thegarrett's Profile

Since we're dog-piling on what we all think you should do with the space, I'll add my 3 cents.

Right now, the space seems too grounded and bottom heavy. There's really nothing in the upper 2/3 of the room. Furthermore, there is a LOT of heavy furniture on the bottom 1/3 of the room. I think a few quick fixes could make the space seem much more cohesive.

1 - get rid of the double ottoman / double coffee table situation. Move the ottomans elsewhere if you have to keep them in the space (they might be great at the end of the bed) but the repetition is visually jarring.

2 - turn the rug so that it parallels the couch. The other furniture being off the rug makes it appear too spread out.

3 - i love that rug. that's all

4,5,6 - curtains, floor lamps, art. draw the eye upward and away from the floor. Even dummy panels alongside that skinny window would make it fill up the horizontal space more whilst not blocking light, and create a great amount of height and balancing out the horizontal and vertical eye space.

Opinions given in the spirit of helpfulness and camaraderie!

Our house used to back up to a major highway in Atlanta (I-285, if you're familiar). The noise pollution was constant and awful, and made it almost intolerable to be outside.

We installed a cheap, and i mean REALLY cheap, fountain that simply dropped a stream of water about 3-4 feet into a cistern or an urn, and the noise vanished.

The trick is to place the fountain in between you and the other noise, so that all you hear is the pleasant sound. The running water might inspire more trips to the bathroom, but you won't have any problems with street noise.

We definitely pay a premium for our outdoor space on the Upper West Side, but in the summer months it almost doubles the square footage of our teeny apartment. We get a surprising amount of use out of it throughout the year too - last year we had Thanksgiving brunch on the porch after watching the parade, and started using it again in late March.

Juniper, have you tried the Epicurious app? It lets you manage recipes(from magazines and blogs), grocery lists, and it even suggests recipes based on the occasion. I highly recommend it!

And yes, the iPad is a really incredible kitchen tool. Especially for small kitchens like mine where I can't even fit a cookbook holder. Its only hype if it doesn't live up to your expectations!