art is necessary's Profile

thanks for the tips. i would add always keeping rolls of quarters and detergent handy to be able to use the public washers and dryers at a moment's notice.

there is absolutely no contest here for me ... a washer and dryer would be my choice. i do, thankfully, enjoy washing dishes by hand (no dishwasher).

i live in an older apartment building that has some nice features, but only one washer and dryer for fifteen apartments. i don't care that they are seven flights down (no elevator) or even that they are very often busy, but i do mind that the washer and dryer are dirty most of the time. plus my landlord is very lazy about making repairs (six weeks to replace a burned-out light in the public hallway that's too high for me to reach standing on a chair and ten weeks to take care of a window problem in my apartment) so i refuse to give him any more money by using his washer and dryer.

sometimes i've used laundromats and the three in town that i've tried have each been filthy, crowded and noisy (all those washers and dryers running, loud in-person and cell-phone conversations and a large-screen TV showing some old movie-of-the-week or sports). i check the machines before i use them, but too often have found little leftovers in the machines (and i'm not talking socks or clothing in general). plus i am grossed out at the thought of using public machines because i've been told bedbugs can survive a cycle in the washing machine. (is that true? please, God, i hope not.) and i've seen too many customers not wash their hands after sneezing/picking their noses, that don't cover their mouths when they cough and cough and cough only to then touch the machines. or they come in drunk and/or don't pick up the food/coffee/pop spills they make. yes, i am probably a germophobe, but still i have enough of my own messes; i don't need anyone else's. so, again, i would love to have my own washer and dryer!

for a million reasons and counting, i have the best family. and they kindly let me use their washers and dryers whenever i want. we have a nice visit and maybe a snack in the meantime. like that! love them!

thanks for this post. it seems old-school AT, focusing on something to help those of us who do live in actual apartments and as a result often live without some of the niceties available in life and especially to home-owners (sorry ... not trying to make a judegment about or pick a fight between apartment-dwellers and home-owners; just stating a realty about most apartments and houses). plus it's a reminder to me that most of the world gets by without any large electric appliances and i can, too. thanks also for that.

i found so many things to love about this home:
all the colors
arrangements of furniture/other things
the DIY choice and outcome
art, art, art
the "dealing with it" attitude about things one might want to change but as of yet cannot/has not (and maybe won't .. priorities!)
the ability to run a successful business from home while keeping the focus on the people who live there
...

thanks for sharing!

a request, please - would you please share the source on that small vase/cup holding tulips in photo # 32? i would love to have one like it for my own home. thank you very much!

the problem is no matter how cool the space or how well-organized/designed/ personalized that space is, pups are always going to steal the show. :)

thanks for the tour. and the reminder that life is better when humans take care of animals and love them. :)

ps: is your friend (shown in one photo) "christi f" from a recent and also-cool house tour?

i love these playlists (in part because i love music and the environment it helps create ... and because i recognize only five of the 21 band names on this list so you're helping me get a little more current; ha). thank you!

what a happy story - that you found a place that makes you happy and rightfully trusted you could make your stuff work in it without having seen the place before move-in. :)

the rooms flow together nicely, but your consistent and cool style throughout really helps make the space what it is - great!

i would appreciate hearing how that "feud" painting is framed. i can see a reflection of glass and a couple dark spots that look like clips holding the glass and painting together, but can't see a traditional frame around the entire painting. would love to find something like that for art that i need framed. could you help, please? and thanks.

and best wishes on grad school.

kathy

i agree with the suggestion that you move the sofa and add baby/toddler gates at the top and bottom of the stairs.

best wishes!

first, may your continued friendship and the trip to paris bring joy to mari at a tough time in her life. will you please relay my sympathies for whatever losses she's going through? thank you.

also, i hope you both have great fun in france and travel safe!

unfortunately i don't really have any "great neighbor" stories to tell. my schedule makes it tough to meet people, let alone spend extended lengths of time with them to watch a movie or whatever. the neighbors i have met (where i live now) seem very nice. and i try to be a great neighbor, too.

kathy

oh, wow; i, too, would be happy in that space!!! to start, what a beautiful exterior and what a great arrangement of rooms!!! add in that mix of older- and newer-looking furniture, all the art and accessories ... wonderful!!! especially love the art (okkervil river poster, the daughters' adorable notes ...), the paint choices and other colors in your home, the bench/settee in the living room, that 'ham' of a dog, the bicycle, the entry way/stairs, that the whole place looks and feels lived-in and well-loved ... again, love it! and glad you have it.

thanks for the tour!

would you be willing to share the source of that okkervil river poster in your stairwell, please? (haven't found it online yet.) thanks much!!!

kathy

all great suggestions (in the post and the comments above mine). thank you.

and from the description, i would love to see a house call or home tour of SISTERVASHTI's place! please and thanks.

kathy

love so much here (as stated earlier) ... forgot to ask about art in the second preview shot, the one in the center of the lamb on a hill with a farmhouse in the background. would you please share the source on that for me? love it! thank you!

kathy