apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i'm blanking on the name of that brooklyn-based (?) homewares store -- they sell velocity art and design kind of stuff i think -- i thought it was seed living, but apparently not, because google is coming up empty. anyone have any idea what i mean?

i remember them having an interesting paper goods section. i'm actually looking for pretty composition notebooks.

and it's that time of the year: PEONIES, people, PEONIES. my apt smells lavish.

I'm thinking of getting a Fisher and Paykel fridge. Anyone have an opinion about the brand? I like that it seems compact and well made and on sale for 1,095. There are hardly any standard brands at Home Depot that don't have the door ice/ water dispenser. My old fridge flooded the house when the ice maker broke and I said never again.

Speaking of fridges, has anyone ever tried to paint theirs? I don't want to take it to an autoshop due to transportation and financial considerations, but I'm wondering if there is any way to make an ugly old fridge colourful and shiny.

Kate -

I have no knowledge or opinion of the brand you're talking about, but I must say that I'm with you in wondering why something as seemingly doomed to eventual failure as those ice/water dispensers are can legally remain on the market.

Once the whole green concept REALLY kicks into gear, things that are so obviously bound for the heap will surely be outlawed.

The fewer moveable parts, the fewer reasons for things to go wrong.

Rappy, I used (white) appliance paint to cover my old-masking-tape colored fridge and it turned out beautifully. I'm sure it comes in different colors if you don't want white. Or, you could try wallpapering the fridge - which is something I saw in Domino at some point. It looked really fabulous.

Should I repaint before or after I move it?

I am moving into a new aparment next month. It needs a new coat of paint. Should I paint before or after I move in? On the one hand, I don't want to hold on to the old home and new home for too long. On the other hand, I don't want to get scuff marks on new paint when moving in. Should I suck it up and repaint before I move my stuff, or do I move into the new apartment, shove everything to the middle of the room and then paint?

BTW, any ideas on how long it would take to paint an apt that's approx 700sq ft?

I say paint before. Best would be to get a few friends over for a painting party. Without anything in the way, things will go much faster.

Do you have an overlap in rent at all? Can you not paint before you move in? I would highly suggest that you paint before you move because it's much easier to do so with nothing in the way. You can easily touch up any scuff marks that may occur after the move.

I'd say before too; unless you can paint somewhere in between - i.e. when stuff is still in boxes.

Plus, scuff marks will appear over time anyway.

azul, Paint before you move in. Then just touch up scuff marks, or cover everything you move in with moving blankets so that nothing gets scuffed. That's much easier than painting once you've already moved.
Are you painting the ceilings too? Will you be painting by yourself? Will you need a lot of primer, or do you have a lot of trim? If you're doing it yourself, I'd say allow at least five full work days to get two good coats on, plus trim (not including ceiling). Add more time if you're also painting inside closets, shelves, and cabinets - those are always more time-consuming than they seem they should be.

on painting my apartment:

Thanks for all of the comments thus far. To answer a few questions: I current rent and just bought my first place (hurray!). Thus if I paint before I move, I have to pay the rent and the mortgage. This not fun--especially since I don't want to chose paint colors before I can test them on the walls. I do have the option of moving, leaving everything in boxes for a few days while a paint, but it seems to be consensus that I should paint before moving?

oops, i forgot to ask before:
I have to paint my new place AND resand/refinish the floors. which treatment should do I do first? walls or floors?

Do the walls first. Then if you drip at all (but you should still use a drop cloth), it will be taken care of when you refinish. Then you won't be waiting for the floors to dry before you paint.

Hello ATers, I have been on great sofa search for the last 3 months. I think I finally found the sofa that is comfy and that will fit through my narrow entryway. I am obsessing on 2 things the fabric and whether to get it with a pullout bed. So my question is whether to get it as a sofabed or not. The price differential between the sofa alone and the sofa with pullout is about 100 dollars. But some folks have said to ditch the pullout as its heavy and much heavier to move and usually uncomfortable so I should get the sofa option and an Aerobed for overnight guests. So what to do?

Trumystique, I vote heartily for sofa aerobed for the reasons you mention. All of my overnight guests have said that the aerobed is much more comfortable than my old pull-out sofa...

Kate,
Although I cannot vouch for their refrigerators, I have a Fisher & Paykel washing machine that is going on 9 years old and still working perfectly with no complaints & no repairs.

Trumystique, I second Lynn. Everyone I know has loved the Aerobed, and it's more versatile in terms of where you put it, firmness can be adjusted, etc.

I think that the floors should be done when the whole place is completely empty, because those sanders create a certain amount of dust, etc. and you don't want that all up in your stuff.

I say that you really just must do the floors first.

Do the floors first. It's a HELLL of a lot of dust. You'll have to wash the walls, which may change your fresh paint!

I agree with Curtis and Rachel: the floors must be done first. Ask your current landlord if s/he is willing to prorate your stay in your current digs until you finish painting. It shouldn't take more than three to four days to refinish the floors and paint if you are having it professionally done.

Defnitely see if you can prorate and overlap. Perhaps see if you can overlap to the 15th? We had to pay for 2 apts for a month last time we moved. Expensive, but it was a good opportunity to paint, move superbreakables ourselves and get shelves and things up before moving in.

azul,
I agree with everyone that you should do your floors before you move in - it's murder trying to do those while moving your stuff around, and the dust will get everywhere. BUT I thought that professional renovators always do floors LAST. Seems to me you wouldn't want to paint too quickly after all that dust has been floating around. You can wipe down the newly painted walls if necessary. And you want the "wow" factor of not having any scuffs or paint smudges on the floor. So I guess I'd do the floor last (but again, before you move in).

anyone know of a realty site strictly for modern homes in the new york area?

If you can possibly do the floors when the place is empty then go for it - I have done this and it makes ENORMOUS amounts of dust which will get into everything you own - its worth paying for an overlap to get the sanding done and then clean the whole place thoroughly before moving anything in - you can paint around your stuff - I don't think its worth paying an overlap for painting but it is definitely worth it for the sanding

The thing about floors is that you're obviously going to use polyurethane, which is very washable, wipeable, moppable surface; you're not going to use tempora paint or something.

The big, huge practical consideration is that NO boxes (or practically none) are actually sitting on a wall. Most boxes will be sitting on a floor. When you paint the walls, you can move all your boxes to the middle of the floor, and paint the walls, and if you have a big paint-roller-on-a-stick or something, you can even paint the ceiling above the boxes from the side.

But when your sanding an entire floor, you need one of those sanding machines; and that poly does NOT dry fast enough for you to do part of the floor, let it dry for a little while and move boxes on top of that to do the other part. You simply must have the room clear of all such stuff.

That's right, Curtis - and just to emphasize, the polyurethane will take forever to dry (depending on ventilation and humidity). Plus the off-gassing is pretty bad if it's in a confined space, so it's much better not to be living there then.