apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I ordered for the first time from West Elm on Monday and I got my order yesterday. Talk about fast shipping especially since I didn't pay any cost for shipping.

I got the two small vases:
http://www.westelm.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?partNumber=WE-PRODa288&storeId=17001&langId=-1&catalogId=17002&viewSetCode=E

Those are really nice. Tell me, are you going to fill them or are they just nice things to look at (because they are)? I am so not good at the 'nice things to look at' thing. I never know what is and what isn't nice to look at, so I try to give everything a function.

I know this may be obvious to most readers and writers on AT, but could someone help me with calculating square footage? I think my place is pretty small when I'm in it, but then I see pics on here of 250 - 600 sq. ft. apartments and they all seen bigger than mine. I haven't actually taken the tape and measured it, but I've counted the ugly drop ceiling times and done some math. I've got the whole first floor of a Philadelphia commercial-gone-residential row building. My rough measurement is 15.5' wide by 30' deep. The only internal walls are around a large bathroom situated in a front corner and it's about 8' by 10'.

One Eyed Daruma,

Square footage is simply length x width. So using the measurements you gave of 15.5' x 30', your apartment is 465 square feet. If you have any odd cut-out shapes in there, just find their square footage and subtract from the overall space. Hope this helps.

Holy Crap! West Elm's new Summer collection has some awesome bits in it!

I just know the answer is going to be "you get what you pay for," but I have to ask: Has anybody seen this Urban Outfitters sofa in real life?

http://tinyurl.com/yq9ae8

$480!! Remove the back cushions and sleep on it!!

Has anyone seen any of this Urban Outfitters upholstered stuff? Are the fabrics crap?

Anyone having a problem with the AT:SF page this morning? ... It seems like it's down.

One Eyed Daruma,
Generally - square footage referred to here is gross square footage which is typically what a unit is rented or sold by. It is the length times width of the interior of the unit - including all walls, closets, stairs inside the unit.
As an architect, we typically calculate square footage of a unit the following way .. centerline of walls between units, interior face of wall on exterior wall, all of the wall shared with the public corridor or public stair. If you exterior wall is more than 50% glass we may measure to face of glass instead of face of wall (increasing the apparent square footage). The calculation varies by developer as there is no industry/real estate standard. Some condo square footage actually includes a pro rata of the common areas (lobby, corridor, stairs, exercise room) which inflates the size of the unit on paper but not in real life.
Hope this helps.

One Eyed Daruma -- Your measurements are plausible for that kind of space. A lot of things affect the appearance of size: lighting, layout, how the furniture is arranged, the contrast between the furniture color and the wall color, the quantity and scale of accessories, what kind of lens the photographer uses.

Diane, re the Urban Outfitters sofa, look back about a week and you will find a picture of the sofa (I think it was the LA site) and some commentary on it. Someone in NY saw it in person and wasn't impressed; he said he thought it was wobbly and fragile. There have been several very similar things on Craig's List lately that are vintage and solid; if you look around a bit I'm sure you could do better than the UO piece.

Is this 2-click thing still happening for anyone else?

now that you mention it, i'm seeing the two/three click thing too. i thought something was going on with my touchpad but i do now see that the screen refreshes and doesn't go back. i have no idea why that is, but i am counting the extra clicks as "exercise" in my calorie reduction column.

Yup, 2-3 clicks still. Maybe it'll all go away when AT changes to the new login system.

Thanks everyone for the input. Given that I basically have an open floor plan (just the bathroom fully enclosed and a weird floor to ceiling chaseway up the center of the place), it would seem that my place is mammoth compared to some on here. I really just need to unload some (a LOT) of stuff...time to make the big purge, and maybe even crack open my 4 month old copy of The Cure!

Can anyone recommend an architect with NYC pre war experience to reshape a 2 br into a 3 br?

Hey, Joey.. "beauty" is a function! ;)

Diane--
I ordered a UO convertible sofa for a client job, and we were pleasantly surprised. It was for a guest room, with limited traffic, so I was more confident in that application than I normally would have been for main seating in a well-used living room, for example.

Sydney-- I had seen the more recent posting about a different UO sofa on the LA site, but missed this one about the very item I'm after. Thank you!

P(too)--Well, that's encouraging! And I have some idea of your standards, too. This is only for our weekend place, so it would get very light use. I'm just going to take a chance on it. Only now it turns out there's a monthlong backorder, grrr!

HELP!! this chair looks like a good find, except for the ugly cushions. Can anyone identify it? Should I nab it asap? Oh, i'm talking about the midcentury modern, not the rocker... click on my name for the link to the craigslist post. THANKS!

Carrie, if you like it and at that price, grab it and consider getting new foam cushions and reupholstering it. It has good bones, and you can't beat the price tag, if you are in the market for a chair.

RE: 2 click thing...

I think it's the new version of explorer (7.0.xxx) that I "reluctantly" had to upgrade to. It seems to be happening on many sites I visit (CNN, etc.)

the 2-click thing is happening for me on IE 6, too, not just on IE 7. sigh.

Hmmm....well I have no idea, but I'm guessing it's related more to my browser than anything at AT, since I'm having the 2 click thing around many sites....or am I losing my click strength??

The horror.....

I can't wait to get home to my Mac. Damn Microsoft.

Question for the craigslist pro's ... Is it just my imagination or is there a lot of good stuff up on CL right now, compared to last month? Is everyone spring cleaning, or is it the fact that I just bought a house, will be moving in a month, am flat broke, and am dying to buy furniture that I can't afford or store?

Seriously, I just saw a sofa, a credenza, a table, and a shelf that I really want. Is there some reason I should snap them up now? Or should I take a deep breath and know there will be equally good deals in April, May, June...

Hi mi.jo,

Congratulations on your new house! You're right that there has been some great stuff lately on CL, but I feel like it's informed by the luck of the draw, rather than any real seasonality (but that's just me).

My two cents is that unless you've found something that is your absolute furniture soul mate, don't spend money that you may not have on something that will be a white elephant for you at this time.

I completely understand the temptation - I spent last summer in awful housing limbo and succumbed twice to the evil lure of stuff that I really wanted (and was such a great deal!) but didn't have a place for at that time. It was a pain, and I ended up growing to truly resent my sweet finds because I felt like they were holding me prisoner. What I may have saved financially wasn't worth the emotional toll or the pain in the ass factor.

It's been my experience on CL that things always come back around. In fact, as I look around my apartment, I'm so glad that I waited on a lot of purchases because I was able to find pieces later on that are even more perfect for my space.

The world is full of wonderful sofas, credenzas, shelves, etc. Wait for the right one to come to you at a time that's better. I promise, there WILL be good deals in May, June, July and beyond. Good luck!

Martine,
I ordered from west elm last week for the first time. I ordered the simple work table Sunday afternoon, it arrived Tuesday morning. I was quite impressed as well...

I've never ordered any furniture from West Elm, but I've ordered rugs and accessories from them and their shipping is consistently fast and their customer service is first-rate. I think everything I've ever gotten from them has been on sale, and it has always been about 50% off. I'd love to hear how their furniture is holding up these days; I well remember when their beds were famous for collapsing post-coitus and the company wasn't good about replacing them.

Thank you bird and beef. I needed someone to talk me down. Now if I could just get someone to block CL on my computer.