rdml's Profile

I think one of the most appealing aspects of MCM pieces (especially the originals) is that they were designed for the smaller American dwellings of the time (1940s and 1950s) so their scale and style are more flexible for smaller spaces, and that's a REALLY attractive alternative to mainstream American furniture, which is often large and clunky and scaled for the McMansions of the 1990s and 2000s.

Last time I was at Ikea, I tried out a bunch of their chairs for comfort. I thought the Urban was pretty good, especially with the back and seat cushion inserts. I thought it was a very nice balance of sturdiness and flexibility/comfort. But chairs, like most furniture, are really individual choices. There's no substitute for sitting in it.

I second the idea of painting the wood -- any number of color possibilities -- black, white, orange, lime green(?). That would give the chairs a contemporary spin while preserving that groovy velvet!

The key question is whether the product is at a Target STORE or from the Target WEBSITE. Products in the stores, especially the furniture, are not going to be very high quality or very durable. However, the website is a completely different beast, offering a range of products, including some fairly high end modern/contemporary designs.

We had the self-scooping box, and it freaked our cats out. Plus, the urinated litter always ends up sticking to the equipment.

I live 5 blocks from the new president, but on the wrong side of what used to be the DMZ line between "good" and "bad." It's the most beautiful street I've lived on, even though it still has a few vacant lots. It is beautiful, and safe, because of the largely African-American heroes who stayed when the neighborhood declined, prevented tear-downs, and worked hard for years to get redevelopment going. I'm always grateful to them. Having lived in the city of Chicago for almost 16 years, I can say that unless a neighborhood is experiencing active gang violence, it's gonna be pretty safe for regular, law-abiding folks. Yes, the odd robbery occurs on the street, and those are scary, but given the population density the odds of that happening to YOU are still pretty low. In fact, living on the South Side has been much safer than when we lived in trendy Wicker Park (about 10 years ago) where we had gunshots at our house, graffiti, break-ins, belligerent homeless, arson in nearby homes, and very poor police service.

I think those cool, slim Euro-radiators are warm water systems. In contrast, places like Chicago tend to have old steam-based systems which get REALLY hot. I would therefore worry that Kitty might get roasted on a Chicago radiator cozy.

We've had this same problem in the master bedroom. We solved it in the short run with a cable-suspended shelf (e.g., from Container Store or Chiasso). It really doesn't look very good, mainly because the cable box is HUGE (it's a digital cable box with DVR), so floating a shelf big enough looks really ungainly. Many options that WOULD look cool (like a LACK shelf from IKEA), really won't work if you have one of these large cable/DVR boxes.

Ultimately, I'm going to relocate the cable box out of the way somewhere. Smarthome.com is a good resource for devices that capture the remote control signal and redirect it to your component's location. We are already using an IR transmitter in our family room so that we can keep the AV components in a cabinet out of site. Since this has worked out, we will do the same in the MBR.

Ya know, for $225, they better be able to walk the dog, too. Oh, and be totally pee, poo and barf resistant as well.

It strikes me as a belated and half-hearted attempt to reclaim home furnishings shoppers lost to Target and Ikea. There doesn't seem to be enough here, and certainly not enough style, to bring Wal-Mart into line with their more hip competitors.