philadelph's Profile

A slightly wider hallway can be a great place for bookshelves, too. A friend of mine lined her hall with Kilby shelves from IKEA (only 9 1/2" deep!) -- a great way to work a big library into a small apartment.

I have few enough that I can remember them, but far too many accounts to recall which goes with which. So, I keep a Google Docs file with usernames and "password clues" -- sometimes just the first letter of the password, other times a personal message so that I know which password goes where. Since Google Docs is always accessible (and only accessible by my highest security password), this works well for me.

It's beautiful -- turquoise and mustard are pretty much my favorite colors -- but to me a world map that doesn't list the names of many countries loses serious functionality points. Just the other night a friend and I were trying to recall exactly where Estonia was and, lo and behold, the world map on her wall actually *told* us.

I love the picture! Just beautiful. We have reclaimed douglas fir countertops in our kitchen -- they're not end-grain butcher block, and they are finished with waterlox tung oil to be water resistant. I'm in love with them so far -- they're gorgeous (everyone who comes into the kitchen immediately starts stroking them), and easy to keep clean.

My problem with the shiny black granite countertops in our former apartment was that I couldn't ever tell by looking whether they were clean (or wet). I think my wood countertops stay far more clean, because I can see any crumbs or spills on them and so I wipe them down with a soapy sponge all the time.

ErikTheRed, I was surprised last year to learn that a lot of studies have actually found that wood cutting boards are just as sanitary, if not moreso, than plastic -- http://www.reluctantgourmet.com/cutting_board.htm. We don't cut directly on our countertops anyway, but I thought that was interesting. (I was raised on the faulty belief that wood cutting boards are icky, germ-infested things.)

One major thing to consider is where your friends and family are; even if you live the greenest lifestyle possible, but find yourself flying across the country all the time, you'll be undoing a lot of your eco-lifestyle.

I love the fact that living in Philly means I don't need to own a car, can walk everywhere (including my farmers market and CSA pickup site), can hop in a PhillyCarShare Prius when I do need a car, and can get just about anywhere on the east coast via a cheap (and low-environmental-impact) bus ride. I don't love the fact that my family is spread from San Diego to Minneapolis to Chicago, which means I usually wind up flying around 10,000 miles a year or more...

Thirding the Bluecoat love! I'm not sure how available it is outside Philly, but it's by far my favorite gin. I like Hendrick's, but only with cucumber. Bluecoat I find more versatile, and more "delectable and interesting" rather than primarily just "interesting." If that makes any sense.

Philadelphia, PA:

- We paid $900/month to rent a 2BR, 800 sq ft rowhouse in South Philly for years.

- We currently pay $1200/month for the house payment (mortgage, insurance, taxes, etc.) on a 3BR, 1100 sq ft rowhouse.

Now, that doesn't include the multiple thousands we're putting into renovations and upgrades... new kitchen, new boiler, refinished floors, insulation, etc. But it still feels like a pretty reasonable cost of living to me... I love my house (1870s, high ceilings, old hard pine floors, french doors, a charming 50's pink and blue bathroom) and my neighborhood (East Passyunk - great shops and restaurants, nice neighborhood parks, a half block from the subway and a 10 minute subway ride/25 minute walk to Center City).

Wow - this whole thread just goes to show that the issue of how we cook and eat is something that raises a lot of hackles and a lot of judgment. I know it's one of the things that causes the most tension at my family get-togethers and such... I think most of the worst fights between my mom and my grandmother have started in the kitchen. People seem to develop strong ideas about what the "right" way to do something is in the kitchen, and damn anyone who says anything different.

For the record, count me among the happy microwave users. I have lived in places without a microwave, and yes, it's true that I can do almost everything I'd do in a microwave in some other (usually slower, usually messier) way without one. But I eat a lot of leftovers, and I love being able to have a hot plate of last night's dinner ready to go in minutes. I warm up real maple syrup for pancakes (in a glass pitcher), or homemade hot fudge. I soften butter for cookies. I too use the microwave for rising bread dough. And for steaming veggies and defrosting frozen berries and cooking a quick bowl of oatmeal on a weekday morning and sterilizing sponges and yes, I will admit it: I even use my microwave to cook storebought frozen meals sometimes! Many of the ones from Trader Joe's are pretty tasty and pretty healthy... and they're a lot cheaper than getting takeout on the occasions when you don't have time to cook a real meal. So, judge me if you want to. If you're happier without a microwave, I'm happy for you. I'm keeping mine... it's going to live on a built-in shelf in my new kitchen.

Ha - karlaudi, I have had the exact same wish for a "green and yellow" bathroom. Especially since "the house that got away" had a beautiful mid-century green and yellow bathroom, in great shape.

But my pink and baby blue one keeps growing on me... and yes, guests have told me it's their favorite thing about the whole house. Our sink needs to be replaced, though... found one at ReStore that I think will work, but it's a tile-in whereas our current one is a wall-mount. So I'm trying to figure out the best way to retro-renovate well enough to fool people into thinking it's original...

Is it way too nerdy that the first thing I noticed about that picture is "gas stove in front of window=major code violation!"? I pored over the NKBA guidelines when I was designing my kitchen and gas stove near a window was a major no-no.

But that is not the topic at hand :) The lighting suggestions here are good ones... and now that I'm a homeowner, I've realized that it really isn't that hard (or that expensive, necessarily) to add or replace light fixtures. So if it's a place you'll be renting for a while and you can get the okay from the landlord, it might be worth the modest investment. We even bought vintage fixtures and rewired them, using $5-worth of parts from Lowes. One of those things that seems way more daunting than it necessarily is.