment over the next highest bid. So if your real max is higher than your rival's bid, you'll win and pay one increment more than she bid (50 cents to a couple of dollars, depending on the bid size). If it's lower, then she was going to win anyway, regardless of your timing. You can hold off on bidding until the last few minutes if you like, but it's not the timing that wins: it's the size of the bid.

Wende I disagree entirely and you are butt-ass wrong. Last minute bidding works (there is a reason smart ebay shoppers do it) because if you put in your best price too early the system sends out an email to the loser - who then grapples with the psychology of upping their bid and winning. If they have no time to do it, they lose out by not putting in their real max bid beforehand.

Actually, you're both wrong because of several other factors such as the sort of item it is, how many similar ones are offered at the time, time of the year, etc.

I might make use of the contact the seller option and ask the seller what might be offered not on eBay and just circumvent the whole problem.

I emailed the seller to ask how I can purchase a painting other than Ebay and they got back to me saying all the paintings are on Ebay. I've put in a max bid and lose at the last minute. Now I see that there are no bids on a painting that ends 7 hours. No bids have been made yet but I know that woman is sitting there just waiting for me to put in a bid at the last minute. Should I wait until the last 5 mins. and start bidding?

Check out the eBay Bidding discussion board -- there is a ton of information on how to snipe at the last minute, as well as when/whether it works:
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum.jspa?forumID=110

wende - what is sniping? I guess I could read all 7000+ posts to figure it out but I'm sure you can condense it for me.

Oh, another thing - I was just going thru the NY Times Magazine from yesterday's paper and there's a great section in there on green design. Several designers (including my old boss, Vicente Wolf) talk about how they incorporate green into their projects and why. It's a good read.

Sniping is just jargon for putting in your bid at the very last minute or so. Here's the deal:

(a) You can sit at your computer and try to time your snipe to the last possible second. There are people who are very good at that and swear by it.

(b) You can pay for (or do a free trial on) automated sniping programs that put in the bid for you, as jamie pup mentioned. Those should be discussed on that forum -- what's cheap, what's reliable, etc. You tell the program what to bid; it bids right before the auction expires. I've never tried these, but again -- some people swear by them.

Without seeing the auctions, I wouldn't want to guess whether your rival is reacting to your bids or just has an automated program running. If she's reacting, a good internet connection and quick fingers could get you around her.

Another option is to ask the artist to do a sale through eBay, but to set it up as a Buy It Now with you as the only approved bidder. This is entirely allowed by eBay's rules. If the artist is enjoying the bidding wars, though, he/she may not care to do it.

I haven't much advice regarding sniping, but I've bagged a few auctions using e-snipe.

A different question: My apartment has several ghastly 'mushroom' type ceiling fixtures (aka the cheapest fixtures at Home Depot) in the living room. Has anyone thought of a clever way to disguise the horrid things without replacing the fixtures? (it's a rental).

many thanks to you clever creatures...

Ana -
My sonna prima mattress took about two weeks to "break in" and get used to. I have been searching for a mattress pad and just stumbled upon this online. For $20, I figured what the heck and placed an order. We'll see how it works out.

http://www.productdose.com/product.php?prod_id=8461

lilcafe, you could try one of these lanterns from Pearl River.

http://pearlriver.com/v2/FramesCat.asp?iGroup=275

http://pearlriver.com/v2/FramesCat.asp?iGroup=275

You could also use a regular lampshade in the shape of your choice, secure it up close to the ceiling and put a diffuser on the bottom so you don't see the light bulb. If the diffuser cuts off too much light don't use one.

wende - you said "(a) You can sit at your computer and try to time your snipe to the last possible second. There are people who are very good at that and swear by it."

I did that on one of the painting. I kept refreshing the page until it got down to the last minute and then bid the hell out of it. I still lost. I've put in a max bid and the other bidder seems to wait until the last minute and then outbids me by $2. Maybe I'm just not meant to own one of these paintings.

I'm a happy eSnipe user. I use it for things I really, really want, but don't want to show my interest for until the last eight seconds of the auction. I use it because when you put your max bid in earlier, and outbid someone, they will frequently come back and up their bid once they get the email saying they've been outbid, like Jonathan metioned. Using eSnipe avoids that problem.

regards,
trillium

Anne -- The $2 is actually the minimum increment between bids at that price range, so your rival's actual bid could be set much higher and be automated in something like e-snipe. She may not even be aware of your bidding.

Oh -- I should ask -- does she bid earlier or only at the very end? Earlier bids are recorded as one increment above the prior bid, so if she bids early, she could have a proxy bid for a much higher maximum than what you see. In that case, your bid would trigger the eBay system to check her proxy maximum. If her max is larger, you'll immediately get a message that you've been outbid, without ever being high bidder.

If she's just willing to pay more from the git-go and doesn't even know about your bids, there's not much you can do to beat her.

Well, the bidding that ends in 3 hours has no bids at all. I'm afraid to bid on it because I'd put up a flag that someone else is interested and the woman could outbid me in not time by putting in a max bid. I was going to wait until the last minute and then bid. Is that good strategy or should I bid once just to see what she does next?

Also, there is another painting up for bidding that I want (from the same artist). The bidding ends while I'm away so what's the point of even bidding if I'm not around to tackle it in the last minute? If I could get just one of these paintings I'd be happy and stop.

Newbie, I would go with something like this: http://www.dwr.com/productdetail.cfm?id=8498

You can usually find them at thrit stores. I think the chair that the opoponax suggested might be a little clunky. Of course you might want something a little more ergonomic anyway, but I guess it depends on how much time you spend at the desk.

For your desktop I would suggest something from Muji.

Nadia,
Do you think that would trap in heat ? I was thinking about getting a king size cotton flat sheet and wrapping my mattress in that.

Let me know how that pad turns out.

Anne -- On the first one, I'd wait until the last minute to bid, and then I'd make note of what happens.

The second one would be an excellent trial for a sniping program, as it is preset to bid at the last second in your absence.