ckorfi's Profile

I don't have any great advice about the porch-smoking situation but please, please don't move inside for your smoking. Unless you live in an air-tight, chemical research-grade condo complex, your inside smoke will seep through the vents and plumbing system (yes, the holes from wall to wall that hold pipes are not perfect) and into your neighbors' closets, cabinets and sinks. I can't tell you how disgusting it is to put on freshly-laundered clothes that smell of stale, second-hand smoke from your downstairs neighbor.

We had a nearly identical situation in our condo (small complex with adjacent balconies). Everyone owns their unit so dealing with the one smoker in the building became a contentious issue among the HOA members, most of whom were "live and let live" types (myself included).

We also went the nuisance route with the cigarette smoke because our bylaws prevented us from making our whole property smoke-free. Our HOA spent thousands of dollars on a lawyer to come up with the best solution possible and the nuisance laws and concomitant fines were the best we could do. To be fair, I had the big barking dog so I knew that implementing nuisance complaints might justifiably affect my husband and me too.

I don't think there's a great solution except to suggest that you smoke outside during down times (in the evening, early morning) when others are less likely to be outside enjoying their patios and again, that you not move the smoking inside.

Super cute! We're working on achieving a similar look in our bedroom with a darker teal and red. I love your blank white frame idea to lighten things up. Well done!
I am a sucker for big dogs and I too am a Seattle-ite so, one vote from this gal!

Oh man, I like Sabrina even more now... what a lovely, fresh, unpretentious apartment! And that labradoodle is darling. Seeing such a big dog in a NYC apartment gives me so much hope that, if I get into Columbia for grad school in the spring I can bring my own big dog along! Great place!

I also can't resist introducing a little anecdote: my big yellow lab growing up ate grapes every summer (as part of his dead-eye-catching-lobbed-food trick), chocolate with the foil wrappers every Easter, and an entire chocolate cake every other birthday or so. He was a master of escape, climbing 12 foot trees, 8 foot fences, and yes, to the tops of fridges containing said chocolatey treats. That dog lived to be 14, which is pretty long for a big dog. Perhaps he was immune to the negative effects of chocolate and grapes but, nothing ever came of his eating those no-no foods except some shiny poop every Easter.

Wonderful! I was ready to say, "wah wah, white re-do again" but was pleasantly, shockingly surprised to see distressed(?) black with gold numbers. What a fun idea!

LOVE that fabric on the shade. Where is it from??

yee-gawds! (as my grandmother would say). I could get into the stripes; I do like the color palette and the window seats are a big improvement, but you must paint the wall behind the TV (like the others or painted, or perhaps green) and get rid of those awful valences. They look cheap and way off scale for the new room. I never think valences are a good idea of and especially not in this room. Way to be brave though!

Geez, you guys are HARSH!!! If it's not your taste, say so. But criticizing the project or its reasoning or its outcome for the sake of criticism alone is kind of nasty. I personally was kind of inspired by this project as a way to integrate bold colors without too much commitment and am happy to learn about how easy and inexpensive it is to accomplish. Good job YHL!