Natasha finished her bedroom during the Cure, while wrangling three kids!
• Cure Clock: 4 Months Till Next Cure
• Assignment: Enjoy
Thanks again to all of you who were not only able to submit your homes, but also took the time to answer our questions about the Cure so that we can make it better. We've been doing the Cure online now since the spring of 2006, and we've been changing it EVERY time based on your feedback and also on our own. We're going to change it again, when we start up in September, but I want to take the time today to answer some of your questions and tell you what we have in store for the future.
ON TIMING
– Ninakk
Many of you agreed with Ninakk above. At top is a graph of all your activity during this Spring Cure. It was a lot of activity, but true to our past experience, we got the most at first and then it gets harder to maintain as the weeks go by. This is the one big thing that I'd like to work on with all of you. I KNOW that 8 weeks is a long time for many of you (in fact, when I first finished writing the book in 2004, it was called the Eight Week Cure, but my publisher decided we should change it to Eight Step Cure because people would feel that eight weeks was too long!), and I also know that it's fine for many of you. However, we're going to try changing it to four weeks in the fall to experiment and see what happens.
I've also seen that Sara Kate's Kitchen Cure, which is four weeks long, gets even more sign-ups than our Cure, and I think that MIGHT have to do with the fact that most people can get their arms around it and get it done.
So, look out for a shorter Cure in the fall and next spring, with the two of them complementing one another and also complementing the Kitchen Cure for those of you who want to do all of it.
In addition, when we break it down to four weeks, I'm going to create a really clear structure so that you know exactly what to aim for and where you stand at the end of each week. It will be different from the book, but based on it.
ON MORE COMMUNITY
– Adam
Many of you echoed Adam's words and I WISH we could do more with community. Our blog software is woefully outdated (we've stretched it to the limit) and we're working this summer to build our community functionality from the ground up, so that we can offer full forums and interactivity among our readers, particularly Curees. If we're lucky, this will be partially in effect for the fall Cure and totally in effect by next spring.
I really think that the future of the Cure is going to be community driven, and I look forward to the day when you all are not waiting for my post to get the ball rolling!
ON OUR EFFORTS
– Lori Anderson
My apologies! I think that Cambria and Sarah Rae worked really hard and did an admirable job, and I think that I got HAMMERED by this Cure and DID NOT do as well. It was my posts that slid in late on four Tuesday's (including this one) and I was responsible for kicking off the week. Truth be told, we all work really hard, but you probably sensed two things happening this spring.
One, we cut down the number of posts,discussion boards and emails to make it more streamlined and more focused. We didn't do this to cut out work. We did this because we thought that we had too much clutter in the fall.
Two, this spring has been historically busy for me. As Apartment Therapy has grown, demands on my time have grown AND my new book came out last week, all of which made me less effective than in the past. What I should do is step back from writing to the Cure each week, BUT I don't want to (insert tears here). By moving to four weeks, it will probably really help me focus and get my schedule in line with the Cure no matter what happens, so I'm going to go for it again. This was a hard Cure for me, but I tend not to beat myself up. I just keep moving.
ON GOOD THINGS
– Nicolezh
– CrocodileAnnie
Thank you! We got a lot of comments like this and it makes me, Cambria and Sarah Rae happy. :-)
ON PRIZES
– Christine
We like stuff like this - little motivational prizes - more for the fun of it than the monetary value of it. Were giving away ten copies of the new book to those graduates below (chosen at random), and we'll continue to do stuff like this going forward.
Spring 2010 Book Winners! Yay!
- Kara
- Abby
- lori anderson
- Christine
- Ewa Myszkowska
- Amber
- Ereuyi
- Susan King
- Kelly w/ a Y
- Nicole Solis
ON SHARING
Thanks to all of you for sharing. No matter what we do as editors, it's really what you do that makes the difference and continues to inspire the group. Please keep up all your good work and remember, "Nothing you do for your home is ever wasted."
– Joymich
– Erica
– Leslie Monthan
----
Post Index
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------
100 DIY Ideas for the 3-Day Weekend
Danielle's Charming, Classic Walk-Up
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
White Enamel Flatwa...
How To Cook Fluffy, Tasty Quinoa
Perfect Summer Cocktail Recipe: Honey Bourbon Lemonade
Hate to be a dolt but... I'm a regular AT reader and still do not understand what a Cure is. I see it come up and see folks posting pictures of "before and after." What makes it different than a plain before and after? What makes it different??
Thanks for asking that, Solop. I am asking the same thing.
And (most importantly! haha...), how can I find out what the paint color is in Natasha's Bedroom! :)
(her bedroom was featured at the top of today's AT e-mail)
I, too, find that I lose steam after the first few weeks. I'm raring to go and then BAM! Life hits and things get in the way, and then you get depressed about not getting to it, which defeats the whole purpose of the exercise. You're supposed to feel empowered about making your living space a home, not embittered. I think smaller bursts strung together (as you said, smaller F/S Cures Kitchen Cures) might make that finish line seem closer. It's all about perspective and smaller goals, I find. If you keep looking down that looming road towards a finish line that you can't reach right away due to stress, expense, or a hectic schedule, you can at least take comfort that you're constantly working towards it, one milestone at a time. Or, one Cure at a time!
agreed...i jumped into the AT world halfway through the Cure. I had no idea what it was until I started seeing the requests to vote for the best ones.
i absolutely LOVED all the weekly photos, updates and tips.
we had JUST moved into our apartment when I first started up and it's been a tremendous help in editing from a 1200sf to a 600sf apartment with a husband, cats and a full-time job.
the photos were very inspirational and helped me build my VERY FIRST landing strip (it's always just been a table and a bunch of clutter before), clean up and paint my bathroom...and given me lots of ideas for DIY craft/furniture projects for my weekends off.
thanks for all the info and the community this site brings, and i can't wait to take part in the Fall Cure.
The difference with the Cure is that it goes along with the book The Eight-Step Home Cure by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan. You sign up, and then each week, you get e-mails which go along with one of the chapters and tell you what to work on..
Part of the Cure is posting the before and after pictures, which is why there are so many of them. They are no different from a regular before and after, but I know I would never have put up any pictures if that hadn't been part of it. It's kind of addicting though, and now I go around photographing every corner of my house before I change anything.
And Chicago Amy, to answer your second question, the paint color is BM Palladian Blue. I had it in my last house and I liked it so much that I used it in my new living room. I had some left so I used it in the guest room too. I think it looks very different with the wood tones in my living room than the white in the guest room, but I love it in both rooms. To me, it's the perfect blue.
Logging onto AT to see my finished before and after photos, and quote above (blush)...amazing! Especially after week 1 when I was horrified to see my "old" living room picture up for the world to judge!
Have I mentioned yet how many people I've already been having over? I'm still basking in the glow of graduation and sharing it!
That first one by Natasha is my favorite. Great job!
thanks for the book! I appreciate that AND I appreciate this site very much!!
Aw, thanks for posting my sweet new little study! I'm still fine-tuning it; got a desk (yay!) and decided it belonged where the sofabed is now (which is covered with the white bedspread, btw, because I discovered the cover it came with is a cat-hair supermagnet!).
What I liked most about the Cure is that it's structured around sensing what's right for YOU and how you live; not about following trends and fashions, though you can have fun with those. I find I'm continuing to look at my place--and my life--through the same lens and enjoying the process!
Can anyone tell me where the bed cover in the picture is from? I really like it!
Wow, thanks for the book! That is really just the cherry on the sundae. It was a great cure and, while I didn't finish it ALL, I am very happy! I'll be back next spring. Congrats to all the curees!
I wish the cure didn't have a cutoff to join. I joined in too late to officially sign up, but I still got a lot accomplished. Having been partially involved in a couple cures now, I realise that decluttering and decorating are both iterative processes and you have to find your own rhythm. It would be nice if there was an ongoing flickr group not specific to any one cure.
@angorian- There's the -home- group on flickr.
I'm bummed I didn't get to graduate with my class, but life got in the way of the last few weeks of my cure, and I just didn't have any after pictures I wouldn't be embarassed to share.
I have a habit of getting overly ambitious with my cures, trying to do one-room remedies and deep treatments in tandem. I know we're only supposed to do one or the other, but I always found that the two types of cures can end up out of sync with each other (both in the book and in weekly posts), and running them separately would help provide a clearer focus.
What if, instead of one combined (at least in presentation) 8-week cure, you ran two 4-week cures in succession--start with a deep treatment, with graduation and everything, then follow with a one-room remedy (or even the other way around). Some people might sign up for only one, and others who sign up for both might get a recharge in the second part, since it's starting fresh with a new focus.
Also, being more focused might help keep people like me from taking on too much at once!
Romateamo, if you mean the one in the first picture, I got it from Urban Outfitters a couple of years ago.
Also, congrats to all the book winners!
Ach, good luck to all the lucky winners *glances with slightly envious eyes :D *
Thank you so much, Maxwell, for a thorough analysis at the end of this Cure. Feels like a better, a proper, ending to it. I'm already excited about what Fall has in store for us and wish all of the AT team a productive Summer while renewing the site! Don't forget to take some vacation too, or you'll be posting on Thursdays then :P
I'm thinking that my place is in pretty good shape -- maybe not up to house tour standards, but then again, maybe it is! However, it's always fun to be part of a movement and to tweak things... so maybe it would be fun to have a kind of "ancillary" participation level during the Cure, but not for totally partaking of the Cure... a way to play along with individual projects or something, even if the actual Cure projects aren't needed. (Like, my "landing strip" issues are solved.)
Just a thought.
I love the new book, too, by the way. As a librarian, I snagged our copy when it appeared, and I don't want to pry my fingers from it so the next person waiting can have it! Very inspiring and beautiful photography! Kudos!
I would never want Maxwell to drop his role in the cure..his introductions and pictures of his own projects are really the heart and soul of AT. I remember one time when he was less involved on the site for a short time and someone commented "Who is Maxwell?"