apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just bought my first apartment and my first project is to sand and refinish the floors. Can anyone recommend a someone who would do a great job in Park Slope, Brooklyn? The companies previously recommened on AT don't seem to do Brooklyn.

azul, my brother's a contractor. he has a site, check out renovations: petermaslow.com

perchance is there a small desk that resembles this side table by kartell?

http://hivemodern.com/products/?view=sub_product&sid=778&cid=183&cid2=185

i am interested in having a light looking acrylic desk for my wee bedroom in my new apartment.

Reporting on my end-of-cure party: it turned out to be two parties, dinner on Friday and lunch on Sunday.

What was really nice, from my point of view, is that, other than cooking - and I know how to cook - there was nothing that I had to do. Everything was clean, furniture was in convenient places, etc.

I want to recommend two cookbooks by Marian Burros. Both seem to be out of print, but are easy to obtain. First, Keep It Simple: 30-Minute Meals from Scratch. These are healthful menus that one person can prepare, from scratch, from start to finish, in 30 minutes.

The second is You've Got It Made: Make-Ahead Meals for the Family and for Cooperative Dinner Parties. Part of this consists of menus that take more than 30 minutes total time, but where the major part can be done in advance, and the final preparation takes less than 30 minutes. Many of the main dishes can be frozen. The second part consists of menus, calculated to serve 16, for parties where each guest will bring one dish.

Anyone has experience with Rolisini mosaic tiles? Saw them on Ebay. How does its quality compare with big names like Bisazza and Sicis? Doing bathroom reno, hunting for about 40 sq ft of good mosaics that don't crash my bank account, to go with my Interstyle white glass 4x4 tiles...

Wow! Ikea's got a new website.

zzzap, here are some alternatives that i found:

cb2 has nesting tables, C-table, and a console which seems to be most to your size requirements.

west elm doesn't have lucite, but if you're looking for a small desk they have one with a glass top, picture to the smaller size here

i tried looking on ebay but no luck.

this SCC2007 entry has a desk akin to what you're talking about. wow! and in the comments:
Lucite Console (for computer): That came from CB2.com (which turned out to be cheaper than Plexi-Craft for the same thing). (from Nick's answer).

So, there you go :)

Can anyone recommend a good white noise generator? I’ve been using a fan and while it is very effective in blocking out my neighbor’s 3:00 a.m. guitar practice, I’m getting tired of the constant breeze. I’ve read every review I can find and while one white noise only model seems to stand above all the rest, I haven't seen consistently positive reviews for a machine that produces other sounds in addition to the white noise.

Thanks!

My apologies if you already discussed this but I am so sad that listpic isn't working for Craigs List postings anymore. Is anyone else sad too? I know there were some real issues but damn, I used that a lot for looking for stuff for my house. :(


Jen C. I use that white noise generator (that is probably the one mentioned, that doesn't do other sounds) and it's great.

Jen C - my son gave me this: http://homedics.com/prod/detail.aspx?ID=36 several years ago and I've used it more nights than not. It's not the greatest looking, but after 4 or 5 years of use it's still working great.

kdkaboom - would you mind emailing me? oceandreamer56 at yahoo dot com - thanks.

This is driving me nutso -- I remember an online shop where you could buy the old giant posters/advertisements for art exhibits and the like that had been hanging on buildings or telephone poles. I'm certain I discovered the shop here (it's the only site I've read regularly enough for long enough to forget this much about what I'm looking for!) but my searches here and on Google are coming up empty. Help!

kaohinani, i read all the sections daily and don't remember seeing that.
what about this or this?

all u guys that are doing label-off recycling, I think it is a GREAT idea. I have found a good way to do that with spices as I bought real spice jars a few years ago for my kitchen. But I saw no point buying spices in a jar in the supermarket and then throw that labeled jar away. So after some searches I resolved to this. Found Penzey's spices on line, and also now they sell all their wonderful spices in Grand Central Market in NYC. They sell almost everything in ziplock bags that you can empty in your jars. Store the ziplocked spices in a container and store in a cool dry space so your spices last forever.
I also have done away with the Listerine bottle - I hate it with a passion. I replaced it with an IKEA small carafe which i liked a lot. After that broke and I couldn't bother to go to ikea, I bought an iced tea bottle that has a cool logo cap and a textured glass. It is perfect mouth size to drink the necessary listerine. Hope this helps someone.

kaohinani--

It was definitely posted here during the last month or so...

Thanks Olya -- great poster resource, but the one I'm thinking of had these HUGE posters... I remember the splash page was of a loft displaying some modern art exhibition poster that was maybe about 20 feet high? Is this ringing a bell to any one besides the other patrick? They included those huge posters that cities put up on telephone poles and street lamps.

I think this is it...

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/onlinecatalog-only/betterwall-limited-edition-museum-banners--022555

Jen C,
After eons of running a fan year round, I purchased a smallish, round noisemaker online from the Sharper Image that makes all sorts of different sounds (ocean, thunderstorm, city, summer night, white noise, etc.) The description assured good sound quality despite the size, and I was suckered. In reality, the sound quality is pretty poor (e.g., the thunderstorm sounds like white noise punctuated by bursts of loud static). I'd wouldn't recommend it.

Jen C, I have to vote for the white-noise only machine as well.

is there anyone out there that can make a nice recessed soap holder (for inside the shower) that's not one of those ugly ceramic models??? I only see the wire ones (nice, but not optimal, as the soap ends up falling through the wires when it gets thin) and maybe one that cost over $150 (!!!).

Ikea's new website doesn't fit into my Firefox browser. Annoying!

Jen 2 -I recommend the Sharper Image too: I have had that one for 5 years and it is still working fine.

Jen C, I purchased this brand from Hammacher Schlemmer in 1991 and it's still going strong after all these years: http://www.hammacher.com/publish/60586.asp

I've found it's not very effective against low-frequency noise that causes vibration in your floors/walls (so if you have an amateur bass player downstairs like I did once, it won't help much) but it's been very good at masking traffic, tv, voices, etc.

i'm so excited. my eames lounger and ottoman arrive tomorrow!

Other Patrick, you're the best!

I try.

Tell it to Chad in North Carolina. Or Chris in Atlanta.

:)

I multi-task my air purifier--the sound it makes blocks out other sounds. I haven't used an actual white noise machine so I can't compare, but this is working quite well for me and conserves space, since I don't need two machines. I don't remember the brand of the air purifier-someone who did a lot of research on it gave it to me.

lisa2 in austin,
there was a whole thread on the listpic blockage:
http://chicago.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/news/listpic-blocked--024399

Rikko, I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but there are a couple of nice, non-wire soap holders here:
http://www.kitchensource.com/bathroom-sinks/welcomesoap-soapdish.html

I especially like this one:
http://www.kitchensource.com/bau/co-870215.htm

Ooh, I must've missed that one. Good catch p(too)!