Tess3's Profile

If you know any teachers, ask them if they want them. They are always looking for supplies since these days they have to pay for most of them out of pocket. Here in San Francisco we also have a place called Scrap and I'm sure if your area has a similar place, they would love them. They will take most of your unwanted craft supplies as well.
http://www.scrap-sf.org/

Really great job!!!

I too am very thankful for the kickstart the January Cure has given me. I was pretty good about trying to keep up, and I do look forward to the emails in the morning. Unfortunately, my place needs much more than a month. (20+ years of a sentimental collector/clutterer living in it.) so I think I'm just going to go back and read the emails in order again in Feb and keep plugging along. It has really helped, my bedroom hasn't looked this good in a while! (Still has too much stuff in it, but it is clean and organized and I'm working on getting rid of stuff. It's VERY hard for me but I am trying with AT's help)

First I'd like to say that I'm glad I don't live any where near both lorijo or Nevanna.

I live in the middle flat of a three floored building with no insulation in between floors as well. So I know what it's like to have both upstairs AND downstairs neighbors.

The first thing I'd suggest you do is bring them a nice gift and apologize for all the noise that probably drove them insane when you were moving in and renovating for 2 months. This probably just started things off on the wrong foot. Seriously, think about what that must have sounded like to them!

I find that being nice to my neighbors works wonders. We all tolerate some noise from each other because we know that we are all doing our best not to drive the other ones crazy. Yes, that means area rugs and NO SHOES early in the morning or late at night on our vintage hard wood floors. In fact, I don't think any of us wear shoes more than just getting ready to leave or come in. You'd be surprised how loud just normal walking sounds on those hard wood floors from below.

And now my upstairs neighbors are about to renovate. I am certainly not looking forward to it and know it's going to be three months of pure torture for me but they let me know well in advance and even showed me the plans of what they are doing. If it gets too bad, I know I can say something to them but there is probably no way I'm going to complain about the noise. I know that they are trying their best and also that when it comes time for me to make noise, they won't complain either so it all works out in the end.

I think the key for everyone is to feel some empathy for your neighbors, they may only seem unreasonable because they are pushed past the breaking point and then every little thing becomes major.

And I agree Sweatergirl, you sound like you are going to be an excellent neighbor!!!

You did a beautiful job! And what a beautiful place Sonoma is, you are so lucky to have a place there!

Show us how good they look a year from now. Paper + soil + water? Not a good mix even if you try water proofing it. But by then the next new fad will have taken over anyway. Hey, I have an idea, why don't we put our succulents in order by color.....

I've always loved white and have thought stainless was over done and sure to eventually become the harvest gold and avocado green of yesteryear. Just bought my new smooth white fridge and I love it! (I'd painted my ancient beige workhorse white till I was able to afford my new one and I'd done such a good job on it everyone thought I'd gotten a new fridge.)

Love it, love it, LOVE IT!
I can totally relate, as I spent a lot of time in the same places. (One of my favorite paintings in my collection is one I found at Urban Ore for $2.)

You've done a fantastic job, thanks for sharing. It really looks like a fun place to live.

Glad to see AT is back on track today, articles about design, what a concept!

I have a TINY kitchen. It's always had white walls, because I thought it would make it look bigger and I was afraid of bright colors in such a small space. It had rental-type cheap beige cabinets, which I currently can't afford to replace. But I decided to take a plunge. I painted one of the walls a beautiful salmon (Olympic "Scrumptious"). The ceiling is white, the other walls a very pale yellow. I painted the cabinets white. I have very colorful accents in there (which look beautiful on the salmon) and now the kitchen not only looks a bit bigger, it's such a cheery place! I say you have nothing to lose trying some bright colors to shake things up. It's been over a year and I'm still loving the color.

Thanks for the links ArtHonolulu!

I wonder if AT will now start a new section on their weekend homepage; "Most UNPOPULAR Posts."

Really AT, take the hint from all these comments.