apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

During the first Cure I took apart my "media wall," bought six small bookcases to put in different rooms in my one bedroom apartment, put away all media stuff and gave my big tv away. I do have an old "13 inch portable I keep in the closet, just in case there's something I want to watch. Now I'm thinking about getting a small flat screen tv to put in one of the bookcases in the living room. Here's the question..I didn't have and am not interested in cable and the reception was fine with the local channels with my old tv...will a flat screen receive the local channels as well?

Not that this is directly related to design, but it does have to do with general apt living wellness...
Our cat scratches everything at night. Doors, walls, sheets, etc. He doesn't do it during the day, but at night goes absolutely nuts. It seems like he's trying to keep us awake to give him attention. We have tried several conventional and non conventional ways to get him to stop, but so far noting has really worked. Anyone have any suggestions or had the same problem? We're losing a lot of sleep.

Careen~u should ask this question in A.T. tech. they may be able to help you out. when i purchased my first HD flat screen t.v. i had to switch cable boxes because i was told that the channels would come in blurred. I've always had cable for reception. my guess is that if the flat screen you want to purchase is high definition you may need to get some type of basic h.d. reception in order to get the most clarity. basic reception does not cost much and you will get a clear picture.
go online and do some further research you can also contact by email any cable providers in your area and they will answer your questions. also, if you go check out some flat screens you could ask the salesrep in this dept.

Careen,
You should post your question in the Tech section. I'm no expert, but I believe you need a digital antenna (because all flat screens are HD). But first you have to find out what HD signals are broadcast in your area. There's a website for that, but I don't remember it off the top of my head. Hope it's a start...

matthew,

cats are nocturnal, why do you think they sleep all damn day??

get a spray bottle and when you wake up to their antics, hit em with a spray.

also, play with them A LOT before bedtime, it'll tire them out.

and give them toys, climbing things, you name it.

they are, after all, little wild animals stuck in our modern and well decorated cages :)

@matthew. here's what i've noticed with my own cat:
i work from home, but there are also days when i leave early in the morning and return very late in the evening. these are also the days when the cat can become very annoying, ie just screams and meouws at me, wants me to walk around the apartment with her, shreds the bathmat,scratches the couch etc. i figured it's because she spent the whole day alone sleeping and generally being bored. so now when i come home, immediately after i've 'landed' (taken off shoes, coat, washed hands) she gets an intensive cuddling and later before bed i just generally try to totally waste her by playing. the catdancer, throwing balls, throwing treats, usually she doesn't last longer than 5-10min and my reward is undisturbed sleep.

Hello, I have a delivery tipping question.

Tomorrow we are finally getting our kitchen countertop installed (after 3 long months being indecisive on our part and then dealing with flaky contractors). The piece for the island measures 3' x 9'. We insisted on getting it in one piece since it would be so prominent in our apartment and I was afraid of a bad seam. It's too big to fit in the elevator so we were able to find an installer who would be willing to carry this insanely heavy piece of Caesertone up 5 flights of stairs. We are paying about $450 more for the extra manpower for this.

Should we tip each carrier a tip on top of that?

My mother is making me feel bad about making them carry something this heavy being if something happens it will be on my conscience...

Thanks for reading.

Careen,

As everyone else said, I'm also no expert on flat screen technology. But I did read, that in a couple years, I think all antennae will be obsolete because television will no longer be broadcast over the airwaves.

http://www.news.com/Early-2009-set-for-end-of-analog-TV/2100-1028_3-6034105.html

Matthew - We got two kittens about a month ago, and despite having two scratching posts in the apartment, one of them will only use them if we pick him up while he's scratching the rugs or furniture and put him directly on one of the scratching posts. It's not as if he doesn't know he's only supposed to use the posts - I think it's his way of getting attention. He is better, though, when we tire him out by playing, as others have said (having him run around like a maniac), and feeding him right before we go to bed. A laser pointer is great, because you can sit on your couch while he runs around trying to catch the red dot.

Matthew,

Three things to try:

1) Exercise--break out the cat dancer about an hour before you want to sleep and try to exhaust the little beast.

2) Turkey before bed--cats love it, and the tryptophan helps knock them out.

3) Drugs--I don't remember the name any longer, but there's a wall plug-in system that supposedly sends out calming vapors. There are also additives you can put in their water (Good Cat is one brand name I remember). I never saw much effect on my wild beast but some people swear by them.

Also, do you have a dedicated scratching post or cat tree? They are fugly, true, but having a tree gave my cat something to focus on and she stopped (mostly) scratching up the bookcases. Douse it in catnip as soon as you bring it home.

My question: Has anyone ever ordered from Rainbow Appliances online? They have sketchy feedback on a review site, but they also have the pretty Summit 24" fridge for about $100 less than I've seen it elsewhere.

Sarah, TV will still be broadcast in two years, just not via an analog signal. All broadcasts will be digital, which is compatable with HD flat panels. It's the old, analog TVs that will be obsolete for airwave reception.

Nathalie, I sympathize with you. I am always up in the air on who to tip, how much, etc. My opinion is a tip is not *required* here, but you could certainly give them a few extra dollars or buy them lunch or something since it sounds like such a tough job. Also, on special requests like this (presuming everything goes well), I will send a note to the owners of the company and say what a great job the guys did (naming names whenever possible).

hey - this is just a comment to all the wonderful US online stores who don't ship to canada (dwr, west elm, design public, etc...) - you're missing out on a lot of business, and especially now that our dollar is doing so well, canucks want to spend their money in the US! i just spent a bunch on fabric from purl soho - i think shipping is $9 to canada. shipping is actually pretty cheap between the two countries, and there is this little thing called free-trade and nafta that are supposed to help in this situation. you'd think that free trade would mean being able to purchase goods more easily rather than meaning our countries can pollute each other more easily...
all this rant to say ship to me! i want to buy all the nice things i see on AT and d*s and in magazines for my lil apartment.

Carren -- Televisions come with or without a tuner. You need one with a tuner. The specs should so indicate. An "ATSC Tuner" is an HDTV tuner that will receive digital over-air broadcasts. Most TVs do have them -- they are supposed to be advertised as "monitors" if there is no tuner.

careen, you don't need to get cable to get digital channels. You can get plenty of digital channels and even HD channels with an antennae IF you live in a area that have good reception. This is commonly referred to as OTA (over the air).
You need to look for a tv that has a digital tuner built in (it's often listed as ASTC Tuner). Read the specs on the tv carefully. For a long time, they snap a HDTV sticker on a tv set, which doesn't nessecarily mean the tuner is built in (you would still have to pay for a separate box).
Don't throw out your old tv just yet, you can get a separate digital tuner box for it (the plan is that they will be discounted when the date is closer to shutting down the analog signals) to receive digital channels.
The regular antennae you have is fine. The antannae they often advertise as HDTV antennae are no better the the regular old antennaes.
I just bought a new Samsung HDTV, I use the same 7 yr old indoor RCA antennae I was using on my old tv. I now receive over 30 channels OTA, and all the major networks & several PBS stations also broadcast in HDTV.
Check out http://www.antennaweb.org/ put in your address to see what possible digital and HDTV channels you can receive.

anyone know of cool magazines for corporate interior design? for, like, offices? but, like, high end industrial modern awesomeness? and, like, in magazine form, not a catalog?

ok, like dwell but for offices.

Matthew,
There's a great radio show called "Calling All Pets" that focuses on animal behavior and discusses problems with pets every single episode. There might be something under the tips section on their website:
http://www.wpr.org/pets/

Also, there's different things you can do to make the stuff your cat is scratching repellant to the cat, like maybe tinfoil and other things. I don't have experience with that since I don't think I've ever had a cat that scratched up the furniture.

All the other tips people said are right on too.

Hi - We need help! My husband and I bought a vintage condo in the city in the spring. To cut to the chase, our downstairs neighbor has an el-cheap O, ceiling fan that vibrates through the floor, along the floor joists, and into our bedroom. I know, it sounds absurd, right? Also absurd is that we have tried EVERYTHING: every negotiation strategy including a check for $500 to buy/install a new fan or do whatever with; and every toleration strategy including over $2k in rugs, pads, sound-deadening barriers, etc. Nothing. It's on 24/7, even when she's away for several days at a time. While we appreciate any ideas, our focus is now on how to "disable" the fan / fan motor (without breaking/entering!!). We are thinking through the floor or electrical supply.
There are a lot of clever people on this site. Anyone?
Thanks!!

saraho, i think calling 311 and talking to the super is a better bet than becoming a member of AT and asking here. but good luck with that!

do you recall the Seinfeld episode where Elaine tried to shut up her vacationing neighbor's yowling cat or alarm clock or both (I can't remember ahah) and in the process broke Kramer's deli slicer?

anyway, it did not turn out well. take heed!

kdkaboom - I get a magazine called "Contract"
http://www.contractmagazine.com/contract/index.jsp

It's a really thick magazine for corporate interiors (and the occassional restaurant or hotel) and I get it free for being a designer. I think you have to pay if you aren't a designer but honestly, I'm not sure how they'd know since you can have it shipped anywhere. (Mine goes to my house instead of work).

Oh and of course, Interior Design magazine. It's mostly corporate interiors. www.interiordesign.net

laura, thank you so much! i'm passing it along to The Boss.
any others would be highly depreciated! ;)