apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

During the Eight-Week Cure I mentioned that I had learned that I would have to move, because the unit was for sale and in effect I was staging it for the owners. Well, yesterday a neighbor complimented me on the staging job!

Meanwhile, I have a new job, and it means moving to a city about 400 miles away where the cost of housing is much lower. The upshot is that I'm buying a house, a 1950s modern split-level. For years it has belonged to people who didn't like the style and tried to remake it as Early American.

The interviews for this job forced me to postpone the end-of-cure party. It will be this weekend.

Congratulations, OK!! You have a lot to celebrate this weekend.

Sounds like you've got a lot of work ahead of you with your new abode, but how fun, and satisfying as well. Hope you have time to post pics of your progress.

Best wishes that all goes well and smoothly as you move into this new phase of your life.

Yay, OK! That really did work out well!

Eagerly awaiting photos of what you do with the new place...

Congrats! OK!

Guys, I have a question of my own...anyone here knows of a good contractor who will work in the NYC east village area? I am getting more and more frustrated with the spiraling cost of my current contractor. Anyone have any tips on how to deal?

Congrats on all the very good news, OK. Have a great time at your party this weekend!

for my drafting class i need to find technical drawings of a well-known house. does anyone have suggestions on a good resource/domain for this kind of information?

hi liuba,

google a site called great buildings online and see if you can find something there.

emma

Bond Girl, I live in the EV and am currently working with Anthony Riccio of AD Custom Interiors renovating the bathroom and kitchen of my apartment. You can search him here on AT to read some other reviews. The job is almost finished and has gone really well. He is an incredibly nice person and so easy to work with. I've found the pricing to be fair and the work of impeccable quality. I would highly recommend Anthony and his crew.

Still wavering about what color to paint the living room.

Here are the latest pics. I'm thinking lavenderish -- but what shade? Benjamin Moore Easter Ribbon? Angelina? Something paler? Deeper? Brighter? Subtler? Pinker? Bluer? Or altogether different?

http://flickr.com/search/?s=int&w=all&q=mamachilangalivingroom&m=text

P.S.: Yes, I recovered the pink/red chair in a lime chenille. I *loved* the original fabric but it was very torn in spots and I couldn't find anything remotely similar.

I've also added an Eames rocker (how cliche, huh?).

You can see both in the last pic.

Congrats OK!

We wrote about it in the book, and always found it interesting that many of the people we worked with on their homes ended up moving soon afterwards as the result of positive life changes, ie job, relationship, etc....

All the work you do on your home stays with you, just as your "home" stays with you. It's only your spaces that change.

Happy Housewarming.

That last signature was confusing. I'm actually Maxwell using my wife's computer....;-)

Maxwell, I remember that from the book. I had actually started working on this before the Group Cure started, and knew early on that I might be moving. The only real difference that made was that I didn't spend any money on things that couldn't be used almost anywhere.

For what it's worth, I think that the part that had the most effect was simply repairing everything that was broken.

Perhaps the positive life changes that occurred after re-doing homes could be attributed to improved Feng Shui..........?

Maureen, that has also occurred to me - I did a few things specifically for feng shui, but I think that repairing broken things and making home generally more comfortable and functional improves one's outlook even if the changes aren't completely in accord with feng shui.