Here is the big picture

This is the kind of house I want to buy in the future.

When visiting my father a month ago, I noticed this new house going up a few blocks away. I was surprised to see a bungalow. I thought most new builds were much bigger houses with "great rooms" and two-car garages. It was comforting to see that some people still choose to live smaller, simpler lives.

Check out:
Chicago Bungalow Association
American Bungalow magazine
1912 Bungalow house blog

Your miles are about to expire...

That was the heading of the e-mail I received weeks ago from USAirways. Unfortunately, I've been so busy I haven't been able to deal with it yet. The offer they gave me is I can keep my miles and earn new ones if I:

1) sign up for their new credit card No
2) arrange a trip now No $
3) buy from their partners hmm....

One of their vendors is FTD, so I thought, I need flowers for the Cure and need to keep those 3,000 miles, so why not?

Well, guess how surprised I was to find out that fav designer Todd Oldham (who is EVERYwhere these days) has designed a collection of floral arrangements for them. True to Todd's style, they are not ordinary, each one is arranged so creatively. He uses colanders, birdhouses, mini-bundt pans, Pyrex measuring cups, and teapots as vases. So along with the beautiful flowers, the recipient (or you) also gets something besides yet another glass vase. Either free kitchen utensils, a free teapot, or a free birdhouse for outside the window. Score!


Measure of Happiness


Blooming Birdhouse


Springtime Culinary Creation

Rugs, rugs, rugs....

I have no idea what the average person would consider an affordable rug. However, I have come to the conclusion, that in magazines, affordable is anything under $600.

Yes, obviously reading the wrong magazines for my salary.

So, I have resigned myself that anything 6' X 8' and under $400 is good.

Not great.

Just good.

Of course, if I wanted something plain, I could definitely find something cheaper, but of course I have to be difficult and desire COLOR, PATTERN, and STYLE. Shame on me!

So check out the choices I found on just one website, Rugs-Direct.com.

$199 $242
$299 $199
$199 $199

I'm really thinking about this one above with the wavy lines.

The ones below are the ones I first fell in love with, but they are outside of my self-imposed budget. Aren't they loverly?

The one with the circles was featured in Midwest Living magazine, one women loved it so much that she ordered it in all sizes and used it throughout her house, drawing different colors out of it for each rooms. I loved that idea.

$499 $439
$499 $499

Well, back to cleaning my kitchen.

Did I tell you that I love fabric

Well, I do and I especially LOVE these:







* All are available from Hancock Fabrics (located in 42 states and online)
The fabrics are all cotton and are $10 to $20 per yard.

How could I forget?

I forgot to update on who won the Smallest, Coolest Apartment contest, but if you are an avid reader of their site, you already know and if you are not, you only know about the ones that I wrote about and linked to here. So, from my list, James & Margaret's Iconic Studio, Jane and Darko's Cozy Thicket, Jenny and Clove's LAish Pad, Greg and Em's Silverlake Sanctuary, and Shauna's More Dash than Cash And from those, Jane and Darko won third place, and Jenny and Clove actually tied for first place with David & Im's Onespace. Now I like the Onespace, but when I wrote my earlier list I was writing about my personal favs and I did not get a feeling of home from this place. But in terms of the contest rules, it fulfilled what the judges were looking for. Can someone explain to me, why if there is a tie for made it to the finals. (If you check the links you can see a slideshow with additional photos from each.) FIRST place, why does it then skip to THIRD place. Why must the person placing after them have to take home a third place ribbon, or the bronze medal. "Oh, yes I won third place. Oh no, that's it, they both get the gold, I get the bronze, and they save the silver one for next year." How unfair is that? It makes no sense. So Jane & Darko, in my opinion, congratulations on your SECOND PLACE win!!!

Week Two

• Fix one thing in your apartment yourself.
• Clean your kitchen from top to bottom and throw away old food.
• Buy a water filter and use it.
• Run your hands over every wall in your apartment.
• Clear space for an Outbox.
• Clear one surface and use the Outbox.
• Buy fresh flowers.
• Determine your style.
• Find a new recipe and cook one meal at home.
• Choose the date for your housewarming!

Cure: Week One update

The lamp that I was going to "fix in my apt myself" for Week Two.

Well, I instead decided that the lamp will become the piece that I "remove from the apt and put outside". After reading my description about how it has been broke for years because the cords are extremely frayed and the vellum in the part of the lamp (the nitelight) that I love was also broken, it made me realize that perhaps it was time for it to move along. Especially since my Dad has already found me a replacement...the amberina globe lamp I wrote about here earlier in the month. Yes, that one with safe, non-death defying cords, an intact mica shade, and it's own nitelight in the base. And most importantly, this lamp already works.

I finished my headboard cover.



well it's not really finished, but it is on the way to being done. I miscalculated the width of the table and the hardware on the other side, so I need to add some fabric to it so that I can still cover the table top with two layers of batting. But otherwise, you can still see what it will look like.

Must...Not...Want...This...

This is the cleverest lamp for a home office.

7.5" x 7.5" x 15" tall

It might not be the lamp for my home office, but somebody out there has to buy this.
Then please let me know how you like it when you do. I'll try to live through you.
(I am not allowing myself any new stuff until my apartment is "cured" of the old stuff.)

The lamp is only $19.99 and is available here. You can use the cork base to post messages and the light is turned on by pressing down on the push pin top. It comes in red, blue, orange, and a perfect chartreuse green.

After the Cure...maybe?

This is the desk that I have loved for years from IKEA.

Yes, IKEA (I am NOT ashamed)

I looked everywhere else but when you compare the prices and details of anything similar, it still comes up on top:

Ballard Designs at $499 

 

World Market/CostPlus $329

Pier 1 Kids Pier 1 has kids? $149

and even Target at $199 (now out of stock)

Whereas, the IKEA Vika Amon/Vika Artur is only $69 in the combination and table top size that I want. It is the only version that can be broken down to be moved and the only one that is also adjustable in height. The biggest plus is the fact that since it is unfinished wood I can paint it any color that I want!

I have already measured the shelves and both my CPU and printer will fit.

Now what I need to find is a side storage unit to house extra printer paper, disks, CD's, and my photo printer which is now perched on a little yellow foot stool.

So if you see something that you want and it's truly out of your budget, do a little research. If it's a cool design, you will probably be able to find the style offered at many different places for many different price points. And hopefully, one of them will fit within your budget.

What a way to get motivated

After rereading the tasks for Week One, I got motivated to clean my bathroom when I got home from work. I also deep conditioned my hair at the same time. Believe me; normally just eating an actual dinner after work is an amazing feat for me. I know I have to deep-clean my kitchen in Week 2, so I guess I was just in the mood to clean.

While cleaning the bathroom, I started to remove the bottles of hair products, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and other products from under the sink. Well, as I grabbed the ones in cardboard boxes, they squished…they were wet, cold, and clammy. It seems I have had a leak and from the looks of the back wall, (plywood?) it’s been going on for a while because a waterline has been creeping up the surface.

Way to be positive, I now have Item #1 for the The Cure Repair list, to be solved by my apartment management.

Item #2 is a floor lamp I have had for years. So long that I can’t even remember how I came to have it. Well, it’s wiring has looked suspect all this time, so I don’t actually use it.

It SHOULD be the item I “remove from the apt and put outside” but I love how the base lights up by itself, like a nightlight. I decided that I get to keep it if I rewire it (which will make it the one thing “ I fix in my apt myself” for Week 2. Yeah!

The item I “remove from the apt and put outside” will be my 27" living room TV that very recently died. Of course this happens right after I discovered a way to minimize its influence over the room. I’m definitely not paying to have it fixed, since it was given to me from a family member who himself received it as a prize.

Look into earth-friendly cleaning products
I already try to use as many as I can. I have been using Seventh Generation dishwashing and laundry detergents for years now. I highly suggest them if you hate the chemically manufactured scents of other cleaners.

More good news!

The pile of junk that filled my front hall is slowly disappearing. Yeah! Each day I take a pile down to the trash in the morning and it’s clearing out quite well. Finally, I had about ten Real Simple magazines, that I had already plucked through two months ago, that were still sitting there.

After

Week One

• Make a complete list of repairs needed for the apt and their solutions
• Vacuum and mop all of the floors
• Remove one item from the apartment and put it outside
• Buy fresh flowers
• Sit for ten minutes in a place in apt that I never sit in, without any distractions
• Look into earth-friendly cleaning products

My apartment is very sick

1. My apartment suffers from awkward furniture placement
2. My rooms just feel cramped all the time and hard to maneuver
3. Even though I clean out my junk corner every few months, it always fills up again
4. I have so many unfinished apartment improvement projects
5. Even though I do not cook, I cannot seem to keep up with the dirty dishes
6. In the past year, I have never invited anyone over.
7. The clutter makes me tense

A great book has just come out Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure. I fully agree with the author, Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan’s idea that the state and condition of your apartment can affect your mood and your life. His cure involves purging your apartment of unwanted useless objects and furniture sometimes separating emotional ties to objects that are taking up space. On the Apartment Therapy website, they came up with the idea of a group cure, to create an online support group for others going through the process.

Since I was just about to take on a major apartment sprucing project (see earlier posts), I have signed up. As the eight weeks go on, you will all be able to follow the progress. So for the next eight weeks my posts will also incorporate the AT Cure. If you want to see current pictures of my apartment (desperately in need of the cure), just go here.

The Cure focuses on each part of your home. This week we will be dealing with the apartment as a whole, and each week after that will tackle individual “rooms,” ending with the whole apartment in Week Eight.

Tiny Showcase!

Want to have unique art in your home instead of having to frame pieces of wrapping paper, fabric scraps, or museum art posters, but still not pay a lot of money? Well, I just saw this in an archived post at Minor Adjustments.

Tiny Showcase

The founders wanted to find a forum for their talented friends to showcase their talent and make a little money. They also decided that the pieces would be smaller in size. So each week they pick a new tiny piece, that they have reproduced in limited print runs on acid-free paper (for a long archival lifespan). But best yet, because of the size, the pieces are priced low (from $12 to $40) yet a portion of the price is still donated to a charity chosen by each artist.

To give you an idea of what might be available, here are a few images of their earlier offerings:

caught up Jen Corace SOLD OUT
Landscape Matthew Curry SOLD OUT
Story Katy Horan SOLD OUT



On the Lounge Marci Washington SOLD OUT
Distant Folly #3 Brad Kendall SOLD OUT
I love you Camilla Engman SOLD OUT

My Finalists

Well, the general evaluations for the 2nd Annual Smallest, Coolest Apartment Contest at Apartmenttherapy.com ended March 30 at midnight. Now the judges working from our top picks and comments have from April 1st through the morning of April 4th to evaluate the reader's choices and determine a top 5 from the West Coast and a top 5 from the East Coast. Before that list comes out, I want to list my favorites and the ones I hope will also be on their lists.

East Coast:

#31 - Bri & Chad's Fab on a Budget 350 s/f Renter

#5 - Marc's Architecture Student Digs 270 s/f Renter

#15 - James & Margaret's Iconic Studio 565 s/f Owner

#13 - Jane & Darko's Cozy Thicket 645 s/f Owner

#14 - Jenny & Clove's LAish Pad 442 s/f Owner

Alternates:

#8 - Alison's Design to the Max 394 sq ft Owner

#7 - K/B’s Madison Reflection 295 s/f Renter

West Coast:

#33: Greg and Em's Silverlake Sanctuary 639 s/f Renter

#32: Shauna's More Dash than Cash 620 s/f (?)

#6: KG's Comfy Santa Monica Apartment 550 s/f Renter

#10: Deb's Inspired Loft Space 612 s/f Owner

#1: Rob's Apartmequarium 488 s/f Renter

Honorable Mention:

# 5: Jason's One Room Retreat 157.5 s/f Renter (What great potential!)

Amberina Glass

Amberina glass is "heat sensitive" glass, which gradates in color from amber at the bottom to red at the top. They do this by reheating the top part of the glass before allowing it to cool. If the effect is reversed and the bottom part of a vessel is reheated rather than the top, the result is called "reverse amberina"- which is red at the bottom and amber at the top.

Both my dad and I are fans of refurbishing old items for new use. He is amazing at finding cool stuff in thrift stores and flea markets for cheap, cheap prices. I had showed him my two amberina pieces last October and he said that he would look out for it.

Well, look what my dad found for me. Compare it to the images I have above and well, he did an amazing job. He did pick up a few pieces that were amber but not amberina, but I am not complaining.

Look at that lamp! It came with the original mica lampshade. The best thing is that the globe portion also has a bulb, and can be lit separate from the lamp, like a nightlight.

Now, just where o where will that lamp go in my already full apartment?