boston_kat's Profile

I will echo the other posters who have said that the tenant is making the mistakes you always see on those house flipping shows. They have pie in the sky wishes, blow the budget, and end up with a half finished job with many cut corners.

Personally, I would nix the carrerra marble countertops as well as the stainless steel shelves. The downside of carrerra has been discussed above and no future tenant wants open shelving. It either looks messy or is non-functional. Both big negatives in a small NYC apartment.

A good alternative would be a full complement of cabinets from Ikea and laminate or silestone/caesarstone countertops. I would re-tile the kitchen floor and skip the hardwood in the kitchen as well as the stained hardwoods. Save the money for a new vanity in the bathroom. And a little paint can go a long way, especially in the bedrooms.

@Anusha73
I don't have kids, so I probably got the age guidelines wrong. Regardless, the average toddler bumping up the upper end of the age cutoff are too big to be sitting on laps. Unfortunately, my bad experience was last Christmas, so it is pretty fresh in my mind.

Replacement screens for smartphones are available for purchase on the web and they are not that difficult to install. The same is true for replacement batteries. Apple, Samsung and Nokia would love you to believe that their phones are not fixable and must be replaced every year or two. But, it really isn't the case.

This is great, but I would liked to have seen similar square footages across the price points to get a more fair comparison.

Also, I would love to see the Essentials and Entertainment section expanded a bit. Just some ideas off the top of my head.

- Taxes (sales, income, car excise)
- Utilities (price / kwhr electricity and price/ therm gas plus some metric of how much is used annually)
- Six pack of beer in the grocery store
- A basket of food items beyond milk
- Parking ticket ($50 in Cambridge/Somerville)

I had trouble with this recipe as written. The potatoes took awhile to cook, even though I parboiled them and sliced them relatively thin. I think just 1/4 of milk ( I only had 1%) is not enough liquid. It didn't coat the potatoes and fell to the bottom of the pan. So, the potatoes on top were essentially roasting. Next time I will either use cream or make a roux, more like this recipe for zucchini au gratin written by Julia Childs. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe?id=7040014

Man, the negative Nellies are out in force today. My new AT policy is say something nice or don't say anything at all. Being cranky doesn't add light to a conversation or brighten anyone's day. Something to think about.

Who wouldn't want to live in a brick pizza oven?! Good riddance.

As early as 15 years ago, lead was added to fuel. Mercury is a particulate by-product of diesel engine combustion. The list of potential contaminants could be a mile long. Frankly, I wouldn't want to take a chance that these heavy metals could be leaching from my headboard.

It is a nice idea that corporations and government regulations will keep unsafe items off the market. However, only a small fraction of pieces are tested, and what happens if you get the untested piece that is off the charts with contaminants. West Elm doesn't really care because it would be impossible to tie your cancer diagnosis 20-years down to road to their bed. Consumers have to protect themselves; neither the government nor the corporations have your best interest in mind.

Naive question #1: Is it the sugar or the oil that facilitates the clumps, which is my favorite thing about granola

Naive question #2: Who made the bowls? They look lovely with the granola.

This post makes me want to experiment with granola. Thanks!

I agree with previous comments. So many of the small spaces AT house tours focus on the objects inside the space and not the space itself. Frankly, it does a disservice to those who design small spaces and make them both functional and pretty. For me, my appreciation of interior design is how the space flows and how the designer wraps up the 'vignettes' to create a cohesive big picture. Focusing on the objects and not the tour contributes to the perception that designing for a small space is about surrounding oneself with objects, and suffering through the lack of functionality many of us have experienced while living in studios and small apartment. Like, only people who live in big spaces get to enjoy both. If I wanted to view pictures exclusively of sunglasses and shoes, then I would visit a fashion blog not AT.