Muffy St John's Profile

Great. Now everything I enjoyed is buried under tons of posts about kids and "family life" (which is code for "more stuff about kids"). Is there a way to retro fit this so it doesn't suck?

That's it; I'm painting my apartment black.

This room is stunning. I want a full house tour.

You beat me to it, Cheryl K. The Book Thing is the absolute best thing about Baltimore. I have a massive collection of outdated medical texts I scored from them.

I think this is my favorite room so far. And I agree with Melissa, HOUSE TOUR.

SororitySheep, I agree. I am getting a little tired of all the Hipstamatic entries. It's OK to show us what the room really looks like, I swear!

When I moved last month I happily got rid of over half of my book collection. Some were textbooks I had no future use for, others I had read once and had no interest in reading again, others were severely damaged art books, etc., etc. The truth is that I felt just as oppressed by those books as I did by the piles of other clutter accumulating in my house. They were donated to The Book Thing (a fabulous place if you're ever in B'more) and I haven't looked back on that choice. I currently have one bookshelf, half-full, and am happy with that.

Now can we talk about how beautiful the kitchen storage is in the top picture? Because I'm drooling over it here.

It is brutal that you can't rip that up (and how cruel for the landlord to rub your face in the "lovely hardwoods" you can't have!), but I actually do agree that the color itself is not terrible and actually might be workable. But you will never be able to hide all that rug under area rugs - I actually think the idea of laying rug upon rug upon rug will only draw attention to what you're trying to detract from. Embrace the emerald. I love the suggestion of contrasting some chartreuse. And also, I am sure it will look better once your stuff is all moved in and you're not just seeing a wide expanse of green everywhere. It is still 1000x better than the Apartment Beige carpet in most rentals.

Your other option, of course, is to tear the carpet out yourself and sacrifice your security deposit.

Nearly perfect. I am in love with the coffee table.

I guess some people are more sensitive to the smell than others. I used to smoke in my old apartment. And let me tell you, I was a HEAVY smoker, and the place smelled like a 600 square foot ashtray. When I quit, I washed everything - carpet, walls, floors, all the furniture, every article of clothing and piece of upholstery. EVERYTHING. And then I opened the windows. Within 2 weeks, the smell was completely gone (and I'm not the only one - friends commented that they absolutely could not detect the smell and how remarkable that was considering how bad it had been). And that was it.

I suggest repainting with an odor-blocking primer (don't forget the ceiling!), recleaning the carpets, and giving the entire place a thorough scrub-down. If that doesn't fix it, then either you are living in the former home of the Marlboro Man, or you are one of those folks who is so tuned in to the smell (or so used to smelling the smell) that you will never be free of it.

I inherited a collection of salt and pepper shakers from my grandmother when she passed years ago. Or, more accurately, my mother inherited them, I found them in a box and asked if I could have them.

I've since made the decision to consciously add to this collection myself. In my eyes, they're the perfect collectible - the sets are functional, available in a wide variety of amazing styles, an inexpensive find at antique stores and flea markets, and take up minimal space.