apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Congrat's Zooza! Your on the first page this week!

Today i haven't done too much about the Cure, or to say it more positively: i've done a few things:
- I've purchased the color for the bathroom ceiling, which is going to be painted next weekend.
- I've taken some color swatches to chose from for the kitchen walls
- I've tried to find the washing machine i've chosen less expensive, but all shops i went in had the same price. Will try another one by end of the week.
- I've emptied most of my Outbox and took the stuff to the recycling center which is just at the end of my road (very convenient!) (Zooza, i kept the steam cooker, though....)
- This passed week i fixed a meeting for next wednesday with all contractors to plan the timetable of the work.

Tonight i'll go through a pile of magazines and cut out what inspires me, or articles i want to keep. I have a file where i keep them. The rest: recycling center!

And tomorrow, i'll continue to empty my kitchen cupboards, pack up the most of the dishes etc., and fill up my Outbox again.

Zooza,
Would you mind sharing the brand of your range and the size? Is it a convection/standard oven combination?
Thanks and good luck with your renovation.

ok that article makes my futon situation look...um...not so bad...

I was really hoping that this week's assignment was just the wine.

wow. already on week four!! i just got back from out of town. i'm so behind! everyone is doing great!

I bought a rug, some curtians AND did my taxes. Both the rug and taxes came out much better than expected. By just doing those things, I feel like I rocked week 4 even if I never did scrub the inside of my fridge in week 2.

kendra.e - same here! =)

i like this focusing on the things i have done bit. i bought a doormat for the entry last week, only to have it be too thick for the door to open. have to take it back and pick out something else. picked up some paint swatches & fabric swatches for the new sofa. planning on buying paint & supplies tomorrow. oh! and i bought & installed new pulls on my bath cabinet. looks so cute! along with the lovely weather we've been having, i'm starting to feel re-energized for the cure.

Thanks, Maxwell. You're really right about the cooking. Even though I'm doing the (mostly) already-cooked-once-by-someone-else version, my kitchen feels *noticeably* different. More like home!

Now I've been trying to do the same with my bathroom, and I'm realizing a deep cleaning just isn't going to save me from the fact that I have to get a few repairs done in that room. I have always hoped that cleanliness will solve everything -- and it does, *almost*... but not quite.

Ah, and thanks for the color wheel. A while ago, I actually color-coded most of my clothes according to some random order. This color wheel order is helpful. But I'm still confused a bit. I seem to like dark greens that seem warm to me because they are in lush fabrics. And dark reds that seem cool to me because they are somehow muted. And honey-colored wood, which is warm -- together with sharp white, which is cool. ...

So, I guess my question is: can the warmth/coolness of a color scheme be tweaked by whether the colors are muted or primary? And can the softness/hardness of objects affect the mix of warm/cool?

Speaking of color, CQ in DC,
I love your color-sorted bookshelves!
The whole shelving system now looks like a very large art installation!

Oh my. How utterly embarrassing - my mucky home right up there for all to see. Now I have to get it finished, if only to restore my dignity on AT! I can't believe we're almost in week five.

Jany - sounds like you are on top of everything! You are being much more organised than me, packing everything into boxes and labelling them. I wish I had done that - we just have piles of crockery and kitchen stuff all around the house (baking tins beside the bed, glassware on my desk...).

Donna-lynn - I'm in the UK, and it's a UK make called Belling, which I don't think you can get in the US. It's 60cm wide and is all gas, with two gas ovens (one with grill) and gas burners. It's great, and I would recommend something like it.

My weekend update so far:

I spent yesterday doing a lot of boring behind-the-scenes work on my kitchen, like plumbing in new pipes to move the radiator and sealing a lot of that bare crumbly plaster. Lots of hard work, and it looks exactly the same as it did before, even though some progress has been made.

I have also hung my new picture above the firepace in the sitting room. I've got very mixed feelings about it. I think it's too big and domineering. I'll post pics on flickr later.

I feel a bit behind and stuck, and am going to be away part of this coming month and really need to get some stuff done.

Stuff that is done:

-put feet on kitchen table legs, then ordered a dif set that looks a bit better and put those on.
-made dinner every! day and sat at table (I actually forgot one night and started eating at my desk, and then saw mr.kendra e was eating at the table and felt a bit bad)
-ordered futon cover and blanket for awesome room
-put some placemats on kitchen table and got new lamp for it off ebay
-moved tile table outside to cafe gazebo
-spent 3 hours on friday afternoon sorting through papers and organzing them into boxes. Managed to find the one piece of paper I have been looking for for 3 months.

That's it really! The dumbest thing was that we went to ikea yesterday to get some furniture; I seriously can't stand the crowds, and tried not to get distracted by things I don't need. I haven't bought any big furniture there in awhile and when we got back to the basement warehouse bit realized we had to go back up to the dept and get printouts for some furniture, and I just could not take it and decided just to get it online since we would have to have it delivered anyhow. Got home and discovered those things are no longer for sale online, gah! I think I might just try to get mr.kendra.e to go back together because I don't want to spend any more time dreading future trips to ikea. Did get some lingonberry jam tho and some cookies.

Sea -- Color theory has enormous potential to drive people mad.

Here's an example of a palette in which the dark greens feel "warm" because they're yellow-based to be compatible with warm earth tones: Arts & Crafts.

When I do a miniature project (where I use much more aggressive color than I can live with in my own home), I start with fabric swatches. The fabric doesn't necessarily get used in the room -- it just gives me a reference point on what colors I want to use together, without having to face a complicated theoretical discussion about hue, intensity, contrast, and warmth. Ultimately, what you look at has to "feel" right, and what feels right varies with current trends, regional light, personal style, and other factors.

That question makes me miss my ex.

We never lived together, but he was without a doubt my biggest ally in reclaiming my apartment.

Oh -- one more random comment -- if you have plans to move over long distances, don't get too excited about "protein" furniture.

Our sofa was custom-made when we lived in SF. On general principle, I'm very fond of it -- but it is completely wrong for Phoenix. The last thing one needs out here is golden-beige with a warm, soft, cuddly texture. If I were staying in Phoenix permanently and buying a condo, I would think seriously about leather, possibly in lime green.

(But the sofa will be fine in most places we could possibly move after Phoenix, which are all colder and grayer.)

I'm envious of all of you doing the cure. I did the mini cure 2 times ago, but I'm even more dissatisfied now with the house! It's time to make some major changes - and they're coming. BUT! I'm in school full time, working full time, and so is my husband. Curing isn't happening. I hope there will be a summer cure, maybe? When the sun is up before I get to the office, and still up when I get home? When I have more money since I don't have to pay for things like electricity? When I will be able to see my world getting fixed/cured?

Summer would be great, because in the fall we're demoing a large part of the house, and building the new kitchen. I want there to be some sense of completion in the rest of the house during that time, so I don't drive myself nuts.

In the meantime, cure tips are still incorporated: candle on the table, fresh flowers on the buffet...

OK. I have now posted a photo of my newly framed print on flickr. I think it definitely is too large. I'm kicking myself for all the money I have wasted. Any ideas for salvaging it, or do I just need to bite the bullet and re-frame?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36355274@N00/441946189/

On a more positive note, I've also fitted the first bit of my new kitchen worktop. I love it so much, I keep on going into the kitchen just to touch it. :-)

Wende,

That's a great color combo site, thanks.
There's a blue-green with a yellow-green on that page that works well, so.... You're right, this theory is driving me mad!

But I'm loving thinking about it. I've actually always suspected, since I was very little, that I don't see exactly the same hues others see. Later on, I used to have endless fights with others about what the right name of a color was. Until I realized that I was always in the minority view, and decided that I was the one not seeing what most people see. Now I'm getting intrigued with this color stuff - it seems impossible for me to understand, and also like it might be the key to my relationship with my environment.

Over the years, my apartments have generally looked bright and cheerful, and maybe a tiny bit eclectic, because I've unwittingly mixed warm with cold. And that's probably why they always looked a bit young or 'studenty' as well - you know, you just have what you were given or could get cheaply. But even so, beauty and comfort and joy in my surroundings has always been very very important. So I would work on arrangement of spaces, and then light, then anti-cluttering,... and NOW, here comes color theory! Wonder how far I'll go into it, especially given how color-challenged I'm starting out. Are there any other interesting 'rules of thumb' other than the warm/cool rule and the 80/20 (muted/strong) rule?

Oh, zooza, it looks too big to me too....
There's also something about the harshness of the black rectangular frame that doesn't seem to work well with the arch of the fireplace. - But that might not be an issue if you paint a black frame around the opening like you suggested you might.

If you keep things as is, however, the large frame might work if it were a different color. I don't know for sure (see above for evidence of my being color-challenged), but I think maybe it would look very good painted a slightly darker shade of the gray you have on the cupboards and fire surround.

Omigoodness, Sea, there are so many rules of thumb on color that you'll run out of hands!

Rather than 80/20, I'm a fan of Lynette Jennings' use of something closer to 70/20/10 (main color, big accent, little accent). Then to flow your color scheme to more rooms, you change the proportions and maybe add an accent color. An example.

Room 1 - Moroccan red background, French blue accent, dark French blue "tiny accent" with some off-white trim (this is a current Pottery Barn scheme!).

Room 2 - French blue background, dark French blue accent, green "tiny accent," retain the off-white trim.

Room 3 - Green background, French blue accent, yellow "tiny accent"

Note that you retain the same trim throughout -- this is a trick to unify a space. So is keeping the ceiling color constant.

Another way to make a space flow yet have distinct zones -- use the same background color for the entire space, with different accents in different areas. You can use different shades of the same background color or literally the same color. This is huge for those of us who genuinely like neutrals! It's also a hit with open-plan living.

The eye will connect different instances of the same color. Your ceiling will look higher if its color is not repeated low in the room. If your chair and sofa are not getting along, give one a cushion that echoes the colors of the other.

Colors from opposite sides of the color wheel are energetic together. If you have a monochromatic or analogous color scheme that seems lifeless, add a tiny accent of the opposing color. Conversely, if your room seems too busy, you probably have high-contrast colors present in near-equal amounts. Get one down to 30% or less, and the room will settle down.

My favorite book on color is Colorist by Shigenobu Kobayashi. It provides a library of color families, along with research on the connotations of color -- and it's pocket-sized and under $20!

Once you've gone mad with the implications of color, there's always texture to obsess about...

ok, you want to hear total cure synchronicity? (i promise, it's not just the wine talking -- thanks maxwell!!). i've got my list of things to do & purchase and i think, with the finger cutting into my cure budget (no pun intended), i'll just have to table this project for a while. yesterday, i was packing up everything into a box, while talking to a friend taking one last peek at c.l. wow, interesting....there's the mattress, i've been looking at, brand new AND the perfect bureau (both at cl prices). i share my excitement with my friend, who didn't know i was curing my bedroom and who offers to sell me her bed frame, the one i've been looking at at c&b, also way affordable. then later, when we meet up, we run into another friend who just bought the chandelier i wanted for my dining room. it's too big for her house, she can't use it, do i want it? what is going on?? it's craziness huh? i guess i can't quit now!

Oh -- one more color rule-of-thumb -- if your towels or furniture or pillows seem to have this life of their own, where they sit sullenly without relating to the walls, add a print that has the wall color as the background. This is a big help for renters who can't paint. (You can incorporate carpet color this way, too.)

The bathroom where we did this looks waaaaayyyy more pulled-together than the one that has the accessories from SF, which means I should shop for a new *print* shower curtain for that bath. Bleh.

Wende in phoenix,

This is very helpful! I also read your post in the SF bathroom color conundrum -
http://sanfrancisco.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/032907/good-questions/good-questions-another-bathroom-color-conundrum-020068
- which I think is absolutely *brilliant* advice! I like the sense of rhythm I get from the choices you lay out there, and in the post above.

As for textures, that was my original question - it seems to me that the texture affects the warmth/coolness of the color effect. For this reason, I've never been very good at using fabric to test paint colors in a room - the difference in the textures really throws me off! (and of course, I'm hopeless at using little tiny color chips to test anything - need to see a broader swath, to get a sense for overall sheen, etc.

And boy, do I need higher-seeming ceilings. Mine are exactly 8 feet high (a quarter inch less than that in some places.

... On a somewhat unrelated note, does anyone know if it affects anything much to put stereo sound speakers on their side, rather than standing upright? I ask this because I used to have my speakers (which are only a foot and a half tall) on top of my column-like cabinets. - My place is so small that I need all the floor-space I can get, plus I don't like the look of the black boxes. - But my ceilings are now too low to put them on the tall cabinets without laying the speakers down on their sides....

Sea, I wouldn't worry about turning the speakers on their sides, I know lots of people that do this. I also know some people who would be aghast at it but they are generally way pickier than your average listener. This is the reason we have speakers in the living room that are taller than some of our guests. If you've got nobody to dictate speaker placement to you from on high (bleah) then put them however the heck you want them and I highly doubt that you will notice any difference in sound quality.

Hi Wende,

I just saw your second post here after I posted mine. Quick question: Where do you add the print? ...In the towels? ...Hung on the wall?

Yay, Anne! Thanks for the speaker thoughts. Now the only thing standing in my way is the idea that I should somehow secure the cabinets to the wall - I don't have kids or drunken people moving about my place, but still.... I worry that somehow someone might bump into the cabinets and everything will come crashing down. (I should explain that the high cabinets are sort of 'framing' a largish entrance-way to my main room, closing the entry to a normal width and making for more defined entry.) Still lots and lots of unfinished tasks on my to-do list, so I'm thinking this won't happen too soon!

Oh, and Anne, hope you are feeling better. Maybe you should celebrate your birthday again today (or soon). Happy Birthday!

One of my favorite ways of looking at color balance (and pattern combo) in a room is looking at the balance of a men's suit:

Suit color (largest upholstery, and/or shell of room)
Shirt color (next size of upholstery, like chairs and/or rugs... more room for pattern, too)
Tie color (accents, like art and pillows)
Shoes, belt and watch (lamps and other "hard" accents).

Not to say you have to limit the palette to the colors of suiting, but it gives you a (perhaps) less threatening way to consider color in a room.

Sea, I also have very low ceilings. I can sympathize! Ours are just shy of 8 feet (7' 8") - it's a good thing my husband and I are on the short side.

P2:

Yes, but the scheme goes out the window if the suit in question is double-breasted or a three-piece.

I finished the bathroom today, and my husband finished his portion of the new door project. The door needs to be stained or painted and that is my department. The bathroom is a warm cream color, and I have put up new AFTER pictures of my bathroom, but the flash washed out the color pretty badly in the pics. I like how it looks now, and it's clean, and organized, and I threw out a ton of old products. I'm not embarrased of my bathroom anymore! Well, at least I'm not embarrased of one, the other I'm not so sure of, and so I'm going to work on that one today. (if we don't blow away- awful storms and wind today)

rachel,

That's terrible! 7'8" isn't even a legal height; I think it may not meet building code regulations.... Have you found that low furniture helps or not? -- This is yet another thing that I am confused about - I've heard that low furniture makes ceilings look higher, but that only seems to work if you actually have high or normal ceilings. With low ceilings, I find that everything just feels too low - the ceilings, the furniture, and it's depressing. So I like a little height somewhere inside. Is this right? Any insights on what to do here?

The only rule I've heard that really does seem to work is that you do NOT want to hang curtains too close to the ceiling in a low-ceilinged place - that just seems to tie the ceiling to the floor and diminish the space between them big-time. So even though I want to make my window seem taller, I've been careful to leave some breathing room above the curtain so that the ceiling still seems like it's floating.

Patrick 2, thanks for the color scheme help. There's lots to think about here. The only impediment is that I'm nowhere near being able to paint my walls - they're a standard apt. light beige/yellow cream. I don't like that color, and it's distracting and throwing me off on my other color decisions....

And here's why I love y'all -- brain-dumping color hints on Sea helped me work out Why I Hate the Master Bath. Replacing the shower curtain helped immensely. It's still not perfect, but we're talking rental here, plus I prefer stumbling across stuff to purposefully buying accessories, so rooms just have to grow into themselves.

Here's the before and after:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35684487@N00/sets/72157600041177135/

(Yeah, we live in a Generic Box -- there's a whole story of why this is so, having to do with location, maintenance, and our goals for the Phoenix Years.)

I've been traveling some for work, but it has helped with remedying some of the minor problems that kept annoying me. On one trip I was able to get a replacement part for an Intermetro shelf; during another I found a bowl to replace one broken from an otherwise complete set of dishes. In both cases, I could have ordered the missing item online, but it went against the grain to do that because the shipping charge would have been more than the price of the actual item.

Regarding color issues, one of mine is the main bath, which has green wall tile, green and grey floor tile, and green fixtures. This is a lot of green, but the real problem was the vanity surrounding the green sink, which is laminate in a gold and cream marble pattern that almost seemed to move about under its own power.

I've calmed it down a lot by adding more gold, so that the dominant color in the marble pattern is now part of the background: a shower curtain with a pale gold background, kept closed so that it conceals most of the wall tile and effectively constitutes the back wall, and gold towels that coordinate with it. Cerise is a minor accent color in the shower curtain, and it's repeated in the face cloths and in a botanical print with a gold-washed frame.

Here's a bit of the curtain: http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d172/okmoreh/3030307746_LG.jpg

Very dim lighting would calm it down even more, but people seem to think that it's necessary to see oneself in the mirror.

Wende,

I am learning so much from you. That bathroom photo set on flicker is really instructive - and yes, that shower curtain really does pull everything together! I would have been afraid that its boldness would have made things seem claustrophobic - but quite the opposite seems to be the case, because the lack of being all 'pulled together' before was more oppressive, and this opens things up so they can breathe. (Are you sure you didn't give those towels the idea to huddle together for moral support, by the way? But it's a great shot, and makes the point!)

Also love the green of the towel rod, and the ornateness of the mirror ('talavera'?). I think that framed mirror and the curtain go great together - it helps the wall to stand up to the boldness of the shower curtain. Looks like a perfect 'conversation' is going on there.

*blushes*

Thanks, Sea!

I'm thinking of sneaking off to the Mexican Tile store tomorrow, just to see if they have anything that would help tie things together a little more.

Sea--regarding anchoring your bookcases, it isn't the prettiest but we always use these little "L" shaped 'brackets' that you screw into the piece and into the base boards. It isn't strong enough for someone to climb the bookcase but it will stop it from an accidental tumble.

My Question: I have sucky popcorn ceilings in all of the rooms in my house. They were done before we moved here so are slightly 'off-white'. Some spots have come loose and are chipping. How can I repair this? I don't want to have to do the entire ceiling.

Thanks for the good wishes everyone, I made it out of the house for a bowl of soup on my birthday and that was about it. Also haven't heard from the tile guy so it looks like I won't be putting the sink in this weekend. I am starting to look speculatively at my office again, after all this discussion of color, I feel like I'm not doing much Curing here, mostly just calling the tile guy and having him not call back. Not sure what to do now. I guess I need to get another coat of paint in at some point, not worth waiting for him to show...

P.S. elevenhounds, we have the nasty popcorn stuff too and I have found that with so much texture going on you don't notice small touch ups. I have touched up spots with that cheap stuff you use to fill holes in walls (not spackle, I don't think, it was SUPER cheap and kind of fluffy) and also with white paint and with ceilings that nasty already nobody has noticed the clean spots (I can barely find them myself) unless they were huge.

I put up new photos today, mostly just of the rug. The apathy really hit me hard this week, I think. I know I've done a lot but there's still so much I want to do and it is making me tired today. I'll try and get my list of things I HAVE done together later tonight.

I think part of it is because I actually accomplished two big things (taxes and rug) that I had been dreading and putting off and waffling about. Now I know I have to go on to make other decisions and do other things that I had been putting off until the big things were done.

I think I will magic eraser my sink. Maybe that will get me going.

I was busy last week, so I had to play catch up this weekend. I did most of the things on my to do list except clean the floors and windows, a task for next week (sigh!!).
The hardest task was to throw away the audio tapes I rarely listen too. I keep thinking I will want to listen to them someday. I hope to eventually get an I-pod and then get rid of the CD's too.

I took 2 bags from my outbox to the Salvation Army and I am trying to sell an old coffe etable on Craigslist. I love the suggestion of making a list of everything I have accomplished; I feel that in the last 4 weeks I have done more then I did in the last year. I can see the cure being a yearly or bi-yearly project for me. I have posted some photos of my deep cleaned living room.

I'm not dead. Did absolutely nada all day Saturday, so I worked on the place from 10pm to 7am. Went to bed. An unmedicated psycho woke me (and the whole 'hood) shouting at dogwalkers. Watched the cops deal with him. Slept till 1:30. Up and at 'em. Been working all day.

Couch is clear of b.s. put striped drapes on tension rods. (Much better looking than pinned to the shades. Duh.) Missed "Amelie" on IFC while cleaning off top of fridge. Put a cloth and platter on the kitchen table. Dumped loads of stuff down the trash chute. Ate dinner during "The Amazing Race."

Also, dumped all old nail polish and mascara today. Plus two pretty, but ratty sweaters that don't really fit.

Not sure about the green rug now. But it was overcast all day, so haven't taken photos yet.

Pride Moment: coffee table and kitchen table are both clear.

So I have started on my office, and am now typing on a cat hair free laptop. My office is in our spare bedroom, which at the moment is fairly bare. We got rid of our horrid (child sized, saggy mattress) spare bed in last year's cure but never replaced it with anything so we currently don't have anywhere to put guests. I'd like some kind of double bed but I'm not really sure what to get- we definitely don't have the room for a proper bed, maybe a sofa bed- but do we really need another sofa? air bed? What do you do for a spare bed?

Abby - that's awesome! What good luck! Now, you just need someone to volunteer an extra set of hands and you'll be all set!

Twergi - from you flickr set, I'd have to say that your place is looking really great!

Jennie - consider a daybed (a la IKEA) or a platform (a la Urban Outfitters).

Jennie - we have a good quality folding double bed that lives beneath our own bed (which is iron framed and quite high). It's hidden from view by some nice wicker hampers which contain bedding and towels. When guests come to stay, my desk folds down (it's a vintage slatted table), gets put under our bed and the folding bed gets set up in my office. It's a faff, but guests say it's very comfortable, and we don't have to live with any extra furniture we don't need.

Anyone have any thoughts on the Nikkala sofa from Ikea?? I am going to need cheap, durable seating in my living room (we have four children and are adopting four more) so I thought with my one leather sofa I could possibly fit in 2 fabric slipcovered ones. It will be tight but we really need the butt space. Maybe 2 loveseats would be better since kids have much smaller butts.

Also Thanks Anne in Reno. I will give it a go!

Thanks jodi, I was just feeling a little stuck yesterday. Like I had gotten all this stuff done... now what? So I threw myself a very small pitty party then went out to get stuff to cover my ugly pillows. I'm all better now!

I think I do better when I have a specific plan for the weekend like "paint desk." I didn't have that this weekend beyond "buy rug" and so I felt a little lost. Now I know *cue GI Joe music*

thanks Maxwell and Sea fir the bookcase admiration- I owe it all to AT!

I didn't Cure much this weekend- took time instead to pull up 24 year old wall-to-wall carpet in my Mom's place. The floor underneath was lovely except for over by the radiator where there was obviously a leak many years ago that turned the floor black. We'll be working on that in the future, but for now just threw down a small rug to cover the ugly spot. Mom has promised to help with my place this week to make up for me missing the weekend so it should all work out in the end...

jennie- maybe consider a twin bed with a po-up trundle? it gives you two twin beds or one big bed depending on the guests you have, and can be set up as a daybed when you don't have guests.

I reorganized my (long, narrow) closet, inspired by all the advice on a previous thread - for someone with a similar situation. Here are before and after pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kittykittymeowmixhead/sets/72157600043310279/

I went through my wardrobe and weeded out two large bags of stuff to donate, and more to add to it once the laundry is all done.

I read some magazine about storage, and it gave advice on how to decide what clothing to store somewhere besides the closet. I related to the women whose weight fluctuates a lot - the writer said to store too-small or too-large clothing under the bed if your weight is really all over the place. Otherwise, if you've been holding on to that dream pair of jeans for too long - ditch it and buy yourself a new wardrobe as a reward for losing the weight, if you do.

Don't all of us women have some 'motivational' piece(s) of clothing just taking up space?

Whoo-hoo!
Got so much done this weekend I feel very much back in the cure!

Wow zooza! you are going to town on your kitchen. Good job.

Twergi: Taxes! oh yeah. hey, that will help with my curing budget. :) And Hey! I'm way understanding about the apathy hitting; you've done tons, and quite the helpful cheerleader to me, so a day of bleh is totally deserved.

elevenhounds: There's this popcorn ceiling patch you can get in the paint isle in my big hardware/ house place. Mine's a big Ace. I don't think it's with the Spackle, I think it's with the "specialty" paint stuff, like how to marble, chalkboard paint, etc. (at least that's where it is at mine) I bet if you inquired at HomeDepot or whatever they'd get it for you. It looks pretty easy.

LynneF: Congratulations on making those hard purging choices. I checked out your pics and your living room (and front hall closet too) look terrific!

I'm still far from together but I remember reading that as you purge and clean sometimes it will look worse for a little while. I took Maxwell's words to heart and got brutal with my clutter choices; my outbox is filling up quite quickly again. Every little empty and cleaned space makes me feel so much lighter.

Hurray, the color wheel. I have an open living space where the delineation between my living room and my kitchen is where the carpet ends and the old 70's linoleum ends. The problem is the carpet is light blue, thus living room is cool, and the linoleum is a 70's mustard yellow with a weird black iron wrought type design (it's really ugly and 70's tacky and for some reason I really like it), so the kitchen is thus warm. I've got it ruminating in the back of my mind for the next cure (my 'decorating' cure) as to how to make the colors go between these two spaces gracefully since they're in essence One room. Wende's and patrick's your info & suggestions are super helpful. (Your bathroom looks great btw Wende)

Quick Question: I love a drapery rod set that Z Gallerie has discontinued. They had one 28-48" left in store. My bay window is such that I could use that small one on the middle window and 48-80" on the outside windows.

There's a heat pipe just off the edge of the middle window, which means I'll have to hang the rod so the finials are within the line of the frame, or just barely over, so as not to hit the pipe. Is this acceptable?

The brackets have to attached to the window frames instead of the brick wall.

Hurry before they sell that last (nonreturnable) rod.

Also, the outer windows would have the rods extending well past the frames.

zooza -- looking at your original paste up, it looks like the frame was the same size, but you had indicated a much larger print...I think that was the problem. If you have the current print re-framed, it might be too small for the space. It would be more economical at this point to find a larger print that you like and have the mat re-cut to fit it.

This is the hardest room for me!. My husband and I have a huge library of books and he has a huge, I mean huge, collection of Dungeon and Dragon Role playing games that he flatly refuses giving up. Its not even open for discussion.

I also have my sewing area in the living room/dining room. Thats a mess too.

Here are my pics on Flickr. www.flickr.com/people/binah06

Melissa

Tried to start work on my office today-no go with my lingering cold. But I bought a desk! It's sort of danish modern, dark wood, and I'll have it in a few days (need to get a truck) so when it arrives I'll post a picture! I can't wait, this desk has a bottom drawer made for hanging files, so no more file cabinet!

Thanks for the bed suggestions, I'm probably leaning more towards a folding bed (thanks zooza I'd forgoten all about that option), I work from home full time so I want to keep my office more officey and less cosy sleppy :)

If it doesn't rain this afternoon I might squeeze in some garden curing.

elevenhounds, i'm sorry you're in vt, only because i'm replacing my l.r. couch and i'd be more than happy to give it to you -- kids love it's giant blue round downness.

jodi, guess what? i did get a set of hands volunteered to me! oh my god, the wonders of a new mattress. i slept in my new bed last nite and i popped awake this am more refreshed than i can't remember when...

Well, I've actually done some Curing instead of just wandering around aimlessly... note how many weeks behind I officially am... but we don't really have clutter-clutter, so it's not that awful to catch up.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35684487@N00/sets/72157600045717176/

In the aftermath of this excitement, I decided that my frustration with selling the old dining table was a sign that it was ready to fly free, so I CL'd it as a freebie. I knew I should have sold it before we left San Francisco -- there is no demand for small dining tables here in the wide, open spaces of the American Southwest.

Athena!
Your desk made the ChicagoAT pages! It's on the small space contest announcement. (Yea!)

Hey Folks,
I had company all weekend, so I just feel like I'm getting back in the swing now. I really hate the kitchen color, so I'm going to repaint, a creammy yellow. I got the china out of the livingroom, put books in the living room built in (formerly the dining room). Replaced the drawer and handle pulls in the living room and kitchen. Replaced light switch plates in hallway, put up nice light switch pull the bedroom. Took two loads to Goodwill, had a few free Craig's List pickups. Best of all I found a great new 1/2 landing strip for the front hallway. A small sattle bench, where I put a marble top on it.

I am blogging my Apartment Therapy Cure if you are interested.
http://my-quest-for-life.blogspot.com/

Thanks
Melissa