apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I just moved into a new apartment with super high ceilings (~ 15 feet high). This makes hanging curtains and ceiling lamps a bit of a challenge. Is there somewhere in the city that rents ladders? Home Depot maybe?

Does anyone have any information on this Knoll chair? Thanks!

http://i38.tinypic.com/15zppb9.jpg

My ceilings are high too and I could not find any hardware stores that rents ladders that were tall enough. Even the fold up ladders were too short. So, here's what I did. I walked to the nearest building with a scaffold and I struck a deal with the people who were working on the building. They came to my apartment on a Saturday with their own ladder and I paid them for a half hour's work.

Does anyone know how long it takes to have a 'Good Question' posted?

GinaAnn9, FWIW, I suspect not all Questions get posted; I sent in one several days ago and have heard nothing back (not even an automated response, so perhaps I did something wrong!). No idea what gets something posted vs. not.

But speaking of questions, if anyone has any idea where to get these shelves in Manhattan now, I would love to know:

http://www.puntmobles.es/UK/product/basic/literatura%20basic.htm

Kate3,
I hope you see this: I called the restaurant in Paris where you saw the light fixture you wrote about in your "Good Question."
The fixtures were designed by the restaurant's architect, Gerard Pras. The owner gave me his cell phone number, if you'd like to talk to him about buying one. I don't want to post the phone number here, but you can reach me at sr(dot)ed(dot)france(at)gmail(dot)com and I'll pass it on.

Did you look up equipment rentals in the Yellow Pages?

United Rentals comes to mind.

Call painting contractors

When I submitted a question, I got an email within a day or two that it was going to be posted. But that might not be typical.

GinaAnn9 - mnovik is correct, not all questions get posted. I post the best: the questions that are clear and concise and aren't too general. Questions submitted with a good picture will always catch my attention. Often, we get very similar general questions that were answered by the community only days before, so make certain your question is specific. Thanks!

I just received my shipment of Cole and Son's "Woods" wallpaper from the UK. It looked dark blue online, but ended up being a "mauvy gray" and silver- completely different than what I had expected! Since it is prohibitively expensive to ship it back and it is a beautiful paper, I am wondering which colors work well with "mauvy gray" (besides pink and purple, that is!). It's really a true gray with just a teensy bit of mauve thrown.

can anyone recomend a good building management company that works in Williamsburg/Brooklyn and services condos/condo boards? The building is 8 units. The management company we currently have just isn't doing it's job, and we're tired of trying to get simple things around the building done in a timely manner. Any leads would be appreciated! Thanks!

I'm starting a kitchen remodel and am looking for an over-the-range microwave to go with my new 24" range. The only one I've been able to find that's less than the 30" wide standard is a 22" LG model. It comes in "silver" but not in actual stainless steel. Does anyone know of any others in a 24" wide or smaller size?

Dark plum perhaps?

Actually, in regards to the tree wallpaper (I am thinking of doing it in my hallway). How big was the space you are papering? The hallway I am thinking about papering is about 6x5, but there are 3 doorways so I am not sure how much to order. Definitely don't want to over order based on the price!

msinbk, I could give you an earful of woe about this paper. It's a beautiful paper, but because of my ceiling height (9ft), the large repeat (28in) and the half-drop, I would only be able to use about 18ft out of a 30ft roll or about 41 linear inches of wall. As it turns out, if I reduce the height to 8ft (and painting above/below the wallpaper installation), I can use almost all of the roll and yield 62 linear inches of wall per roll. Crazy, I know... Oh, and don't get me started on the drama of trying to find the most appropriate hanging method... this stuff is made the old-fashioned way out of real pulpy paper, so I hear it's prone to call kinds of pratfalls if not hung properly.

And I did consider dark plum... but it's too purple. I guess I am still traumatized by my 1990s purple phase...

Originally my intention was to paper a single (long) wall, floor-to-ceiling in a 25' x 13'6" bedroom. However, now that I am reconfiguring things to squeeze out more coverage from each roll of this spendy paper, I am going to hang it as two pieces of artwork- about 8' x 18' on one wall and about 8' x 8' on the adjacent wall. I am going to use simple picture-frame casing as a border around the wallpaper. I was horrified about doing this at first, but I am starting to warm to the idea. I think the casing (painted in metallic silver or bronze) may add an element of architectural interest/depth to an otherwise plain wall. And it's also going to make installation a heck of a lot easier since I don't have to worry about making precision cuts in the corner and along the base moulding.

I really like a soft, muted terracotta with mauve-gray myself.

Anyone know where you can buy affordable interior shutters that are made of wood? I tried the"depot" and their interior shutters were pvc! It seems the only one selling them on Craigslist is up the Hudson and I'm down on Long Island.

To hejiranyc - In my old house I had painted my walls a beautiful mauvey-gray-brown Benjamin Moore color called 'Smoked Oyster'. The furniture was dark neutral-colored contemporary with Danish modern accents but I used pops of color in a reddish-orange tomato color that looked fantastic with the walls.

mikey_hong: I can recommend Cooper Sq. Management -- they service small buildings like yours. They're one of the few in the city who do. Am pretty sure they do Brooklyn. GL!

I'm dying to paint a small wall that juts out a matte deep purple but having trouble finding the right saturated color.
I like the Benjamin Moore lotus purple but it looks like no color, very blackish when i painted a sample on the wall.

Help!
What is a good shade of deep purple, that does not read black during the daylight. The room has alot of light.

dewi, you might want to consider a not-so-deep purple. even a matte finish will read black. check out this image i saved a while ago from this site:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2847673109_fdf63412f4.jpg

could be a good compromise for you. i think it's a beautiful shade and like it as an accent wall color.

Mikey_Hong,
I have been a president of my co-op board, we are very happy with my management company, Direct Management (718)274-4300.
Jake could definitely help you.

Dewi,
Farrow & Ballow Brinial 222 was recommended in House Beautiful (Color for small rooms).
According to the interior designer, "....during the day, it is deep, deep purple, and at night it looks more brown..."

hejira--

Did you not consider ordering a swatch before placing your order?

Well Miaues,
You're brilliant !
That is a fantastic color F & B Brinial. I looked at the color swatches and missed this color the other day. I have never ordered from them, so I need to call on Monday for help in ordering. I'm so excited.

duckumu,
That too is an absolutely lovely color, but would not work for the room.

I will have a beech wood table in front of the "eggplant purple" wall. I have a deep red silk large allluminare pendant shade hanging from the ceiling in front of the wall.
So a deep purple is a must. Maybe if i can figure out how to post a pic i will show you all.

I heart the red shade hanging in front of the purple!

Dewi,
I am so excited too.
And I would loooove to see the pic when you are all done.

Shawn,
Lowes in Brooklyn had a 24" stainless microwave when I went there a month ago.
Check it out.

Does anyone know how/why your IP gets banned on here? When I use my assistant's computer here I have to use his login on Firefox (firefox won't clear his screenname for some reason), I get a message that says comments are no longer accepted from that IP. But neither he or I have said anything offensive on here ... any ideas? This happen to anyone else? AT has no tech support to ask. Thanks guys!

The same thing happened to me when I tried to comment this morning Ridge. I don't think I've said anything offensive either so it seems like it might be an AT tech issue.

Anyway, I have a question for you all:

I'm thinking of using a long branch like this or this to make my own wall art. Does anyone know of places in Manhattan where I could find such a branch? I don't think the park conservancy would look kindly on my taking a hacksaw to one of the trees in Central Park =P

Thanks, JH. I figured that was it but there was no way to confirm.

JH4285,
If you walk in parks, you could find many natually broken branches. Take them home and cut them to your preference.
(You don't like to look suspicious walking with your hacksaw.)
I wish you had posted this a few days earlier, there were perfect branches for you the other day in the park where I do volunteer gardening.
If there is a way to contact you, I could save them for you.

All - We did experience some hiccups with our commenting system after a server update yesterday morning. We believe we've fixed it now, if you are STILL having issues, please email us at newyork(@)apartmenttherapy(.com) with your AT community name and the link to the post you were attempting to comment on, and we will make certain to fix the problem. Thanks, and sorry for the confusion!

Anyone else having problems loading AT with Safari? I've been getting a BAD REQUEST screen for 2 days... I just thought the site was down till I tried Firefox.

Jenny,

Try holding down the shift key and reloading in Safari -- it's possible you got a bad response that Safari then kept in its cache. Let us know if that doesn't work.

Miaues,

Thanks for the tip! AT doesn't seem to allow for sending messages, so alas, we probably won't be able to touch base. Are there particular parts of the park where I might be more likely to find fallen branches?

hejiranyc --

which colourway did you order 12150 or 12151? I'm having a hard time picturing it.

My question -- does anyone know what happened with AT Europe?? I really miss Kristin's posts.

As well, I haven't been able to get on the past couple of days -- instead of opening AT, I'd get a message that said "BAD REQUEST". Only Ohdeedoh seemed to work normally.

mschatelaine - Kristin resigned and no longer writes for AT.

Are you also using Safari? Try the Cache trick that Scott recommended above and let us know if you are still having problems.

Anyone have a Wordpress/CSS designer they would recommend? I need to trick out (yes, borrowed that phrase from the 80's) my blog and finally move it to its own domain. I bought a Woo Theme but am completely tarded when it comes to CSS. I can scrape it over but that's as far as I get.

thanks!

xoxo
iloveupstate (at) gmail (dot) com

Yes, I'm on Safari, on both computers... AT opens on my laptop, but not the office computer. Will try the trick to get rid of the cache.

JH4285
There are two ways to get branches.
You can stroll in woody area and find branches by yourself.
Or you can go the area where park workers keep broken branches and pick some.
(Those branches will go through wood choppers to make mulches eventually.)
If you go to park and tell the park worker about your mission, I am sure they will help you.

Aaron -- the cache trick didn't work :-(

mschatelaine- it's 12151. It is truly the most perplexing color... it is mauve at times, gray at other times. And the tree design actually appears to be silver ink. Anyway... I am now at peace with painting the other walls in the room a mauve/dusty rose color. The curtains will be a heavy silver-gray tweed, which will help to keep the space from being too froo-froo. I think bright white, mauve, black, gray and some orange will make a nice modern/cozy color scheme.

On an unrelated note... are black hardwood floors a dwindling fad or are they here to stay? I love them, but I'm just afraid that they will age as badly as the pickled/bleached floors of the 80's/90's.

mschatelaine,

Can you find out which versions of OS X and Safari you are running on each computer? Also, you may want to make sure you're running the most recent version of Flash -- a Google Chrome user yesterday discovered that an old version of Flash caused her trouble -- which may be related to site ads.

Feel free to follow up here or email scott AT apartmenttherapy DOT com.

mschatelaine,

you may also want to try clearing your cookies (visiting: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/superlogout on the non-working Safari may also help).

To clear Safari's cookies:
Safari > Preferences > Security > "Show Cookies" > "Remove All"

Looking to stain and refinish my hardwood floors. Brooklyn Heights. Any recommendations? Also, any idea how much it would cost on square foot basis?

test

Hi all,
I'm looking for two recommendations:

1. A good quality apartment sized fridge with frost-free freezer compartment. Cannot be more than 23" wide, nor higher than 60-61." Must be able to have door handle on right & hinge on left (swing open right-to-left).

2. Recommendation for thorough, honest, efficient cleaning service in Manhattan. I need someone to come once every two or three weeks to help w/the deeper cleaning. Never had a cleaning person before, so please tell me what you expect/ask them to do, and how well they meet your requests. I'm fine with either a service or individual working independently, as long as they are trustworthy. If you'd rather not post contact info here, send me email directly: nycdi "at" nyc "dot" rr "dot" com

Thanks!

PS for mschatelaine: I was getting error messages and could not post until I changed my password, logged out, and logged back in. Now it all seems to be working!