apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The link in the right-hand column to "miapartamento" leads to a blog with five or six entries that has not been updated since August, 2006.

Wasn't the last round of blogroll collecting in August 2006? Updating the blogroll in August could be made an annual tradition.

Come to think of it, do we have a "home technology maintenance" month or week yet? That'd get in the safety-related issues that were bruited about a few months ago, as well as decluttering email, running back-ups, etc.

great idea, wende!

Target has new Home Dec line. They clearanced Destinations and now have introduced "Moroccan Mod." Like a moth to flame, I'll be whoring in Brooklyn this p.m.

I'm up to my eyes in my kitchen/house renovation. I'm doing a lot of it myself and floors are getting done next week (with no decision yet on my part as to where my butt is going to be for those days I can't get in the house), I'm doing more electrical Saturday, have just ordered appliances (including a Vestfrost fridge from Home Depot - FYI, they don't treat that as a "major appliance" but as merchandise, so shipping etc applies.) I still have some plumbing left to do and sheet rock to button everything up. Oh and I'm still doing my job stuff.

Is it just me, or does everyone get nauseous at this stage of a remodel, from the stress?

hey new yorkers! non-design question - i'm planning a trip to the big apple from canada, and we're on a tight budget. we're taking the train into manhattan (penn station) - so where should we stay? what part of the city is ok for two white girls from canada to stay? we wanted to make a side trip to philly but I can't figure out the transit system from the internet, and amtrak seems ridiculously expensive. are there hostels in philly?
i feel so unprepared, but i have a few weeks...
thanks!

Hi Ange ~

You can get to Philadelphia fairly cheaply, either via bus or local trains. To take the local trains, you would take New Jersey transit train from New York to Trenton (New Jersey), and then transfer to SEPTA train from Trenton to Philadelphia. The entire trip would take approximately 2.5 hours, and it's really easy to do! (Trains run daily, every hour)

The tickets would be between $20 - $40, depending on whether you're taking the bus or train!

Hope that helps,
Rina

Lisa2--I think so! I know the disruption can quickly get overwhelming!

Hey AT'ers--I need some inspiration for my home office/dining room/craft room. Budget is about $100 (seriously) so I'll have to get creative with paint and reorganization. I cringe to show you pics of the way it is...but it was OK at the end of the fall 06 Cure--it's the red room in my flickr set.

The room is 10x10 with two openings, one (North facing) window, and oak hardwood flooring.

Mostly, I'm collecting inspiration at this point. Any links to shelving/home office/library type spaces would be terrific.

Thanks.

Hm, I have a question too!

I'm about to paint the living room for the first time (Goodbye, white walls!), and would like to also incorporate some free-design elements (think: something like "Sideblown Quince Tree Mural" on AT:LA right now, only far smaller). The problem is that I'm absolutely and positively artistically challenged, and don't trust myself to do it.

Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations for freelancers who do this type of work? Or, are there any talented ATers out there, willing to lend advice??

Anyone been to Urban Outfitters lately? I have my eye on the Swedish Rose bedspread (online), but I want to know what the print is made of. Either print like part of the thread or print like plastic-y stuff like on a t-shirt. Anyone know?

Also, it's a bedspread so is it two layers of fabric w/o any filler in between? That would be my guess.

Saw a too-good-to-be-true deal on vintage Saarinen tulip chairs.

How can I tell if they are fake?

The owner claims they are the genuine article, albeit with newly reupholstered cushions.

When did the ads start? That's interesting.
MP

K, it seems you've never been to UO? This is a tapestry. You see by the generous dimensions, and also by their description of all you can do with it. It is just one layer and piece of cotton fabric. No lining, no filling. The design is not an applique. It is printed or dyed in with the background color.

They do have quilts, but the item will say quilt instead of bedspread.

Hey ange_lune, one more Philly tip ... It's a GREAT place to visit. If you can swing it in your budget, save an upscale dining experience for your Philly side trip. Philly has excellent restaurants at much better prices than NYC. You can go to Buddakan for lunch/brunch -- not dinner -- and enjoy a fabulous meal for a fraction of NYC's trendy restaurant prices. Enjoy!!

ange_lune-- I'm a college student at uPenn in philadelphia so i totally understand the "live cheap in philly" pursuit. Philadelphia is a great place to visit, live, stay-- anywhere in the middle (around walnut, spruce, locust streets) is nice pretty much throughout. In lower philly this is called olde city, there is also center city (18th and walnut is rittenhouse square-- equivalent to central park), and around 37th-41st is university city (where i live). i don't think there are any hostels but i'm sure you can find some cheap hotels and maybe even some college sublet that is willling to give you the place for a few nights (check craigslist, maybe). as long as you stay around spruce-walnut-locust and below 40th street you should be in a good area. but if you want to be closest to the best restaurants and clubs, try to stay even further downtown (under 20th street). enjoy philadelphia, it is absolutely the best!!

Anokha, if you can get your hands on one (through your office or a local school/library), you can use a slide projector or overhead projector to get a design you love (from really any source at all) onto the wall - then you can just trace it with pencil and fill it in yourself with the paint. Kind of a riff on Curtis's paint-by-numbers approach, too.

If not, I'm sure you could find a local art student to do it for you at a reasonable price - maybe a Craigslist ad would surface some candidates?

Good luck - and show us a picture when you're done!

Alana, I don't have any great links at the moment, but was just wondering if one solution for you would be just to consolidate all of the storage on a single wall - the one with the cool clipboard "frame." I'm thinking you could move the long substantive shelves from over your desk onto that wall, and have the slimmer black ones above the desk - including things like your great $10 picture and your clipboard frame really getting the attention they deserve.

There should be enough room in your desk drawers for the things you really need in reach on an ongoing basis, and I think it might be liberating to consolidate all of the storage on the one wall - one where you don't have to look at everything or feel like it's weighing over you while you work at the desk, either.

If you're feeling it, you could even hang a tall curtain to run completely across that storage wall - really containing all of the visual noise.

Also, could you paint more of the storage pieces and your desk chair white? Could make it look even more fresh and unified.

Just a few (very low cost!) thoughts - best of luck!

MrGreen, perhaps your complaints about the site are best addressed privately, directly to the editors. You might have better satisfaction in having them addressed than here in an Open Thread.

Thank you helloat.

I spent the day with Google images--and discovered House Beautiful or was it BHG? wants $25 from me to view their "inspiration rooms." Grr. Thank you AT for being free!

One wall, eh? You know, it would help. I've since replaced those black ledges/shelves with wonkin big (12" deep) pine boards. dh won't let me spring for Expedit --and frankly it wouldn't give me any MORE storage--maybe even less--but it sure would look better (I think).

Yup--painting ALL the furniture in this room white (Though dh is against painting three key things--and THEY are all different woods!)--and the blanking out the walls with white is just about where I'm at! (And I hate white).

Thanks for your thoughts.

Lady J-

Thank you! That was just what I needed to know. I haven't been to UO since I left California and here we don't have much of anything (college town).