Stylebites's Profile

I bought the book a more than a year ago but had just started a new job and it was too hard to do it all at that time. Joining the Cure online motivates me to keep going.

Of course life still "gets in the way" but I'm not discouraged and I've been leaving a trail of sticky-notes where I don't have time to do something during the week it's supposed to get done.

This past weekend I finally got the time to clean the rest of the kitchen. It felt SO good to get rid of all that old food. The kind of stuff you bought but never got around to using. And it forced me to make lasagna for the first time since we had a box of noodles for it that I didn't want to throw out. Yum!

We might move at the end of this year but the Cure is still great for two reasons:

1. It helps you enjoy your rental while you're still there (in a deeper way)

and 2. We'll be much lighter when we finally re-located.

Thanks AT!

@ninakk True. We rent but I'm like, "What the hell?" They're going to charge for re-painting and patching up the walls anyhow when we leave, right?

You are so busted for watching a show called "Tool Academy." Ick. lol...

Malm for sure. Ours look a LOT like that.

This is pretty weak advice IMHO. It would be annoying and difficult for most people since 1.) most of us don't hang up our clothes again right away... although it's key to keeping your clothes organized, clean and wrinkle-free and 2.) for people who don't have swivel top hangers it can be frustrating to always flip the hangers around.

My advice (and I do closet therapy as a job) is to invite someone you know well and who has great style over to your apartment and have a day of going through everything you own. Try on all the clothes in your closet. With that other person as a second opinion you will be able to see what really doesn't suit you anymore and also what you forgot you owned and can now wear again.

If anyone is totally lost on this, email me and I'll be happy to give you free advice or point you to the most inspiring reading on getting your wardrobe together. You can contact me through my website www.styleadviser.cz I think it's fair to say that this isn't a plug for my services since I live in Prague. lol...

I worked in retail several years ago. The no camera policy had little to do with corporate espionage and more to do with theft. Apparently people will take pictures of the things that they want and give those photos to people who can shoplift those items.

This wouldn't apply to furniture but after finding hundreds of security tags removed from clothes and stuffed into the pockets of other items around the store, I believe that this is the case for apparel shops. Pinkberry is probably a prime target for this kind of set up.

It's like in Bad Santa... remember the midget's girlfriend?

Cozy on my tozies!

Against a dark colored wall these might look nice, no?

I usually hate this stuff but yours looks rather nice.

First, for the hallway, I would replace the door to the exterior rather than rip down the walls. A door with a lot of glass/windows would let in the natural light and let you see the great outdoors. Besides, the door that you currently have is the standard issue and looks cheap. If replacing the door is an option, I would go for that first--something custom if you have to. It will be money well spent.

In the entire house, replace the switch plates and outlet covers with something more up-to-date.

Also, spend your money on better lighting solutions. The fixture in the hallway is completely wrong for a cabin (not to mention for a hallway).

Overall, it looks like the last owners really did a lot on the cheap and you're going to have to commit to bring your place into it's own, cool character.

Check out some 60's and 70's design books for ideas but change the color schemes to something fitting your lifestyle. The Frank Lloyd Wright house posted earlier this week is a good reference too.

The bad news is that if you or your wife loves "country cottage" or Cape Cod style, you're never going to get this from your cabin. Try to embrace the natural character of what you bought and it will totally shine. :-)

Anything is better than nothing. If you've lived there over a year, think of how much you would have enjoyed ANY curtains better than none....

I've done this too many times in the past ("Well, it's only a rental, so why make improvements?") and it's always been a big mistake. Learned from those experiences and now think it's better to just spend a bit of money on feeling good about where I live than to wait until the ideal or cheapest whatever comes along.

That said, buy some trendy interiors magazines (I like Domino and Dwell) and see what others are doing. You'll be inspired.