JR's Profile

Most grad students don't live in "dorms," per se.

Also, what defines a dorm, exactly? Must it be a single room? If so, some Columbia undergrad dorms (i.e. quads) might be off-limits as being too "apartment-like."

Also, I'm a poor graduate student living in a dorm-sized apartment. Does that count?

So many questions...

simply lovely. I love posts like this! It lets the non-pro-designers of us see how we change our space!

ooooh--I meant Vancouver, BC. I also must admit that, as a native Puget Sounder, I've never considered eastern Washington or eastern Oregon cities to be very "northwest-y." Sorry, Spokane!

This is, of course, my personal bias.

and JonathanB, I love Victoria; I just don't see it in the same city-league as Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver (it certainly has fewer people and apartments).

But as long as we're talking about cities, why not AT Bellingham?! Or Olympia! Man, I miss western Washington.

Pixie, I definitely agree with you.

When I started reading about two years ago, this blog was much more about ways to live/organize, rather than some new slick chair or lamp, etc. The quality of the posts has likewise informed the quality of the comments; really, what can you say about the umpteenth prohibitively expensive chair?

Part of the problem, IMHO, is that the AT community has already addressed a lot of the interesting issues; perhaps Maxwell et al are trying not to rehash old (but very useful) topics like landing strips and closet organization.

I think it might be nice if Maxwell could address the change in the basic nature of the blog: how he envisions the blog going forward, how he intends to retain or inspire the kind of collaborative community that this blog had two years ago and that seems to be slipping as AT has expanded into multiple cities and arenas.

ha. bagging the knob.

my 2 cents:

1) find a frame for the document you have on the second shelf and hang it somewhere else. if you really value it, it definitely needs a frame.

2) I agree with the other posters about editing and grouping. decide what you really want to see on a regular basis (as opposed to "things you don't know where else to put."); maybe you have a vase or a teapot that you love that usually sits in a cupboard--display it here! to echo others, a few books would look great.

3) if you need this area for just plain storage, buy fabric-covered boxes to store smaller, non-decorative things in, and place these boxes on the bottom shelf. (The Container Stores has a good selection.)

4) unless you're able to edit your items to a very few, visually striking pieces, stay away from wallpaper as a background; it will end up looking too busy. Based on the little I can see of your room, maybe try a burnt orange/red paint on the back wall only.

have fun--it's a beautiful architectural detail!

Speaking to the processing question (by way of addressing off-gassing), here's a quotation from the Build It Green website:

"The process of agglomerating the cork requires binders to hold the ground cork granules together. Binders typically used include urea melamine, phenol formaldehyde, and natural proteins, which are relatively stable binders once processed."

It seems that suberin is a complex polymer with awesome properties; unfortunately, though, it doesn't act like play-doh.

Still, cork is renewable and (let's hope) sustainable--much better than new hardwood!

does anyone else find it ironic that we're talking about cutting down on CO2 emissions and at the same time figuring out new and improved ways to introduce CO2 into our water? people are bizarre.

I'm chiming in with the rest of the crowd--when I realized it was time to get rid of 5 years worth of Martha Stewart Living, I went through all the mags with an exacto knife and took pages of pictures or recipes I liked, then organized into a 3-ring binder with plastic sheet-protectors.

oops. I must have mised it. link?