apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Ok, this is slightly off-topic from home design, but I figure someone here would know the answer... I work in a modern design store and we have this crappy, hardware-store's finest Open/Closed sign on the door. Its sad little suction cups keep failing and it is ugly. Time for a new one.

Is there such a thing as an attractive open/closed sign for a business? Someody must have one at their design firm or something...

Hello all,

Can someone recommend a good looking, good quality, easy to maintain air purifier for a 350 sf Studio-Apartment?

Caitlin - I would see this as an opportunity to really get creative with some design idea (to fit your store as well as express yourself)...then print and laminate it.

In my line of what passes for work, I have to stay for extended periods in obscure backwaters such as Santa Barbara and Aspen. This is, in fact, a hardship, because I have to do it on very little money. I usually rent a furnished place for the several weeks to several months that I will be in town -- but it means subjecting myself repeatedly to somebody else's taste. It was fun for a while, but the attraction has started to pall. My present accommodation, in a town that should really know better and ban such houses, is dimly lit by lamps that compete vigorously with each other for the title of ugliest. They are all winners. Two are cherubims. Others, throughout the house, hang off clunky, gold, cord-concealing chains. Worn and dirty carpeting spreads, like a disease, through the house, including into a bathroom, where the toilet seats are padded. The boxed set of the works of Mark Twain turn out to be fake. One room has a large painted view of a Parisian street, complete with fake shutters on either side. The kitchen comes with the thinnest knives I've ever seen. One blade snapped off as I was cutting cheese, the point narrowly missing my eye. True, it was hard cheese, but still.

I tell you all this not just because I want sympathy and love, but because I've been thinking, what if I rented an unfurnished space and wanted to furnish it from scratch. What's the minimum a man (or a woman) needs in order to live moderately well? Here's my list:

1 bed (or a mattress on the floor)
1 bedside lamp
1 table
4 chairs (thinking, optimistically, that one will make friends)
One small sofa and two armchairs (again, for company)
Two standing lamps
Lots of candles
4 dinner plates
4 small plates
4 mugs
4 tall glasses
4 short glasses
4 multi-purpose wine glasses
4 5-piece place settings (knife, 2 forks, 2 spoons)
1 10" frying pan
1 2 qt saucepan with lid
1 5 qt saucepan/stockpot
2 decent kitchen knives
1 corkscrew
1 can opener
1 microplane grater

What should I eliminate from this list? What have I forgotten?

Hi Design Dabbler,

With that decor, you get my sympathy, no questions asked. Yikes. Obtuse question: Would you be taking this stuff with you, store it, or sell it every time you move around? Or are you furnishing just this place? Just askin'.

I might ditch the 4 chairs and table and buy something smaller with 2 chairs (cheaper), and buy one armchair for now. You could substitute floor pillows for extra seating, maybe.

You might think of adding some of the following(forgive me if I'm stating the obvious with some things):

-bed linens (1 set), bath textiles (2-4 sets), kitchen towels/ dishcloths, pot holders & a couple of trivets
-a small dresser
-small bookcase for storage/display/whatever
-coffee press (can double as a tea pot)
-kettle (or just boil water in a pot)
-springy metal kitchen-type tongs like you see at salad bars--I use mine for everything
-pizza pan (good for pizza and cookies!)
-couple of largish bowls for mixing up stuff or for serving
-dishrack
-laundry hamper or bag
-clothes iron

Also, never underestimate the importance of having a toilet plunger on hand, especially at 10:00 on a weeknight when you're frantically thinking what stores might still be open and might carry such a thing, and then go out and sidle up to the check-out with your one lonely item. Heh...

What about also buying a great shower curtain and small bath mat, plus bathroom accessories that you really like (soap dish, tooth mug) that are easy to pack from place to place? That way, there would always be one room whose decor you'd always have some control over, no matter where you live. The continuity might be nice, too.

Hope this helps!

Yeah... sorry Design Dabbler but I have to agree that if you want the absolute basics in an apartment all that furniture is not needed, and more kitchen stuff is. Forgetting stuff like a cutting board, bowls, and a bookshelf would lead to frustration for the new resident.

I'd say that a futon could be the sofa and the bed, so there's no need for both, if you're really trying to live in a very efficient way. Having such a list at all makes it seem like you need the list to be as short as possible.

I'm just imagining that you want to pack all this in the back of a van or u-haul so you can take it with you from place to place so for me it would be:

futon (covering both sofa and bed)
bedlinen
table and two chairs
lamp next to the futon
4 of:
dinner plate
mug
tumbler
table setting of cutlery
set of saucepans with frypan
kettle
a grater
a strainer
corkscrew
can opener
my favourite kitchen knife
pair of scissors
large bowl
something to store clothes in

and that would be about it

You could add pieces as you go but these would be the bare minimum for me to live comfortably for a while

I bet you could get this entire list from IKEA for hardly anything

*runs off to check the website*

cheapest from IKEA (you could obviously work up from here according to your budget)

futon (covering both sofa and bed) 110.00
bedlinen 100.00
table and FOUR chairs 90.00
lamp next to the futon 30.00
4 of:
dinner plate 10.00
mug 4.00
tumbler 7.00
table setting of cutlery 2.00
set of saucepans with frypan 35.00
kettle 12.00
a grater 2.50
a strainer 4.00
corkscrew 1.50
can opener 4.00
my favourite kitchen knife 1.00
pair of scissors 2.50
large bowl 9.00
something to store clothes in 27.00

Grand total = £451.50

Pretty good for effectively furnishing a second home

Thanks, MK, A, C and Vr for the input. I appreciate the suggestions, especially the plunger. I agree that it's an essential.

About the economics of this: Let's say that I am paid $100 a day for living expenses. The places I've had to visit have high cost of living, so a short term rental on a furnished apartment runs about $2500 a month, plus utilities. My income for expenses just about covers that, plus incidentals. If I can save $400 a month by renting an unfurnished place, then over a five-month period I will have about $2000 to spend on furnishings, etc. Small items (kitchen knives, linens) can be bought once and carried from place to place, but the bigger stuff will have to be bought anew at each location, then sold on departure. It may or may not be feasible, but my present accommodation is so ghastly that I can't help fantasizing about a better life, surrounded by things I can use without shuddering.

Actually one thing you might want is a cheap microwave.

What is your mysterious line of work?

Barbara: Are you talking to me?