• Cure Clock: 7.5 weeks remaining
• Assignment: Read Chapter 1: Creating Your Own Vision
• Curees: 602.....The first week of the cure is about creating your vision for your home. It's a time for dreaming, for creativity and for thinking about how your home can support your life. Perhaps you'd like to entertain more, maybe you want to have space for your crafting or you work at home and need a better workspace. We sent out this email last fall and now we (Abby and Laure) are teaming up to share our tips and tricks for helping you get the most out of your home cure...
Take A Good Look At Your Home.
Sit in places in your home you never sit in, clean it thoroughly (we like to organize our cleaning supplies in a caddy like this one from The Container Store so it's easier to cart them around from room to room) and make a list of all the stuff that bothers you whether it's the bathroom door that never shuts fully, the light that's not quite bright enough to read by, or finding a place to put your keys when you come in so you don't spend a half hour in the morning looking for them.
What's my ideal vision for my home?
Flip through books and magazines, marking pages, tearing them out (I love the ISlice for cutting out my images neatly) or scanning and uploading) your clips. Let yourself dream big! Put in a picture of that vanilla leather Eames chair you've always wanted and those really expensive lamps you saw in Elle Decor. While your budget may not be able to afford them this go-round, the universe has a funny way of making your vision a reality. I love these simple trays from West Elm for organizing my clippings and after the Cure I love them for serving drinks, eating in bed or catching keys and mail by my front door.
Hi, Laure chiming in here for a second. Wanted to share a couple of images from my style tray. These are just a couple of things that I have in a file marked 'inspiration' on my computer. As I surf through AT house tours, through sites like desire to inspire or the old Domino Archives I save images to my desk top and then file them away by room so that I can find them later. From this little group it would seem that I have multiple personalities--I love monochramtic soothing natural bedrooms and bright, eclectic living spaces.
This looks so sophisticated and grown up but still really really comfortable.Love these soothing colors and the touch of metallic wallpaper for glamour. Have no idea where I found the image, oops!
From Dan and Amy's Fall Colors Entry, love all those lamps and all that color!A thought on time management and the Cure
Group stuff together: buy flowers and magazines when you make your weekly grocery run. Pick up some earth friendly cleaning products (Bon Ami, Method, Mrs. Myers, Caldrea are some companies that make stuff we use and like) and you've accomplished 3 of this week's tasks without adding any additional time to your already jam packed schedule. Combine sitting in a new part of your home, cutting up mags and putting together your home repair list and voila! you've accomplished another 3 tasks.
Make cleaning fun and throw on some music.
Throughout the Cure I work on bringing more life into my home and getting rid of the stuff that drags me down. A huge way I keep myself motivated is with music. If I don't feel motivated to clean I can put on a favorite album and promise myself I'll clean for 3 songs. By the time the songs are over I feel like a different person and the house is a bit cleaner.
Here's a playlist to get you started (we'll be adding to it as the weeks go on):
- Call Me (Come Back Home) - Al Green
- Tap At My Window - Laura Marling
- Everything's Just Wonderful - Lily Allen
- Lesson Learned - Alicia Keys
- I'll Be Your Lover Too - Van Morrison
- A Sunday Kind of Love - Etta James
- Sweetest Thing - U2
- California - Joni Mitchell
- Come Over - Estelle
- Lookin' Out My Back Door - Creedence Clearwater Revival
- This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads
- Banana Pancakes - Jack Johnson
What do you love to listen to while you clean (or cure)?
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Erykah Badu - Mama's Gun (the entire album).
And maybe a little Imogen Heap. Or Naomi. I'm very chill even when I clean.
My mom likes to clean to Aretha Franklin and I always thought that was cute. I like the Rolling Stones. RS is good for cooking too.
Aretha *is* good to clean to! As is most classic rock. : )
Aretha is perfect for cleaning. Carmen for cooking. Thanks for the article and playlist!
The Eagles. I blast "Life In The Fast Lane" & it just puts me right in that mood to get stuff done!
I like to put my entire music collection of shuffle (courtesy of iTunes) and clean to a variety of music. Luckily my apartment is tiny, so if a bad song (or a Christmas song, sheesh) comes on I only have to shuffle a couple steps to the computer to change it. :)
Ha ha sparkle! I have the same issue with my iPod playing Christmas songs. Can't it tell by the date that it shouldn't throw the holiday music in the mix?
I listen to "Twelve Girls Band" their upbeat music makes it very easy to clean..
Recently I downloaded a playlist of Motown hits and they just seem to really be the upbead tempo I need to keep moving! I even dance in between the cleaning.
I have a playlist I call "Working", which is basically all kinds of high energy songs (even stuff I wouldn't normally listen to), one called "On The Go" for errands, and so on and so forth. Stronger by Kanye West is one of the better ones to help get the ball rolling (sometimes I really need it!), but I mainly prefer classic rock.
It depends on what kind of mood I'm already in when I start to clean... but typically i end up cleaning later at night and playing something I can rock out to, like The Dropkick Murphys or The White Stripes.
And for those who tend to put itunes on shuffle--there's a way to remove songs from shuffle (info > skip when shuffling > yes) then you don't get a random burst of xmas music.
Oooh, good tip, Seshat!
I usually just uncheck all of the songs under the "Holiday" genre, since that's how I categorized all of my christmas/holiday music. Although I'm lazy and forget to do that and just skip past them when they come up. :)
the new Itunes 8 "genius" feature is great for picking a "mood" to work to. just pick the song that works for right now, and it makes you a pandora-esque playlist from your own music
I have to say I feel uncomfortable with the idea of the style tray. I do not subscribe to magazines (except one: Atomic Ranch), do not really want to spend money on magazines (I am on a very, very tight budget), and the idea of clipping and saving just... scares me because it introduces more clutter.
I wonder if anyone else feels like this?
i just keep my vision in my head... If I lust after a specific item I usually remember it by heart (only one: the Bertoia Bird chair). The rest of my wishlist is just broadly defined (e.g.:organic placemats; red tapestry) and I try to let serendipity into my life as much as possible.
Swept and mopped 2 rooms - 3 to go...
firebird: I don't clip magazines, i find photos online and copy and paste them to a separate file so i can pull up my style tray whenever i want to- or i can print it if i'm going shopping. it seems to help me alot!
I love the idea of doing a music mood board with a playlist, too!
Firebird - you can always do a digital styletray. I have an inspiration folder on my desktop where I keep an assortment of pictures I come across as I'm browsing websites or blogs.
HardcoreSouma: isn't Mama's Gun the most underrated CD? I am an extreme Badu fan. I've seen her at least 5 times in concert! I just bought an ipod and haven't loaded any music on it yet. I'm so low-tech.
Evernote is a fabulous free piece of software that lets you digitally clip all sorts of things - photos, websites, text etc. It even has a feature that will let you take pictures from your "smart" phone and send them to a digital notebook (which you could call a style tray, I guess!). I'm just starting to use it so I'm still learning the ins and outs, but I think it would be a great resource for magazine-phobics!
Cleaning music: ipod genius list based on Sugar/Bob Mould's "If I Can't Change Your Mind"
I got a cold, so i might end up being a little late on starting my Spring Cure. I still plan on completing this, but i might be a week behind.. :-(
I love the Imaculate Collection Album, nothing like dancing around to good old Madonna while cleaning up...Although I havent done this in years as her stock is in serious decline.
Mama's Gun is amazing, great production value!
I've just finished up a major cleaning session...two days worth of dusting, vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing the bath and kitchen. The fridge! Can I tell you how grody that gets when you really look at it closely!? Ew. And I consider myself a clean freak!
I have my inspiration photos in a folder on my computer and I'm considering painting my apartment. It's a tiny studio so it shouldn't take too long and the walls are dingy white and haven't been painted since I moved in 9 years ago.
Firebird:
I have a style cork board, but I tend to use my imagination the most. Of course I haven't put it it work yet...that's why I'm doing the cure!
The Home Depot Design center is going out of business and all of their magazines are at least 25% off. That's one way to save money. Some free catalogs are also good. I really like the FLOR catalog. I rip a page from that catalog every time I get it. Plus, we aren't supposed to cancel our catalog subscriptions for another 2 weeks!
Swept and mopped all but the bedroom that is on my list for tomorrow. Being able to see the floors in my apartment is a beautiful thing.
I'm making my style tray digital this time. I have everything on my computer and sync'd to my iPod Touch so I always have my inspiration with me when I'm out at flea markets, etc. I'm gonna have limited time this Cure, so I'm only doing one room. But when I'm done, it's (hopefully) going to look awesome!
I like to listen to really upbeat dance music like Rihanna or Daft Punk when I'm cleaning. I get some exercise too because I always end up dancing around slot. It's quite the scene! Will be cleaning the kitchen today. Needs a good once over.
Oooh, I didn't even think to sync my style tray to my iPod! Thanks for the tip, Kelly!
"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," "You're So Vain," the Twilight soundtrack, and anything Abba!
I must say that I like to listen to The Cure while cleaning. "Show me, show me , show me how you do that trick! The one that makes me scream, she said, the one that makes me dream she said...."
I love the pink bedroom photo. It is VERY GOOD feng shui. The color, the touches of all the elements, the two side tables....perfect balance. I am giving away a Master Bedroom Makeover Feng Shui Advice to Enhance Romance for the Ultimate Blog Party. Come enter!
Katy
http://fengshuibyfishgirl.com
I came across your pink bedroom image again in an AT photoshoot on a home in the Phillipines, I think. It's the same home that had the great sleeping nook.
This Cure will be a little different for me, as I'm going to do it without spending any $$$.
My husband, my two young kids, and I have been living in our house for just over five years. It is jam packed with stuff. I have good taste and some lovely things but it is all blurred by stuff EVERYWHERE. Kids school papers, my husbands baseball cards, and toys, toys and more toys dominate the house. Stop the madness.
My vision isn't about getting new, it's about displaying things to their best advantage and emptying the house of things that are simply there without a real function.
Wish me luck.