apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hi!
Am starting an extensive remodelling project, and find it very daunting, most of which is due to cost of everything. I found something called DirectBuy in Manhattan, where you buy things (I'm assuming from tiles to appliances) at the wholesale price but pay a membership fee. Has anyone ever used this or had any sort of experience with them? If so, can you please tell me what it was like and if it's worth it?
Thanks!

does anyone know of a readymade kattbank ripoff? (that's not 1800 smackeroos!)

i've been looking at benches i could modify with a jigsaw, but i figured i'd ask....to make it easy! :)

a bit of fun, with color
http://web.media.mit.edu/~kimiko/iobrush/iobrush_quicktime_medium.mov

Wende -
If you're still looking for things to count, how about counting how many of the entries had additional pics posted (either by the entrant themselves, or by others on the thread)? Could be useful info for the At staff when the decide the rules for the next contest. What do you guys think??

I agree, cat. I keep feeling like the teacher's pet, whining about rule breakers, but why have contest rules if people aren't required to follow them?

Ha! I was coming in here to whine about that too. :) The posting of extra pictures, the featuring of 'cool details' about an entrants apartment, etc. Not fair!

speaking of pics, there's a HUGE range of photo quality in the smallest coolest entries. It seems like some entries could get a better response if only their pics were more "professional."

Is there a "pro" among us who wouldn't mind putting together a mini-tutorial on photographing your space? I think it could be really useful for the "point and shoot" among us (myself very much included).

Anyone?

Cat, JR, Rachel -- The Magic Spreadsheet now contains a category for posting links to additional pics. Thanks for the suggestion!

There was a mini-tutorial on photographing your space a few months ago.

oops. I must have mised it. link?

Found it. You're welcome.

http://tinyurl.com/2wwwj7

ah, yes. thanks!

rikko--Careful!!
Do a web search and check the BBB, etc. DirectBuy seems seriously shady IMO and while you may find the occasional positive review (or tactful plant?) their sales tactics seem exceptionally sleazy and 99.9% of anything I have ever heard or read of them screams scam.

I have a kitchen drain problem- the drain is connected to a disposal unit and the dishwasher and has a god awful smell now. I have cleaned the dishwasher out with vinegar, I have cleaned out the disposal (stuck my hand in actually and scrubbed), but the smell is still there- anyone have this issue and cleared it up?

Just saw this and it reminded me of the DNA fingerprints...but warmer and cozier: http://www.genomequilts.com/genome.php

lorijo,

I don't know what your living situation is, but my parents recently had a similar problem in their house. The kitchen sink had a terrible smell they couldn't get rid of and then these strange little flies started coming up from the drain. It turns out that it's a problem with an old septic tank in the backyard and it's going to be quite a job to fix it. I hope you don't have the same problem.

Wende, along with links to additional pictures, how about tabulating comments from a claque of friends who post about how wonderful the space is or how well they know the owner or whatever?

Don't tempt me, OK in MA!

Actually, because that's qualitative, it's really hard to count. The people who say they've been in the space are easy enough to find, but knowing the difference between a pal and someone I just don't recognize as a regular poster is a scary judgment call.

I'd considered counting the sheer number of comments, but that requires setting a firm cut-off date for those totals.

Some other suggested aspects also aren't countable: an amazing number of entrants don't list IKEA or Target as key resources but later admit to having bought a lot of goodies there. Or there'll be something that sure looks IKEA, but the resident swears everything is vintage.

Try the baking soda & hot vinegar approach (as described in AT recently), and grinding citrus peel in the disposal also can help.

Did you guys see this entry where apparently they managed to link extra photos from the floor plan? http://la.apartmenttherapy.com/la/small-cool-2007-entries/21-jamess-chic-studio-022008

I missed it, but I wonder how it was done. Aren't the floor plans just photos?

It was done in photoshop but the extras seem to be removed now.

Help!

I just set up a flickr account to start posting my renovation progress but I'm missing something. How can I set them up to be viewed by other people? I understand they should be tagged apartmenttherapychicago,newyork, etc. but when I try to search for them I cannot find them. They are also checked as "public." My account has been deemed safe. I'm just stuck. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Art: new accounts at flickr do not actually become public (for searches, etc.) until five uploaded pictures have been reviewed by flickr staff. If you have uploaded fewer than 5 pictures, upload more. As soon as there are 5, it will be flagged for staff review, but flickr says that this can take as long as 10 days. Mine did not take as long as that after I finally uploaded a fifth photo.

Um, I'm not really sure where to post this comment, but I just purchased the danish modern shelving unit that was posted on "Scavenger" a couple of days ago, and had a fantastic experience. Jeremy (he posts on Craig's List as Severely Vintage) couldn't have been nicer or more helpful.

Highly recommended!

I knew there was something I forgot about flickr and my profile. Oh, well, another project for this weekend. and another statistic for Wende.

happy cinco do mayo everyone, though as someone with both french and mexican branches to the family, I'm somewhat divided on this holiday.

I saw that one Cat. It was like pictures of their furniture - one of the bed....which I'm pretty sure is not one ofthe three pictures.

Splatgirl-
thanks!
-R

Ohmygosh. I just did some quick research on DirectBuy with the BBB and found this link:

http://edumacation.com/DirectBuySavingsAnalysis
$7000 for a membership for 3 years (you pretty much have to pay it)!

I guess there's no such thing as a free lunch, and even if it's 50%, there's probably a good reason for it!

my flickr account has more than 5 photos and they have been reviewed and the account is deemed "safe."

I just don't know the process of allowing access to them. I know it's very simple I just haven't learned it. For example if I search apartmenttherapychicago tag I see all kinds of photos, just not mine. What am I missing?