apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Does anyone know what to do with old kitchen cabinets?
Would like to donate them if possible, or give them to someone who would like to haul them away.
We are ripping them out and our building doesn't let us put them on the street.
Any suggestions?

taracakes - I would start with Craigslist. I have had great luck getting rid of stuff on there, especially when it is free. Just be clear that the stuff must be picked up at your building, when you are available, how many flights of stairs, etc., so that people come prepared.

To the editors: is this website ever decluttered?

I clicked on one of the links in the middle column, "miapartamento", and it was a blog with about five or six entries. The most recent was August 2006.

taracake, try posting some pics of them on Craigslist. Likely you will have to pay to have your construction debris carted away just like everybody else.

yeah--i was trying to find someone--a school maybe? who needed them--they are in good shape and i hate to trash them if someone else can use them
i will try craigslist--thanks!

Go CL, and if you're lucky, someone will do the ripping out for you.

When we did a kitchen rehab, back in the old days pre-CL, our newspaper ad to sell whichever of our old appliances still worked also attracted a guy who was happy to take down our old cabinets and haul them away to use in his rehab.

taracakes - If you have a Habitat for Humanity ReStore in your area, they may take them, but you may have to get them over there. Link to the list of US ReStores - http://www.habitat.org/cd/env/restore.aspx

Taracakes, I second the Craigslist suggestion. But also check out http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/at_home/at_home.shtml at the NYC Wasteless page and see if you can find a home for your cabinets.

Our 1870s Catskills farmhouse has hideous black bucket light fixtures in the bedrooms. We'll probably remove them eventually, but in the meantime should we paint them white? Or cover with some heat-resistant something that would give a nice light? Or cover with mesh and spackle? (we fear the last option will look sloppy. There are 4 in each bedroom, so obtrusive!
http://flickr.com/photos/marstin/621910759/

i have a pair of metal bookcase that i'm considering painting... should i just spray paint them or is that not the best option?

taracakes - also try freecycle

Taracakes -

As if you haven't already been inundated with suggestions, but please consider Materials for the Arts. They pick-up, and their warehouse in Queens is the place where non-profits from all over the NYC area go to get suplied for class projects, arts performances, office supplies and more. It's a great organization, and you get a tax write-off.

http://www.mfta.org/donors.html

Marfa--you'd best leave them alone. Sorry. If you try anything you're risking fire--and your lives shouldn't be endangered just cause you don't like the colour of something.


Why cover them with mesh and spackle? If you're going to all that trouble, just replace them.

Question about floor refinishing. I'm getting my white oak floors refinished monday from some "old school" refinish guys. sand, 1 coat sealer, 2 coats poly (the stinky kind.) they said I need to stay off it a full 24 hours after the final coat. I'm really sensitive to fumes. How long does a new floor finish outgas, of the old variety? Any advice would be great. These guys aren't the chattiest but they do good work.

Thanks!

Lisa

Honestly, I believe them when they say 24 hours, but for you, I'd think you might want to wait a few days, just in case there are any funny little spots here and there, where the chemical mix didn't dry it so well, and then, I think I'd be tempted to move some plants in before you move your actual self in, and hope they they do their job of eating up some of the nasticity in the air.

Marfa, You may be able to buy replacement innards for you lights. I basically have the same can lights but with white baffles or whatever they call that inside sleeve. Check with your local light fixture store.

My mom is thinking of installing crown molding in her bedroom just to add a finishing touch to the room. The building was built in the 1920s and hasn't been upated since so we have plaster over concrete walls. With no studs to nail into, we are looking at the newer foam moldings that are basically glued onto the wall. Does anyone have any experience with this type of product vs more traditional wood molding?

lisa2, we had our floors refinished about 2 years ago (the old school way) and were told the same thing (24 hours). I am truly sensitive to chemical smells - I get migraines from it, and the smell was liveable for me after the quoted 24 hours. I could still smell it if I left and came back in, but I didn't get headaches or anything. Also, we planned the work for summer, so I knew I would be able to have windows open & fans on. Good luck.

zzzap

I don't see any problem with spray painting metal shelves, if you can do it outside. The overspray really can drift over everything if you do it inside, despite trying to isolate it with plastic sheets. I recently sprayed a metal lamp and curtain rod with Krylon's Interior/Exterior spray that promised no runs, no drips and no errors. They were right! They now look as if this was the original finish. Good luck.

"nasticity" .....excellent word that I am now stealing. :-)

thanks for the pep talk on the fumes. i'm going to do the window thing and keep my eye on it from my camper in the back yard.

CQ, if you're going to add moulding to a 1920s room, make sure it's appropriate for the period. I have no idea if the stuff is green or not but it is certainly appropriate for using adhesive rather than fasteners in a situation such as you describe.

Honestly, I'm not big on moulding in general, but installed and painted properly, you can't tell that light stuff from the "real" stuff unless you touch it. It's purely decorative, it doesn't matter what it's made of. A lot of moulding back then was plaster instead of wood anyway.

Maybe something relatively low-relief and concave would be nice. A tall baseboard and a dado rail would also be appropriate historically.

Of course, this may be a rustic farmhouse....

Ooh, thanks for the warm welcome! I feel so fancy...

moira--thanks for the tip--i would love to donate to a worthy cause---thanks to everyone else--i will use craigslist for appliances if i dont just let home depot take them away

BESIDES IKEA, where do people shop for cheap household things? I'm a student, so I actually do mean cheap in the price and a maybe a little in the quality because of it (like ikea). DWR isn't my style or in my budget.

Eddie, Target and Bed Bath and Beyond are both viable options depending on what exactly you're looking for and they both seem to have a decent variety of price ranges. We've got both but not an Ikea so those have been a bit helpful. Thrifting can also be a good way to get furniture on a student budget.

We just moved into our apartment and the doors are painted with a garish red, white and blue. For the past few weeks I've been sanding down the rough spots in preparation for painting over them in an off-white color. I have a big can of oil-based primer left over from wallpaper removal (I read that the oil base prevents the water-based wallpaper glue from seeping through) and cans of latex for the topcoat (this was before I learned from AT that oil is better on doors). My question is this: can I prime with the oil-based primer and then use the latex over it? Can I skip the priming since there's already paint on the doors?

rm450, you can skip the primer. Normally you don't mix an oil primer with a latex finish paint anyway.

Eddie -

Other than what others have already said...if you're in NYC, there are tons of 99-cent stores, and I'd say that for some things, you just can't beat them. Like, if you wanted a turkey baster, it would be 99-cents, instead of $3.99 or so, and if you were going to buy 10 of them to do an art project (like I had to do once) that can make a humongous difference.

Anyway... other than that, there is a K-Mart in Penn Station and on Astor Place, which I don't really frequent, but at least some of their stuff is Martha Stewart, so how bad can that be, although hers is probably not quite the cheapest of their stuff.

Alana & Alice--thanks for the ideas. Yes, it does seem stupid to cover up electrical fixtures, but we prefer lamps anyway so don't need 4 overhead lights per bedroom (might keep one working as it's connected to the wall switch).

Related question--does this mean the ceiling was dropped some 8" JUST to accomodate the fixtures? That seems crazy. I hope extra insulation or something was required. The roof, skylights (which was also hate and covered with fabric), and ceiling were probably re-done in the 1980s.