apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I did the one room cure of my balcony... I haven't finished yet, but I will! Some things are on backorder (seemingly forever), a few I'm still chasing down a supplier for, and the rest are in work. I am aiming for a Memorial Day finish!

Well, I consider myself a graduate, but the Cure always surprises me. I end up accomplishing things that I didn't set out to accomplish...perhaps they are the most appreciated accomplishments too!...and then other things on the list are still there. I have no complaints though. Any improvement is most definitely just that.

I accomplished quite a bit and am very proud of the current state of my home. But, as always, I still have more that I want to get done! Mainly I want to get my tiny kitchen table made and finish the kitchen nook, but of course a bunch of other little things have to get done first before any of that can happen. I'm hoping to get of my place to some sort of finished state (or at least to a point where I don't have to keep making outboxes!) by the beginning of June, that way I can have all summer to enjoy it!

Maxwell, have you moved?

That doesn't look like your weekend barn, and your wine rack and chairs from the apartment are in the room... have I missed a major announcement while on vacation??

Like everyone else, I accomplished a lot during the cure and set many new (smaller) projects in motion. The goal is to finish my dining room by Memorial Day weekend. I hope to take some time off during the summer but want to get an early start on the fall cure (one room treatment- bedroom).

I never officially signed up for the cure but we did set out a chore list to avoid having things fall through the cracks and our apartment getting out of control. The place looks better just because we're picking up more often (which then helps speed up actual cleaning) and I was inspired to pull out a rug I've had stored for years and put it in the living room. It looks great! My home is a much more relaxing place.

After I emptied my outbox, my cure was stalled. There were too many things going on in my life at the time, that I wasn't able to keep up with it. Now that I have more free time to myself, I plan to pick up where I left off and hopefully finish the cure in the next 3 weeks.

curious, how hot does that type if lighting get? im feeling it may be a very grim choice for my kitchen since its usually hotter in their to begin with for many reasons.

I'm so sorry I missed the cure. But you all have inspired me. I'm started a major clean out of my apartment this weekend and, despite stopping for an hour here and there from the sheer overwhelm of it, it's going well. Left my first big batch of books on the street today (per the assignment) and have a bunch of stuff being retrieved by Freecyclers this afternoon as well. I've made not quite a dent (more a minor scratch) but it's in progress and thus, go me.

Is there a sort of side group for those of us doing the cure (and I'm using the book) on the 'off season'? I'd join that.

Beautiful job everyone. I'm going to follow along the old posts to keep me inspired.

I am almost there - I had to put everything on hold the past few weeks as I am in event season with work and we leave for vacation on Monday. The bedroom, which was a horror-show, is all de-cluttered and I have kept up making the bed everyday and have my fresh flowers in the house weekly. We just need to paint the bedroom, planned for weekend of June 8th, and then we are all set!
(I am SarahhnRob on the flickr pool)

I should be there!! Yey for graduation!

I redid the kitchen. I still plan on painting cabinets and putting up a back splash in a few weeks. But i finished what i had planned to do for the now and it looks great! :-D

This was such a great experience! I can see now that it will take a few more "Cures" to get all of my home in it's best form, but the changes made in these last 8 weeks have been amazing: I redid the entertainment area, replaced a big tv with a spare flat pc monitor that I can watch tv through (since it has the right inputs), I cleared out a lot of candles and candle holders that were just collecting dust (keeping only the ones that I use often or love), hooked up the icemaker to the refridgerator (no more lugging in jugs of filtered water from the store, organized under the kitchen sink, the bathroom and linen closets, and through the sheer power of subliminal persuasion (i.e. me wanting it to happen), I even got my husband to re-organize his cd's and dvd's.

I still haven't painted, which was on my to-do list before the Cure, and I have a ways to go in the office and bedroom(which did get some cleaning and organizing but needs more), and also attention to the front and back yards. I also realized how many scrapbooking, framing, and sewing projects I need to catch up on. Still, this was absolutely AMAZING!!!

Thank you all for your before and after photos, and good advice; it was a great influence!!!

I did it! I only made a small commitment of the bathroom shelves, but one thing led to another and I got two rooms done. The Boston group & the main discussion group heard all about the snags, the interuptions, the distractions & my family.
I am not really a joiner & have a hard time following the rules. (My 4' Pink's album poster is hanging over my head above my bed.) But without all of you I would not have been as motivated and might have gone on to something else or just went out drinkin'.
The living room pics already went up (I'm Chloe & Ivan)
The befores of the living room were not horrible (like the rest of my apt) but the room didn't work. Now it does.
Now I just want to be in the living room or the bathroom and avoid the rest of the place!
The balcony is next, that is SanDiegoAT's fault (can't wait to see hers!
Repeating myself to some people here, but I felt that this project was fought like hell, like in the book The War of Art. Man O man. Joymich, did you read it yet? I think you already know a lot of it, but sometimes it is good to hear it from somewhere besides the voices in your own head! (not implying that joymich hears voices)
Thank you to everyone, thank you Maxwell.

I'm almost done. I've been busy with school but I've been working hard. I recently re-acquired a few things that I had been storing at my mom's house, and now I have to decide whether to keep them or not, and if so, where to put them. I'm most excited about my living room, because I set up a wonderful desk area for myself, and my boyfriend and I built a multifunctional couch/guest bed. I'll send in some photos.

I hope I'm done this weekend, but there always seems to be a detail I've forgotten. This is my second one-room cure since February. I'm tired, but I'll be quite pleased when I'm done. I have a Cubits shelving system waiting to be put together. :)

I have to say, I never thought I'd be able to do all this myself. I'm almost 58, and some days after working on a room, I thought I couldn't get off the floor. I was scared to do this, because I started out knowing nothing except how to paint. I've ripped out carpets and carpet tack strips with a crowbar ("I need a crowbar, he said. What's a crowbar?"), laid Flor carpet, painted, cleaned, patched holes in the concrete slab, laid vinyl tile, replaced base board and base trim. I'm really proud of myself.
Next is my room. The carpet is waiting for me. And it is gorgeous.

I've found great ideas and creativity here from others. Congratulations and thanks to everyone - from experience we all know it can be a struggle. But home is looking and feeling wonderful.

I set out to finally get a hold of my studio apt's main living space. I finished all of those little things that add up. Items left are one throw pillow to complete for my new loveseat and hang some curtains! The main goal was furniture placement and color scheme to make a more pulled together look in a small space.

I mean there are always little things that need to be tweaked, but for the main goal set forth during the Cure, I'm done.

Thanks AT and the gang for all the help and encouragement!

I installed a new pantry, deep cleaned half the house, had a new A/C system installed, bought allergen covers for the bedding, purged like crazy, and emptied the outbox. I also made style trays for 2 rooms which I will continue to work on. (Some of the items are costly.)

I would consider myself a spring '09 cure graduate, though my apartment doesn't look the way I want it to be yet. I made great strides this cure, but I think it's going to take another cure or two before I'm done. I have big plans for this place. ;)

I don't consider myself a full graduate until I finish every room, not just the bedroom that I started with. And though the bedroom isn't done either, it's not for lack of trying. I just couldn't find the final items to finish the room. But the cure certainly helped me focus and by the time the September one rolls around I'll be ready for another room. I put together a small website to grow as the house does. Keeps me motivated and positive.
Thanks Maxwell.

alleynyc and all, come on over to a new flickr group called -home-: www.flickr.com/groups/-home-

Consider it a place to hang out, share pictures, and talk about home projects and design obsessions in between official Apartment Therapy cures.

I hope you'll join us!

I was sidelined by work (thank god). I was really working hard on de-cluttering but stalled out office week. However, I do feel an improvement already and have found myself cooking more. After memorial day I plan to take up where I left off. I have really found it helpful to read of and see everyone's progress. I will post more images on Flickr once I've started up again...hopefully others may have had the same life interference and will continue on from their stall point as well.

Congrats to all who cured

So, I fell off the wagon, to an extent. But turns out, mid-way through the cure, I decided to move! So, rather than focusing on typical cure tasks, I ended up decluttering and cleaning up my home, before I packed it into boxes. And it really helped! I took three big boxes and three garbage bags full to Goodwill. Next Fall will allow me to focus on my new space and I can't wait!

I am soooo almost finished with my mini dressing room cure. I just got my curtains that I have to put up and do some arranging and I'm done.

Right now I have a wall of organized closet/storage space and a reading nook and for the first time I like the room. Theres a method to this. I ended up spending hours for two months in a room I hadn't spent more than 15 minutes at a time for 5 years. As you change the things you don't like you start to like your room.

I painted and did such a good job (like a pro) that I started painting the rest of my apartment (the rain held me up) but thats almost done too.

Thanks Tles for good advise. I managed to clear out 50 art books from my apartment in two weeks. (5 every day and donated them)

Bromeliad thanks -got the ELFA on sale ... got the whole system at half price and then I even reconfigured and still got those pieces on sale.