Sea's Profile

I've found out the hard way that this is not even design within reach in the intended sense. After ordering a bed and mattress set at the very beginning of February, and promised that it delivered within eight weeks, I'm still waiting on it. Now the DWR people say they're just hoping it gets to us before the end of June. That would make it over nineteen weeks for them to get it to us. Assuming that estimate is correct. Sort of not within reach at all, and not for any amount of money, either.

I've already mentioned this here. But I just now see from their website that they're having a bed and mattress sale, and it sort of sticks in my craw. How do I let people know? And, how irresponsible is it for them to have a sale on items that are already four months on backorder?

I see that the comment above me details a similar experience....

brrrlington, did you ever get your bed? Do you recommend I get my money refunded and bail out while I can, or did the bed eventually arrive and are you happy with it?

Needless to say, I won't be making any more large purchases with DWR either. Is there a comparable store people recommend?

Sea

Paint the entire room, and paint it white. But not one that matches the ceiling or trim exactly (let's say that's Benjamin Moore White #01).

The white I really recommend for the walls is a BM Aura color called 'Gardenia'. What's great about it is that it will really open up the room, but it won't be the same as the ceiling, and it will be a WARM white. The grey/blue suggestions are nice for a photo of the room, but probably too cold to live in, especially with all the cool-colored furniture/rug. Let us know what you do!

Okay, there's no doubt that 1200 sq ft is not really small. HOWEVER, I really like the shift of category divisions away from geographic region, and embracing categories of size, instead. New York will be overrepresented in the smallest, teeny-tiniest and tiny categories, and that's as it should be. I'm very interested, even actually excited, to see how and whether this shift to divisions of size will improve the contest from the past couple of years!

kimg924,
Because of the huge increase in the size allowed for entries, I think it becomes harder than ever to tell why apartments are getting low votes - many, I suspect, are voting just because they think it's too big and shouldn't win because it shouldn't have been allowed in the first place. And not because they don't like the design per se.

I remember someone suggesting (in the thread announcing the contest) that we should work around the rules by voting down the ones we think are too big and shouldn't count even if they're gorgeous. After all, having a large place that's well-designed just isn't as hard as the same in a teeny tiny place, and this site used to be about the latter. So things are confusing now.

I was really excited until I saw that there are no pictures of the interior. I've always wanted to see what it was like inside. Is it painted, covered with fur... what's the floor like? :(

In case another opinion on this is needed, just want to jump in to say that increase to 850 sq. ft. makes the contest entries much bigger than a "smallest coolest". More like a "mid-size, cool" contest. My own apartment is 560 square feet in Manhattan, and it's actually considered HUGE for one person. And it is! I have storage space galore, a separate kitchen, and so on.

Maybe the main reason for the increase in size is to allow for more families to enter? (and/or for less urban entries?) Be that as it may, I think over the 500 square-foot mark, the major design challenges to a small space change dramatically. I've lived in a 12 x 18 room, and I can tell you that really tested the embodiment of small and cool! My current 560 square foot place has pretty much just the ordinary challenges of design in any mid-sized place.

It's going to be much harder for those time 12 x 18 apartments to be appreciated when compared with the larger spaces (face it, there's a bias towards nice stuff, even if it is supposed to be in an uncluttered space - it's hard to have a lot of that in a teeny tiny space).

When I looked into this issue years ago, I concluded that Aquasana is best for the water issues that are possible in the city (I'm in NYC), while Multi-pure was best for the country.

At the time, I read a ton of official documents from the water department (there are more contamination incidents than you think, but they're usually temporary and relatively contained) and filter brands. I forget the exact set of city micro-organisms or toxins that made the case for each filter system, so if someone out there who has done the research more recently, let me know what it is! Anyway, I went for the Aquasana.

I haven't seen the winners posted like I have on the other AT sites - I feel silly. Am I missing something obvious and have you posted them somewhere?

Very nice!

Why not post your emails as blog posts as well? I come here just about every day, look through almost all the posts, but I don't want to have to read this in an email. I'd love to read this sort of long piece once-a-week on the website. Why not?