britinchitown's Profile

I'm a little hazy on the science behind it but note that it's a technology curfew, not a "doing things" curfew. The lit screens on our gadgets affect the chemistry of your brain and prevent you from falling into a restful sleep (again, scientifically minded folks, don't jump on the lay-person's description).

I've had some pretty hellish neighbors but I'm lucky at the moment that I managed to move a friend of mine in downstairs when the old lot moved out. She was my dog's foster home so she doesn't care when he's obnoxious and loud, and I don't care about what all of hers get up to (and even if I didn't know and love her, it's still an improvement on the parties the nightmare pair used to have until 5am during weekdays).

And I'm actually relieved that the upstairs neighbors keep really odd hours and wake me up because it means they're very tolerant of any noise that my dog (or my fosters) make!

My heart sunk when I saw the headline but I'm feeling encouraged by the comments. NEVER leave your dog unattended outside. There are so many reasons not to, including dog theft, safety and liability issues. If Ikea really wants to be dog friendly they should let them in the store (although I wouldn't bring mine with me in a million years!)

Last time I was apartment hunting I was pretty limited by the practicalities - a place I could afford by myself, within 15 minutes walk of an El line approximately in the neighborhood that I liked, that would let me have my 70lb bully breed dog! Luckily I managed to get no carpeting, high ceilings, access to a shared yard and a pretty good landlord but it's not a terribly safe/quiet street, there's no laundry in the building, and there are a hundred little annoying things that make it far from ideal. Still, I'm coming into my third year now, so it's all livable!

I've got to admit that's been on my mind recently. I've just started dating a great guy who's decorating taste could not be further away from mine. I'm fairly modern, clean lines with a mid-century twist and a mix of lots of white with bright, saturated color. He is earth tones and the most gigantic, heavy ornate carved wood furniture I've ever seen. I don't view it as a dealbreaker by any stretch of the imagination since we get on well in many more important ways but it has crossed my mind that it would be impossible to blend those two styles if we ended up moving in together. The only compromise I could possibly imagine would be for us to each take a room! @Pi - I agree, I'd never before envisioned a situation where you couldn't make those decisions together but I'd also never expected to mesh so well on fundamental values with someone who's interior design is so completely opposite to mine!

From the guest's point of view, I'd second covering different price points and also, don't register for anything you won't use just because it's what you're "supposed" to get. I love to bake and cook but as a single gal (no registry fairy) working in the NFP world (teeny budget) I make do with the bare minimum of cheap pots and pans. If I'm honest, it kind of pissed me off when I went to a shower and watched the couple receive a GIANT stack of baking tins, pans, coffee makers and any other kitchen gadget you could think of when neither of them can so much as boil an egg! It made me wonder whether the gift that I'd spent my hard-earned cash on and purchased from the registry was just as poorly thought through. I'd rather they'd have asked that we contribute to their honeymoon or buy a gift certificate to their favorite take-out place.

That's delightful - and definitely a better direction than the chalkboard paint.

That's a good point to bear in mind. I've moved around so much that it became second nature for me to spend money only on what I could take with me. I've definitely started to slip on that now that I've been in the same place for 18 months (thats a LONG time for me!) and plan on sticking around. Now its about finding the balance between actually creating a home for the first time and remembering that it isn't mine.

The lighter wood - lovely. Orange-toned, knotty pine - not so much.

I've got Haier too and it's great. I thought I'd still need to go to the laundromat for towels and blankets but I can wash queen size sheets and a good size load of towels so the only time I have to make the trek is to wash the duvet and pillows (and actually in the summer I wash my pillows in my machine and dry in the hot sun). Highly recommended - it definitely saved this apartment for me, I have no need to move again for a while now.