"Week one.The office has become a dumping ground. First thing. File all of the paperwork that is piling on the floor! It's insurance statements, bank statements, kids' photos, etc. Weeding through that mess took me three evenings. I can actually see the floor now!" ~ Jen64 (see photos on flickr)
• Cure Clock: 7 weeks remaining
• Assignment: Chapter 2
• Kitchen deep cleaning & cooking a meal (roast chicken, anyone?)
• Working on your floorplan and establishing your style
• Curees: 715 and counting.....
>> New Flickr Group: AT Home Cure (Thanks, Nudik!)
Wow, we're really growing this time. I couldn't be happier. Hopefully our new page and the emails (first one went out on Saturday) are helping, and we've also got one Flickr account that we can all use, started up by Nudik which we can now all assemble ourselves (see above). Remember, that if you want us to post your pics, you still need to send them to us, but it's great that we can all share pics in one place this time around...
Alrighty, with this, my fourth Cure, I am trying to finish up an entryway remodel. I'm looking for a wall-mounted coat rack and need to paint a concrete landing to 'match' the newly polished terrazzo stairs.
And as it is bathroom month, I also want to share a few photos of my fall cure 2008 project which finally wrapped up last week. AT and its community really helped us with making some of our bath purchase and design decisions. Thanks, AT! ~ Wig3000
This week is all about two things really. It's about falling back in love with your kitchen if you're going room by room and planning a room rearrangement if you're doing the one-room workout.
This kitchen week is one of the most satisfying cures, because the reward of cooking at the end is so gratifying. Particularly if your one of those people who DOESN'T cook much, this is such a great opportunity to start and to stock up on some nice ingredients in the process. Buying food is fun, and it's one of the most affordable luxuries I know of. Cooking good food is also essential for "seasoning" the home. Literally, the smells of good cooking sink into your home, acting like pheromones and making it a cozier, more comforting place to come home to every day. No cooking, no seasoning, and bad food (or too much grease) leads to too much.
If you're working on reorganizing and floor planning, you really want to work with the idea of "flow" lines and not try to make one room do too much. It may do it, but you'll water down each space in the process.
Flying over the country in a plane, you see the "flow lines" very clearly. As you leave the grid of the cities and see your first big river snaking through the landscape, twisting and turning, you see first hand, how nature wants us to move. The same is true in the home. As human beings we want to constantly move and flow around forms. As you move furniture around, experiment with opening up as many passages as possible so that you can enter and exit the room differently each time. Don't "organize" your space. Organizing is what we do to our shoes, magazines and books. What people want is nice space to flow through.
My final thought for this week is - as always - to be careful and don't bite off too much. If you feel you might be, this is your week to recalibrate and "back away from the car." I want you to be successful, not open up a can of worms that you can't close up and which leaves you stressed out in week 8. We do this twice a year, so make sure you've got a fun, doable project on your hand and then let 'er rip.
With that in mind, don't forget that this is your week to really think ahead and plan for your little (or big) house warming party around Memorial Day. When you've locked in that date and you've got your vision, you'll find the Cure Gravity pull you right through to the end.
Best, Maxwell
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This is from Hannah, who looks to be working on her living room this time around.
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This is my second Cure and I am concentrating on the living room, entryway and hallway. Painters are hired colors are picked can't wait to start.....Posting the before pics can't wait to post the after. Besides painting I need to purge purge purge way to much "stuff". ~ KMG
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I bought the book late summer 2008 and followed the steps. I purged stuff at 2 flea markets, rearranged the bedroom, and got rid of ugly black speakers in LR. However, I am still feeling a bit un-creative. I would say I am half way cured!I did Bedroom, Kitchen and Living Room. Posted are the before pics. ~ Live2Ski
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- POST INDEX SPRING 2009
• Week 1.5 - Show & Tell
• Week 1 - Tips & Tricks
• Week 1.5 - Intro
- CURE INFO
>> Main Cure Page - Spring 2009
>> About The Book
>> Excerpt from Chapter I
- BUY A BOOK
>> From Amazon
>> From Powell's
>> From Barnes & Noble
If anyone has favorite wall-mounted coat rack suggestions, I'd love to hear about them! So far, we have an Eames Hang-It-All, Shaker peg rails, an expandable rack, and a custom DIY project in the running.
I hope everyone's cures are progressing well!
view wig3000's profile
There seem to be some hiccups with this post. We saw Wig's photos of her kitchen & bath earlier, they're gone now, but I recognize her written description of redoing her entryway which remains ("Alrighty, with this my fourth Cure...").
Now there are two sets of photos from kmg's living room I'm guessing (she's testing paint colors in a couple of these shots). Her text is up there and says "This is my second Cure..."
Don't think I know Hannah, but if that's her livingroom it's looking lovely : ) .
view jendavid99's profile
ahhh, that's better, thanks : )
view jendavid99's profile
what happened to posting the actual assignments in the assignment category? i miss them--they were my quick reference cheat sheet as to what i had to do for the week!
view nae02etc's profile
yes, I was experimenting with some stuff and it created glitches. all fixed now.
Hey, nae02etc, if you liked that I'll add it back in. I didn't think people read that.
view Maxwell's profile
Assignments pls?? The book promised me!!
*begs for the help of the wise*
view prairie girl's profile
Maxwell, yes please! Maybe I'm the only one who used the assignments, but they sure were helpful. I admit that not having them has made me crack open the book again...which is GOOD!...but I often check the site when I don't have my book handy. Oh, and I have to say that the assignments were what got me excited about the Cure last fall and got me motivated to buy the book to read more! Looking forward to my first Spring Cure, made lots of progress since last time, and need to make it a point to share some photos.
view nae02etc's profile
I'm waith nae02etc - I'm very checklist oriented so assignments/to do lists would be awesome!
view cowbark's profile
The worksheet links are all broken - please fix!
view turk182's profile
Yes, the assignments are great. Those help keep me on track.
view ashleym (aka autzve on flickr)'s profile
Lol, my friends are getting annoyed. I'm carrying around the damn book like it's a bible. Reading chapter 2 and 3 over and over again. Though furniture purchasing isnt until later, I just got the adorable dining room set yesterday. Need to clear the area where it's going to go. So excited!
view chusmabilly's profile
All those 'annoyed friends' are going to be so jealous when your place is Cured and gorgeous, then they'll be asking for your help to do theirs.
view jendavid99's profile
Buying food is decidedly not fun. Who enjoys grocery shopping? Well... I'm sure there are people who enjoy it. But, personally, I think it is a chore... and my least favorite one at that.
view jyw's profile
RE: Annoyed friends. Ask them to help you paint ;) They'll scatter quickly.
view bfootnovellista's profile
I love grocery shopping, always have LOL. It's the cooking and cleaning I don't necessarily enjoy
view Leigh Anne's profile
I love grocery shopping! I just don't like the other people in the store while I'm shopping. :P
view sparkle's profile
Ah, yes, well, that's the a big part of the reason I don't enjoy grocery shopping. If i had my own private grocery store, I might enjoy it. Heh.
view jyw's profile
Wednesday or Thursday nights are the best time to be in the grocery store. Seriously, nobody is there!
I hate the cleaning, but I have to say that I really love how much nicer my apartment looks. I guess I'll have to maintain it now. *sigh
view Erin C's profile
Anyone find the checklists?
view casapinka's profile
OKay, I'm still a bit confused but I'm signing in and signing up for my first Cure because my book has finally become available to me at the library. I'm going to pick it up today and try to get my wits about me...
http://www.carinagardner.com
view carinagardner's profile
Still waiting on delivery of the book. Assignments are totally helpful! I need something to start with before I get out of school and it gets warm enough to build stuff on the front lawn!
view Nolann's profile
7 kitchen cabinets purged and cleaned. 3 to go. Any ideas out there on storing a sticky honey container? Or ideas on removing the sticky.
view kris10k's profile
Hi there, I am a newbie and still haven't received the book but I got started last week on the list of tasks for each room. When I thought i was done with one room I would move on but then would see things in the new room that would send me back to the last room. So lots of tasks and projects. Some are de-cluttering and some a decorative. Part of this Cure will be a gigantic yard sale. I'll start posting photos eventually but I'm still a little shy...:)
view margitnissa's profile