Organizing Cleaning

We remember when Sephora first opened, bowls of fresh coffee beans were laid across below the selection of perfumes and colognes. The scent of coffee “resets” the olfactory gland, so you’d have a better opportunity to distinguish between sniffs of Chanel No. 5 and Britney Spear’s Fantasy.Take that very same attribute of the common coffee bean to reset the smell of your fridge. You can use either freshly ground coffee or used grounds to deodorize your fridge freezer.

They’re one of those things we all love to hate. Like light switches, breaker boxes and intercom speakers, smoke detectors are required eyesores in most of our interiors. Architectural Devices, however, has developed the Modern Smoke Detector, a sleek and minimal alternative to the old standard. When installed properly, they sit flush with the wall or ceiling finish and disappear in a minimalist interior.

When we put together our baby’s changing table (oh so cleverly out of Metro shelves, as featured here), it didn’t occur to us that the rounded industrial chrome legs would become prime head bumping territory.But when she started to cruise a few weeks ago it became obvious: we needed bumpers on any piece of furniture she’d be tempted to climb. And Metro shelves, with their myriad hand holds for tiny fingers, are a baby climbing bonanza.

Years ago when I decided to paint the floors in my small summer house, most people were shocked (including my parents). Bare wood floors were so chic and such a staple of 90’s style, that painting them over and covering them up seemed sacrilegious. I didn’t think so anymore. See how they turned out… The floors were cheap, solid oak floors, in great need of refinishing.

Here’s an affordable air freshener we use in our very own bathroom. We’ve taken a small bowl from Target and filled it with scented bath salts from Kmart. We also added some vintage Avon fudgcicle-shaped hair combs that compliment our sweets-centric bathroom motif, but one could replace these with long candles, decorative branches, artificial flowers, or numerous other decorative items.

Of all the problems associated with urban living, noise is the one that drives people the most nuts (For an example, watch this Italian clip). From the knocking pipe in the bedroom, to the upstairs neighbor’s rock’n’roll medley, to the bridge and tunnel traffic outside the window, noise can disrupt sleep, distract you when concentrating and stress you out after work when you need to unwind.

We were at a friend’s the other night admiring their walls. They looked just like the soft, luscious white/brick walls at BDDW (see above). Our friends surprised us with the information that, in fact, they WERE just like BDDW‘s. They had not only admired BDDW‘s walls, they had also asked BDDW‘s designer, Tyler Hays, to stop by and give them some tips.We then had the opportunity to meet Tyler at the Arch Digest show a few weeks back and ask him about the recipe.

Ever thought of making your own shades? If you’d like to know how to make rice paper shades, here’s how I do it. (Watch. Ask Questions. Have confidence. Curse me for making it look so easy…)I love these shades because they’re simple and organic and function well. They glow like Naguchi lamps. They work splendidly for our San Francisco Victorian or Bungalow tall, narrow, double hung windows (38″ wide max, unless you can find wider paper).

About the Book: “From not enough space and too many things to not knowing what color to paint the living room walls, many of us struggle with our homes. Now Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, frequent makeover expert on HGTV’s Mission: Organization and Small Spaces, Big Style, shares the do-it-yourself strategies that have enabled his clients and fans to transform their apartments into well-organized, beautiful places that suit their style and budget.

This is the shit.What is FreeCycle?Besides being a damn good name, FreeCycle is the “brainchild” of Deron Beal, who started it as a listserv in the dry, hot town of Tucson, Arizona in May 2003. Now it is a full fledged online community (Freecycle.org) and newsgroup (Yahoo). It is a little like Craiglist with one key difference: everything must be offered for free.

Drop the curtain! We are big fans of using curtains – or soft walls (as we call them) – to separate rooms in open plan apartments as well as to replace doors in front of closets or to rooms.So, after posting How To: Hang Curtains Across Any Room, we were super pleased to recieve this recommendation from Mike for Ikea’s Dignitet Hardware (with pics!). (Thanks, Mike!) MGRI just hung some curtains from the ceiling to divide the space in my loft.

It is really very simple to hang curtains across a room or a doorway if you have the right ingredients. We do it constantly in order to divide rooms or create soft walls that allow light to pass through, while maintaining privacy.The pic at top is from an apartment we did for HGTV last year. You can see the one room studio is divided by long curtains that came from Anthropology.