apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i found a great fabric and would like to have curtains made from it (marimekko samovaari in green), but i don't sew. anyone know how to get the prject done, or know a seemstress in nyc that could help me out? how much would this run? i was thinking about making a box on top with 2 panels. any suggestions? thanks atny!

Try your local dry cleaner.

Sounds like a simple job, any tailor or dry cleaner would probably do it. Or, you could throw a student a few dollars (see if there are bulletin boards for such things at FIT, Parsons or NYSID).

there's some cool pendant shades on clearance at pbteen.com for TEN BUCKS

http://www.pbteen.com/shop/sal/salclr/index.cfm?page=all

i had never looked at that site before...but their lighting is awesome! check out these accordian sconces::

http://www.pbteen.com/products/p1585/index.cfm?pkey=clgttsk

Question: My bathroom walls have tile floor to ceiling. How can I hang a framed print? I tried a suction cup hook, but it slid down the wall once I hung the framed print on it. Thanks in advance.

epnyc, i'd suspend it from the ceiling if possible, right where it intersects the wall, and outside of any tile.

other alternatives include drilling thru tile (gulp! no!) or some crazy sticky tape that might never come off.

i don't trust suction cups for anything, especially if the frame has glass. no way.

Unrelated question: For a non-rent-controlled or rent-stabilized apartment, how much can the rent be raised when renewing a lease with the same tenants? Is there any regulation for that type of thing?

Guess I asked too quickly. According to this, it appears that there is no limit or regulation on what they can raise the rent. Is that correct?

munckee - I believe it varies by state, or municipality. Aree you talking specifically about NY?

Whenever I click on any part, say, 'comments,' or 'More..." or to any link mentioned, it takes me 3 or sometimes 4 clicks with the back arrow to get back to the main page. Is this happening to anyone else? How can I correct this? It just slows me down way too much. Thanks. -V-

VickyA, you are not alone. it takes me two to three clicks on the back arrow every time. It doesn't seem to matter if I am on my PC at work, or my Mac at home. I wish they'd fix this problem as well as the comments link on the fall colors constest page does't work.

Vicky - sorry, total "duh" moment. Yes, I'm located in NYC.

Yes, I'm also having the back button problem, I find it's faster to just click the NY part at the top to go to the main page again.

Just wondering has anyone tried t-shirt sheets before? I saw some on sale at Filene's in the perfect shade for my bedroom, but I was just wondering if they were as comfortable as I would think or do you get all twisted in them?

Amy - I was skeptical about t-shirt sheets for a while, but about a year ago I needed a new set and found them on sale for next to nothing. I figured what the heck. I've found them plenty comfy, though definitely a bit warmer than regular cotton (mind are slightly thicker). I kinda prefer them for winter, though they're not unbearable during summer either.

I just found a great wooden chair on the street (missing cushions). Because this website has made me incredibly paranoid to bed bugs I did not bring it up to my apartment but left it in the building's storage room, outside of my locker.

How long can I wait in order for the chair to be "safe". I cannot leave outside of my locker too long, but I'm also afraid of contaminating the clothes inside.

I appreciate any feedback. Thanks

Don't bedbugs kind of need some kind of cushion to live in? I don't think they can really live in wood, can they?

I think they borrow into wood plus they can hide in all the joints and nooks. If it's in the building, it's in the building. You haven't really spared yourself at the neighbor's expense.

Read the info, please, there is so much available information here and on the web.

Bedbugs do NOT live in the upholstery or the cushion OR the bed (they come to feast on you while you are sleeping in your bed) usually. They live in the wall, behind picture frames, IN THE WOOD of the furniture next to the bed, underneath the bed in the wood parts.

If you dragged something off the street and left it in your building you are exposing your entire building to bedbugs, if they are living within the piece. It has been documented that they can live up to 18 months without feeding. They travel through the walls, up walls, through small cracks and openings.

Here's what I've been doing when dragging something off the street: spraying it down with alcohol (this will drive them out if they're there, maybe ... best to spray it with bedbug kill spray) and entirely sealing it in plastic, either a large bag or double bag or whatever to suffocate them if they're there. Keep the piece in the bag for as long as you can, 18 months maybe even.

But most importantly, inform yourselves and inform others.

My next door neighbor saw me sealing a coffee table i dragged in off the street in our hallway and asked what i was up to. I told him. Found out he had no clue that there's a bed bug epidemic in the city. My next door neighbor.

I would recommend sealing all potential openings in the apt, but kind of hard when the electric boxes are openings that cannot be totally sealed.

Don't mean to sound hysterical. Just that a very close friend has an infestation and another friend had them and then i met another random person who had them. Brings my personal count of knowing people up to 3. They all speak of it with WILD-EYED TERROR.

I would also like to extol the virtues of basil and lavender smells as potential deterrents. Apparently in the Philippines, where bedbugs are plentiful and people catch them in movie theaters (!!) they keep them at bay by mopping down their floors with an herbal mixture from a local tree whose smell resembles basil. If you've ever had basil growing or cut in water in your bedroom, you would notice how strong that smell is and not nec in the "oh nice! pesto!" variety. It is acrid. And perhaps the bedbugs think so too.

On another note, anyone experiencing color contest fatigue?

munckee - once a formerly stabilised apt in NY goes above $2000 its a free-for-all. My landlord seems to raise it about 3-4% per year (which is very reasonable....).

Luckysquid - Check craigslist, bet theres loads of people offering tailoring services....

I feel so bad! I did not realize I could be exposing my neighbors to bedbugs. I will wash the chair asap with alcohol, and bag it.
I don't know if I want to keep it for 18 months in my expensive locker, because at that point it would be more cost effective to buy a new chair.

Damn those bedbugs... removing all the fun of finding awesome street finds!

Nathalie,

i hear ya, but it's best to keep precautious (if that word even exists). I would suggest that you go to an exterminator and buy an inexpensive, nontoxic bed bug killing thing (google bedbugs, there's some mega store up in the bronx with TONS of info on their site and they ship their wares, and it's not too pricey), spray the thing, bag it for a few months and then wash it down again. Call up the experts/exterminators,talk to them about this issue and then share :)

Good luck, i'm with ya on this one. I still want to rescue cool wood furniture from the landfill, but ... smartly.

VickyA - yes, 3 clicks, but only on windows, not mac. This also went on some time ago, then it got fixed, and it just recently started. People have been complaining about it. I wish it would get fixed - tres annoying and slow.

It's only in Windows because it's a problem that goes with IE as your browser. There's something in the site coding of some messageboard-type applications (basically, a forum that allows comments) that causes IE to get confused about the back button. It has to be fixed on the server side, so changing your IE settings won't help, though if you use a browser other than IE, you shouldn't have the triple-click-to-go-back problem.

All right, so I tried to follow the 57" rule for hanging pictures for a poster I want over my desk. Unfortunately, my monitor basically makes this impossible without having the monitor cover part of the picture. I'm also wary of hanging it so the bottom edge is above the monitor, as it ends up hanging VERY high (a full 8" higher). What should I do?

I recently repainted my bathroom a kind of tiffany blue. In the change I got rid of the hideous dingy once-white over the toilet storage so now we have a nice big wall. The roommates veto every picture I suggest and I liked the flower decals from Ikea I saw in one of the color contest rooms. My concern is that they'd peel off since the walls get damp during showers. Would they peel off or should I just buy a non-fussy-old-lady flower stencil and paint the wall?

munckee, the hideous truth is that the landlord can raise (or, theoretically, lower) the rent on a market-rate apartment by any amount/percentage s/he chooses. Where I live, rents have been galloping upward since January and I think they're up about 40% for the year, which is shocking. No price jump in October.

Once you sign the lease that rate is locked in until renewal, of course.

I love the color contest but I'm ready for some finalists already!

wende in phoenix - are you saying that this has to do with the AT site/servers? This is a problem that has appeared, gone away (fixed?), and now reappeared and is common to a bunch (but apparently not all) of AT visitors. Do you know if it can be fixed?

I'm enjoying the Color Contest this time and I think a lot has to do with the end of day "round up" posts, where you can view and vote on all the new entrants from one post, as opposed to keeping up with each and every single post from each AT site. Bravo to whoever came up with that and may it continue into the other contests.

Yes, I too appreciate the round-up posts. Great saver of my time, these days!

The back button issue irks me too. I use IE, and it's a relief to realise it's not JUST my problem! I just go to my back button DOWN arrow (the recent history) and click on the Apartment Therapy button and thus skip the one or two pages that say http://pagead2(dot)googlesyndication(dot)com/pa

Still, very annoying.

Thanks for the input everyone. That's what I was afraid of. We'll see how bad they try to nail us.